Austerity driving up ebay prices?

olias

Ok, so I used to regularly buy clothes on ebay - partly cos I live out in the sticks and its easier than driving many miles to the nearest town, but mainly for the bargains. I only ever bought BNWT clothing and all big name brands. It was not unusual to be able to get jeans for £3 or £4, tshirts for £1 or £2. I've had £150 boots bought for £20, £200 jackets for £30. Loads of bargains. But now, the auction prices seem to fly up, and are often not far short of what you would pay full price in the shops, never mind what you could get things for in sales.

Do you think this is because more people are skint and are searching ebay for bargains, which ironically is driving the price up?

Just as an example, I was looking at a pair of Gap jeans (hardly the trendiest make - and they have shot up to currently be £22 with the postage and they still have half a day to go, so will probably go for about £30. These are the sort of thing i could have got for £3 or £4 a year ago.

Anyone else have any comments?

Olias

Crowqueen

Things are worth what people will pay for them. A good make of item will usually find its market value - eBay is routinely used as a way for people to get a good idea of that value, particularly collectable items.

eBay is not supposed to be a bargain basement, it's a place that people can sell oddments without a huge outlay or investment in advertising or web presence. It's acquired a reputation for cheapness, but the auction format makes it possible for items to find the rough market value, and the buyer traffic and security means people will bid what they are prepared to pay rather than hedge their bets a bit.

olias

Thats my whole point! Ebay was always used by people like me (and still is!) as a bargain basement - not particularly when buying from business sellers, but mainly private sellers who maybe bought an item that didn't fit and have left it too long to take back, or recieved it as a gift and they don't want it etc.

Its just that more people lately seem to be chasing after those type of items which is driving the price up - so in that sense, yes, they are finding their current market value. The point I was making, is that this is a lot higher than in previous years, and in my experience, these sort of items are now attracting multiple bids, driving up the price, whereas previously they would only attract one or two bids, keeping the price low.

Olias

Crowqueen

You may feel that is what eBay is for but other people disagree and use it as they see fit.

Prices will find their own level based on supply and demand. It's not 'meant' to be one thing or another. It's meant to be a place where people can sell stuff - how they do that, why they do that, what price they get, that's all up to them and their buyers. It's not a place where things that you want to buy dirt cheap will be dirt cheap just because you say so.

If you try to dictate to other people how much they can sell their stuff for you are going to be disappointed at best and become irritating at worst.

I wish my stuff was attracting the same number of bids, to be honest, it's been flat all summer for me.

olias

I really don't think you've got what I'm saying, thanks for replying though

Olias

porto_bello

Olias, thinking about it, you may have a point. eBay regularly offers free listing days, which converts unwanted items into cash. Then with money in their account, it's only natural that someone counting the pennies will use those funds in their account to buy what they need - rather than their ready cash/credit card.

More people on a tight budget buying on eBay probably will drive prices up, although more people selling on free listing days probably drives prices down!

That said, I still find it's possible to pick up a real bargain on eBay - although sometimes I find it useful to have to have a search for misspellings or items in the wrong category - and sometimes a little patience. If you want something specific, you can save your search, and an email will be forwarded to you as soon as one appears.

olias

Hi, think you are probably right about the paypal thing. I do luckily still get the odd bargain, but they are unfortunately getting fewer and farther between!

I think the best bargains to be had are those where the item is unusual/random and the seller is a newby to ebay and puts them on at a low start with no reserve.

Best buy for me was 5 brand new boxed velux window venetian blinds that usualy retail for around £100 each, for £5 for the lot! lol.

Olias

hiccup123

if it helps a lot of the bargains i have bought on ebay have not been listed properly and are sometimes in the wrong category. I don't always use the refine search options because alot of sellers don't bother with details like colour or material of clothing. I think a lot more sellers are now listing properly and with words that buyers would enter into the search.

MadelinesMum

I gave up on buying clothes from Ebay a while ago. Every clothes item I'm interested in seems to end way more than I'm prepared to pay, when last year I was getting loads of bargains.
Recently I bought a craft die cutting machine and have been looking on ebay for dies. I bid up to £12.49 on one and I was outbid by one increment. This morning I received a SCO stating the seller had more than one. I checked on the Sizzix website and the die actually costs £8, so I'm buying it from there. It seems ebay may not be the best price after all.

Crowqueen

Use Goofbay to find the misspelt items.

porto_bello

olias wrote: »

I think the best bargains to be had are those where the item is unusual/random and the seller is a newby to ebay and puts them on at a low start with no reserve.

I totally agree. I've picked up some bargains in the art and antiques categories, where the seller's unfamiliarity and poor/wrong description has meant the dealers completely missed it!

Periodically, maybe after a change of decor, I decide to sell something maybe 5 years after I bought it on eBay and listing the same item - this time, accurately, it invariably sells for rather more than it cost... which pays for another project!