The Six Golden Rules of eBay discussion area

Former_MSE_Dan

This discussion relates to the Six Golden Rules of eBay article.

Click reply to discuss.

koru

I go along with the general message. People often pay more on eBay than they would for the same goods brand new from well-known suppliers, if they bother to shop around.

But I'm not sure I see why the printers were a scam. Someone saw a chance to buy some goods cheap and sell them at a profit. That's how business works. He or she took a risk on whether they could shift stacks of these things, and it paid off.

Maybe the people who bought them for £40 could have bought them cheaper if they had bothered to look, but this doesn't mean it was a scam. They probably would otherwise have paid more still, at PC World, so the seller helped them save money, and made a profit along the way. Your article doesn't say that the eBay listing misrepresented the printers or intended to fool the buyers.

dsbmcr

I completely agree. The guy took a risk on people buying them at the higher price. High street shops use similar tactics when reducing goods for massive discounts - when actually the price they are selling goods at are typical high street prices anyhow and the higher price was once charged many months agho when the product first appeared.

Still - £40 for a printer still sounds pretty good to me ,maybe the culprit here is the shop selling them too cheaply....discuss.

Sofa_Sogood

I have to disagree about the printers. Make a profit by all means, but to that extent? That's just taking the p out of this site in my honest opinion.

There'll come a time when someone finds a real bargain, and just uses the PM system to pass any bargains on to real money savers, and I doubt any risk was involved on their part by the way.

There's nothing entrepreneurial about that practice. Personally, I'd hunt them down and ban them.

Then I'd hang, draw, and quarter them.

And those price bots? They're good but can be beaten if people just look themselves sometimes.

koru

I agree that it was reprehensible to abuse the printer bargain pointed out originally on this site. It is not the purpose of this site to help wannabe Arthur Daleys make a mint hogging deals we all could have benefited from.

But that doesn't make it an eBay scam.

brindlechick

Another area to watch out for is the postage and packing price. although this should reflect the actual price, i struggle to understand how some p&p prices can be so different for similar items for sale.

robin7667

Martin_Lewis wrote:

Printer Scam – Anti-MoneySaving in action



I was finally jolted into writing this after seeing a particularly devious piece of anti-MoneySaving on eBay, concerning an offer I announced a few months ago in the weekly Money Tip.



I reported a short-lived sale of Dell colour printers, cheap at £10 a go. Later I discovered someone else had seen this, ordered 70 and made over £2000 profit from flogging them for £40, four times the asking price. This kind of behaviour is precisely why we all need to become more savvy consumers.

Sofa_Sogood wrote:

I have to disagree about the printers. Make a profit by all means, but to that extent? That's just taking the p out of this site in my honest opinion.

koru wrote:

I agree that it was reprehensible to abuse the printer bargain pointed out originally on this site.

Now really is this the only site people could find out about the cheap printers?????????I didnt think so...........

I have many different email accounts for different purposes and 6 of them had a email from dell flogging these printers....

And im sure there are many other forums that mentioned the same deal.........

So seriously this is a great site and forum but honestly IT IS NOT THE ONE AND ONLY.............

Sofa_Sogood

robin7667 wrote:

Now really is this the only site people could find out about the cheap printers?????????I didnt think so...........

I have many different email accounts for different purposes and 6 of them had a email from dell flogging these printers....

And im sure there are many other forums that mentioned the same deal.........

So seriously this is a great site and forum but honestly IT IS NOT THE ONE AND ONLY.............

Of course it's not the only site. But the 'find' of the offer originated ON this site. I know word gets around, for which someone other than the OP will get praised for.

I hope you're happy with your six printers by the way. Did you flog five by any chance?

Edited because I replied in haste

robin7667

Sofa_Sogood wrote:

But the 'find' of the offer originated ON this site.

Says who???

robin7667

Sofa_Sogood wrote:

I hope you're happy with your six printers by the way.

Now I must admit that was an excellent estimate.....spot on.

Sofa_Sogood

robin7667 wrote:

Says who???

Not sure. I'm still reading this:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1111684159,46237,