Price Inflation

[splitimageview]

Ebay now charges around 15% for a transaction. However, you can list it as a buy it now and if it's above $1000 you pay a flat $100. I think a lot of dealers (stores) are simply listing inventory to see if anyone bites. if no one bids they aren't out anything. IF someone does - BINGO.

Ebay got too greedy and has basically driven out private sales. If you check the completed ads you'll see lots of items are never sold.

Many sellers will put high prices and sit on gear until someone comes along and wants it NOW and is willing to pay the price. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, of course. But it does lead to many uncompleted 'buy it now'.

Any professional ebay seller of camera gear will be so-called 'top rated' or 'power seller' which means they get 20% off the fees, so that $100 becomes $80. It's not anywhere near 15%. This site will break down the fees for you.

There are still plenty of private sales on ebay. They haven't been driven out, there are just perhaps a smaller percentage of the overall offerings.

ebay is by far the largest market of used camera gear, that's where the buyers are, so thats where the sellers go. It's no wonder there are more dealers now.

 

[Elmar Lang]

Well, maybe I'm old-fashioned, but in some way, I hate eBay, since what in that place is called "auction", actually is thousands miles far from what a real auction is... with all the connected many negative aspects (and the very few positive ones).

I prefer to drive a few hours by car and see what I'm going to buy, or at least receive a "condition report" from a reputed expert.

In many specialized room-based auctions I see also average-level cameras/equipment, not only top-quality pieces. Of course an auction catalogue needs exceptional items too, in order to attract the attention of high-level collectors, but also pieces and materials to the beginner.

Not far from where I live, there is a shop specialized in used and vintage cameras: all material for sale have been thoroughly inspected and checked for functionality: they give a full guarantee between 1 and 2 years... even on a Contax-I!

This is, in my opinion, a plus worth a 5-/10% more in the price of an item.

Best wishes,

E.L.

 

[S.H.]

I think "classic" gear prices is increasing. By "classic" I mean in particular:
- Rolleiflex (even a junk 2.8f sells $$$)
- Leica
- Zeiss Opton/Jena Contax lenses (not always easy to get cheaply)

What is really baffling is that on ebay, you buy just looking at small pictures... and it still command high prices, even obvious junk.

It is not always based on scarcity : Hasselblad 1000f gear is almost unsellable (in France at least). I have a spare 135mm Zeiss for 1000f, I do not even bother to put it on ebay.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I guess I ought to check out the rff classifieds more, but I find that the search function isn't great and if I trawl through all the ads I start to get GAS 😉

The search (dys)function has been a complaint for years...maybe more to come? 😎

 

[David Murphy]

Ebay now charges around 15% for a transaction. However, you can list it as a buy it now and if it's above $1000 you pay a flat $100. I think a lot of dealers (stores) are simply listing inventory to see if anyone bites. if no one bids they aren't out anything. IF someone does - BINGO.

Ebay got too greedy and has basically driven out private sales. If you check the completed ads you'll see lots of items are never sold.

Yes this is all true, but as alluded to above something else going on too. eBay negotiates special (lower) fees with high volume sellers. That's how some can competitively sell something like a USB or HDMI cable for $1.50 on eBay. The little people (like most of us) don't get these breaks (that applies to most people selling vintage camera gear). This is all disheartening for small sellers and reduces volume while probably raising prices for collectibles.

 

[jpa66]

There's also the problem of the mis-informed buyer, who buys something without realizing that he (or she) is getting shafted. Case in point: 2 rolls of Kodak HIE for sale, with one roll out of the container and exposed to daylight ( it's in the picture ). The one roll that is out of its container and has been exposed to daylight is probably at best only good for 2/3 of the roll, and most likely ruined for the most part. Yet people still bid on it. Insane.

 

[Beemermark]

Not far from where I live, there is a shop specialized in used and vintage cameras: all material for sale have been thoroughly inspected and checked for functionality: they give a full guarantee between 1 and 2 years... even on a Contax-.

You are extremely lucky.

 

[boomguy57]

Agreed. Ebay used to be good for deals, but now it's been flooded with people trying to make ebay their job, and jack up the prices. I stay away.

 

[splitimageview]

Just to be fair here, there are two kinds of ebay sales:

Buy it now
Auction

If a 'buy it now' is too high for you, don't buy it now.

Auction values are increased by the buyers. Seller's don't set the price, the buyers are the ones that 'jack it up.'

 

[Elmar Lang]

Yes, I know: sales at eBay are divided those 2 categories.

Of course, if a buy-it-now price is too high... I wouldn't buy and leave the chance to other ones (possibly, a Russian oil tycoon).

In eBay "auctions", the final price is made by prospective buyers' bids.

