Strategies for Buying Test Equipment on E*bay Part 2

[D from BC]

The resellers add value by telling tall tales about the item. For
instance, saying it was pulled from a working lab, where in reality it
was bought from ebay. If you are one person, pretend you are a real
company, i.e. refer to yourself in the plural. Also, buy under one
name and sell under another name.

Seems possible.
I've yet to see a page that goes like this on E*bay:

Tektronix Oscilloscope TDS220
-------------------------------
Starting Bid: $3000.00
I won it with a ridiculously high sniper bid after finding out that 50
people were bidding on this and the page hits were 1190 and everybody
searches for Tektronix...
I don't know what it is or what it does.
Sold as is. Still in box.
Happy Bidding

...

By the way, I write E*bay with the * to possibly prevent automated
spamming to SED. (Yah yah..could be seen as more paranoia.. )


D from BC

 

[Paul Mathews]

Yup..A reseller (tipped off by E*bay that it's a hot item) would have
to bid as high as possible to beat a group of bidders for a hot item.
Once a reseller owns the hot item, it's very probable that they can
resell it for a profit. It's a 'hot' item... Everybody wants it and
even fools will pay extra for it.
It's a gambling game.

D from BC- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You probably spend more on lattes in a year than you did for your
oscilloscope. Think it over and stop being so tight.
Paul Mathews

 

[D from BC]

You probably spend more on lattes in a year than you did for your
oscilloscope. Think it over and stop being so tight.
Paul Mathews

Geez...Not that tight.
They strategy I'm thinking about is recognizing flipped oscilloscopes.
Flipped oscilloscopes can have the highest prices. So high at times,
I'd rather buy a brand new asian oscilloscope.

I'd rather buy a scope from someone liquidating a tech company or from
an individual that's upgrading or a company that's upgrading.
Not from an E*bay flipper (reseller) that buys scopes off E*bay and
resells them on E*bay. E*bay resellers are too high up on the food
chain.
I like to be closer to the source for a better price on test
equipment.


D from BC

 

[Richard the Dreaded Libertarian]

lol Maybe a few smd transistors accidently feel into my morning
cereal...

Yeah...I'm showing a bit of E*bay paranoia but if E*bay wanted to make
more money, they could sell information such as most "watched items",
popular search keywords and page hit lists to resellers. This results in
more sales to make E*bay even more money..

I believe that one of the reasons ebay (why the asterisk?) is making
such huge money now is that they _don't_ do that crap.

If they did, it would (I believe) drastically reduce their customer
base, for just the reasons you cite.

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Rich Grise]

You should perhaps dig out some useless pice of crap and sell it on *B*y
to clear up your delusions about seller info (oh, but it would only be
for special sellers, not you...spare me).

I want to take this image:
http://www.exoduster.com/jesus_illusion.jpg
and scorch it (or its negative) onto a tortilla, and see what it
brings on ebay. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Rich Grise, Plainclothes Hippie]

.

You probably spend more on lattes in a year than you did for your
oscilloscope. Think it over and stop being so tight. Paul Mathews

Actually, I've spent exattly the same amount: $0.00. ;-) I don't buy
"latte", and my scope was a Halloween present from The Great Pumpkin
last year. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[D from BC]

I believe that one of the reasons ebay (why the asterisk?) is making
such huge money now is that they _don't_ do that crap.

If they did, it would (I believe) drastically reduce their customer
base, for just the reasons you cite.

Cheers!
Rich

I write E*bay in hopes that software automation doesn't spam SED.
E*bay without the * could be a good scanning keyword.

Yes.. Its a good thing E*bay doesn't (AFAIK) provide resellers with
detailed hot item lists.
If E*bay did, I think it would cause a bubble up effect so that some
items will be priced to the least improbability of a purchase.
Out of reach for poor Joe Schmuck but certainly affordable for Mr. Big
Bucks.

However the e*bay pulse page gives resellers a teaser of a hot list.

http://pulse.ebay.com/Test-Equipment_W0QQsacatZ4676

Popular Searches
HP
Fluke
tektronix
ifr
sencore
simpson
anritsu
leader
marconi
heathkit

Currently most watched items

Tektronix TDS220
Item number: 260187806127 approx 10 bidders
Tektronix TDS 754C
Tektronix 495P Spectrum Analyzer
....

The above items have too much exposure!!
Think you'll save...NOT!
This attracts sharky resellers that can outbid you.

Ok... take item 260187806127 (The TDS220) for example:
Time left is 1hr
Current winning bid is $701.00

I'll guess the winning bid will be ~$1600.00.
Why? Because I think a reseller can flip it for $2000.00..

Who will win... I'll guess the bidder who bid $105.00 on Nov.19 will
snipe with a max bid of $1800.00.


D from BC

 

[Paul Mathews]

I write E*bay in hopes that software automation doesn't spam SED.
E*bay without the * could be a good scanning keyword.

Yes.. Its a good thing E*bay doesn't (AFAIK) provide resellers with
detailed hot item lists.
If E*bay did, I think it would cause a bubble up effect so that some
items will be priced to the least improbability of a purchase.
Out of reach for poor Joe Schmuck but certainly affordable for Mr. Big
Bucks.

However the e*bay pulse page gives resellers a teaser of a hot list.

http://pulse.ebay.com/Test-Equipment_W0QQsacatZ4676

Popular Searches
HP
Fluke
tektronix
ifr
sencore
simpson
anritsu
leader
marconi
heathkit

Currently most watched items

Tektronix TDS220
Item number: 260187806127 approx 10 bidders
Tektronix TDS 754C
Tektronix 495P Spectrum Analyzer
...

The above items have too much exposure!!
Think you'll save...NOT!
This attracts sharky resellers that can outbid you.

Ok... take item 260187806127 (The TDS220) for example:
Time left is 1hr
Current winning bid is $701.00

I'll guess the winning bid will be ~$1600.00.
Why? Because I think a reseller can flip it for $2000.00..

Who will win... I'll guess the bidder who bid $105.00 on Nov.19 will
snipe with a max bid of $1800.00.

D from BC- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It ended at $701. Why? Because that's a reasonable price for a used
TDS220, although they sometimes go for a bit less. Tick tick. What is
your time worth? I'll sell you my mint TDS3032B for $3000, including
probes and carry case, if you'll just end the agony. Over and out.
Paul Mathews

 

[D from BC]

It ended at $701. Why? Because that's a reasonable price for a used
TDS220, although they sometimes go for a bit less. Tick tick. What is
your time worth? I'll sell you my mint TDS3032B for $3000, including
probes and carry case, if you'll just end the agony. Over and out.
Paul Mathews

What a bad guess I made for the final price.
Although, nobody knows what the winner used as a max bid.
Wow... no sniping..The bid stayed at 701.00 for more than a hour.

I'm doing ok with my analog scope but I'd go for a DSO if it's at a
crazy price.
I lurk on E*bay mostly for sport..


D from BC

 

[Ecnerwal]

I'm doing ok with my analog scope but I'd go for a DSO if it's at a
crazy price.

Then you'll do much better at a physical auction - *B*y has a few dozen
other people (or more than a few dozen, depending on the day and item)
that feel exactly the same way. You're far more likely to get crazy
prices at an auction where the bidders are physically present - if
nobody wants it and there's no or low reserve, you can get some deals.

That hardly ever happens on *B*y, or depends on taking a crapshoot on
something that might well be broken, in hopes that the seller is just a
doofus. If the seller is an alligator that's good at looking like a
doofus, you'll get skint. If the seller is a doofus, you still might get
something broken. Far worse odds than a "real" auction, if you can find
a real one that has the type of stuff you want.