Ebay oddities

[Rhys]

There's a neat little laptop called the Asus EEEPC (bizarre name). It's neat because it has a solid state hard drive. I expect this to be the path to the future for laptops. Anyway, the retail on this varies between $350 and $400. I investigated one for possible photo use before deciding it really wasn't good enough with Linux and putting Windows on it kind of defeated the purpose.

Anyway, I just saw a used one selling on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160208063469&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=006) for $480 plus postage. It's absolutely amazing the prices people will pay for stuff!

[BBPhoto]

It's not really that surprising. Arbitrage is the economic principal of taking advantage of price differentials between two separate markets. The seller may make extra cash on the sale but the buyer is still getting a bargain even if it is priced over the seller's local retail price. You will find people taking advantage of this with all sorts of products all over Ebay.

[Rhys]

When the Asus is available online for $350-$400 new, I really don't see why anybody should buy one from ebay. Looks like somebody didn't do their homework.

[BBPhoto]

That is a simple one to answer as well. Different countries and regions often have exorbitant customs fees and/or import restrictions on certain goods. An on-line retailer will not usually modify a customs declaration to accommodate a client's attempt to import a restricted good or avoid paying customs fees but an Ebay seller is usually willing to do so to make the sale. I regularly ask US based Ebay sellers if they will undervalue a customs declaration so I can avoid paying taxes and more often than not they are glad to accommodate me. So once again, there are legitimate reasons why some people would pay more on Ebay than directly with an on-line retail outlet. I actually did the a few years ago with a batch of judo gis that I got from a Canadian manufacturer. I put a BIN price of about 30% higher than Canadian retail and I sold out in about two weeks to people who would have otherwise paid more purchasing local retail or on-line. In short, it is likely that the seller is not targeting his local market.

[cdifoto]

I regularly ask US based Ebay sellers if they will undervalue a customs declaration so I can avoid paying taxes and more often than not they are glad to accommodate me. So once again, there are legitimate reasons why some people would pay more on Ebay than directly with an on-line retail outlet..

I wouldn't exactly call that a legitimate reason. :D

[Rhys]

I wouldn't exactly call that a legitimate reason. :D
Agreed and since the tax people have free access to all computer records, his name has most likely popped up as a tax evader and there's likely to be a knock on his door in a couple of days.

[BBPhoto]

Agreed and since the tax people have free access to all computer records, his name has most likely popped up as a tax evader and there's likely to be a knock on his door in a couple of days.

OK... let's not get carried away now.

[Rhys]

OK... let's not get carried away now.

Getting worried yet? I heard they're going to do a bust on tax evaders.

[BBPhoto]

Getting worried yet? I heard they're going to do a bust on tax evaders.

Look Rhys, you made a thread that made reference to an Ebay price that you found excessive. You furthered your argument in subsequent posts by saying that people didn't do their homework, etc. Now you are making completely senseless and somewhat bizarre posts. Maybe Rhys, you just don't like the fact that I pointed out that the person who has not done their homework is in fact you. You were drawing conclusions and making comments on things that you obviously have no grasp on.

I come to this board to share information and make contact with people that share my interest in photography. If I want someone to argue with I can easily find someone locally. Having said this, I'll let you have the last word because you will not hear from me anymore on this. You can be disgruntled about someone exposing your ignorance of the real facts but you might want to try being happy about learning something and then move on to doing something positive. Like making a flash good tutorial or something.

[Rhys]

Sure - people have a right to pay $50 for a bunch of bananas in a boutique. Equally I have the right to go to a local shop and pay $1 for a similar bunch.

The fact has not changed - the Asus EEEPC is available worldwide from locations in just about every country for $400. One lady in Britain paid GBP 212 for hers (around $400). It is available for the local equivalent of $400 in most countries.

It makes very little sense to me for somebody to pay $480 for a $400 machine that has been used and sold on a site with zero comeback if it doesn't work.

[griptape]

I think this falls into the category of "absolutely no one cares". That's great if you're amused by it, but it's not even in the top 1,000 of odd things that have been sold on ebay (air guitars, ghost in a jar, jar of oreo cream, real shrunken heads, the meaning of life... the list goes on).