An open letter to the free ads forum from an avid buyer and seller

H

hungovermorning

Dr. Caveman.
First of all, I would like to point out how much I enjoy buying and selling stuff on this form, but I'm really sick of these ads:

"Something kind of cool for sale, I don't know, write with an offer or something."

Now if there's something intriguing I've been mulling over and it's at a righteous price, I'll pull the trigger (utility bills be damned!), BUT, my immediate impulse and excitement is absolutely stymied by this whole offer/mystery price. There is a wonderful way to price your items. Go to ebay and search past auctions for your item. Knock a couple bucks off (which is absolutely worth it because there are no listing or final value fees here) and put a price after your item. This is especially true if you bought it new. I hate to tell you this, but that SM58 isn't worth the $100 that you paid for it anymore and you're not making any friends by trying to sell it for $80 citing that you paid $100 plus tax as your rationale. Whether we like it or not, ebay dictates prices.

Now what about the rare/exotic piece that has no precedents? I've only seen this maybe ONCE in a couple years on this board. Make an educated guess. Whatever it's worth to you is the market price. Totally unsure and unwilling to commit to a monetary amount? Sacrifice it to the ebay gods.

I'll get off my soapbox now, but I just really don't like having to email/PM someone just to kick tires and then wait for it and feel like a jerk for not buying it. If you're selling something, please put the price, you've got a way better chance of selling it. Thanks!

cheers,
scott
 
I agree.

And to add - if you're putting your item on eBay first, then DON'T FUCKING POST YOUR EBAY LINK HERE! The whole idea of this topic is to offer your gear to this community! If I want to search Ebay, I'll do just that.
 
Agreed. I'm so sick of people trying to pass off $100.00 items as $400.00 worth of "vintage" gear. 1980s MIMs as 1960s MIAs and anything in a description similar to "....that warm tube sound..." Shoot them all imo. I want the facts, not your opinion of the item.

Good shape?
Still works?
Clicks, hums, cracks, dashes, marks, checks or pops?
Your kid dumped it in a bowl of Fruity Pebbles?
Price:
 
MadAudio said:
And to add - if you're putting your item on eBay first, then DON'T FUCKING POST YOUR EBAY LINK HERE! The whole idea of this topic is to offer your gear to this community! If I want to search Ebay, I'll do just that.
Click to expand...

I disagree. I like it when people post links to their eBay auctions. It gives me an added degree of security knowing someone from this board with reputation when I'm buying from eBay. Then I can see their history as a seller on eBay and their history as a poster on these forums.

That said, users should ALWAYS post "FA" at the head of their eBay FA posts. That way people who get bothered by it can simply avoid those postings. Everyone wins. I've seen this topic come up a thousand times, and there are always a LOT of people who like the eBay posts, so long as they are clearly labeled.

Personally, when I'm selling, I also like to have the eBay machine behind my buyer as well. This requires the buyer to give more info etc. This is also a very good thing. Not everyone on this board is honest, and I know I have been ripped off on here, and so have others. eBay is a small bit of protection and people who feel best using it shouldn't be shunned from this board.

I agree 100% that people should post prices when doing a for sale ad.
 
The only problem I see with the ebay listings

is it bumps the other people down and sometimes to the next page or even two.

I'm with Tubejay in that I don't mind them, but something about it doesn't seem fair to the people who are offering it to this community first. Also, I don't want to encourage those who only join up here to link to their auctions.

I guess I don't have an answer. Too bad we don't have a sep. ebay section.
 
addendum

As an addendum, I've noticed several people who have started listing their prices and I really appreciate it. How do you all feel about criticizing someone's listed prices publicly? I've always thought that they were nice enough to post the price, I could just decide if I wanted it or not without commenting (unless it's a really good price, I typically will point those out because if I had that money, I probably would have bought it). Thoughts?
 
respectful dissenting view

Personally, I feel like people should be able to post ads however they want to so long as they follow the board policy which is, as far as I can tell:
"Looking to buy or sell music or recording equipment? Private parties only, please (no dealers or SPAM), and by using this forum you acknowledge that all deals are being made solely between the parties involved."
 
kojdogg said:
Personally, I feel like people should be able to post ads however they want to so long as they follow the board policy which is, as far as I can tell:
"Looking to buy or sell music or recording equipment? Private parties only, please (no dealers or SPAM), and by using this forum you acknowledge that all deals are being made solely between the parties involved."
Click to expand...
Which brings me to invisiblenemies latest post. I think it's totally inappropriate for this forum, and really just looks to me like he's trying to make some extra profit here on mostly non-audio gear through some wholesale connection he has. ez_willis has already busted his chops about it.
 
MadAudio said:
Which brings me to invisiblenemies latest post. I think it's totally inappropriate for this forum, and really just looks to me like he's trying to make some extra profit here on mostly non-audio gear through some wholesale connection he has. ez_willis has already busted his chops about it.
Click to expand...
yep, don't know the dude and he has good rep, but it smells of canned salt and pork as well as shoulder of the latter.
 
As far as criticising the prices

if you're just trying to get his price down for yourself, that's some thing that should be between the two of you, i.e. email or pm. If you're just telling him for his benefit, again, to me that's an email or pm situation. I guess I just don't see the point in being rude just to be rude.

And something else that bugs me: to me, this should be restricted to music and recording-related stuff, not gaming consoles or cameras or free kittens to a good home. Take that stuff to ebay, please.
 
usually I wont say a word about someones pricing, but if it is a major rip off I will call the person on it. Once someone came here and tried to sell a major brand guitar that I won't name for 4700.00 dollars if I remember correctly. I called him on it and told him I wouldn't give him 47 cents, just trying to save some newbie heartbreak. Some people agreed with me and supported my statements and some others didn't. The seller got awful pissed, but I don't give a damn.
 
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