VOGONS


Some recyclers are penny wise and pound foolish

Topic actions

First post, by Kahenraz

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I'm refurbishing laptop that has a broken latch on the LCD. The only seller on eBay has 6 of them and wants $30 each ($20+ $10 FedEx). That's insane for a tiny piece of plastic. The seller also had several other parts from the same laptop, so I put together a large order of multiple parts to justify the cost. The seller rejected my offer and countered with something north of $250.

Yeah. No. I like this laptop, but it's not worth that much. Especially when I can just get another used one for parts under $50. I had emailed the seller to explain the prices that I had offered, that they would be getting the value of my entire order, and save on shipping. In their response, one of the things they mentioned was that it "wasn't worth selling an item for $5" (my offer on the plastic hinge); meanwhile my entire order of parts was about $100.

I declined their counter offer for the entire order and won't be buying the individual hinge for $30 either. So now they get nothing, and I'll just use the laptop without the hinge.

Reply 1 of 26, by TrashPanda

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Sounds like the seller doesnt care if the item sells or not, if it sells for the 30USD then great if not it'll eventually head to recycling.

Yes some sellers are like this, especially recyclers and gold scabs.

Reply 2 of 26, by Kahenraz

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I noticed that their shipping is also creepy. It lists FedEx as the cheapest option, even for tiny pieces of plastic that can ship USPS First Class for a few dollars.

Sellers can ship themselves at a cheaper rate and pocket the difference, which is probably what they doing for a bit of extra profit.

Reply 3 of 26, by TrashPanda

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Kahenraz wrote on 2022-10-24, 06:03:

I noticed that their shipping is also creepy. It lists FedEx as the cheapest option, even for tiny pieces of plastic that can ship USPS First Class for a few dollars.

Sellers can ship themselves at a cheaper rate and pocket the difference, which is probably what they doing for a bit of extra profit.

Yup when you see the shipping at 50 USD or 100+ USD then you know the seller is rorting the eBay postage system, see a few seller do this as a way to inflate their profits from items, Im pretty sure it also gets around eBay fees since they dont take fees from postage ..I could be wrong on that since its been a long time since I've sent anything via eBay.

Reply 4 of 26, by Kahenraz

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

eBay does actually charge you fees on postage. They also charge you on the tax.

What they do is charge you a percentage on the final item cost, including tax, then they deduct the tax. So they are charging you a percentage on money that you don't even receive. They are effectively taxing you, the seller, on the tax that the buyer pays, and pocketing the difference.

Reply 5 of 26, by TrashPanda

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Kahenraz wrote on 2022-10-24, 07:26:

eBay does actually charge you fees on postage. They also charge you on the tax.

What they do is charge you a percentage on the final item cost, including tax, then they deduct the tax. So they are charging you a percentage on money that you don't even receive. They are effectively taxing you, the seller, on the tax that the buyer pays, and pocketing the difference.

I didnt know that ..seems like something that shouldn't be exactly legal.

Reply 6 of 26, by Kahenraz

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I was thinking the same thing. It's pretty criminal.

The final value fee you get charged ends up being more than the item + shipping, as a result.

Reply 7 of 26, by gerry

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
TrashPanda wrote on 2022-10-24, 06:00:

Sounds like the seller doesnt care if the item sells or not, if it sells for the 30USD then great if not it'll eventually head to recycling.

i think it's this - a fixed price, no flexibility and if not sold within some time frame it gets dumped

a strange and self limiting strategy by the seller. I see so many items just go round and round for months and months until they disappear

maybe a seller could explain the upside of this strange approach?

Reply 8 of 26, by mihai

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

There is a cost of ordering / handling on the seller side; for low volume / low cost items it may not make sense to sell it for less.

Reply 9 of 26, by Kahenraz

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I understand that it wouldn't be economical to sell one item for so little. That's why I picked out a bunch of different items with a cart that was about $100. So instead of making a sale, they get nothing.

