UK ebay bargains - NOT

[Rufus]

While looking for other things I stumble across an Agilent U1731C for a whopping £475.

The seller has 151 thousand listings in Business, Office & Industrial including things like a CR2430 button cell for £4.95 one off, (which they have apparently sold 7 off).

Every item I looked at the description and picture are identical to the Farnell web site listing.

So someone has come up with the idea of scraping the whole Farnell web site, multiplying the one off price by at least 2 and listing it on ebay. Unbelievably there are people on ebay who will pay £4.95 for a single Varta CR2430.

How much do 151 thousand buy it now ebay listings cost?

[8086]

How much do 151 thousand buy it now ebay listings cost?

£60,400

40p a listing

[PeterG]

£4.95 for a single is cheep compared to some sellers.
Some American sellers are way over the top.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEC-Lithium-3V-Coin-Cell-Battery-New-CR2430-/370583808645?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5648842a85#ht_1692wt_1270

Regards

[grumpydoc]

> How much do 151 thousand buy it now ebay listings cost?

If you have an ebay shop and pay the maximum of £349.99/month fees then individual listings are free.

I presume he's making enough profit to cover that.

[Bored@Work]

Unbelievably there are people on ebay who will pay £4.95 for a single Varta CR2430.

While I don't get that either, I sort of get the idea as such.

Farnell refuses to sell to individuals in some countries. If you need a particular part, if Farnell doesn't sell to you, if you turn to ebay, if you don't exercise caution, you might end up at such a shop, and the shop owner earns a premium.

[david77]

There are enough people out there who gladly pay 4,95 for a lithium coin cell. Just look what your local shops charge for these things.
Personally I don't have a problem with that, everybody's got to live somehow.

While the idea of reselling Farnell's stuff is probably not bad it doesn't really make sense to sell such standard items like coin cells. How would you decide what of Farnells products to sell? You can't really put all of Farnells catalog into ebay.

Standard parts - like coin cells - can be sourced much cheaper than Farnell offer them. They want 1,87EUR for 250+ qty. which is ridiculous - wholesale price for the same cell is about 0,50EUR for small quantities.

[siliconmix]

While looking for other things I stumble across an Agilent U1731C for a whopping £475.

The seller has 151 thousand listings in Business, Office & Industrial including things like a CR2430 button cell for £4.95 one off, (which they have apparently sold 7 off).

Every item I looked at the description and picture are identical to the Farnell web site listing.

So someone has come up with the idea of scraping the whole Farnell web site, multiplying the one off price by at least 2 and listing it on ebay. Unbelievably there are people on ebay who will pay £4.95 for a single Varta CR2430.

How much do 151 thousand buy it now ebay listings cost?

"which they have apparently sold 7 off " thats annoys me.it can't be a typo all the time.some people just don't the difference between of and off.

[Bored@Work]

While the idea of reselling Farnell's stuff is probably not bad it doesn't really make sense to sell such standard items like coin cells. How would you decide what of Farnells products to sell? You can't really put all of Farnells catalog into ebay.

You let a robot crawl the Farnell site and automate the setup of your eBay shop. You don't decide, you just place everything you find on the Farnell site in your shop. Then you let the customers decide. If they buy they buy.

The only issue I see is that Farnell might have the copyright for the descriptions.

[Simon]

How much do 151 thousand buy it now ebay listings cost?

£60,400

40p a listing

if you pay the 15 ood quid a month for an ebay shop you get them at 1/2 price

[Simon]

So someone has come up with the idea of scraping the whole Farnell web site, multiplying the one off price by at least 2 and listing it on ebay. Unbelievably there are people on ebay who will pay £4.95 for a single Varta CR2430.

um on a smaller scale, yea I do it (link in sig) although only for a few parts i use myself, I'm amazed at what some people will pay and some come asking for part suggestions. I do give deals on decent quantities and because i buy in quantity can almost match farnells individual price. What you seem to have stumbled on though sounds highly organized, not sure how far they will get I don't know what it is like having that many listings

[harnon]

The same thing happens in many other industries, although not necessarily via ebay or on such a massive scale.  Or come to think of it with such a massive markup!

E.g. many local bottle-o's in Oz buy their beer from Dan Murphy's or 1st Choice rather than direct...

[Neilm]

Another application of the stupidity tax.

Neil

[Rufus]

There are enough people out there who gladly pay 4,95 for a lithium coin cell. Just look what your local shops charge for these things.

Local shops are quite different. They provide instant sales, have obvious overheads and only other local shops for competition. Search ebay uk for CR2430 and you will find a pack of 4 Duracell branded CR2430s for £3.49, free postage, 1 day faster claimed delivery from a seller with more sales and higher % feedback.

[Rufus]

"which they have apparently sold 7 off " thats annoys me.it can't be a typo all the time.some people just don't the difference between of and off.

True.

The Oxford Concise English Dictionary definition of 'off' includes:-

7. chiefly British (with preceding numeral) denoting a quantity produced at one time.

[cybergibbons]

"which they have apparently sold 7 off " thats annoys me.it can't be a typo all the time.some people just don't the difference between of and off.

Oxford English Dictionary says that is fine for use as a quantity in engineering.

[Simon]

"which they have apparently sold 7 off " thats annoys me.it can't be a typo all the time.some people just don't the difference between of and off.

Oxford English Dictionary says that is fine for use as a quantity in engineering.

Yea i here this "x" amount off quite a lot at work and never really get it. you have a certain quantity, end of never mind the off

[harnon]

Isn't that like "once off" or "run seven off" as opposed to "run off one of"?    But then again as an Aussie in the UK I'm always getting crap for not speaking "real" English.  The number of times every day English people correct me when I say "data" ... (I say daaaahta where I'm supposedly meant to say dayta).   

[siliconmix]

"which they have apparently sold 7 off " thats annoys me.it can't be a typo all the time.some people just don't the difference between of and off.

Oxford English Dictionary says that is fine for use as a quantity in engineering.

does it.well well.still sounds wrong .you wouldn't tell someone to "p##s of " now would you

[entereev]

Isn't that like "once off" or "run seven off" as opposed to "run off one of"?    But then again as an Aussie in the UK I'm always getting crap for not speaking "real" English.  The number of times every day English people correct me when I say "data" ... (I say daaaahta where I'm supposedly meant to say dayta).   

Don't give in. It's always amusing to see remnants of their colonial behaviour.

[Kozmyk]

I've been accustomed to the usage in the UK in the fields of engineering and stock control.
Can be useful to differentiate a part number from the amount described especially when requisitioning over the phone or calling out counted items during a stock check.

e.g. hex bolts 6mm by 25mm part number 613472  24 off

[Fraser]

As a British techie who has often had to raise a requisition for components from our establishments main stores.....I understood the term "BC108 transistor...10 off" to mean please supply 10 x BC108 transistors OFF of the stores inventory...i.e. reduce your stores holding by 10 as I require them 

These days I would write "BC108 transistor....  Quantity 10"

Isn't the English language odd ....times change and so does the meaning of words...Take the word "Gay" as a perfect example ! 

Aurora

[siliconmix]

Isn't that like "once off" or "run seven off" as opposed to "run off one of"?    But then again as an Aussie in the UK I'm always getting crap for not speaking "real" English.  The number of times every day English people correct me when I say "data" ... (I say daaaahta where I'm supposedly meant to say dayta).   

i say data like  daaata.i drop my "h" 's in english and use them properly in welsh.what's that all about ??