Overpriced unusual or vintage parts going unsold

[dexters_lab]

with all the involvement in vintage stuff on my channel i am often seeing and watching items listed on ebay or other platforms. Some of these items for sale have crazy high pricing but never sell and this is puzzling me.

I wont point out links to specific items but it's stuff like unusual equipment, vintage ICs, PCBs or other parts from old systems, complete vintage systems etc. Often listed by tech recycling or parts resale sellers that are clearly trying to make a profit yet they will list these items with such high prices that the items never sell and stay listed for months or even years without any reduction in price to encourage it to sell.

It seems some sellers are happy to leave something on a shelf yet listed for sale and never sell it because the price is too high. In some cases i have even contacted the sellers after it being listed for months with offers only to get rebuffed with the sellers saying things like we can't reduce the price any further, or claims the item is rare or in demand. I will then continue to watch it for months getting relisted time after time and never selling!

I don't mind paying the going rate for something if there's other people out there wanting the same thing, it's simple supply and demand. Parts for vintage PCs are like this as there are plenty of people wanting to build retro PCs and not enough parts to go round. But when you seem to be the only buyer in town for an unusual part it's frustrating when the seller doesn't want to do ANY kind of deal to get something sold and off their inventory list.

i'd be interested to see how others feel on this

[Mr. Scram]

I guess that your frustration indicates the tactic is working.

[dexters_lab]

It might be working if i actually caved in and paid up, but i don't. I am quite happy to walk away.

[sokoloff]

Some sellers are clueless.
Some sellers are stubborn.
Some sellers are waiting for someone who really needs it, money be damned.
Some sellers are more interested in having and showing their hoard than in money.

Some buyers are clueless.
Some buyers are stubborn.
Some buyers are waiting for someone who really needs the money, time be damned.
Some buyers are more interested in scoring a “you suck” level of deal than in buying a part they might need.

Some of today’s buyers (or their heirs) will become tomorrow’s sellers.

In short, buyers and sellers are people, with all the foibles that come along with that.

The “one shot” optimistic sellers tend towards clueless. The long term stubborn sellers I don’t get as much, but assume it’s more of an enjoyable gentleman’s hobby than a money-seeking endeavor.

[joeqsmith]

I gave up my eBay account when they bought Paypal and changed their policies for the nth time.   I am happy to scrap out or find someone to give my unwanted stuff to.   

[NivagSwerdna]

i'd be interested to see how others feel on this

Oh Yeah. With you 100% but I've decided to enjoy it and not get frustrated.
Just yesterday I responded with a Best Offer bid that was just a little under the asking price for some devices and got a caustic response... I then just ordered from China at a fraction of the price and will have to wait for the slow boat now.
Only a few weeks a go I saw some 'vintage' pieces for sale... I needed one so sent a Best Offer (I think the seller was at least 5x market price)... they didn't take my offer well.
It no longer phases me when I get bad responses to best offers... If I'm feeling particularly irritated I just up my offer 1p a couple of times until max offers is reached and go elsewhere.

[Mashpriborintorg]

There are some hugely overpriced items, such as broken broadcast cameras, that I have in my Watch list on eBay for more than 3 years... At the beginning I was expecting to see a price drop soon or late, but it seems the late is turning in never.

Those sellers must  have  free and unlimited storage space in a parallel universe or something like that.

[Mr. Scram]

I've seen similar sellers too. I once bid on a HP unit. It was actually a reasonable price, maybe even slightly higher than what similar units did. They declined a few bids. The unit then sat for months, slowly decreasing in value. Of course, the buggers raised the shipping price almost accordingly, but ultimately they actually started dropping the price to finally end up below my initial bid months later.

It must have cost them and arm and a leg to endlessly relist and to store the thing. I can't say I'm sorry. They are obviously in the money making business, but overprice everything in their inventory to a ridiculous degree. They can't be selling a lot.

