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Why are Ebay mini prices so stupidly high?

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 3:34 am
by HawtFist
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Anyone have any guesses why I can find NIB DE reavers at 4 times MSRP and badly painted chaos marines at MSRP?

Are people actually buying this stuff, or is there some other angle I'm missing?

Re: Why are Ebay mini prices so stupidly high?

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 4:01 am
by jason1977
Reavers may have a jacked up price if they are sold out.

CSM painted badly for MSRP....no idea.

Re: Why are Ebay mini prices so stupidly high?

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 4:06 am
by pretre
You can find anything on eBay, including outliers.

Re: Why are Ebay mini prices so stupidly high?

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 4:09 am
by HawtFist
I hadn't actually thought that maybe they were out of stock. That's a good idea.

Unfortunately, not correct though - GW's website shows them available at about $40. Saw reavers on ebay last night for over $120.

So very confused.

Re: Why are Ebay mini prices so stupidly high?

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 4:10 am
by HawtFist
pretre wrote:You can find anything on eBay, including outliers.
I mean, I guess this has to be it.

And, I mean, who knows, maybe someone is buying them at that level. If so, go Capitalism, I guess.

Re: Why are Ebay mini prices so stupidly high?

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 9:09 pm
by MagickalMemories
Could it have been a lot? Like 4 units, rather than just one?

Eric

Re: Why are Ebay mini prices so stupidly high?

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 9:26 pm
by borthcollective
There are specific sellers out there that put things on ebay at inflated prices hoping for a wrong hit on the purchase button.

Re: Why are Ebay mini prices so stupidly high?

Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 12:35 am
by HawtFist
MagickalMemories wrote:Could it have been a lot? Like 4 units, rather than just one?

Eric
Am I allowed to link to it here? For demonstration purposes?

I'll assume yes: [Admin edit by Eric] Actually, no... but I'll put the title here, instead of the link: "Reavers Box Set - Dark Eldar - Warhammer 40 000 - Games Workshop Miniatures"[/Admin edit by Eric] :mrgreen:

Down towards the bottom they say the box has 3 jetbikes in it, which is the usual amount in GW's $40 box. They're from Israel, so maybe they meant to put the price in shekels and hit dollars by accident?

Re: Why are Ebay mini prices so stupidly high?

Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 12:37 am
by HawtFist
borthcollective wrote:There are specific sellers out there that put things on ebay at inflated prices hoping for a wrong hit on the purchase button.
This could make sense. But... when it's buy it now, can't you take it back within a certain amount of time? And auction bids you have to confirm.

I've bid on some stuff while drunk and regretted it, but I have trouble believing that's a viable business strategy.

Re: Why are Ebay mini prices so stupidly high?

Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 5:05 am
by privateer4hire
One idea could be that painted minis aren't a bad thing to everyone.
I hate building and painting but don't want to play with bare plastic, metal, etc.
If it's a halfway decent paintjob and construction, in a scheme that works with whatever army I'm building, and the seller's reliable at shipping things in good shape, I'm saving buying at MSRP.

Re: Why are Ebay mini prices so stupidly high?

Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 3:58 pm
by HawtFist
privateer4hire wrote:One idea could be that painted minis aren't a bad thing to everyone.
I hate building and painting but don't want to play with bare plastic, metal, etc.
If it's a halfway decent paintjob and construction, in a scheme that works with whatever army I'm building, and the seller's reliable at shipping things in good shape, I'm saving buying at MSRP.
This makes sense.

Because I love painting and modeling I've always assumed people like you are more of a minority in the hobby. I wonder if that's true though, now that I think about it. It would be neat if we could do some kind of survey and figure out what percentage of people just play the game and would prefer not to model or paint.

That info would be good to send on to GW too, if you guys made up more than a quarter of the hobby - maybe it would force them to work more on rules and tourneys.

Re: Why are Ebay mini prices so stupidly high?

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 4:42 am
by MagickalMemories
GW won't do that survey, because they don't care. They want you to buy their stuff and market to the whole audience. You can buy it and paint it yourself or someone can buy it and paint it for you. They would LIKE to get rid of the painters but, since they can't... well, at least SOMEONE is buying their stuff.

I love modelling and love painting character models (not units). When I have the money, I FAR prefer to buy well painted stuff or reasonably well painted stuff and just do touch ups.

Eric

Re: Why are Ebay mini prices so stupidly high?

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 2:13 pm
by HawtFist
Interesting. Wow, I'm learning tons of stuff about my hobby lately.

Re: Why are Ebay mini prices so stupidly high?

Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2017 5:50 pm
by Warhammer sales
I am a pretty old school ebayer with about 1000 sales and purchases. I have seen so much odd stuff there but usually the one that amuses me the most is when I want a video game. I search auctions using "ending soonest" and i search buy it now 2 ways. 1. I search lowest price 2. I search newly listed.

Every single time the auctions are higher than the lowest buy it now price. Why is this? If we can answer this question we are at least on the right track.

I sell most things buy it now with a best offer alternative. If its a painted figure I will ask about double what I want. If I list it for $50 I might take as low as $25. When it comes to retro video games, I list also very high. You would be amazed at how often people don't even make an offer. They just pay the asking. After a while this leads me to list at even higher prices. This trend has only continued.

I of course am just a collector myself , so I cannot really speak for the people who support their entire life through Ebay.

Re: Why are Ebay mini prices so stupidly high?

Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2017 5:38 pm
by HawtFist
Interesting. Thanks!