Electronics > Beginners

Parts question - price seems too good to be true

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btipton:
I've got a few hobbyist-type projects that would be nice to have LCD displays on, but I've always been turned off by how much cost it would add.  I looked on eBay today, however, and saw this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/HD44780-1602-16x2-LCM-Character-LCD-Display-Module-New-/200562289086?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eb271a9be

$1 per display seems *really* cheap, even compared to other eBay stores - is there something I'm missing?  At this price, I'd probably order 30 or so just to make sure I'd always have an LCD handy. 

Mechatrommer:
shipping: not available to malaysia! check out the shipping cost. beware, some sellers will put some of the "item's price" in the shipping cost.

JohnS_AZ:
I would guess that bet that most people, like you, would buy 10 since the price is so cheap. However, the shipping charge is PER DISPLAY, so ten displays would cost about $25 to ship to the US.

Longhair:
I always ask for a combined shipping total before bidding / buying anything from ebay.

If they refuse to do it, then I look else where.

alm:
I think shafri's analysis is correct, the real pricing would probably be $2.50-$3 for the displays and $1-$0.50 shipping. But they have to pay eBay fees over the item price but not (or less) over shipping costs, so it's profitable to shift as much as possible to shipping. It also lists higher when sorted by price, and people may not notice the shipping price.

They explicitly state that they can't combine shipping with a bullshit excuse (max volume/weight? really? for a few displays?). Any costs they have: transport, packaging, handling, shipping will be less for combined shipping, so they probably make more on one order with ten displays compared to ten orders of one display. I would just treat them as $3.50 displays with 'free' shipping, and see if that's a good price for you. The dishonest behavior would also make a bad impression on me, if they're willing to cheat eBay to save a few cents, how are they going to treat their customers?

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