Reply 10 of 26, by gerry

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

i can see that there are some general overheads for any given activity, though private/non trader sellers seem to manage ok

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-10-24, 10:02:

I understand that it wouldn't be economical to sell one item for so little. That's why I picked out a bunch of different items with a cart that was about $100. So instead of making a sale, they get nothing.

well this is the part where that trader fell down

I've seen traders like this - who perhaps imagine themselves to be hardened business people who don't waste time and keep control of processes or whatever, but actually they're often just inflexible and $100 out

good that you declined their counter offer

Reply 11 of 26, by Kahenraz

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I sent them an offer on the latch, but they assert that they won't ship First Class, even though they also ship USPS Priority. The cheapest calculated shipping ends up being FedEx, which means they're inflating the shipping weight. They could fit this item into an envelope for under a dollar, but won't use a padded mailer.

Now that I'm only offering for a single item, they say that it isn't worth it because it takes four employees to process an order. Maybe I'll check back when it's three employees.

Reply 12 of 26, by Miphee

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

My biggest problem with this is that I can't block sellers on my main local auction site so I have to look at the same overpriced items over and over again for months-years. We have like 40 pages of retro and literally 20 of those are from the same guy. He has good stuff but his prices are insane so nobody buys from him.
I just want the option to hide certain sellers' listings so I only see relevant items and not the same overpriced stuff.

Reply 13 of 26, by Kahenraz

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I pressed them on why they don't ship First Class, and they said it was because it "gets lost". Packages shipped this way are tracked and insured and there is no risk to the seller. I call bullshit.

Reply 14 of 26, by zapbuzz

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
TrashPanda wrote on 2022-10-24, 07:03:
Kahenraz wrote on 2022-10-24, 06:03:

I noticed that their shipping is also creepy. It lists FedEx as the cheapest option, even for tiny pieces of plastic that can ship USPS First Class for a few dollars.

Sellers can ship themselves at a cheaper rate and pocket the difference, which is probably what they doing for a bit of extra profit.

Yup when you see the shipping at 50 USD or 100+ USD then you know the seller is rorting the eBay postage system, see a few seller do this as a way to inflate their profits from items, Im pretty sure it also gets around eBay fees since they dont take fees from postage ..I could be wrong on that since its been a long time since I've sent anything via eBay.

aussies get import taxed for postage too on eBay !
doesn't help USD is still inflating.

Reply 15 of 26, by zyzzle

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Kahenraz wrote on 2022-10-24, 05:48:

I declined their counter offer for the entire order and won't be buying the individual hinge for $30 either. So now they get nothing, and I'll just use the laptop without the hinge.

Greed. It's a real bitch, isn't it?

Why support someone charging $30 for a piece of plastic? Pound foolish, indeed. To such resellers, Goodbye to Bad Rubbish.

Reply 16 of 26, by darry

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Greed can be "good", in a capitalist context, if greed leads to "optimal" or at least reasonable profit.
Even putting aside any (often very legitimate) ethical concerns, excess greed can be counterproductive and self-defeating.

Greed should be a motivator (to a point), not a means to an end and even less an end in itself.

IMHO, businesses should exist because they serve a purpose in society with their reward being the permission to reap profit .
ALSO IMHO, a business that can't be profitable while at same time being useful to society is probably "toxic" (non-profits are a different breed, of course).

That all being said, the best we can all do is to try to "vote with our money" and avoid encouraging businesses whose practices we don't approve of.

Reply 17 of 26, by Kahenraz

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Clearly they lost money by not negotiating with me. They literally made less money on recycled junk. This is less capitalism and more just poor business practice.

It's my opinion that they must move enough product at their list price that they don't care to spend any extra effort to move anything on smaller orders, even if it means getting rid of excess inventory that they will end up throwing away anyways.

Reply 18 of 26, by darry

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
Kahenraz wrote on 2022-10-28, 05:23:

Clearly they lost money by not negotiating with me. They literally made less money on recycled junk. This is less capitalism and more just poor business practice.

It's my opinion that they must move enough product at their list price that they don't care to spend any extra effort to move anything on smaller orders, even if it means getting rid of excess inventory that they will end up throwing away anyways.

That may be the case. Or it's some dude selling crap out if his garage on the weekend while believing he's sitting on a gold mine. Either way, he's likely practically "married" to his crap and believes it is worth its weight in gold. He might see the light,or not.

Reply 19 of 26, by Kahenraz

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

It's a very large reseller on eBay, out of California. Maybe they are trying to make up for the price of gas. It's twice as expensive there as the rest of the country. Last I heard, it was $7 USD a gallon. It's only $3.30 here in the Northeast.