why do people pay so much on Ebay

AMW

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Just bought some new Snuggyhoods travel boots in their sale for £15, arrived today. Having a nosey on Ebay, 2nd hand ones currently sitting at £22, someone else selling brand new ones for £35 (bought in sale?) Seen it so often with rugs too.
If im after something on Ebay I always check its retail price, why would you not.
 
I always set the top price I'm willing to pay (less than standard). I use it mainly when there is one sole supplier so there is no real other choice in new. I find a lot of people don't take into account postage too.

For things like country boots i've often found them far cheaper new than anywhere else online. Unfortunately the guy I used to buy them off isn't selling anymore :(
 
Maybe people get caught up in the excitement of bidding. I always have a top price i will pay and i include the p&p in that. I do agree op im often surprised too how much people will pay for 2nd hand.
 
Auction fever.
I remember going to see some bankrupt stock at a real life auction many years ago. There were about 20 identical lots of netting - normal retail price £9.99. The first couple of lots went for over the retail price! By lot 5 they were down to 50p & several lots didn't even sell at that price. I was after childrens wall hangings of which there were 5 lots. I bought the last 2 lots for a combined price of about 20% of the sale price of the first lot.
Whether it's a live or online auction I always set a researched top limit that includes postage, buyers premium etc & stick rigidly to it. Sniping software is brilliant for ebay as it stops you getting caught up in the excitement. I always try & buy out of season too as there is less competition & the last couple of weeks before christmas can throw up some terrific bargains. In fact my son's christmas present was a BNWT £53 instead of over £150 ebay buy in that last 2 weeks!
 
"For things like country boots i've often found them far cheaper new than anywhere else online. Unfortunately the guy I used to buy them off isn't selling anymore"

He's probably gone out of business if he was selling too cheaply :(

I find eBay very hard to compete with on some of my product lines because I am running a proper business and need to make a modest profit on everything I sell. I am not greedy and don't charge much above wholesale prices but some eBayers sell at below wholesale prices and I simply can't compete with that. They usually don't stay in business for long either :rolleyes:
 
Its because they don't bother checking the actual price. I was looking a while ago for 14.5" saddles in xw for daughters witherless pony, really was looking at ancient battered but good quality leather & I searched for ones under 150. It found me a really nice one for about £80 to buy now. Thought it was a bargain till I saw p&p was about £180!
 
I should imagine it was wholesale. It was slightly more expensive than my friend could get them as her OH worked for a store selling. So still had a mark up, but no where near the store mark up.
I have no problem paying a fair price, but an almost 50pc mark up for a pair of boots which die in a year I can't justify - through eBay I can.
 
I've got some good bargains on eBay and I try not to overspend, I look at prices elsewhere etc.
Sometimes though I get a bit bad at it and just HAVE to win. It's really frustrating when it's just a few pence over my max bid so I push it a little.. Luckily I've never overspent too much (a couple of pounds at most) but it makes me think afterwards why did I do that??
 
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