It's not just eBay. Look at Eham or QRZ. There are a ton of people trying to sell used equipment for barely less than or equal to the price of brand new. It's just silly.
Crazy Ebay price
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It's not just eBay. Look at Eham or QRZ. There are a ton of people trying to sell used equipment for barely less than or equal to the price of brand new. It's just silly.
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
That is true. Shipping is expensive. With three choices, and two if you consider large parcels with tracking/insurance/service guarantee delivery, the cost is what it is. Demand for delivery just went up overnight, so did prices.
royldean
Member
There was an ad on QRZ for an IC-706MKIIG a few days ago..... $750!!!! I bought mine used with seperation kit, SSB and CW filters, 2 years ago for $500 shipped. Crazy.
ScubaJungle
Active Member
For whatever reason, the radio market seems to have a lot of people that want way more than the actual value.
If you take a quick look through anything, eBay, Offerup, etc, you'll see plenty of scanners and radios, used, that are listed at brand new list prices, and in some cases, higher than many retailers selling new.
I tried looking through eBay and Offerup for a scanner, and its ridiculous the amount of people selling old models with no digital for half the price of a brand new 436. I think a lot of it is, they get these radios and scanners and dont know anything about them, and assume they just work without realizing protocols and modes, etc. They just assume they have this cutting edge analysis tech.
If you take a quick look through anything, eBay, Offerup, etc, you'll see plenty of scanners and radios, used, that are listed at brand new list prices, and in some cases, higher than many retailers selling new.
I tried looking through eBay and Offerup for a scanner, and its ridiculous the amount of people selling old models with no digital for half the price of a brand new 436. I think a lot of it is, they get these radios and scanners and dont know anything about them, and assume they just work without realizing protocols and modes, etc. They just assume they have this cutting edge analysis tech.
ScubaJungle
Active Member
Of course, just like with anything. I'm not talking about people being deceptive here though, they don't make any false claims or inflations, they just think what they have is worth way more than what it is. Which is then validated by people paying these prices and throwing away their money.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
And I wonder how much of that is nostalgia. I've heard many hams talk about their "best radio ever" and it's often one they sold and wish they hadn't. Wanting to recapture that? Maybe. Lots of disposable income? Probably.
I can think of old radios I had that I wouldn't mind having back, but not enough to pay ridiculous prices for them.
Was on e-Bay last night and saw a used Icom 718 selling for $750. I think -new- I bought mine for $650.
ScubaJungle
Active Member
I think thats exactly what it is.. memories, passionate about it, money to play with, and time. Probably a lack of tech skills too, otherwise they wouldnt be paying that price after a quick google search. There was some old radio stuff I was able to get quite a bit more money than I thought I would, whereas in other hobbies, a comparable listing would never sell.
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
and isn't that how capitalism works?
I have something one wants. I want to get as much as one is willing to pay for it.
So long as no fraud, deception or trickery is involved, if one wants to pay "new" price for a well used item, than that's on them.
Today there is no excuse for "someone got ripped off". That same internet browser/device that brought them to eBay/Offerup/Facebook marketplace can take them to HRO.com, GigaParts, etc etc.
Value is based solely on what one is willing to pay. The reasons why? Who knows. The groupthinkers who hoarded butt paper two months ago. Ask them how their obsessive compulsion to hoard TP is working out. Closets full of Charmin. Some will hoard it until the next created crisis and capitalize on it selling it for $10.00 a roll.
ScubaJungle
Active Member
I agree. Its pretty much business 101.
What I find interesting though isn't that people are asking for high prices, its that this hobby, specifically, (at least compared to other interests of mine) seems to have a larger amount of people willing to pay way over the value. You would think people that know how to program radios and such would also know how to do simple pricing research. I guess a lot of it comes down to nostalgia, like mentioned.
What I find interesting though isn't that people are asking for high prices, its that this hobby, specifically, (at least compared to other interests of mine) seems to have a larger amount of people willing to pay way over the value. You would think people that know how to program radios and such would also know how to do simple pricing research. I guess a lot of it comes down to nostalgia, like mentioned.
bingo!
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
Value is subjective.