I prefer not to consider this latter type of sale as a proper "auction", since it actually is a sale between private people with increasing price (and the increase of prices can even have some hidden tricks. It also happens that an auction ends earlier... because someone privately contacted the seller with an interesting offer, leaving the other bidders "alone".

A true auction, sees a team of (hopefully) experts, inspecting, valuating and cataloguing each piece, then visible in both printed and online catalogues; a public wiewing allows the public to ascertain the quality of the offered lots and, if impossible to personally see the items, the auction house's experts are available to provide prospective buyers with further images and the so-called "condition reports". The sale is publicly held in a room, under the conduction of an auctioneer, defending absentee bids and accepting room, phone and/or online bids, until the final, hammer price.

I think that many are the differences between a true auction and those taking place on eBay.

In this way, many (also expensive) disappointments are avoided.

In reply to Beemermark: yes, I feel quite lucky having such a store less than 2 hrs. drive far from home. So, many clients of that store do feel themselves, I guess. It's a nice place where no pressure is made, all the time is allowed to ask, check, inspect and talk about our hobby. Clients sit down in armchairs placed around the counter and -if needed- an excellent coffee is kindly offered by the management. I think that such places are rare to see nowadays, but surprisingly, the owner and his employees are all young people. So, it's understandable if I prefer to spend a few Euro more on a camera or a lens and avoid the risk of feeling bad with certain online "surprises"...

E.L.

 

[rxmd]

Seller's don't set the price, the buyers are the ones that 'jack it up.'

Yeah, and the seller has a couple of second accounts and so do his buddies. And he can set a reserve price to pretend the price is $1 when he actually won't sell at less than $1000. And he can accept side bids from other people outside the eBay system. And he can pretend that the item was destroyed if he doesn't like your final price. It's not like auction sellers don't have plenty of control over whom they're selling to and at what price.

 

[Richard C]

I bought one popular lens in near mint condition with BIN for 65 UKpounds over Xmas. A couple of weeks later the same lens was advertised for 100 UKpounds and sold almost immediately with BIN. Several weeks later the same lens was advertised as BIN at 198 UKpounds and once again sold almost immediately.

I agree that some people just cannot wait to get their hands on something and are not prepared to wait until they see one advertised more cheaply. This is a big factor in forcing the prices up.

 

[splitimageview]

EBay tracks activity pretty closely...this shilling does happen, but not as often as you might think. I know of ebay sellers who have been caught doing this and that have been banned. There is even an RFF sponsor who was banned from ebay for a time, in fact.

The system certainly isn't perfect, but the original topic was 'price inflation' lamenting the lack of bargains, yet the previous post to this one indicated a popular lens sold three different times; certainly the first two were bargains compared to the last...and it was also previously posted that many 'buy it now' go unclaimed because the prices are too high. Generally speaking, if something is priced too high for the market, it's not going to sell. If a lens is worth 198 GBP, then it will...

I get bargains on ebay all the time, you just have to know how to do it.

 

[sailor]

I've had lots of bargains on Ebay too but there's no doubt it's a lot harder than it used to be. There are far fewer auctions than there used to be with a huge increase in BIN. Since there are fewer auctions, what seems to happen is there are plenty of bidders and the items go for the top end of their value. Not good for bargain seekers but great for sellers. I am in the UK but there are now many more items from the USA being auctioned. Even though the final prices don't look too bad, by the time international postage and customs fees are factored in it's not worth it.

 

[splitimageview]

True. With eBay being the largest marketplace by far for used gear, you are competing against people all over the world. And don't forget, if you win an auction, you just agreed to pay more than anyone else that's looking at that item. So by my definition, that's not a 'bargain.' 🙂

 

[splitimageview]

For what it's worth, nearly all my sales are auctions starting at 99 cents. Doesn't matter if I'm selling a $20 strap or a $6000 Noct...they all start at 0.99.

What I don't get are the people that place bids 1 minute after I post an auction, and continue to bid over the course of five or seven days. Why don't they wait til the last second to place their bids? I certainly do it that way...

 

[sailor]

I agree up to a point. In my experience those who bid umpteen times hardly ever win the item. If I really want something I'll occasionally bid early with my final bid which will be based on what I think the item is worth less an amount so that I can convince myself I've got a bargain if I win! I think sometimes bidding this way puts people off as they might put in a few bids only to find they are continually being outbid.

 

[splitimageview]

Never bid early. 🙂 Ever.

 

[Kent]

The more cameras are on the market you can use vintage lense with, the higher the prices will climb.

 

[Snacks]

Early bids, especially where the number of page views cannot be seen, let others know that they will have to compete with someone for the item. Of course, it's not very intimidating if you set down what you're willing to pay for the item and stick to it.