eBay is inflating the sold for price of test equipment

[graybeard]

I just paid $43 for an HP 428B current meter, however eBay lists the sold for price as $88.20.  I made an offer which the seller accepted.  In the past when I have done this, the actual price I paid was reflected in the sold-for listing.   However it seems now eBay is lying to increase the prices things appear to sell for.  There is no longer any trust the sold-for prices on eBay.

I bought the HP 428B because I have two of the probes in excellent shape, and this one appears to be a late model unit in relatively good shape and appears to be a good candidate for restoration. 

[ledtester]

To find out what items are selling for I always look at "Completed listings". It won't show what the "Best offer accepted" price was but at least you will know that the item didn't sell for the asking price.

[graybeard]

My shipping cost in your "completed listing" is quite a bit higher than what I paid.

[graybeard]

When I look at completed listings I get this:



However if I hit search on that screen I then get this:



eBay lies on the first search, and does not tell you the whole story on the 2nd

[DaJMasta]

My shipping cost in your "completed listing" is quite a bit higher than what I paid.

Yes, the shipping prices you will see in the completed listings section of the search are the same as the normal listings - they are calculated for the current user, not the purchaser.  Not all that useful, but also probably not a bad thing for privacy.

The strike through is the standard version of the completed items screen, seems like yours is missing.  Whether that's a pending change or a glitch, I don't know, but when clicking the listing I do see "sold for $88.20" and I think this is a glitch given that the seller discounted the item by 10%.  I believe these discounts are tracked separately on their backend, so they can attribute sales to certain promotional pricing events and whatnot, so it is probably showing you the 10% off discount price as the sold price because for some reason it's taking precedence over the fact that it sold with an offer.  On my end, when searching hp 428b and completed listings, I am seeing the correct struck through $88.20 marking like I would expect for a purchase made on offer.

[Trader]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/402889880478

make an offer

[edpalmer42]

ebay hasn't shown the actual price on 'Best Offer' items for maybe a year.  I forget when they discontinued that.

As for the confusion on whether the sale price was at the 'Best Offer' or the 'Buy it Now' price, i.e. whether the green price has the strikeout or not,  I suspect that it's a problem with ebay's servers getting out of sync.  I've done searches where refreshing the page causes items to appear and disappear - repeatedly, as my request is handled by an up-to-date server or an out-of-date one.

However, when I think about the kind of infrastructure they must have to deal with so many items and so many requests for service and still provide such fast response, I'm willing to cut them a little slack!

[DavidAlfa]

It's happening everywhere. Electronics have become more expensive.

[Chris56000]

Hi!

It's happening everywhere. Electronics have become more expensive.

Not only the final price for the item, which is often racked up to rediculous levels by greedy sellers, there's shipping costs, the cost of repairing gear smashed by careless couriers like Hermes, (who could smash a solid gold ingot!), obtaining manuals from non-free sources, custom/obsolete i.c.'s and other semiconductors, having to design adaptions for long obsolete or custom front–panel controls (I recently priced up a little DPDT switch with an LED–tipped toggle for a Japanese Oscilloscope and it was THIRTY–SIX POUNDS!)) – all factors you have to take into account even with perfectly honestly described T & M!

Apart from the above, another thread on this Forum mentioned the Israeli seller asking "sky–high prices for things that looked like they'd been run over by a tank!" – I came across a lot of those and I wouldn't touch them!

As for selling things claimed "untested" when vital boards, etc.,  have been filched from them, is pure and simple fraud, which the SNAD system is supposed to assist a buyer, but I did once write a guide on buying such types of equipment, unfortunately it only got a few views and eBay deleted it!

Chris Williams

[J-R]

There are still plenty of good deals to be had on ebay, but don't expect them to just land in your lap.

[Chris56000]

Hi!

There are still plenty of good deals to be had on ebay, but don't expect them to just land in your lap.

I certainly have had them, in one case I won a 1968 Cossor CDU130 Battery Portable Oscilloscope for £16 because "Cossor" had been mis–spelt as "Cossar!" and nobody noticed the listing! (Alas to say the internal battery converter was duffy!), and a Gould OS1200SI for £11.50 because nobody knew what the "SI" meant and there was no bookwork available – the book appeared on k04BB four days after I won it!

So yes, I certainly have had bargains fall into my lap, maybe not modern ones, but definitely not the inflated prices some UK sellers are currently trying to sell old (valve!) and early transistor Oscilloscopes at – I have quoted the most notorious example I saw elsewhere on this Forum!

What I DO want to fall into my lap is an original Cossor CDU130 handbook at ANY reasonable price, paper or electronic, drawing the CDU130 out is a pain in the proverbial! Raytheon UK totally ignored my enquiry, and the seller of one CDU130 advertised on eBay 3 years ago with original book wouldn't tell me the buyer's address so I could have sent a courteous letter of enquiry!

Chris Williams

[SilverSolder]

There are still bargains on eBay, but "the forces of evil" are putting all their energies into making you pay as much as possible!  Everyone wants a cut of your transaction:  the seller, eBay, the credit card company, PayPal, the shipping company, the local government (sales taxes)...   it all adds up and drives costs beyond reasonable limits in many cases.   It especially irritates me to have to pay sales tax when I buy some old junk from a private seller... 