The "nostalgia" factor is coming true in other areas of electronics. The prices of Sony cassette Walkmans, specifically the higher end units such as the Walkman Professional series, are commanding OUTRAGEOUS premiums (think you could buy an Icom 7300 prices). Most of this, I believe, is driven by millenials who are caught up in the cassette/analog comeback craze, some of it is folks who never got to own one when they were new, who knows.
Personally I would never pay $1000 for a Walkman Pro. Sure, they are nicely made pieces of hardware, but as far as a cassette recorder, mediocre performance on par with a low end $250 deck of the day. Not a Nakamichi or Tandberg which is what that price range should command. But it's where the market is right now.
Can you go to Sony.com and buy a new cassette based Walkman of any kind, let alone one with a direct drive motor, Dolby B/C/S (which isn't even being licensed to anyone since 2013), and quality Sendust heads? Nope. Those who have them know what they have and the market is prime.
Likewise, Yaesu won't sell you an FT-100D, FT-857 or FT-847 for that matter. Icom IC-706s went OOP over a decade ago. There is a demand for them right now, so those who have them are getting what the market allows.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Exactly. And sometimes it's dang funny.
Selling my VX-170 for quite a bit more than I paid for it new was funny.
And to support the "lack of knowledge" part of this, the guy who bought it from me complained later that it wouldn't transmit on his fire department frequencies.
Maybe some of it is perceived value. Not all the value is in the product. Some of the value is in buying from a seller with good feedback scores, sufficiently clear photos to show detail of condition, depth of information provided and ability of the seller to describe the radio in complete, well formed sentences (something I find lacking not only on e-Bay, but this site sometimes).
But none of that should drive the price above "new" pricing from a reputable retailer.
When I sold my VX-170, I did post a lot of photos of all 6 sides of the radio. I did also have a photo of it transmitting into a dummy load through a Bird meter showing proper output. Again, nothing that would drive the value up above retail.
And a lot of what drives e-Bay price wars is buyers that have egos that require them to "win at any cost". Or some that just get caught up in the whole thing. Again, funny to watch from the sidelines.
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
About 7 years ago, a local ham offered up a well used FT-8900R on nets for months. He wasn't asking anything outrageous but wasn't giving it away either. No one bit. He put it on Ebay at an auction with a relatively modest buy it now (IIRC around $325, the price on rig new was around the low 400s at the time).
The auction went crazy bidding wise. Someone in KY actually won the auction for more than the current price of a factory new unit sold at HRO, GigaParts, and AES at the time by like $40 higher. And they paid instantly.
I laughed because I knew the LONG hours of crossband repeat operation this ham used this rig at. It was like the Toyota Corolla of radios passed down to three family members with 250,000 miles on it. Well cared for, but still, a WELL USED radio. But hey, someone in the blue grass state got what they wanted. And positive feedback left at that. This same person could have easily opened up a browser tab and checked current selling prices and set their bid accordingly. Nothing forced them to overpay for a used, out of warranty radio but they gladly did.
The one effect of these sold auction prices is it dictates the market value for what a given item will sell on that particular venue, and it has ripple effects. Pawn shops often use Ebay to gauge an items worth at the time of a loan for instance.
majoco
Stirrer
Perhaps his XYL told him to sell it on EPay but he really doesn't want to lose it..... 
I sold a Yaesu FT-2800 for around $115, which was more than I paid for it. For some reason that generation of Yaesu gear holds its resale value.
W5GX
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I'm finding that many sellers on Amazon just increase the "normal" price and then offer free shipping. For example, Gigaparts offers the IC-2730A at 20 dollars higher than through their own site. Yikes!
Now that the Feds are requiring sales tax for all states, buying local got a bit easier.
A lot of that has to do with the fees involved with eBay and Amazon. When you buy direct, there are no fees. eBay and Amazon take their chunk, so that usually accounts for the difference with the real companies, like Gigaparts. If they sold on eBay at the same price as on their website, they would be losing money.
I still buy online. Here in Los Angeles Co. we are up to almost 10% sales tax. Online purchases use the California State sales tax, which in the past has been about a 3.5% difference. Big deal if you're making a large purchase. Unfortunate, because I have several HROs within driving distance.
W5GX
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Absolutely. They are other services that tack on their own fee. Sometimes it's worth it. Sometimes, not so much.
I imagine I will too, but I won't have "out of state" weigh in so much. Texas is similar - there can be a 2% swing, but I've never dealt with the lower rate.
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