Question:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Can someone please explain to me why the new/sealed iPods being sold on Ebay are selling for prices ABOVE RETAIL? This is nothing new. Many items on eBay are bid up to prices well above the retail price. Kind of surprising on the iPod though, since there is no shortage of them, and the prices are well advertised.
Saw an odd auction today. A bidder made one bid on a NIB CD audiobook for $7, but lost to another buyer at $7.50. Soon after the auction closed, they bought the identical item from the same seller with a $12 BIN. The odd part is that the identical NIB set of CDS was also available with $9, $10 and $10.50 BINs (similar 99.9%+ feedback / similar Media mailing and similar S/H). (Historical selling price has typically been $7-10). Best guess is that it’s close to Christmas and the seller just wanted to get the item mailed. (He made no other purchases from that seller, so it was also not a case of a combined order)
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As any European or Middle-Eastern merchant can tell you, Americans aren’t exactly sharp consumers and very often don’t even comparison shop.
Well but considering that some Europeans have trouble just affording their water bill, such that they take showers only 1 time per week, it isn’t a surprise that some of them have become shrewd consumers. When I lived in Europe I saw this first hand. However I have encountered fellow Americans who take defend their not being screwd by promoting ridiculous attitudes. For instance, some friends paid the full price for a new car, thereby getting ripped off; and they traded in their old car rather than selling it used, thus getting ripped off a second time. When I questioned them, they were embarrassed and said they thought this was normal and appropriate and that "a business needs to make a profit", and suggested that I believed otherwise. But the fact is, a car dealer makes a profit even when selling to a shrewd customer. And if a car dealership found its average selling price prevented making a profit, it would have to simply shift to a fixed price. But they don’t. Q
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Can someone please explain to me why the new/sealed iPods being sold on Ebay are selling for prices ABOVE RETAIL?
This is nothing new. Many items on eBay are bid up to prices well above the retail price. Kind of surprising on the iPod though, since there is no shortage of them, and the prices are well advertised. I have a relative who had a physical store, and also sold on eBay. There was an item that sold in his store for $3, that sold on eBay for between $12 and $20. But at least this was an item that people might legitimately not know how much it should cost. It was some sort of a little painted wooden storage box.
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People can also lose money without the expense of going to Las Vegas, but they go anyway because they like the "excitement" of losing it in a casino. Prices have little to do with shopping for many people.
The Social Animal – Elliot Aronson – 8th Edition 1999 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0716733129/ Dissonance Reduction and Rational Behavior I have referred to dissonance-reducing behavior as "irrational." By this I mean it is often maladaptive in that it can prevent people from learning important facts or from finding real solutions to their problems. On the other hand, it does serve a purpose: Dissonance-reducing behavior is ego-defensive behavior; by reducing dissonance, we maintain a positive image of ourselves-an image that depicts us as good, or smart, or worthwhile. Again, although this ego-defensive behavior can be considered useful, it can have disastrous consequences. In the laboratory, the irrationality of dissonance-reducing behavior has been amply demonstrated by Edward Jones and Rika Kohler. These investigators selected individuals who were deeply committed to a position on the issue of racial segregation; some of the subjects were in favor of segregation, and others were opposed to it. These individuals were allowed to read a series of arguments on both sides of the issue. Some of these arguments were extremely sensible and plausible, and others were so implausible that they bordered on the ridiculous. Jones and Kohler were interested in determining which of the arguments people would remember best. If people were purely rational, we would expect them to remember the plausible arguments best and the implausible arguments least; why in the world would people want to keep implausible arguments in their heads? Accordingly, the rational person would rehearse and remember all the arguments that made sense and would slough off all the ridiculous arguments. What does the theory of cognitive dissonance predict? It is comforting to have all the wise people on your side and all the fools on the other side: A silly argument in favor of one’s own position arouses dissonance because it raises doubts about the wisdom of that position or the intelligence of the people who agree with it. Likewise, a plausible argument on the other side of the issue also arouses dissonance because it raises the possibility that the other side is right. Because these arguments arouse dissonance, one tries not to think about them-that is, one might not learn them very well, or one might simply forget about them. This is exactly what Jones and Kohler found. Their subjects did not remember in a rational-functional manner. They tended to remember the plausible arguments agreeing with their own position and the implausible arguments agreeing with the opposing position. In a conceptually similar experiment, Charles Lord, Lee Ross, and Mark Lepper showed that we do not process information in an unbiased manner. Rather, we distort it in a way that