How do sellers price their items?

[cutiger83]

I was wondering how some sellers on here determine the price to set for their sale items.

 

By no means am I trying to pick on any sellers. I am just wondering how much research goes into pricing an item. Just yesterday, I saw a seller post an item where he stated he had researched prices on e-bay then set his item about $50 lower. The item sold in a matter of hours so I thought this seller did his research and sold quickly. However I see other items sit for weeks then get reduced over and over.

 

Just for kicks and grins, I did a search on the word “reduced” in the for sale area. It turned up 6 pages of posts. Are the buyers on here cheap? Are the sellers not sure of the value so they price high? Are the sellers trying to make the most money on a sale? Are the sellers pricing to sell the item so they get back their investment plus a small profit? Are there so many reduced items because people just can’t afford to spend the extra cash?

 

Also, I am NOT talking about dealers who are trying to make a living. This thread is about your every day collector who tries to sell an item.

 

If this topic turns into bashing dealers/sellers or goes off topic, will a moderator please delete this thread? I am just wondering how sellers research to set their prices.

 

Thanks, Kat

 

 

[Sabrejet]

Kat...I rarely sell stuff, but whenever I do, I check out similar items on eBay and figure out an average price.

[cutiger83]

I rarely sell stuff, but whenever I do, I check out similar items on eBay and figure out an average price.

 

 

Ian,

 

Thank you for responding. The seller I mentioned used the same tactic and priced accordingly.

 

...Kat

[Kadet]

I sell quite a bit of stuff...usually to buy more stuff I judge the initial asking price based on my observations of the market. I'm usually not desperate to sell, so sometimes an item is priced based on what the piece means to me...and buyers may not agree with that assessment! Thats OK, I will either reduce it until it sells or keep it. Ebay is NOT always a good yard stick. In an auction format things can sell for inflated prices or dirt cheap. It just depends. I have decided that a lot of it is timing. I have posted items for sale w/ absolutely zero interest, then a month or so later posted the same item for the same price and had it snapped up in minutes. Go figure. The selling market it tough right now. People don't have as much disposable income as they used to...

[Nack]

Are the buyers on here cheap? Yup, me included.

 

Are the sellers not sure of the value so they price high? I think that occurs more on ebay, but you do see it here.

 

Are the sellers trying to make the most money on a sale? That doesn't seem to be the case here. Maybe because the sellers here seem to be mostly other collectors, rather than professionals.

 

Are the sellers pricing to sell the item so they get back their investment plus a small profit? That's what I do, and actually, I usually set a price to just break even.

 

Are there so many reduced items because people just can’t afford to spend the extra cash? Not sure on this one.

[TRR]

Research (not just ebay) and experience.

 

An item sitting can be for many reasons; could be the price, could be the market, could be the seller, or just to common and so there are no buyers. The amount of items sitting on the forum for sale is a good reflection of any business, especially the collector market. Often the right buyer has to come alone and want the item you are selling, by reducing the price over time you may entice more collectors to decide they need that item.

[Dave]

Between Kadet, Nack, and TRR, I think you've gotten pretty much everything I could hypothesize. I would say that the more unusual items typically don't sell as well on here as they do on eBay...unusual by meaning something that only a handful of people would be interested in. I've seen some items in this category that end up as what I consider to be outright bargains, simply because the number of interested people are so few and they've either seen the item and passed on it, or for whatever reason, never saw the item. The more commonly collected items, such as airborne stuff, for example, tends to sell pretty quickly, as there seems to be a much more ready market for it.

 

My thoughts...

 

Dave

[TRR]

I just thought of something to add...sometimes it does simply get missed here. We are a small portion of the overall collector community. I had a piece on here for several days before sending it off to ebay. It sold on a .99NR auction for more than double my listed price here, no rhyme or reason but that is where it ended. It turned out to be a forum member who bought it.

[Dave]

I just thought of something to add...sometimes it does simply get missed here. We are a small portion of the overall collector community. I had a piece on here for several days before sending it off to ebay. It sold on a .99NR auction for more than double my listed price here, no rhyme or reason but that is where it ended. It turned out to be a forum member who bought it.

 

Concur! And there are some folks who either don't check the for sale areas, or don't pull up all the new content, so they never see the item for sale. I've had it happen to me where I'll be out for a few days and then, a week or two later, see something sell that I should have bought, but got posted while I was away from the computer and I never saw the posting when going back through the hundreds of other threads...just happens that way sometimes!

 

[cutiger83]

Are the sellers trying to make the most money on a sale? That doesn't seem to be the case here. Maybe because the sellers here seem to be mostly other collectors, rather than professionals.

 

Nack,

 

I agree with everything you said. I also agree that making the most on a sale does not seem to be the case on here. However sometimes lately, I think this is not always the case. I have seen items start out at a certain price and then drop by $100 or more in price before selling. Is this because of the economy or because the seller was setting the price too high in order to make a large profit? It could be seen either way.

 

Thanks everyone for responding...Kat

[cutiger83]

I just thought of something to add...sometimes it does simply get missed here.

