Do Your Due Diligence, or Else!!!

So I'm scanning the Sell Forum tonight, which I always do.

I got this bad case of money always burning a hole in my pocket and I look to spend it whether I need the item or not. Most times it's just a case of want and not need.

You too? I thought so.

And I come across an item that's actually priced higher than B&H is selling it for, and by over fifty bucks. Caveat emptor, dudes and dudettes.

I would hope everyone here researches not only the seller, their feedback, if any, but what the item actually sells for.

I do realize that internationally people may pay a lot more than we do here, but this particular sale is not even for international sale.

me

It's a well documented psychological effect that when you own something it seems more valuable. Frankly when I see people (on this forum or elsewhere) selling a 1500$ item for 50$ less than new, I laugh a bit and get the new item for the warranty/replacement/c​ontingency plan.

Not to mention if you get scammed here you're screwed/can't leave negative feedback.

You might be looking at online pricing that dropped an hour ago while ignoring what they may have paid in a retail store last year. Not everyone prices things before they sell and in some parts of the world one simply cannot buy from Amazon, B&H or whoever just because you have that ability. I had no idea about this myself until i noticed people paying $60+ for $50 Amazon gift cards on Ebay.

As it turns out in some countries they don't have credit cards or the cards from their country might be blocked at most merchants. So in order to shop online and buy for less then what things might cost local they buy gift cards. They can then use the gift card to send to a drop shipper or send to family or whatever. I think in some cases a mint lens that is perfect in every way could even be worth a few bucks extra to someone who has a very important week long shoot in a few days.

Best thing you could do is ask them why they priced it so high as it could even be that a typo was made. At that point the buyer may be open to negotiation if he/she thinks you are a serious and they really need cash ASAP.

I see that from time to time too. It's annoying, but necessary sometimes.

I do this sometimes when posting on Craigslist to weed out low-ball offers. I noticed when offering lower offers, people assume I'm desperate and offer way below my asking price. E.g. I listed an XSi for at regular used price and got offers of $250-$300. When selling my T2i, I went strong on the price with an OBO-tag, and I received less low-ball offers and more offers like this: "The used price is about _____, would you consider that?"

But yes, if people are doing it to rip other people, it's annoying.

I always know the price of what I'm looking for at the reliable sellers. If the seller is asking 85% or more of new price I move along.

Oh, and just browsing the FS forum with nothing specific in mind is dangerous to your financial health.

If you search here you will see many threads about how crazy the B&S forum has become. I agree it has become crazy. Between crazy prices, all the "gift" payment requests, and the risk, I just buy new. My time is valuable enough to make up for the difference.
I wish the Mods were not so sensitive to "price policing". I think if we could offer "constructive" price comments it might help the B&S section. Just my 2c!

I wish people would do their due diligence, there is one guy selling his alien bee for 10$ under the new price shipped and gifted, if you add 3% so you can have some sort of protection you'll end up paying more for an used item without warranty. Who would be that stupid I'm wondering.
I think ppl should not expect to sell their used stuff for almost the same price as new, at the end you did use that item quite a lot, you really expect to get almost full price on it?!

I think it is interesting that on the first page of the sell forum more than half the listings have ZERO responses. That's an indication to me that 50% of the listings are priced too high, did not show photos, etc. On the second page half have 1 or fewer responses. A closer look shows that many of the single responses are asking where the seller is located and can they post some photos. There are no responses to several of those requests!

keyframe14 wrote in post #11897853
I wish people would do their due diligence, there is one guy selling his alien bee for 10$ under the new price shipped and gifted, if you add 3% so you can have some sort of protection you'll end up paying more for an used item without warranty. Who would be that stupid I'm wondering.

Me too!

That is a phenomenon particular to Alien Bee equipment but also spilling into certain other areas. Watch Ebay sometime. People pay full retail for this stuff used. Vagabond II's are selling for $400! If you were starting out right now, you could buy a full studio of Bee equipment to find your lighting style and have no fear of losing money if you decide to move on.

An EF 85mm 1.8 on the 'bay right now is bid at $360 + $20 shipping with a few hours to go. It goes for $399 brand new from Adorama.

I cannot fault the sellers. At the end of the day it is the fools that gobble this used gear up for brand new pricing that are at fault.

i used to look at the Buy sell forums all the time...now i never do

Well, the vagabonds are in high demand/low supply so its makes sense people COULD charge more. Things that are available and easily attainable on the other hand.....

It has been noted that the Internet is international. Prices and the ability to acquire items can vary widely around the world. When I sold my medium format equipment, people in Russia and Italy were the most interested even at prices significantly higher than anyone in the US would have paid.

Some people are definitely crazy with their asking prices. I've been lucky enough to score some good deals here, but you gotta do your homework. It's not nearly as bad as CL or eBay in most cases, because sellers know we are (somewhat) educated when it comes to what the price SHOULD be. The most annoying thing is the paypal gift, add 3% for paypal, and add shipping crap. In most cases it's a matter of a couple bucks, so sellers need to just figure it out and come up with a price- not that hard!

MDJAK wrote in post #11895261
So I'm scanning the Sell Forum tonight, which I always do.

I got this bad case of money always burning a hole in my pocket and I look to spend it whether I need the item or not. Most times it's just a case of want and not need.

You too? I thought so.

And I come across an item that's actually priced higher than B&H is selling it for, and by over fifty bucks. Caveat emptor, dudes and dudettes.

I would hope everyone here researches not only the seller, their feedback, if any, but what the item actually sells for.

I do realize that internationally people may pay a lot more than we do here, but this particular sale is not even for international sale.

me

Is that money burning a hole in your pocket or your Depends springing a leak?

Yeah...I thought so...

There have been a couple of times that I've sent a PM to a seller letting them know what the price of the same item elsewhere was. They have sent back saying they have not researched the item and didn't really know what it was worth. They adjusted their prices accordingly. Research goes a LONG way, both for the seller and the buyer. BTW, I was not in the market for any of them items I PM'd about, so it didn't benefit me in any way.