34461A on ebay - what am I missing

[electrolust]

ebay listings (USA) for the 34461A are selling USED gear for more than the MSRP price of new gear. 

Was there a recent price drop that maybe these folks aren't aware of?  I notice at least one seller is selling an agilent branded version.

[gamalot]

I bought my 34465A for AUD1651 one year ago, and now it goes to AUD1978. 

[Earendil]

ebay listings (USA) for the 34461A are selling USED gear for more than the MSRP price of new gear. 

Was there a recent price drop that maybe these folks aren't aware of?  I notice at least one seller is selling an agilent branded version.

No, there was no price drop recently. Instead there was a significant increase of stupid and clueless less educated punters on ebay and the sellers figured that democracy is a good thing after all and now they started targeting those guys too.

[Kleinstein]

Strange high prices on Ebay might have a simple reason. It seem to be easier to change the price up to a region that hardly anyone would buy it than to temporarily take out an offer. So it might be just that the seller is on vacation or just out of stock.

[HighVoltage]

I came across a scope probe on ebay (DE) that was offered for about 50% above the new list price. When I asked the seller what that was all about, he replied very friendly: Every once in a while, someone is buying for an inflated price and he makes a good profit.

[pelule]

There are a lot of stupids in the world - so there are good chances one will pay too much.
There are also a lot of "clever" ones, believing to get everything for free.
So in average - everything is fine

[R005T3r]

Not to mention, that Christmas is a good reason to increase the prices.... 

[DaJMasta]

You see it in a lot of ebay categories, there are a handful of sellers that sell stuff well above msrp.  I think there are ebay users who assume that when they go to ebay, they get a deal, so if the category is empty and the only products available are above msrp, they sometimes buy it without researching.

I can't imagine there's a huge number that do.... but at the same time, there are a lot of overpriced items, so it must work at least sometimes.

[Assafl]

Many T&M sellers do not know the MSRP. Some look at other sellers and quote a similar high price they see.

The are - in a business sense, swapping sales cadence with profit per deal.

There are quite a few reasons to buy above MSRP. A few examples - a production line is down and lead time for the manufacturer of the T&M is too long and will incur losses. An eBay seller can deliver immediately.

I am sure there are nefarious reasons as well - e.g. Get around export restrictions.

And of course there is the discontinued stuff. If it is rare and still in use? Replacements can be expensive (look at Rochester Electronics for outrageously priced semiconductors).

Lastly - MSRP is not always inclusive. Many times MSRP is burdened with customs, extra for accessories and VAT, etc. especially overseas, the MSRP can be substantially less than the fully budened quoted price. In these cases eBay may be less expensive.

Also - haggling may work. I have cut egregious prices by more than half. Use standard negotiation techniques. Ask them is they have the standard version of the product (yup the one listed) that you can pay cash for using eBay sold pricing (not the listed pricing). Even without OBO - it sometimes works. One I use a lot is to ask if he has a product with similar option to previously sold at previously sold prices.

Some will say no. So wait more.