About used items price on eBay/Amazon

[chickenwingfly]

Hello guys,

There's something I've always wondered and that is, why are second-hand items so expensive on those places?
Like if you take a video game that is $30 brand new (free shipping with Amazon), then you see a lot of people selling it for 25 used? I mean, really? Is 5 USD so much of a difference to people on the US to prefer buying it that way instead of getting a sealed, fresh, mint, brand new item for 5 bucks more? (and in some cases you add the shipping costs and they end up being the same price as new!).

Just bothers me a bit, since I've never been able to bid or place an order for used items, since the prices are so close to the regular "new price" that I don't see the need to bother just to save some spare change.

If you were buying like 100 units then yeah.. but obviously people are not doing massive bulk ordering of used items (don't think so), so it's not like they probably intend to save.

In the end I always end up buying the new item and tell myself another few hours wasted, why do you hold your hopes?.

And then we have the sellers that will offer a new game for $300 when the regular price is $40 or $50. What are they expecting? I understand in the case of things like the PS4 which is momentary but really, when the item is still available (aka not collector's), who in their right mind (to put it politely) would grab the item for 10x more?

I just talked about games since it's what I'm currently shopping, and got reminded of making this question, to hopefully understand if there's more to it that my eyes can't see. But I've seen it in a varied amount of different articles over the years.

Thanks for reading. Any thoughts?

 

[Astroboy907]

Welcome to eBay. Most people think they get great deals in eBay but generally good deals only happen like 3% of the time. You've got to invest a lot of time looking for used things to get really any worthwhile deals...

 

[grizzlyedwin]

Welcome to eBay. Most people think they get great deals in eBay but generally good deals only happen like 3% of the time. You've got to invest a lot of time looking for used things to get really any worthwhile deals...

This is very sad, yet very true.

Sometimes it's as bad as buying/selling games at Gamestop.

 

[ucfgrad93]

It is up to the buyer to be informed.

 

[Huntn]

I'm not nearly as active as I used to be on ebay, but as a rule you don't see games that sold new for $30, sell for $25 on ebay used. Amazon might be similar, but then again, it is a seller trolling for a sucker.

When I was selling a $40 game that was fairly new, a year or less, I could stick it on ebay auction for $10 and if I was lucky it might get up to $15-20. And sometimes it did not sell for $10, it all depends on how my copies of that game is in auction at the time. That is always important to check.

As a rule Amazon is cheaper from the git go. Recently went to purchase Rocksmith 2014. Best Buy wanted $70 for it new, while at Amazon it was $40 new. That is the burden of being a brick and mortar store, higher overhead. That's why everyone wants to be like Amazon.

 

[Jessica Lares]

Because they can get away with it. eBay or Amazon aren't going to side with a buyer who "accidentally" overpaid for something. The price is written in big letters, it appears in your invoice, your Paypal, your bank account, etc.

It is your responsibility as a buyer to read the description. If you don't, you're in the wrong every time.

 

[chickenwingfly]

Woah.
Didn't expect those answers.

Thank you guys. Fortunately it's just thievery by sellers then and not a common trend for buyers to get lured in for a few bucks less.
I was under the impression eBay was "great". Guess not quite

I'm not nearly as active as I used to be on ebay, but as a rule you don't see games that sold new for $30, sell for $25 on ebay used. Amazon might be similar, but then again, it is a seller trolling for a sucker.

When I was selling a $40 game that was fairly new, a year or less, I could stick it on ebay auction for $10 and if I was lucky it might get up to $15-20. And sometimes it did not sell for $10, it all depends on how my copies of that game is in auction at the time. That is always important to check.

Well amazon pricing has been going up like crazy these days, I guess it's the whole xmas extravaganza.
But let's take an easy example.
Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS), 40 bucks right now on Amazon (was 30 last night).
Top seller on eBay, 38 bucks plus 6.20 shipping = 44 bucks. Oh and it doesn't even come with the case.
This is another top seller on eBay, 37 with shipping. Seems in mint condition but still, 3 bucks less than new as of right now.

Your story of how it got sold for 10-15 seems more like I would expect in normal conditions. So I guess I was just naive to think they were not scammers and most people would fall for it (of course it only takes a few dummies here and there for those scammers to make their biz).

 

[Huntn]

Woah.
Didn't expect those answers.

Thank you guys. Fortunately it's just thievery by sellers then and not a common trend for buyers to get lured in for a few bucks less.
I was under the impression eBay was "great". Guess not quite



Well amazon pricing has been going up like crazy these days, I guess it's the whole xmas extravaganza.
But let's take an easy example.
Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS), 40 bucks right now on Amazon (was 30 last night).
Top seller on eBay, 38 bucks plus 6.20 shipping = 44 bucks. Oh and it doesn't even come with the case.
This is another top seller on eBay, 37 with shipping. Seems in mint condition but still, 3 bucks less than new as of right now.

Your story of how it got sold for 10-15 seems more like I would expect in normal conditions. So I guess I was just naive to think they were not scammers and most people would fall for it (of course it only takes a few dummies here and there for those scammers to make their biz).

There are suckers to be found. When I see a game marked at $5 less than new, I buy new from Amazon.

 

[Astroboy907]

Honestly, it's just a gamble with eBay. Like apple wireless keyboards, most seem to be in the $35 range, with some listed for $70 (basically retail price) used, and others, the rare ones, listed for $20 or something. This is why I like forum markets, because people here are generally not clueless on how to price something, and most everything gets driven down into the lower range.

 

[chickenwingfly]

Yeah I guess I will just keep on grabbing the (new) few stuff that I cannot otherwise in say, Amazon, but I'll give up on the used part and save my time for something else.