EBAY History: Prices of Test Equipment???

[Terry King]

Someone here once showed how to find the history of sales of test
equipment etc. on EBAY including the final bid prices.

Can anyone help me be able to do this?? Help on EBAY doesn't seem to
have anything I can find...

 

[Jan-Erik Söderholm]

Any special reason you can't use the "Search" function ?

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

Any special reason you can't use the "Search" function ?

Terry King wrote:

In my estimation, the history of sales prices of test equipment is just
a small fraction of the variables involved. Some others are:

1.) Condition, obviously. a 'Scope with those expensive probes is gonna
cost more than without.

2.) Options, which can make a big diff in price. The original carton or
packing material is one example. This can increase price dramatically.

3.) Demand, another not so obvious variable. I bid three times on a
particular item I wanted, and lost the first two times at over $70. I
got it the third time, for less than $40, because cosmetically it was a
bit on the rough side; but then these items are pre WW2, so some
roughness should be expected. It still works okay. So demand can hike
the price up dramatically.

4.) Seller's conditions of sale. I've seen items go for less than half
because the seller won't accept paypal and requires a postal money
order, or other stringent requirements. The odd one is they won't
accept paypal from credit card, they only accept paypal from
cash/checking. Whatever. When the seller pulls this stunt, he's
shooting himself in the foot. But it's his auction, and he's the one
that loses.

Another is shipping. Some sellers charge excessive S&H charges,
probably because they find that they can make up for other losses. In
any case, the buyer must watch this closely in order to keep from
spending too much.

I see that Ebay has this check box that allows you to search for items
allowing paypal. The seller that doesn't gets automagically eliminated,
which is really handy (one seller I know of is overpriced and doesn't
allow paypal, so he's outta there!). I'd like to see them enhance this
search criteria feature so that other options could be chosen. Like if
the seller doesn't allow insurance, or some other variables. The most
problems I've had with sellers has been with shipping damage, mainly
because sellers don't pack the items properly.

So overall, the history of prices is a small part of the buyer's
decision on how much to pay. The buyer must keep _well_informed_
especially about the particular item he's interested in.

 

[Mark Zenier]

Someone here once showed how to find the history of sales of test
equipment etc. on EBAY including the final bid prices.

Can anyone help me be able to do this?? Help on EBAY doesn't seem to
have anything I can find...

They've made that feature availiable only to resgistered
members. (I was looking for the same thing just last week,
and found the 'Compleated Listings" entry in the Site Map.
I wasn't in the mood to give them my name, address and my
cat's mother's maiden name ;-(. I don't even have a cat).

Mark Zenier [email protected]

 

[Walter Harley]

4.) [...] The odd one is they won't
accept paypal from credit card, they only accept paypal from
cash/checking. Whatever.

This is not odd; it's economics. To accept credit card payments over
PayPal, you have to upgrade your account to "Premier" or whatever they call
it; at which point they charge you a percentage of EVERY transaction, not
just the ones that use credit cards. I don't remember whether it affects
both buying and selling, but it certainly affects selling regardless of
fiduciary instrument.

To make matters worse, when you offer an item for sale as a non-Premier
member, and a buyer opts to pay with PayPal via credit card, PayPal
*doesn't* inform the buyer that that is not an option; rather, they send
mail to the seller saying "you've got cash - to accept it, you need to
upgrade your membership to Premier." If you choose to not accept it, they
leave you to explain the situation to the buyer yourself, which can be
awkward since from the buyer's perspective they never had an indication that
anything was wrong.

Personally I consider it an abusive and deceptive practice on eBay/PayPal's
part.

 

[Terry King]

Any special reason you can't use the "Search" function ?
It shows only current auctions, not past history...

 

[Terry King]

overall, the history of prices is a small part of the buyer's

decision on how much to pay. The buyer must keep _well_informed_
especially about the particular item he's interested in.

True. Thanks for the insights.

