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I hate eBay so much...

DMG35

DMG35

Contributor
Original poster
May 27, 2021
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eBay has ruined trying to ever buy anything, ever. Anytime something that has value or is only sold in limited quantiites these complete *******'s scoop the items up only to sell them for a massive profit on eBay. Its done with pretty much every Apple item out there, with video game consoles, jewelry, EVERYTHING. I hate it and hate the fact that they make it impossible to buy things because simply because they want to make a profit off of someone.

I know that this has been going on forever but they have gotten even more sophisticated now and have bots that are ready to buy something as soon as it becomes available for sale. Its absolutely disgusting and I truly hate it.

Now I know there are good sellers on there who are selling their used items and even those that have legitimate stores. But the vast majority of it is scumbags just looking to make a big profit simply because they have a system set up that buys them stuff before anyone else.

That is my rant. I hate eBay and if you are one of the people who do this I don't like you either.
 
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bsamcash said:
It’s not eBay you hate, it’s scalpers. And must of us agree.
Click to expand...

True, but eBay is why these scalpers exist and they encourage it by saying "Find these items only on eBay!"
 
DMG35 said:
True, but eBay is why these scalpers exist and they encourage it by saying "Find these items only on eBay!"
Click to expand...
Not really. eBay scalpers are people of opportunity, which eBay is a gateway, but scalping in general has been on the influx for years now. And when you look at eBay as a whole, they are the largest, most notable online retailer for people to sell and buy, and naturally scalping only applies to specific commodities that have high demand, not everything eBay does is ‘evil.’
 
I think everyone has different ideas about what a "decent" price may be.
For example, you may not be ready to pay more.
Kinda how the free market works...
The buyer gets the item they want. And, the seller makes a profit. If the price is too high for you, you move on.
You and the seller are both looking for an opportunity. Sometimes, you and the seller are just not on the same page (or maybe even the same planet) -- so, you move on to something else.
 
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DeltaMac said:
I think everyone has different ideas about what a "decent" price may be.
For example, you may not be ready to pay more.
Kinda how the free market works...
The buyer gets the item they want. And, the seller makes a profit. If the price is too high for you, you move on.
You and the seller are both looking for an opportunity. Sometimes, you and the seller are just not on the same page (or maybe even the same planet) -- so, you move on to something else.
Click to expand...

That completely misses the point.
 
Jessica Lares said:
It is terrible when they do it with limited runs of single and EP vinyls that are priced to be affordable to begin with. They take something that was $20 and then want $50-100 to pocket for themselves.
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Its awful. I mean look at something like the Apple polishing cloth, which I don't even want. Anyone looking for that in a store can't find it because these ******* scalpers bought them all up and now want $50 on eBay for one of them. Its gotten ridiculous.
 
Relentless Power said:
Not really. eBay scalpers are people of opportunity, which eBay is a gateway, but scalping in general has been on the influx for years now. And when you look at eBay as a whole, they are the largest, most notable online retailer for people to sell and buy, and naturally scalping only applies to specific commodities that have high demand, not everything eBay does is ‘evil.’
Click to expand...
DeltaMac said:
I think everyone has different ideas about what a "decent" price may be.
For example, you may not be ready to pay more.
Kinda how the free market works...
The buyer gets the item they want. And, the seller makes a profit. If the price is too high for you, you move on.
You and the seller are both looking for an opportunity. Sometimes, you and the seller are just not on the same page (or maybe even the same planet) -- so, you move on to something else.
Click to expand...
OP seems to be using eBay to purchase rare items, or items that have such popularity that the prices have been jacked up. OP is right in stating that we (he and I) are looking for very different things. I don't go to eBay for that stuff precisely because of OP's problem.

But eBay is great as a common goods store. Hardware, soft goods, common computer parts, groceries, etc. That's what I use it for. If you keep it in perspective and lower your expectations it's a pretty good alternative.

Although that one vendor that sent my Dickies carpenter shorts to China probably won't be seeing my business again…
 
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eBay is Okay,
the sellers are the culprits!
 
