Jim
2009-01-29 19:37:16 UTC
What I'm learning is how CL prices differs from ebay, and what that
means to me.
I like to deal, to haggle, to negotiate on prices. That was common in
music stores when I was a kid, so I grew up with that mindset. Sure,
there's a price tag on it, but what would it really take to buy it. This
may be a disappearing thing with the move to buying stuff off the net.
No real way to negotiate with an online pricing computer. What you can
do is walk, move on to the next seller.
And that's what I'm realizing about Craigslist, sometimes I need to just
move on past a particular sale.
On ebay, you can look a seller up, see if they are reliable. Craigs....
nope.
On ebay, you can look up completed auctions and kind of determine what
something might actually be worth. For example, if some particular amp
always sells around $200, and never ever sold over $275... then a Buy it
Now at $499 is just stupid.
There is more wrong with the Craigslist model, sure. But today I'm
focusing in on how some guys put stuff on Craigslist at " stupid "
prices. The ads run their 30 days and get deleted ... and then they just
put them back at the same price. That seemed crazy to me. I mean, if
something is going to sell at X price, it will in a day or two. If it
runs 30... then 60 ... then 90 days and hasn't sold, it isn't gonna at
that price.
My normal game it to respond to ads of stuff I'm interested in, and
offer a fair, lower price. Out of about 30 buys since fall, I've been
turned down 3 times, and each by a guy who's item is still there,
running for the 3rd or 4th 30 day cycle, same price, same ad. This sort
of mystified me until this morning when my cuz said, they are looking of
someone to come along who DOESN'T know what the item is worth. Well,
duh, I'm feeling dumb. I thought they wanted to sell it, and yeah, they
do... but for way over what it's worth. Kind of like guys who drive all
the time with for sale signs in their car window. It's always for sale
if you want to pay over market for it.
This is kind of different from ebay, where you can spot sales like this
right off, and they don't last, because ebay charges to run it.
What I need to do is mentally adjust to walking away from these " sucker
" sales on CL. Or, maybe devise a buying plan that either exposes them
or forces their hand before I spend time wishing. Perhaps something like
rr's " gee that is an in demand weekend " strategy. I could make an
offer, and if snubbed, follow up with a time limited second one, or an
even lower second try. Not that they care, they will just keep running
the same " looking for a sucker " one.
jim d .. older and wiser today.
means to me.
I like to deal, to haggle, to negotiate on prices. That was common in
music stores when I was a kid, so I grew up with that mindset. Sure,
there's a price tag on it, but what would it really take to buy it. This
may be a disappearing thing with the move to buying stuff off the net.
No real way to negotiate with an online pricing computer. What you can
do is walk, move on to the next seller.
And that's what I'm realizing about Craigslist, sometimes I need to just
move on past a particular sale.
On ebay, you can look a seller up, see if they are reliable. Craigs....
nope.
On ebay, you can look up completed auctions and kind of determine what
something might actually be worth. For example, if some particular amp
always sells around $200, and never ever sold over $275... then a Buy it
Now at $499 is just stupid.
There is more wrong with the Craigslist model, sure. But today I'm
focusing in on how some guys put stuff on Craigslist at " stupid "
prices. The ads run their 30 days and get deleted ... and then they just
put them back at the same price. That seemed crazy to me. I mean, if
something is going to sell at X price, it will in a day or two. If it
runs 30... then 60 ... then 90 days and hasn't sold, it isn't gonna at
that price.
My normal game it to respond to ads of stuff I'm interested in, and
offer a fair, lower price. Out of about 30 buys since fall, I've been
turned down 3 times, and each by a guy who's item is still there,
running for the 3rd or 4th 30 day cycle, same price, same ad. This sort
of mystified me until this morning when my cuz said, they are looking of
someone to come along who DOESN'T know what the item is worth. Well,
duh, I'm feeling dumb. I thought they wanted to sell it, and yeah, they
do... but for way over what it's worth. Kind of like guys who drive all
the time with for sale signs in their car window. It's always for sale
if you want to pay over market for it.
This is kind of different from ebay, where you can spot sales like this
right off, and they don't last, because ebay charges to run it.
What I need to do is mentally adjust to walking away from these " sucker
" sales on CL. Or, maybe devise a buying plan that either exposes them
or forces their hand before I spend time wishing. Perhaps something like
rr's " gee that is an in demand weekend " strategy. I could make an
offer, and if snubbed, follow up with a time limited second one, or an
even lower second try. Not that they care, they will just keep running
the same " looking for a sucker " one.
jim d .. older and wiser today.