I have had more fun with Facebook Marketplace recently (not with test equipment though!).  Nobody wedges themselves between you and the seller, so prices can be very attractive.

[kbrill]

I regularly purchase multiples of certain items on Ebay at much lower than the asking price . Ebay's policy of not showing the actual completed price has prevented , complicated or delayed many purchases . A  seller reasonably prices his goods based on a history  of similar listings . On a few occasions I have been able to show my purchasing history sometimes as the only recent buyer  the actual completed price and a sale was made . Ebay impedes  necessary communication  the efforts needed to bypass these policies is mostly too much to bother with .

[edpalmer42]

There are still bargains on eBay, but "the forces of evil" are putting all their energies into making you pay as much as possible!  Everyone wants a cut of your transaction:  the seller, eBay, the credit card company, PayPal, the shipping company, the local government (sales taxes)...   it all adds up and drives costs beyond reasonable limits in many cases.   It especially irritates me to have to pay sales tax when I buy some old junk from a private seller... 

I have had more fun with Facebook Marketplace recently (not with test equipment though!).  Nobody wedges themselves between you and the seller, so prices can be very attractive.

I completely agree with you!  My particular hot button is shipping costs from the U.S. to Canada.  There are many times where I see something interesting and then look at the shipping. I immediately and totally lose interest.  It doesn't matter whether it's USPS or a courier - it's ridiculous.  I can buy something on the other side of the planet and it would cost less to ship than it costs from the U.S. across a land border to Canada.  If ebay had a search option for 'anywhere except the U.S.' I would use it.

Ed

[EEVblog]

I just paid $43 for an HP 428B current meter, however eBay lists the sold for price as $88.20.  I made an offer which the seller accepted.  In the past when I have done this, the actual price I paid was reflected in the sold-for listing.   However it seems now eBay is lying to increase the prices things appear to sell for.  There is no longer any trust the sold-for prices on eBay.

I bought the HP 428B because I have two of the probes in excellent shape, and this one appears to be a late model unit in relatively good shape and appears to be a good candidate for restoration.

It shows Best Offer Accepted.
AFAIK it's always bene that way?
That's ok with me, it tells you someone didn't pay the advertised price. And you could argue that it shouldn't show the actual negotiated sold price because that's private between the two parties.

[EEVblog]

There are still plenty of good deals to be had on ebay, but don't expect them to just land in your lap.

Indeed.
I just picked up an old but still very useful scope for $99
We'll see how good it is when it gets here.

[J-R]

What I mean by landing in your lap is that you may have to put some effort in to get the good deals and avoid the bad ones.

I regularly contact sellers to discuss shipping arrangements or get more photos or information.  I read the seller's feedback and check out other items they have sold in the past.  I'll check their other listings to see if I can buy a few more things and combine the shipping.

Over 50% of the time I walk away because the seller won't respond or isn't interested in making any adjustments.

Some sellers just want the stuff gone and turned into money, other sellers appear attached to the items and won't budge on the price.  I'm sure they both have their reasons...

[SilverSolder]

There are still bargains on eBay, but "the forces of evil" are putting all their energies into making you pay as much as possible!  Everyone wants a cut of your transaction:  the seller, eBay, the credit card company, PayPal, the shipping company, the local government (sales taxes)...   it all adds up and drives costs beyond reasonable limits in many cases.   It especially irritates me to have to pay sales tax when I buy some old junk from a private seller... 

I have had more fun with Facebook Marketplace recently (not with test equipment though!).  Nobody wedges themselves between you and the seller, so prices can be very attractive.

I completely agree with you!  My particular hot button is shipping costs from the U.S. to Canada.  There are many times where I see something interesting and then look at the shipping. I immediately and totally lose interest.  It doesn't matter whether it's USPS or a courier - it's ridiculous.  I can buy something on the other side of the planet and it would cost less to ship than it costs from the U.S. across a land border to Canada.  If ebay had a search option for 'anywhere except the U.S.' I would use it.

Ed

Yeah, that raises another issue:  tariffs, import duties, and the like!  - I'm pretty sure that's part of the problem on the USA --> Canada trip... 

[graybeard]

There are still plenty of good deals to be had on ebay, but don't expect them to just land in your lap.

Indeed.
I just picked up an old but still very useful scope for $99
We'll see how good it is when it gets here.

The best recent deal was an excellent 1 GHz Tektronix TDS784D for $515.  It has a new LCD monitor and the Lithium-battery backuped NVRAM were replaced with  new DALLAS DS1250Y and DS1486.

The same seller has one on eBay now.

I was "lucky" submitting my bid just a few seconds before the auction closed.

[BeamDump]

European legal sellers usually put up their gear for much cheaper then they would on their own company sites. I was lucky to score a "practically new" Keithley 2750 for just over 300EUR.

[Johnny10]

I sold my 784D a few years back. It was a very nice scope.
Wish I had kept it.