[dexters_lab]

The “one shot” optimistic sellers tend towards clueless.

i wonder if this is it... the more unusual an item is the less chance the seller knows it's true value so just end up listing it at some random price often far higher than it's true value and when you offer them a good price for it they get all insulted and then shutters come down

[NivagSwerdna]

A while back I bought a HP 5526A Laser Interferometer display.... can't remember how much I paid but it wasn't much

You can see one in action here....

Not that long along I saw another one for 4x the price I paid so made an offer and got a very curt response!

I guess this stuff is hard to value... maybe I got a bargain with the 1st, maybe I didn't but the 2nd one didn't sell.

[Ampera]

I buy as I want, and normally when I see an old computer part beyond my budget, I just walk away and find something cheaper to play with.

[mikeselectricstuff]

A surprising number sellers seem to think that low-mind end analogue scopes are worth more than scrap  metal prices.
 A lot of cluelessness around.

[Cyberdragon]

I saw a box of old capacitors go for like $80 at auction...

I wanted those (HV mylars) you bastards!

The world may never know...

[james_s]

Some sellers are really just hoarders who use their "business" to justify the hoarding.

There's a local electronics/surplus retailer around here that occasionally has a few modest deals, but I've never seen anything close to a deal on any sort of test equipment. Once they had a Chinese bench multimeter in mediocre condition priced slightly higher than a brand new identical unit from Tequipment. I don't know if suckers buy the stuff sometimes or if the owner just likes hoarding it.

Ebay got flooded with overpriced junk when they made it free to list and relist.

[dexters_lab]

yea there are a lot of hoarders out there who would rather not sell anything if they can help it

[GreyWoolfe]

Another area that this goes on is ham radio equipment.  Same thing, people think stuff is solid gold, not scrap value.  QTH.com classified section if full of stuff that I see listed for months and months on end without a price drop.  None of it is even anything I am remotely interested in as is with everyone else.  Obvious to everyone else, oblivious to the seller.  Hoarders are everywhere. 

[james_s]

A lot of that stuff probably gets posted so they can tell their wife they're selling it.

[Alex Eisenhut]

A lot of that stuff probably gets posted so they can tell their wife they're selling it.

The logic is impeccable: you either convince the wife you're selling it, convince her it's actually worth something and not junk, make a lot of money, or keep it!

[Electro Detective]

'Patience' on Ebay, and adherence to only dealing with sellers offering local pickup and cash (no paypal BS) has always scored me what I NEEDED at a fair to cheap price.

I don't do interstate or overseas transactions headaches at any price, no matter how 'easy' it appears to be, which somehow ends up in >     usually because of dropkick couriers
or some shifty dishonest pr!ck in the mix along the way   


The Rolling Stones tune 'You can't always get what you want...' really is a timeless classic in all respects     



as well as that  "Pleased To Meet You..."  tune   

[woodchips]

If you have a large warehouse full of overpriced stuff, then on average something sells every day or so for a good price, it is a good business. You seem to find it in every business, I wanted a bucket ram and links for a digger, £1800 plus VAT! No guarantee, still got them years later.

On the other hand I sometimes wonder if it is a scam. Look at the prices of ordinary secondhand books, from £5 to £250, same average condition. But if you want to shift a lot of cash from point A to B then what better way to do it? Get an item, with an invoice.

[dexters_lab]

i don't mind people being clueless as long as that they can realise they have overpriced something and... readjust their expectations.

As for being clever with ebay, i would just take local deals but the problem is the stuff i am looking at is so rare only a couple of items appear on ebay a month and that is looking at listings made pretty much worldwide

[james_s]

The vast majority of my ebay dealings have been with people in other stages, occasionally other countries. The vast majority of those transactions have gone very smoothly, and the few that haven't have not been significant enough to worry about.

[Cyberdragon]

Time for a quote parody...

"Are they heavy?"

"Yeah!"

"Then they're expensive! Put em on Ebay!"