Bartertown.com

First off, let me preface this by saying that maybe this is just me. This is Bartertown, not Selltown, after all.

I recently took a bit of a hiatus of trading on Bartertown, and since I have returned, I have noticed an incredible uptick in the number of people wanting 50% or more off of product, even if it has simply been removed from the retail packaging. I have even had this occur on products that only had the shrink wrap removed. Now, certainly with assembled, primed, or poorly painted products, I can see this and I rarely offer products in this state anyhow. But why is this occurring with essentially new products? Is there some dealer out there that is offering 40% off on all products?

Even if I post on Ebay and pay there ridiculous fees, I typically end up making more than if I would sell on Bartertown now. Certainly, there are items that I lose a bit on and could have made more avoiding the fee, but I find that most of the products I post end up fetching at least 70% of retail, plus I am able to charge shipping, which helps to cover a bit of the Ebay fee.

Have any other longtime Bartertowners noticed this change recently? Is there some reason for it that I am simply missing? Again, I realize that this is Bartertown, and I certainly don't barter enough, but I just can't understand why things seemed to have changed so dramatically.

I think there are a number of factors to this.

1, The rise and proliferation of 20% off retailers, means people will want at least 30% brand new stuff, and more if the package is open.

2. BTers are looking to pay less than what they pay on ebay.

3. The recession makes it a buyers market. With people have less disposable money and others looking to make some extra money off stuff they don't use, means you have more sellers than buyers which drives prices down.

The bottom line you are seeing capitalism at work!!

I probably should mention that I am specifically referring to people asking for 50% or more off of opened but unused product. When I come to Bartertown, I know I will not get anything better 75% of retail with shipping included, and in most cases, I sell in the 30% to 40% off retail range.

It's always been that way. For as long as people have been buying, there have been a lot of people looking for half off. I think you've just happened to see them more now than you did before.

Eric

The other issue for me at least as a buyer looking to purchase an army is that I don't really want the old metal models but I will make and exception if they are cheap enough. So i will ask for 50% off simply because the items are older, even if they are "new".

You won't get many takers. With Finecast being almost universally despised, people are paying a premium for metal models.
I sold some NIB WHFB models on feebay about 2 months ago. Many were metal versions of current plastics. They went for current MSRP and MORE.

Eric

Which is funny to me because i prefer finecasr immensely. So i only try for finecast stuff. If something is wrong just call up GA and get another one. Wahay now i have one and one for parts.