ebay question...

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plummet

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Hey everyone...

Tell me if you can. I have been monitoring the pricing of Tritons, Motifs, and Fantoms on ebay. There are some rediculous selling prices there according to what they came out with. I am watching an auction right now of a Triton Pro 76 key that has 5 hours left on the auction and the current bid is $610. Is this right? what am I missing here? Should we be snatching these up or is there a drawback? I am looking for a new workstation in this vein... Is this the way to go?
 
hi Plummet-

I've been a user of E-bay and also bought lots of equipment new as well. There are benefits and drawbacks to both approaches.

E-bay- Benefits: An opportunity of getting a great deal, the fun and excitement of bidding in an auction. Drawbacks: Risk- You are buying a used instrument, probably without any kind of warranty from and unknown entity. I recently lost an auction by $25.00 and found out afterwards that E-bay suspended the sellers privileges due to fradulent activity. Other drawbacks are that, if you're impetuous, you can easily get into a bidding war and spend more than you should. Also, there is that "instant gratification" problem. Winning an aucion takes time and then you have to wait for the item to arrive.

That said, I've had VERY good luck, but I'm careful. Check the feedback rating of the seller. Read the complaints carefully. Read the description of the item closely. Most important make LIBERAL use of the "Ask seller a question" option. I find that I get a much better feel of who I'm dealing with when I do this. Plus I get a better description of the item and it helps in deciding how much I'm willing to spend.

Remember, even though the prices of the items looks very low right now, most of the bidding occurs in the last few moments of the auction. It's really pointless to bid prior to that time as you are only raising the price needlessly.

Decide how much you are willing to spend for a given item, factoring in the risk and lack of support, the condition of the item, the possibility of getting your investment back out of it if you decide you aren't happy, etc. Remember to add in the cost of shipping. Once you set a limit for yourself STICK TO IT!!! Don't succumb to the excitement of bidding or the all-to-common competitiveness that many of us are guilty of. Some of us just HATE to lose! Remember that there are millions of items on E-bay and, in all likelihood, if you don't win this auction, there will be another for the same thing soon enough.

Make one bid as close to the end of the auction as you can (a broadband connection really helps). If you don't get it, well, say, c'est la vie and move on.

On the whole, I've had good experiences with e-bay, but I do my homework. I know how much things are worth to me, I know what they're selling for and I try not to get emotionally involved in the purchase.

Good luck!

Ted
 
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thanks guys

that triton pro ended at $730 and I just can't help but feel there's got to be something wrong there. I bought my in-ear monitor system off of ebay, so I'm comfotable with buying from them, but you have to wonder about a $2000 swing in price. I just don't know... it seems too good to be true.
 
thanks guys

that triton pro ended at $730 and I just can't help but feel there's got to be something wrong there. I bought my in-ear monitor system off of ebay, so I'm comfotable with buying from them, but you have to wonder about a $2000 swing in price. I just don't know... it seems too good to be true.
 
Hey,

I basically would say the same as tedluk. Watch feedback ratings. And check "completed auctions" Prices range from crazy cheap to way more than anyone should pay. I generally watch for 1-4 weeks before bidding to recognizing a REALLY good deal when I see one, and put a heavy weight on the # of feedbacks and the percentage. Prices swing fast, and swing far. I have actually been pretty good at buying really cheap, using for a bit, then making a SMALL profit. I even put all my auctions as "buy it now" only. I make the price almost as cheap as you can get, but no wait. Works great. I have had well over three hundred transactions in 5 years with only 1 TINY hiccup.

Good luck,

NL5
 
All good advice, thnx guys. I have just started to sell and buy off ebay so these tips are extremely useful. Thnx.
 
plummet said:
that triton pro ended at $730 and I just can't help but feel there's got to be something wrong there. I bought my in-ear monitor system off of ebay, so I'm comfotable with buying from them, but you have to wonder about a $2000 swing in price. I just don't know... it seems too good to be true.
Click to expand...

Well, there may have been something wrong, or maybe not. I didn't follow that auction. One thing I've found is that very few items seem to sell for a lot more or a lot less than what they're worth. There is a sort of equilibrium to most auctions. Unless an item is mis-listed (wrong category and/or a bad description or title), it will, almost always, find a buyer willing to pay for it.

If a seller has a lot of negative feedback I get very wary. If one or two people have a complaint then it might just be one of those things, but if you detect a pattern of unresolved problems or the seller's attitude towards them is "tough luck" then I'd steer clear. A good deal isn't worth the potential headaches of trying to get your money back. Most of the people selling are either reputable dealers or shop owners branching out into a new market or they are little guys like us, but there are always a few bad people.