fits our preconceived notions. These investigators selected several Stanford University students who opposed capital punishment and several who favored it. They showed the students two research articles that discussed whether or not the death penalty tends to deter violent crimes. One study confirmed and the other study disconfirmed the existing beliefs of the students. If these students were perfectly rational, they might conclude that the issue is a complex one, and accordingly, the two groups of students might move closer to each other in their beliefs about capital punishment. On the other hand, dissonance theory predicts that they would distort the two articles, clasping the confirming article to their "bosoms and hailing it as clearly supportive of their belief while finding methodological or conceptual flaws in the disconfirming article and refusing to be influenced by it. This is precisely what happened. Indeed, rather than coming closer in their beliefs after being exposed to this two-sided presentation, the two groups of students disagreed more sharply than they did beforehand. This process probably accounts for the fact that, on issues like politics and religion, people who are deeply committed will almost never come to see things our way, no matter how powerful and balanced our arguments are. Those of us who have worked extensively with the theory of cognitive dissonance do not deny that humans are capable of rational behavior. The theory merely suggests that a good deal of our behavior is not rational-although, from inside, it may seem very sensible indeed. If you ask the hypnotized young man why he wore a raincoat on a sunny day, he’ll come up with an answer he feels is sensible; if you ask the vice president of Philip Morris why he smokes, he’ll give you a reason that makes sense to him-he’ll tell you how good it is for everyone’s health; if you ask Jones and Kohler’s subjects why they remembered one particular set of arguments rather than others, they’ll insist that the arguments they remembered were a fair and representative sample of those they read. Similarly, the students in the experiment on capital punishment will insist that the evidence against their position is flawed. It is important to note that the world is not divided into rational people on the one side and dissonance reducers on the other. People are not all the same, and some people are able to tolerate dissonance better than others, but we are all capable of rational behavior and we are all capable of dissonance-reducing behavior, depending on the circumstances. Occasionally, the same person can manifest both behaviors in rapid succession. The rationality and irrationality of human behavior will be illustrated over and over again during the next several pages as we list and discuss some of the wide ramifications of our need for self-justification. These ramifications run virtually the entire gamut of human behavior, but for the sake of conserving time and space, I will sample only a few of these. Let us begin with the decision-making process, a process that shows humans at their most rational and their most irrational in quick succession. Dissonance as a Consequence of Making a Decision Suppose you are about to make a decision-about the purchase of a new car, for example. This involves a significant amount of money, so it is, by definition, an important decision. After looking around, you are torn between getting a van and purchasing a compact model. There are various advantages and disadvantages to each: The van would be convenient; you can haul things in it, sleep in it during long trips, and it has plenty of power, but it gets atrocious mileage and is not easy to park. The compact model is less roomy, and you are concerned about its safety, but it is less expensive to buy and operate, it is more fun to drive, and you’ve heard it has a pretty good repair record. My guess is that, before you make the decision, you will seek as much information as you can. Chances are you will read Consumer Reports to find out what this expert, unbiased source has to say. Perhaps you’ll confer with friends who own a van or a compact car. You’ll probably visit the automobile dealers to test-drive the vehicles to see how each one feels. All of this predecision behavior is perfectly rational. Let us assume you make a decision- you buy the compact car. What happens next? Your behavior will begin to change: No longer will you seek objective information about all makes of cars. Chances are you may begin to spend more time talking with the owners of small cars. You will begin to talk about the number of miles to the gallon as though it were the most important thing in the world. My guess is that you will not be prone to spend much time thinking about the fact that you can’t sleep in your compact. Similarly, your mind will skim lightly over the fact that driving your new car can be particularly hazardous in a collision and that the brakes are not very responsive, although your failure to attend to these shortcomings could conceivably cost you your life. How does this sort of thing come about? Following a decision-especially a difficult one, or one that involves a significant amount of time, effort, or money-people almost always experience dissonance. This is so because the chosen alternative is seldom entirely positive and the rejected alternatives are seldom entirely negative. In this example, your cognition that you bought a compact is dissonant with your cognition about any deficiencies the car may have. Similarly, all the positive aspects of the other cars that you considered buying but did not purchase are dissonant with your cognition that you did not buy one of them. A good way to reduce such dissonance is to seek out exclusively positive information about the car you chose and avoid negative information about it. One source