New For Sale moderator

FS forum should be in the Club Room (as should this discussion).

 

Second this motion.

 

Anyway we could get a trade feedback system?

 

Agreed. But I do mind FS threads without set prices. Some guys write, "Make me an offer." No. Set your price, and I'll tell you if I'm interested.

 

A better alternative would be to set the price and add "OBO" (or best offer). That gives people a ballpark to work with but we know it's negotiable.

 

I think this is important. There is a level of trust that I have when buying/selling here versus other places. The basis for that is knowing the friend status (and former pyrate status) of the other party. Maybe have a separate for sale to friends only forum in club room, kind of like where amazo deals were at CS.

 

I kind of liked headfi's old ungainly system.

 

It's odd because its a private sale. When do you ever buy anything where everyone knows what you paid? And if someone requested a lower price (maybe for good reason), would the seller need to adjust that to show actual price paid? That being said, it can be a pain pm'ing people asking what they sold it for so I can get a fair sense of the price. Ultimately though, a price just shows a ball-park. Leaving it may potentially stop someone from flipping. It may also just disguise it, if the item was purchased for less. Unless, we were to update to actual price, shipping paid, paypal fees or not, etc! I can see both sides...

I think the biggest safeguard is someone alerting @shipsupt when they see someone scamming on something they sold here (wherever the reselling takes place). And then you can crush them with an iron fist.

And for the record, I almost always try to sell something for the price I paid, plus shipping and paypal fees, not the actual price I paid. I know some here are awesome about taking a hit buying, trying, and selling products, but if I did that... I'd be out of funds! Instead, I choose to only buy when the price is right and I'm confident I can recoup "moving on" fees.

 

Hmmm, I honestly only remove the price from my own sales out of reflex, even though I have often had the same thought, especially when I am trying to figure out what the going rate for X is. The benefits @shipsupt lists are significant, and when I can find old sale prices it is genuinely helpful.

As I force myself to think on it, the drawbacks for leaving old sale prices include: people getting into potty matches because buyer sees that "flysweep just sold his for $$$ a month ago!" and seller responds "but mine is in different/better condition!"; and, the listed asking price may not reflect the actual sale price. Both of those concerns seem minor. One of my favorite things about selling among friends is that there really isn't much stupid dickering. Pricing is also generally excellent. Whiners can be ignored/called out, and final deviations in sale price can be explained if necessary.

A different concern, which bears more consideration, is that cool things are often sold for less here than they are elsewhere. I want to protect that. Keeping sale prices protects against flipping, but I am concerned that keeping sale prices will result in an even bigger influx of new members only to buy our cool shit for less, and not really contribute in any meaningful way. Possible solutions are:
- Leaving sale prices coupled with a final post of who is ultimate buiyer (this already happens alot), to protect against scammers and flippers?
- Having a FS thread open to all for general items and a FS thread in the Club Room for ZOMG stuff? (I trust @shipsupt's judgment to kick out stupid FS posts that do not belong in the Club Room.)

 

Usually people would have an idea of how much some certain items go. It's unnecessary to keep a past FS price in most cases. It may be a good idea to keep obsolete items' FS prices.

Another factor that might count is the turbulance of currency difference. For example currently in the Canadian market a pair of near mint HD800s goes around 1000 CAD which roughly equals 715 USD, which would be ridiculous for US sellers.

 

I would blame audiogon and their damn blue book. Maybe people see this practice at popular sites like that and think they need to do the same? When I usually put ads up (and then close later) I usually leave the price in the description which I don't later erase out, but I'm not everybody

 

I personally delete the price on the items I sell because I buy and sell on a lot of different forums. I set my prices much lower on Changstar/SBAF because I see putting good gear in the hands of as many members as possible as not just a business transaction but a community good. (Also, I have to price a higher elsewhere anyway to provide a negotiating buffer for inevitable haggling, something that doesn't really happen here.) I try to break more or less even at other places - I'm cool taking a loss here.

I've already had some transactions become more difficult at other places because they've noted my forum favoritism. If the For Sale forum is clubhouse (read: not general public accessible) material only, I don't have any problem with leaving the price in the listing. I even think it would be fun to, unless requested otherwise, put the name of the buyer down as well. (I do see benefits for doing this for SBAF members so that people can get a going rate or market estimate. And it's just fun to be able to look at old FS listings and see who picked up what.)

 

i wholeheartedly agree. i'd like to be able to search what the average/fair asking price is. i don't see how this isn't fair to both buyer and seller. maybe this is why some resort to IC type ads, ignorant of current selling prices, and fishing for some pricing beta?

 

Just today I went through about ten closed for sale threads on headfi trying to figure out what a fair price would be for a used Leckerton UHA-6S Mkii. I didn't find anything! I get your point....

 

$225-250, depending on the number/kind of opamps included, how much you like the person, whether or not you know the person's mom, and the amount of scratches on the body.

Also, I might regret doing this later because it's helped me find a lot of cool shit over the years before other people, but this website is one of the best tools of the trade for rare gear hunting. It'll also pull up sold and expired listings, which makes it extra useful for trying to construct a retroactive price record.