Still, as a seller or buyer, I'd like to know the ballpark that the open
market has valued an item at. Much like the auto Blue Book is based on
actual sales values.

 

[Terry King]

They've made that feature availiable only to resgistered

members. (I was looking for the same thing just last week,
and found the 'Compleated Listings" entry in the Site Map.

Thanks, Mark, I'll check that; I'm registered...

 

[TekMan]

It shows only current auctions, not past history...

2advanced search" shows past auctions, appr. up to 30 days old.

www.reprise.com has a list of older Tektronix/HP equipment auction
history, with a little statistics (low, mean, high, # of sales & and
some text how to interpret the figures).
And www.vaxxine.com, too.

hth,
Andreas

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

They've made that feature availiable only to resgistered
members. (I was looking for the same thing just last week,
and found the 'Compleated Listings" entry in the Site Map.
I wasn't in the mood to give them my name, address and my
cat's mother's maiden name ;-(. I don't even have a cat).

Yeah, keep away from Ebay. You'll fall into its addictive trap and
spend way too much money. Take it from someone who has recently
experienced it. :-O

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

in message news:[email protected]...

4.) [...] The odd one is they won't
accept paypal from credit card, they only accept paypal from
cash/checking. Whatever.

This is not odd; it's economics. To accept credit card payments over
PayPal, you have to upgrade your account to "Premier" or whatever they call
it; at which point they charge you a percentage of EVERY transaction, not
just the ones that use credit cards. I don't remember whether it affects
both buying and selling, but it certainly affects selling regardless of
fiduciary instrument.

I have nothing against them charging for their services.

To make matters worse, when you offer an item for sale as a non-Premier
member, and a buyer opts to pay with PayPal via credit card, PayPal
*doesn't* inform the buyer that that is not an option; rather, they send
mail to the seller saying "you've got cash - to accept it, you need to
upgrade your membership to Premier." If you choose to not accept it, they
leave you to explain the situation to the buyer yourself, which can be
awkward since from the buyer's perspective they never had an indication that
anything was wrong.

Personally I consider it an abusive and deceptive practice on eBay/PayPal's
part.

Yeah, they seem to want to make you do things they want you to do. Like
paypal keeps bugging buyers to get verified.

Sellers do have the option to not accept paypal at all. Some do, and
IMHO, receive fewer and lower bids because of it - because paypal makes
it so much easier for the buyer. From my own observations, sellers who
do unconditionally accept paypal benefit more than they have to pay in
additional fees. And the seller does have the option to build these
fees into his auction either by minimum bid or handling fees. And
dealing with a premier seller is more secure for the buyer.

Let's face it: these sellers are in it for business purposes, they're
not just traders who do it part-time for kicks or for pleasure. The
customers are the seller's bread and butter, so treat them well.

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

True. Thanks for the insights.

Still, as a seller or buyer, I'd like to know the ballpark that the open
market has valued an item at. Much like the auto Blue Book is based on
actual sales values.

For test equipment specifically, there is an open market for these, but
they don't really relate to the prices on ebay. Test equipment dealers
will charge up to half of the price for test equipment from reputable
mfgrs, because they warranty their equipment, and have checked out and
tested, and calibrated the equipment if necessary. But on ebay, the
same equipment may go for a tenth of the price or less, because it's
sold "as is" without any performance guarantee other than it will not be
DOA. You can buy the fully checked out and cal'd equipment on ebay, but
I wouldn't, I'd go straight to the test equipment dealer.

For the average hobbyist who's not 'in the biz', there is great economic
incentive to buy test equipment that's up for auction 'as is', and not
fully tested from a dealer. That's a different story on a production
line where faulty ttest equipment can cost hundreds of thousands of
dollars.

 

[PJ]

2advanced search" shows past auctions, appr. up to 30 days old.

,
Andreas

The completed search is only good for 10 days now. It got changed quite
a while back. If you know the auction number, you can view it for at least
90
days, sometimes much longer. Here's one that's still viewable after more
than 2 years.....Paul

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1696782069