of safe information is advertisements; it is a safe bet that an ad will not run down its own product. Accordingly, one might predict that a person who had recently purchased a new car will begin to read advertisements selectively, reading more ads about his or her car after the purchase than people who have not recently purchased the same model. Moreover, owners of new cars will tend to steer clear of ads for other makes of cars. This is exactly what Danuta Ehrlich and her colleagues found in a well-known survey of advertising readership. In short, Ehrlich’s data suggest that, after making decisions, people try to gain reassurance that their decisions were wise by seeking information that is certain to be reassuring. People do not always need help from Madison Avenue to gain reassurance; they can do a pretty good job of reassuring themselves. An experiment by Jack Brehm demonstrates how this can come about. Posing as a marketing researcher, Brehm showed several women eight different appliances (a toaster, an electric coffee maker, a … read more »
Response:
Hello reasonable people, Can someone please explain to me why the new/sealed iPods being sold on Ebay are selling for prices ABOVE RETAIL? The prices exclude shipping. Is it just me or is there not something wrong here? Are people bidding on their own products again, or perhaps are 12 year olds bidding just to create havoc? Even a person up in Alaska can order a new iPod via mail and not pay these prices, if their electronics stores don’t have them in stock. People have reminded me on occasion that there really stupid people out there who will buy anything, but I am a bit skeptical, having tried to sell items on Ebay myself … Q
Response:
Hello reasonable people, Can someone please explain to me why the new/sealed iPods being sold on Ebay are selling for prices ABOVE RETAIL?
eBay’s marketing is working. People go there first, find what they want, get into bidding wars, win, and pay (most of them). They don’t shop for the lowest price. They just go where they know they can find "it" and get "it" over with.
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… People have reminded me on occasion that there really stupid people out there who will buy anything, but I am a bit skeptical…
You need to be "reminded" that people will buy anything? Wanna buy a subscription to Oprah magazine? How about a Yanni CD? How about a guaranteed spot in heaven? Now, I forgot. What was the desired outcome of your obvious troll post? Craig
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello reasonable people, Can someone please explain to me why the new/sealed iPods being sold on Ebay are selling for prices ABOVE RETAIL? The prices exclude shipping. Is it just me or is there not something wrong here? Are people bidding on their own products again, or perhaps are 12 year olds bidding just to create havoc? Even a person up in Alaska can order a new iPod via mail and not pay these prices, if their electronics stores don’t have them in stock. People have reminded me on occasion that there really stupid people out there who will buy anything, but I am a bit skeptical, having tried to sell items on Ebay myself … Q
Another reason maybe location. For example, ipods may be more expensive in California than what they are selling on ebay but cheaper for me (I live in the MW).
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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – … People have reminded me on occasion that there really stupid people out there who will buy anything, but I am a bit skeptical… You need to be "reminded" that people will buy anything? Wanna buy a subscription to Oprah magazine? How about a Yanni CD? How about a guaranteed spot in heaven? Now, I forgot. What was the desired outcome of your obvious troll post? Craig
To get better results than heep9 did? Kris
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello reasonable people, Can someone please explain to me why the new/sealed iPods being sold on Ebay are selling for prices ABOVE RETAIL? The prices exclude shipping. Is it just me or is there not something wrong here? Are people bidding on their own products again, or perhaps are 12 year olds bidding just to create havoc? Even a person up in Alaska can order a new iPod via mail and not pay these prices, if their electronics stores don’t have them in stock. People have reminded me on occasion that there really stupid people out there who will buy anything, but I am a bit skeptical, having tried to sell items on Ebay myself … Q
People can also lose money without the expense of going to Las Vegas, but they go anyway because they like the "excitement" of losing it in a casino. Prices have little to do with shopping for many people. Ed
Response:
Hello reasonable people, Can someone please explain to me why the new/sealed iPods being sold on Ebay are selling for prices ABOVE RETAIL? eBay’s marketing is working. People go there first, find what they want, get into bidding wars, win, and pay (most of them). They don’t shop for the lowest price. They just go where they know they can find "it" and get "it" over with.
Exactly.
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: Hello reasonable people, : : Can someone please explain to me why the : new/sealed iPods being sold on Ebay are selling : for prices ABOVE RETAIL? : : eBay’s marketing is working. People go there first, find what they : want, get into bidding wars, win, and pay (most of them). They don’t : shop for the lowest price. They just go where they know they can find : "it" and get "it" over with. So true, but then at some point after they have paid for the item, they suddenly become smart and go elsewhere online to compare prices. When they find out they have paid more to the eBay seller, who do they blame? Certainly not themselves, it is most definitely eBay’s fault.
