Mastodawn

@TechTangents My thoughts on this: If you can't get it somewhere else, why do you think the price is wrong? Also, when I sell items on eBay there is a minimum price under which it's not worth bothering (seller fees, packing, and shipping kill the value of most items under $50). It has to be "worth it" to the seller, which is often independent of what the buyer thinks the real value is.

@brundaged
By that logic there is no difference in asking $80 or $1,000,000 if there isn't another one for sale. Something being rare doesn't inherently make it desirable or valuable

Look at other similar but not identical items that have *sold* to get a real sense of value. Your "is it worth my time" question is a different factor and is going to be different from person to person. If it's not worth it to you to sell it for a reasonable price, then don't list it and waste people's time.

@TechTangents In my experience, high-priced items do eventually sell over a reasonable (2-3 year) timeframe. So it's rational to list items at prices that are "worth it" to you. No one is obligated to buy them, so no violation has occurred. Obviously an $80 item listed for a million will never sell, but if it's unique it probably will eventually for $100.

I understand your frustration with wanting something for a price that isn't available.

@brundaged
2-3 years is a long time to tie up capital in a low liquidity resource. If you sold the same item for $60 instead on day 1 and put that into a standard 10% return investment you would still have $80 at the end of three years but could pull your money out of it at any time.

So it doesn't even make financial sense to over price something just because you think it should be worth more.

Derrick Brundage

@TechTangents I'd love to know where you're getting a 10% return as "standard". In my experience that's an aspirational return investors want to see.

I'm just trying to explain what's probably happening on the seller's side. A lot of times this stuff is acquired in bulk and it doesn't cost anything extra to liquidate individual items over time. What isn't worth it is putting a lot of attention into sub-$100 items, hence the auto-rejection.

It was listed at $80. What did you offer for it?

@brundaged
I think we have ideologically different perspectives on this

To me the question of what I offered when it is listed at $80 is irrelevant. $80 is a price the seller has invented out of thin air, that number doesn't matter. The only number that matters is what that item, or similar ones, have actually sold for

From your perspective it seems to not be worth listing anything for sale for less than $100 which doesn't make any sense as lots of things aren't ever going to be worth that

@TechTangents I'm not debating. I was hoping to help you acquire the item. I get why pricing is frustrating.

Reality is frustrating because it aggressively resists conforming to our mental models of it.

FWIW, I will usually accept an offer 20% off after it's been on the market a while. 10% off almost always gets accepted. If it would be worth it at 20% off, make the offer. I asked what you were offering because--hey, it's Christmas--and maybe I could chip in to help meet the seller price.

@brundaged
If something is priced consistently with prior sales like that, I agree those are reasonable amounts to ask off. But for this item the $80 is unreasonable and I'm not offering anywhere close to it.

I appreciate the sentiment. I am very ideological about this though, even if I could justify buying something like this as a business purchase where I would make more back with a video, I don't want to artificially raise the value of something by buying it at an above value.