DMG35 said:
Yeah well you and I clearly aren't looking for the same things.
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I don't really have problems with the kind of things I look for. They're too obscure, but I have been on the reverse end of what you described where I wanted to sell something at a very reasonable price only to see it snapped up seconds after I listed it. I realized quickly that someone used a bot to instantly buy anything they could resell it at a much higher markup.

That wasn't on eBay though. It was StubHub. I sold concert tickets for a sold out show that I couldn't attend. Someone turned right around and resold my tickets for at least 4x what they paid me.

Ever since that experience, my lesson learned was to always charge what the market will bear when you're selling on an online marketplace. That's no place to be sentimental.

But to have a bit of perspective on your eBay experiences, the number of people who badly price their goods so low that they're easy fodder isn't that abundant. If those listings even make it past 30 minutes the would still be steals to be had for anyone who's diligent.

Keep in mind that the discount would have to be pretty significant for this kind of aggressive practice to work out. It's nearly impossible to make a profit if someone is only able to resell something with only a 10% markup because eBay and credit card companies are taking a cut both directions. The thing you're complaining about does exist, but I don't think it's as rampant as you feel it is.
 
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Thx for the info.
Certain people should go back to school and learn about economics.
Supply and demand. It is as easy as it gets.
Why should someone sell something cheap if the market pays for it.
 
One person's "scalper" is another person's "arbitrageur". Wall Street, Canary Wharf and other great financial centers were built using similar strategies.
 
Chucks4me said:
Thx for the info.
Certain people should go back to school and learn about economics.
Supply and demand. It is as easy as it gets.
Why should someone sell something cheap if the market pays for it.
Click to expand...

Again, totally missing the point but thanks for chiming in with an attempt at explaining supply and demand :rolleyes:
 
Luckily there is no law that requires anyone to buy from ebay.
Caveat Emptor.
 
I think this sort of thing is prevalent everywhere, not just eBay.

As a long-time participant in the PowerPC forums and Early Intel Mac forums here on MR, I and others have seen old Macs marked up far beyond their worth in various places.

Would you pay $250 for two iMac G3s? Found at a second-hand store. How about $300 or more for a PowerBook G4? Or $450 for a 2006 Intel MBP? All stuff that's happened and not just on eBay.
 
I just remembered an article/interview I read about the very topic over at Slate (Yeah, I know... :rolleyes:) recently.

slate.com

Greedy Bots Cornered the Sneaker Market. What Now?

Bots are cornering certain markets: sneakers, tickets, hand sanitizer. The solution might be Garth Brooks–inspired.
slate.com slate.com

I don't agree with the ideas they've proposed to fix it, but this is a part of what OP is talking about.
 
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I have not sold on eBay for ages, but just threw up a rare bottle of a rare discontinued bath gel for $85 for the wife. We’ll see… ;)
One issue I used to have was how they used to cater to buyers at the sellers detriment. Still true?
 
Ebay is a venue, and a venue where there are bargains, overpriced items, and everything in-between.

If you are bothered by what you call scalpers, don't buy from them. If people won't pay inflated prices, there will be no motivation for people to "scalp" items.

BTW, this is a bit of a sensitive topic for me because I've been accused of being just such a thing in the past. I have been a collector of early Macintosh items for a while, and in that time I have acquired some nearly mind-boggling amounts of things like drive sleds and bezels for 90s computers. Often times, I'd quite literally buy accumulations for people who just wanted it out of their way. 10 years ago, this stuff wasn't worth much. I'd bring it home, sometimes spend a month sorting stuff, then putting it into(semi-organized) storage. I'd grab something when I needed it, or if someone on a forum here needed something and I had it I'd often do anything from just stick it in a box and send it to them or ask for shipping and a token amount.

Now, some of that stuff is ludicrously expensive. Am I "scalping" if I price a complete SCSI ZIP drive for an 8600/9600(SCSI drive, sled, and bezel) for say $150 or $200? Some say yes. I say I'm the one who's had this stuff taking up space for years, have stored it properly, and actually test it before I send it out the door. And if I like you, I'll still give it to you...
 
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