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but cheaper for me (I live in the MW).
You live in the Mongolian Wonfas and can log onto eBay?
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People can also lose money without the expense of going to Las Vegas, but they go anyway because they like the "excitement" of losing it in a casino. Prices have little to do with shopping for many people.
I think this is the most rational response. I’d expand on that with the following speculative ideas based on my own observations of how people psychologically ‘use’ shopping. 1. they use the act of buying to reaffirm their own (sometimes empty) existences, similar perhaps to how religion used to be used e.g. in praying or chanting. 2. they use the excitement of coming-to-own things as a way of filling their boring lives with emotion, similar to what music is supposed to be for people. 3. they like the idea of entering a comfortable place to buy things, perhaps as if it were a church, thus the big mall substitutes for the cathedrals of old, but ebay is somehow also a comfortable and welcoming place to go to, perhaps like a livingroom. 4. nevertheless if people could choose between a mall / cathedral and Ebay / livingroom, they’d choose the latter because they like a friendly environment to shop in, even if Ebay isn’t really so friendly and the prices are high. 5. people also like the competition of buying things, hence Black Friday isn’t just about low prices but also about competing, and the comradery that competitors share. In the case of Ebay, I don’t know if Ebayers chat online or whatnot, but certainly the competition must be thrilling for some. I once went to a county auction and I observed firsthand that people can get very excited when competing for both good stuff and worthless junk. Q
Response:
Hello reasonable people, Can someone please explain to me why the new/sealed iPods being sold on Ebay are selling for prices ABOVE RETAIL? eBay’s marketing is working. People go there first, find what they want, get into bidding wars, win, and pay (most of them). They don’t shop for the lowest price. They just go where they know they can find "it" and get "it" over with.
YUP. By Christmas I expect to see a few Xbox 360s sell for up to $5K.
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YUP. By Christmas I expect to see a few Xbox 360s sell for up to $5K.
=== OK, ethical dilemma–I have one sitting right here at my feet (disguised amongst my eBay boxes). I came upon it at a good price (500.) from a good seller the day they came out. I’d already told my 12 yr old son he’d have to wait til his birthday in Feb or even later to get one, because I wasn’t about to pay those ridiculous prices from questionable sellers. He said OK–he’ll take a PSP instead (which I haven’t bought). Should I sell? I say not, as my son’s euphoria over receiving it is worth more than money and how could one even consider selling such an invaluable treasure with a perfectly suitable recipient right here in our own house? DH says, "Sell the sucker." ===
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something like: Should I sell? I say not, as my son’s euphoria over receiving it is worth more than money and how could one even consider selling such an invaluable treasure with a perfectly suitable recipient right here in our own house? DH says, "Sell the sucker."
I say keep it–isn’t making your kid happy one of the reasons for making money in the first place? -Bertha — "In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim high." — Henry David Thoreau
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YUP. By Christmas I expect to see a few Xbox 360s sell for up to $5K. Should I sell? I say not, as my son’s euphoria over receiving it is worth more than money and how could one even consider selling such an invaluable treasure with a perfectly suitable recipient right here in our own house? DH says, "Sell the sucker." ===
I think it depends on your personal financial situation. I could make a case for it not being sane to maximize your profit, but in my case I wouldn’t sell it. Not that we couldn’t use the extra money, but it would indeed be extra money. Guessing you’re in the same boat, I say keep it. You can’t buy the *cool* factor he’s going to get when his friends all drool over it. A
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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – : : Hello reasonable people, : : Can someone please explain to me why the : new/sealed iPods being sold on Ebay are selling : for prices ABOVE RETAIL? : : eBay’s marketing is working. People go there first, find what they : want, get into bidding wars, win, and pay (most of them). They don’t : shop for the lowest price. They just go where they know they can find : "it" and get "it" over with. So true, but then at some point after they have paid for the item, they suddenly become smart and go elsewhere online to compare prices. When they find out they have paid more to the eBay seller, who do they blame? Certainly not themselves, it is most definitely eBay’s fault.
Of course. It couldn’t be "their" fault. 
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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Should I sell? I say not, as my son’s euphoria over receiving it is worth more than money and how could one even consider selling such an invaluable treasure with a perfectly suitable recipient right here in our own house? DH says, "Sell the sucker." HELL NO! Don’t sell it since doing so would be akin to child abuse! What parent in the right state of mind and moral fortitude would destroy a child’s development by not teaching them about all the greatness and value of Microsoft products? Rita
Out of curiosity, it would be interesting to find how many guys buy Xbox strictly for their child? What percentage of the time does the "child" have it. Define which is the child. Just meandering and not making any comment on anyone here.
