Shocking Ebay but then.....

[bomberbaz]

I know we live in a free market economy and people are allowed to charge what they want. 

Also if people are not prepared to do the research despite the plefora of information out there, then one could argue it's a buyers fault if they pay way over the odds but seriously, see the links below:

Steve's offer from FLO https://www.firstlightoptics.com/startravel/skywatcher-startravel-80-az3.html

Ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Skywatcher-Startravel-80-80-400-Telescope-with-Stable-AZ3-Stand-and-Accesso/312092870099?hash=item48aa2f45d3:g:ve0AAOSwKJFas7XF:rk:10:pf:0

One of the reasons I love this place is everyone falls over themselves trying to help newbies not fall foul of rogues like this. £139 to £261, that is pure criminal but sadly it's not.

However like I say, caveat emptor. 

Steve/Baz

[SkyGibbon]

Buy from FLO, sell on Ebay? Seems like they are catering to those too lazy to research.

[John]

I see quite a lot of listings like that. I reckon the way they work is that the seller never has any stock of the item, nor have they any experience of what they are selling. The approach seems to be to post stock pics and advertising blurb, hope for a gullible buyer, take the payment, place an order with a regular supplier at a regular retail price and have the item delivered direct to the buyer, pocketing the difference in cost.

As you say Steve, "Caveat Emptor" with a capital "C" !

[Sunshine]

that happens all the time on Amazon, i saw a 9mm Celestron Xcell LX for $249 Cad lol, i bought one for 100.

[MattGoo]

Some eBay traders simply increase the cost of item to an unusually high level if it's actually out of stock - I'm led to believe that they do this since it's cheaper for them than ending and relisting an item.

They have 17k+ positive feedback so not really in 'rogue' category?

 

[johninderby]

Not only scopes that seller is overcharging on.

£341.97 for a set of folding steps. ?

 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kartell-Upper-703073-Folding-Step-Ladded-Citrus-Yellow/192493064849?hash=item2cd17b1291:g:Zh4AAOSwpNxauSeq

[John]

26 minutes ago, MattGoo said:

...They have 17k+ positive feedback so not really in 'rogue' category?

 

There used to be a Seben supplier operating though e.bay who had 1000's of feedbacks and all 100% positive. When you look at the way that the e.bay feedback system works though, it's hardly surprising. You don't get the chance to say that the item was more expensive than it ought to have been, or that it did not perform quite as well as you expected as far as I know ?

If the seller gets the item you ordered delivered in the spec and condition advertised and on time, positive feedback is all you can give.

It pays to shop around and do your research even if not buying though e.bay. For example:

https://www.astroshop.eu/eyepieces/lunt-solar-systems-1-25-7-2mm-21-5mm-zoom-eyepiece/p,17812

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p4651_HR-Planetary-Zoom-Okular-7-2---21-5mm---1-25----7-Elemente.html

http://www.opticstar.com/Run/Astronomy/Astro-Accessories-Telescopes-Opticstar.asp?p=0_10_5_1_8_330

https://www.astroshop.eu/eyepieces/astro-professional-1-25-7-2-to-21-5mm-zoom-eyepiece/p,54984

IMHO these are the same eyepiece under 4 different brandings. I bought one for £55.00 delivered last year. It's an excellent performer.

 

[MarsG76]

That's disgusting... unfortunately they get away with it...

There is a eBay seller that does the same thing here, tries to sell scopes at double the price... I was looking at getting the Celestron  14" SCT  CGE Pro mount, ordering it from the USA was going to be around $16,000, including tax and delivery.. the clown on eBay asking price for the same thing.. $29,900!!!! 

I sent him an email asking if that is the typo.... he claims that I wont find cheaper, so I sent him the link to the USA page.. no answer.... Cheat, thief and liar....

[upahill]

49 minutes ago, MattGoo said:

Some eBay traders simply increase the cost of item to an unusually high level if it's actually out of stock - I'm led to believe that they do this since it's cheaper for them than ending and relisting an item.

They have 17k+ positive feedback so not really in 'rogue' category?

 

This is exactly it. We do it for a couple of our eBay businesses - for a variety of reasons.

• Popular listings have search ranking, ending the listing because of a stock delay can set you back months on items that are performing well.
• Listings have watchers, ending the listings means that all those watchers may come back to a dead listing.
• When the item comes back into stock and the price is lowered to a reasonable amount eBay will notify all of the watchers of the item. Free marketing.
• It maintains your volume of listings vs competitor density/etc.
• Its a lot less hassle to adjust pricing than to control stock levels via eBay and relisting - especially if your store has 5,000+ skus for example.
• A lot of ebay store management packages have built in facilities to handle it this way, so alot of sellers think this is the way it should be done.

For those who buy at the inflated price the supplier at least has the option to use a bit of retail arbitrage to fulfil the order. Not ideal but better than getting a negative feedback. In 95%+ cases though the buyer just moves on to the cheaper guy.

[MarsG76]

CORRECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just checked the accuracy of my above statement and searched for CGE Pro on Australian eBay and he now wants a bargain $37,449.99!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a Thief!!!!!!!!!!!! for old tech!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHHAH

I don't know about the policy on SGL about singelling out a seller but hey, I'm sure he's not hard to be found.....

 

[Ben the Ignorant]

I used to be shocked by these prices, and wondered, why can't people just use their computer to look for a reasonable price, easy, right? Then someone pointed out that the overpriced items will be bought by a predetermined person to launder money. In certain cases at least.

[SamAndrew]

I've noticed on some items, not astro stuff, that the seller will have multiple listings for the same thing at different prices, and then rotate the prices between items.

The theory being that you might be thinking about buying something, so you add the cheapest item to you watch list, and then when you come back later to buy it, you don't think to research the price again as you know you already saved the cheapest one, but the seller has bumped the price up slightly and you might not notice.