sales spiel

Is it just my age or has anyone else noticed, Ebay a large proportion of the tools for sale are "vintage" or "rare/ much sought after" often they're neither vintage or rare,[& often overpriced B I N price, usually plentifull or still in production, &" they don't make 'em like this any more", the list is endless, then amazon books I've bought quite a few books from them & well pleased at a good price too, but when you look for a book & the 2nd hand price is [say] £3.00 then as you scroll down it gradually gets higher [you've allready decided on the 1st one of course] then right at the end the self & same book is priced at £85.00 & they have a 5 star rating!! ok I've had my moan for the week.

Graham.

I am much more irritated by the "worth a look" label one particular ebay hack uses. It is kind of great though that the two above mentioned sales outlets allows a selection by lowest price first and not just by biggest commission or profit margin as regular shops do.

I thought it was just me!!

It normally makes me look somewhere else.....!

I find the 'myford, boxford' words added to titles bloody annoying when they are used for totally generic items such as a boring bar or even a job lot of brass bar! It just pollutes the search results. Man, I'm getting so grumpy.

It seems that anything that is old is deemed vintage and must be worth a lot of money even if it is common or useless.

You're not alone!. I see right through all of that Waffle on the Auction Site(s) as well, and don't even bother looking at the item, even if it is something I'm interested in.

I also have a chuckle when I see the word 'Antique' (UK) used to describe a 30 year old Mower!.

So, yes maybe it is down to my/our age, unless there are younger people who will also endorse your observation.

Haha. Try visiting an antiques shop in North America. Anything older than the 1950s or 1960s is considered a genuine antique. Virtually impossible to find anything worthwhile unless you were lucky enough to happen across the belongings of an immigrant who brought stuff with them.

My pet hate is the blatant misuse of the phrase ' Barn Find '

Just type it into ebay and marvel at the diverse amount of Tat folks have 'found' in barns recently.

And how about "shabby chic" meaning tatty, worn out, generally horrible.

There is some weirdness that goes on with used book prices on Amazon. I read somewhere that many of those prices from used book dealers are automated, set by web-crawling "bots" who find other listings for the same book and set a price accordingly but slightly higher. So they end up competing with each other, automatically, and prices go through the roof to hundreds of dollars or pounds for books that are still in print and available for the usual 20 dollars/10 quid or so. Crazy. And very annoying.

I've self-published five books to date. They sell for £8.99 to £12.99 but I regularly find them for sale on eBay and other places on the net for as much as £80!!

Buyers need to ' get real'.

Many sellers are out there to fleece the buyer. Many describe all the good attributes but gloss over, or omit, any shortcomings. Some systems, like the big river, try to make the buyer think they will get a bargain if they buy NOW! If an idiot were to buy from the exhorbitant source, that source would simply buy from a cheaper seller and pass it on to you at a hefty profit. Like the scammers, they only need one taker in umpteen thousands to make an easy 'killing'.

No complaint about anything purchased from ebay if 'as described' - potential buyer needs to ask the pertinent questions and decide for themselves before committing to purchase. Evasive replies mean they are simply sellers to avoid. If you have it in writing, you have evidence of fraud if they have lied.

There are not that many genuine descriptions. It's called marketing hype, among the other versions. Buyer needs to make up their own minds re the quality or 'fit for service' of any item on sale, new or old.

How many times do you see things described as 'old antique', or 'old' something when you already know production ceased 50 years ago? Maybe those descriptions are for those of lesser brain function?

Edited By not done it yet on 16/12/2016 07:27:49

Unfortunately many sellers can't see past what they originally paid or their own perception of the value ("I bought it so it must be worth having!" This stops them having a reasonable view of how someone else might value the item.

I saw a telescope & automated mount for sale the other day for £240 in 'very good condition' with extended description, obviously taken from a trade seller's website.

The thing is, the scope sells for £180 new...

Another classic is that everything small has two prices on eBay - the "wait for it to come from China price" and "the someone has dozens of these in a container" price where you get it quicker with a UK postage label slapped over the Chinese on an unopened package. The latter can be from a 50% to a 300% markup.

That said, if someone is willing to pay...

Neil

I was surprised to see my book being sold as 'used' on Amazon before they had even arrived in the UK... there's clearly some incentive for selling new books as used on Amazon.

Neil

I have much sympathy with PaulR. I've had two books published, but both are now out of print. They sold at round about the £14 mark, but I now see them advertised at stupidly-high prices. I only wish I was getting these prices when the books first came out. In all honesty, both books are now well out of date, and are only worth buying as rough guides to the subjects.

That's another pet hate of mine Robbo, selling absolute junk often painted with emulsion then sanded off with coarse glass paper for inflated prices"shabby chic" more like shabby s**t then as Alan says "barn find" there must be thousands of "barns" crammed with "vintage" goodies wating to be "discovered"

Same vein, ALL wooden toy boats are "vintage" and "Hand built"?????? Haven't seen many built using a foot? Raw materials "Suitable for Myford", same applies to lathe tools. All unknown steam engines (NOT Locos) are "Stuart" and if not a barn it's been found in a loft.

I find that it's not annoying the lengths sellers will go to to "Emboss" descriptions but the stupidity of cash overloaded buyers.

Regards Ian

Edited By Circlip on 16/12/2016 10:23:09

my one, is where something is described as 'rare'. This just means, dont buy it, you wont find anything else to fit it.

The other one is where photos are upside down. That means, im trying to hide something thats can be seen in a regular photo and lazy people wont bother to examine too closely.

Its still fun to look and enjoy others attempts at adding that extra bit of sparkle to something that would be skipped before the site started. buyer beware. anybody want to buy a car. rust free, im only charging for the good bits!

Here, by contrast, is a decent & honest ebay listing: EMK:UK:LISTG

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SIGMA-600mm-f8-Mirror-Wildlife-Astro-CANON-FD-mount-w-Filters-Case-FAULTY-/351933660060?category=0&buyerid=RiQT1QfV9O0HQcMKG9x7IA==&emailtemplateid=122190669&sellerid=FpRekKD1aqBpZuxgDLqdIA==&refid=store&ssPageName=ADME:BEMK:UK:LISTG

I have no connection with 'Real Camera Co,' except as a satisfied repeat customer.

MichaelG.

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Edit: Sorry about the visually corrupt URL ... I think hyperlink works.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 16/12/2016 11:15:51

You want to buy a book ?

Always try abe .