Other things I look at are the number of views an auction has had, if the seller has enabled this feature it's down towards the bottom of the page and gives you an idea of how many people are watching the item. If few people are paying attention, you might get lucky.

My best transactions have been when dealing with people who haven't got a lot of experience selling. They don't always list the item correctly, for instance, so people might have trouble finding it or they give a poor description and it doesn't look attractive to buyers (this is why it can be helpful to ask a lot of questions).

I'll throw out one other tip-
I've been looking at www.instrumentexchange.com sometimes too. They, I think, are affiliated with GC. There is a lot of gear there and it's often priced very low. They don't get anywhere near the traffic of e-bay so it's not uncommon to be the only bidder on an item. Their system is different and I don't find it as clear as e-bay, but, again, if you ask questions of the seller, you can find out what you need to know.

I haven't made a ton of transactions on e-bay. I would love to find a product to sell there though. I think it could be possible to make a lot of money selling online and it's fun as well. Anyone got any ideas?

Ted
 
arcaxis said:
The Triton for $730, was that the 61 key LE model that was listed ? If so that can be had for about $1000 or so at a couple of internet dealer sites I visited.
Interestingly I looked at three other Tritons with an action end date of 6/7/04. These were more expensive models that went really cheap. The funny part is that they all were listed as the seller being from Woburn, MA, all had different seller names, and 0 to 1 feedback. Most of the bidders had less than 10-15 feedbacks, so not much ebay experience. This is one I would stay well away from.
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Yeah, Plummet, I couldn't find a Triton Pro for $730.00 anywhere. What was the auction number you were looking at?
 
well actually...

It ended up a little higher than that it was at $1030. I hadn't refreshed my browser... however, if you look at the following it just blows my mind.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3730641274&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3731006108&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

I just think that these things have either got to have something wrong, or are not what they say...
I would love to hear from someone that's gotten e\a deal like this from e-bay to see what happened...
 
Hey,

Like I said above, eBay prices swing dramatically. I totally disagree with the person above that said there is an equilibrium. BS. I buy and sell a TON of stuff, and I watch, and watch, and watch. As an example, I just bought a Motu 1224 for $209 SHIPPED, then sold it a month later for $325. Thats over a 50% increase. I could of got more, but I did it BIN only, at a good price ( I bought it for a great price). Also, the higher priced the item is, the bigger the swing, because you get a lot less bidders generally.

Actually, here's another example- I am trying to buy monitors. Saw a set of KRK V6's go for $300...didn't bid....saw a set up a weeek later, they went for just shy of $600. Pretty good swing in just a week.

Just read descriptions carefully, CHECK FEEDBACK (total #, percentage, and see what they have been selling) If the guy has sold five keyboards, and recieved five positive feedbacks (along with atleast 100 more) for the keyboards, then you are probably pretty safe. Also, pay via paypal with a CC. If there is a problem, reverse the charges. I habe never had to do that, but I am pretty picky.

NL5
 
Just looked at the two auctions. 0 and -1 feedback. That is why they went for so little.

I buy that kinda stuff sometimes if it is REALLY REALLY low. Then test it, and re sell with my high feedback rating. Risky tho.
 
yeah

I guess caveat emptor - but wow, It's awfully tempting when the music stores are selling this stuff at twice the price... oh well... very interesting. Thanks for the tips guys...
 
NL5 said:
Just looked at the two auctions. 0 and -1 feedback. That is why they went for so little.
Click to expand...

Which confirms my equilibrium theory.

Of course there are going to be exceptions, usually for the reasons I mentioned-i.e. an item sneaks in under the radar due to mis-listing. But there are too many intelligent buyers out there for items to sell for a lot less than they're worth very often. Now it's entirely possible for things to sell for a lot MORE than they're worth because there are also a lot of STUPID buyers out there too.

My point was that, due to the number of people who use e-bay, most things are going to sell for what they're worth. You might occasionally get lucky and get a deal (as those two auctions you referenced show- of course those bidders are taking a chance. It would be interesting to check back in a few days and see if they leave positive feedback.).

NL5, that you say you "watch and watch and watch" shows that it's uncommon for you to find a deal like you got on the MOTU unit. What you sold it for is about in the middle of the going prices for that box. I'm willing to bet that you probably look at hundreds of items. What is the percentage of "great deals" you find out of all the items you view?

It's not impossible to find great deals on e-bay, it's just that you've got to work at it and not get emotionally involved in the auction process.

Ted
 
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