What's the deal with this guy???

[Ignatius-]

Has anybody else seen this dude inflating prices on ebay? Look at this FOR REPAIR Tascam 246 he has up right now!

Tascam 246 Portastudio for Repair Vintage Pro 4 Track Cassette Recorder DBX | eBay

That's just crazy!! For repair?! I looked at the description of why it's not working and laughed. And I've been looking for a PE-40 recently and it seems like the prices are way higher than they used to be. This dude has one up asking like $350 buy it now. I remember seeing them in the $150-$200 range a couple years ago. It seems like these old Tascam pieces of gear are going up in price because he keeps pushing them at incredibly high prices... Just wanted to vent a little bit.

 

[mdainsd]

Meh. There is always someone peddling their wares at ridiculous "but it now" prices. They dont sell so Im not sure they influence pricing. Sold listings are all that matters, to me at least. Let him pay his listing fees over and over on the hopes of retiring on the sale of a "pro" cassette machine. personally? LOL.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

I agree with what mdainsd said, the sold listing are the genuine way of following price trends. Case in point, a couple of local guys here in town are trying to sell an older DAT recorder, the Tascam DA-30, mark zero for around $200 on CL and have had their listings sitting there for months on end. Then I took a quick look on ebay's sold listing for the same machine and most of them sold for between 30 to 100 bucks.

Ergo: caveat em tore.

Cheers!

 

[Blue Jinn]

I don't know how to do a permanent kill file on E*bay, but I use the advanced search function and kill file flower pot man per search. It like spam and I don't have the time to scroll past his BS.

 

[Beck]

Yep, the Flower Pot Man. He is knowingly and deliberately trying to inflate the prices of these items... and it is working, unfortunately. He is way out of line. But here's what I have done and what you can do. When you see a new seller listing similar items for way too much you can bet he is using the Flower Pot man's listings as reference. Sometimes they are the only other listings on eBay for a given item. I have contacted sellers and made them aware that their listing is way overpriced and it will not sell. On several occasions I've had sellers cut the starting prices in half once they realized what is going on. eBay used to be more of an open community with more communication. I still treat it that way, and I will contact sellers and give then information about fair prices and also help correct errors in their listings about the item. Buy anyway... get involved, talk to people, make a difference a little at a time or these "Flower Pot Man" types will eventually win.

Also tell people about him... that he's full of it and not to be taken in by the pretty flower pot background. This seller offers absolutely NOTHING to justify these prices. He doesn't do or know any more about the items than anyone else. But there is a psychological principle in sales he seems to be aware of, and that is many people think they are getting a better item and generally feel more secure when they are paying a premium. But again, the seller offers nothing whatsoever beyond that feeling, so I use advanced search and block him on every search. Also use his name as much as you can, 9guitar, and remember to do what I do on the various forums you use... remind people to ALWAYS GOOGLE A SELLER NAME BEFORE CONSIDERING BIDDING ON AN ITEM!!! So people who google 9guitar will find this thread and this warning not to fall for his BS. eBay feedback is pathetic, so look outside that site for opinions on sellers and listings.

 

[mdainsd]

Well put Beck. the guy is a con. so lets add yet another post with 9guitar in it so that those who thought enough to google the name will come up with real world feedback. id send him a message on ebay, but to what end? Ebay is full of these carpetbaggers, funny thing is a lot of them resort to the weird backgrounds in their pictures. Whatever....

 

[Beck]

I did try to contact him before, but no reply. People can go the extra step by looking at the feedback when it is left and then send the buyer a note about the dumb thing he just did, and how much he overpaid. But with the way eBay is going I would set up a different account to do stuff like that. eBay seems to be more closed and intolerant all the time. Don't risk you main account over it.

Anyway, we need to be more proactive and advocate for the things we value in this profession/hobby or we will lose it. So everyone... don't just sit there!

 

[Ignatius-]

Yeah, and I totally understand the completed listings/what an item sold for price, but the problem I see is when an item is not listed that often (or is a rarer piece) and 9guitar is the only one listing said item. When there aren't a lot of comparable sales (completed listings) the listing price is generally what people are going to look at. And this is the problem... say someone needs a power supply for an m-520 (which seems to happen a lot) - he'll list one for like $500 or $600, and some person is going to be like, "okay, well we NEED this unit," so they'll spring for that because it doesn't come up that often. Then, you have a completed listing that puts that way higher than it should. It seems like it's a hard problem to fight... I hate seeing those flower pots 9guitar.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Well, supply and demand is the true arbitor of what is and isn't a fair price, and I don't think we'd want to live in a world where that isn't the case because the alternative is price fixing which is anything but free market. So if flower pot dude is the only game in town with a given item and his price is too ridiculous, the free market will sort out whether he finds a buyer or not. Yes, it would be cool if we could force him to sell that "PS-520 power supply" to us for 25 bucks instead of 5 or 600 bucks, but I'm sure if the shoe was on the other foot and you were the vendor instead of him, you wouldn't want some one else telling you what you could sell your item for.

Otherwise, yes, 9guitar is a dick. We here know that and that should as far as it goes and we can all avoid him if we choose to or not. That's our free choice and our right in a free society.

Cheers!

 

[Beck]

It certainly does not help that eBay has totally gone down the tubes... a far cry from its glory days. So while some items seem more rare on eBay they are not rare elsewhere. ebay is so messed up for buyers and sellers that people are looking for other options. There really is no eBay as it used to be or anything else like it at present time. I buy and sell on eBay about equally and I have come to absolutely hate the thing these days. I'm convinced one of my old high school girlfriends is now running eBay and is doing all this crap just to mess with my mind. Can't think of any more reasonable explanation.

 

[Blue Jinn]

I think CL will eventually supplant ebay for big ticket stuff, any one remember the old "Recycler" in and about LA? I'm with Beck. Some idi

 

[mdainsd]

Yep. Just wish it was easier to do a larger area of searching when using CL. I found my 2" tape machines and my new (to me) console on CL.

 

[Blue Jinn]

whatiwant site:craigslist.org