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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Hello reasonable people, Can someone please explain to me why the new/sealed iPods being sold on Ebay are selling for prices ABOVE RETAIL? The prices exclude shipping. Is it just me or is there not something wrong here? Are people bidding on their own products again, or perhaps are 12 year olds bidding just to create havoc? Even a person up in Alaska can order a new iPod via mail and not pay these prices, if their electronics stores don’t have them in stock. People have reminded me on occasion that there really stupid people out there who will buy anything, but I am a bit skeptical, having tried to sell items on Ebay myself …
I once sold a CPU for slightly more than it goes for new. When I asked the buyer what I was missing, he got *very* defensive. "This is a free country and I can spend my money as I please!", etc. I think he was just the all too typical dumb American consumer, who got embarrassed when it was pointed out. As any European or Middle-Eastern merchant can tell you, Americans aren’t exactly sharp consumers and very often don’t even comparison shop. A_C
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Out of curiosity, it would be interesting to find how many guys buy Xbox strictly for their child? What percentage of the time does the "child" have it. Define which is the child.
I have an in-law that has been bonkers about video games since the days of Pong. Always has the newest ones. A few years ago there was a hot one out for Christmas. Everybody was sold out. On Christmas Eve his wife walked up to the counter at Toys-R-Us and asked about them. The guy said they were sold out and that every one they had was called for. He asked how old the child was. She replied "48". The guy reached under the counter and handed her one of the consoles.
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Should I sell? I say not, as my son’s euphoria over receiving it is worth more than money and how could one even consider selling such an invaluable treasure with a perfectly suitable recipient right here in our own house? DH says, "Sell the sucker." HELL NO! Don’t sell it since doing so would be akin to child abuse! What parent in the right state of mind and moral fortitude would destroy a child’s development by not teaching them about all the greatness and value of Microsoft products?
==== Exactly. And don’t overlook the fact that he’s also learning no matter how tough things get, when all hope appears lost, his mom’s gonna come through for him. It just doesn’t get any better than that. ====
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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – YUP. By Christmas I expect to see a few Xbox 360s sell for up to $5K. Should I sell? I say not, as my son’s euphoria over receiving it is worth more than money and how could one even consider selling such an invaluable treasure with a perfectly suitable recipient right here in our own house? DH says, "Sell the sucker." === I think it depends on your personal financial situation. I could make a case for it not being sane to maximize your profit, but in my case I wouldn’t sell it. Not that we couldn’t use the extra money, but it would indeed be extra money. Guessing you’re in the same boat, I say keep it. You can’t buy the *cool* factor he’s going to get when his friends all drool over it.
==== Yep–I’m with you. The mortgage is paid and the gas tanks are full. I got an iPod a few weeks ago for the 10 year old (it was on his list– a 10 year old! I had no idea there were SpongeBob iTunes). Looks like we could, if we were that kind of parents, cancel Santa and put a down payment on a yacht or something. ====
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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – YUP. By Christmas I expect to see a few Xbox 360s sell for up to $5K. Should I sell? I say not, as my son’s euphoria over receiving it is worth more than money and how could one even consider selling such an invaluable treasure with a perfectly suitable recipient right here in our own house? DH says, "Sell the sucker." === I think it depends on your personal financial situation. I could make a case for it not being sane to maximize your profit, but in my case I wouldn’t sell it. Not that we couldn’t use the extra money, but it would indeed be extra money. Guessing you’re in the same boat, I say keep it. You can’t buy the *cool* factor he’s going to get when his friends all drool over it. ==== Yep–I’m with you. The mortgage is paid and the gas tanks are full. I got an iPod a few weeks ago for the 10 year old (it was on his list– a 10 year old! I had no idea there were SpongeBob iTunes). Looks like we could, if we were that kind of parents, cancel Santa and put a down payment on a yacht or something. ====
You’ve got a couple of lucky kids, I guess. I know family sizes tend towards smaller and incomes are sometimes higher than when I was a kid. But $500 is still near a week’s take-home pay for a lot of Dads, I’d guess. If I may geez a bit, when I was 10 or twelve I had three siblings in the house (and Mom at home not working, of course). The chance I was =ever= going to get a gift which consumed a week’s pay were about on par with giant meteors splashing into both oceans and wiping out both entire coastlines on the same day.
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