 

 

Thanks for your response. I can see your point....Kat

[Trooper B.A.R]

In my experience of buying and selling. When I sell something, it ends up selling for less then I paid. Never broke even, nor made a profit on anything. One of the things that keeps me from buying high priced items. But when I do buy, or make an offer, I do check numerous military sites, including E-Bay and keep notes on items I'm interested in, in what they sold for. Good example, the WW1 wristwatch I have for sale here. I've got it down to 300.00, no interest, yet seen a similar watch at a local watch show go for 415.00 last month, the dealer had it up for 550.00, I asked last day of show what he sold it for.

I guess I just don't know how to sell? LOL

[BROBS]

Stuff like a watch or other specialized item sometimes will have a higher value in a different market.

 

I think people are hopeful when they know an item is rare or that perhaps someone would pay a high dollar amount for it. Maybe they might start a little high with the price? Of course maybe this has to do with the idea that when someone messages you with an offer, it might be closer to or right at the amount you were hoping to get for the item.

 

When selling it seems I usually either break even or end up with a few dollar profit. I personally am not selling items to try to make more money off them. Usually I want to get what I paid, but as I said I often will take a little less to pass the item on to someone who has a real interest in it.

 

"A thread for thought."

 

-Brian

[Jim Baker]

Kat,

 

I keep a section in my photos that I call Research Sales. If I think I may be going to sell something, or if I own a scarce or rare item, I keep photos, dates, and sale amounts for like items sold either here or on eBay.

 

I also photograph all my patches and include what I paid for them.

[Nack]

 

Nack,

 

I agree with everything you said. I also agree that making the most on a sale does not seem to be the case on here. However sometimes lately, I think this is not always the case. I have seen items start out at a certain price and then drop by $100 or more in price before selling. Is this because of the economy or because the seller was setting the price too high in order to make a large profit? It could be seen either way.

 

Thanks everyone for responding...Kat

 

Yeah - I have noticed this too. When it happens it could be due to either, or both, of your hypotheses at work.

[Dave]

 

I have seen items start out at a certain price and then drop by $100 or more in price before selling. Is this because of the economy or because the seller was setting the price too high in order to make a large profit? It could be seen either way.

 

I think of Clayton's bear skin coat as an example...with a $1300 drop in price: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/189780-indian-wars-era-officers-bear-skin-coat/

 

Personally, I have no clue what a bear skin coat is worth. At the price he's asking now, it's almost too cool to pass up...but it's absolutely nothing I'd even remotely collect. To the right buyer, it's probably worth his original asking price. Chances are, however, that "right" buyer just isn't here...and might be someone perhaps who is more interested in western wear than in militaria (even though it's military, this would be great with a 19th-century civilian outfit!) It's like I mentioned above...when you get something that has a very small number of people interested in it, they tend to sell for (sometimes) far less than "market" value, as the supply is there, but the demand is almost non-existent.

 

Dave

 

[subsystem4]

I usualy check the prices on a couple of my favorite dealer websites for the item, take into account what i paid for it and ,depending on where that ends up, price it 10-20% less than the dealer average if i want to move it quick. Sometimes i price what the dealers charge if it's something that is in realatively high demand. Ebay I tend to price things full retail because of the fees and what not. When I sell at my local show or on the forum I price things a little less.

-Jay

[carnut63]

I price all my eBay stuff at 0.99 because I have faith in the system The only exception to that is the stuff that I dont think there is much interest in. For instance I had a 1950s CEC CDR uniform just listed. I started it at 0.99 but after about 4 or 5 days I had one watcher and no bids. So I up'd the price to my minimum that its worth to me and it sold for 14.99. I am happy with that....

 

I have bought stuff from other for .99 cents and I feel kinda bad for them. I bought a Waves complete set for $2.38 and felt so bad I gave her $20 more with it. Heck one time I bought a uniform for .01 (but not surprisingly the guy decided he didnt want to send it to me).

[avigo]

Personally I don't think there is a set price for anything, especially militaria.

If someone really wants something and there is only one on ebay at that exact minute, it could sell for 10 times more than the same item sold for a day before. I've seen it many many times.

Not to mention that condition, personalization (an id'd item vs. NOS, etc) all changes the price. Nothing is truly identical when it comes to this stuff.

 

I never do auctions and only do buy it now ebay. If you're patient and aren't unreasonably high with prices, everything sells. I've sold thousands of things in the past 10 years and never had something that didn't sell for what I listed it for or very close.

 

It's something you have to learn like anything else...and the more you learn, the more you can haggle with other sellers for the stuff you want for yourself

[Patriot]

This forum is great for selling items from World War I through Vietnam. If you have something from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War, forget it. You could have a Confederate bayonet and scabbard for sale on the forum for $3,500, but you would have to mark it down to less than a thousand to make a sale here. If you sold such an item on eBay, or perhaps on consignment elsewhere, you would have no trouble getting $3,500 for such an item. With that in mind, I think that if you want to be successful as a seller on the forum, you need to sell items that are popular with most of the people here. Even then you need to be patient with your pricing. If you want X amount of dollars for an item, don't be too hasty to mark it down (unless you need fast money). Most dealers keep an item in their inventory for weeks or months before they connect with a buyer. Here, I notice that folks mark things down days after posting.

 

As for pricing, I price things to make a profit. The things that I collect do not come cheap, so I need to generate a cash flow that will support my hobby. I don't usually mark things down too much, because my pricing tends to be fair and competitive with my competition. I might reduce items by 10% or so, but if an item does not sell I will usually concede that there are no buyers right now that are seeing it, and I will either try again in a few weeks, or sell it elsewhere.