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The rise of used equipment dealers


nonlinear

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This may be contentious, but here goes:

Am I the only one really fed up with a certain dealer (who I won't name to comply with forum rules) who buys from the same online sites/ forums as we do, and sells it back to us with a hefty price increase? I'm not against dealers, if they bring something of value to the community, but to my mind this is taking the mickey. As an example: ZEISS Abbe-Barlow Telescope Eyepieces bought at the end of Aug for £2245, sold for £3840, a Vixen VC200L bought for £410, currently for sale at £1200, with a load of patter about how his mate thinks it's too cheap. He buys from ABS as well.

I've got it off my chest, I think I'll just block items from him on ebay, stop using ABS and move on... 

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I was for a while. I worked for a US company for 4 years. I like Americans a lot, they are certainly very good at marketing and promotion. No offence intended. :)

Only a few years ago used prices were typically 2/3 to 3/4 of new for mint high end gear. I've seen this guy recently sell used equipment for MORE than a retailer was selling it new. The retailer has to offer a warranty and returns as well.

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I haven't worked out who the dealer is.
But, if he buys from SGL, as dealer, he is in clear violation of the rules.
As for buying from other sites, that is up to the site owners/operators.

For what it is worth (no pun intended) I think the SGL mods ought to restrict some of the buy/sell section access.
Or they need to make new statements about its use.
This week I have seen two instances of a new member first post being kit for sale.
Anyone (without post history) can contact a member to buy kit.
I thought the buy/sell section was for (established by post count) members.
OK rant over.
 

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Forgive my ignorance here, but an astro 'dealer' would be FLO or telescope house, and other companies I would regard in this fashion. Any one else would simply be an opportunistic reseller which I could spot a mile off. Or am I missing something here? 

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It’s certainly galling, but I don’t think there’s anything that can stop it as it’s perfectly legal. I suppose people must be buying stuff as they’ve been around a while. I notice they are prepared to let stuff sit on their shelves for months or years until it sells.
 

Earlier this year I was in the market for a Tak accessory. £400 on their website (it’s still on there). £414 on FLO. I thought the 3.5 % extra was worth it 🙂

 

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16 minutes ago, skyhog said:

Forgive my ignorance here, but an astro 'dealer' would be FLO or telescope house, and other companies I would regard in this fashion. Any one else would simply be an opportunistic reseller which I could spot a mile off. Or am I missing something here? 

You're missing something. 😀

I sold a 30mm Vixen NLVW for iirc £80. A certain chap bought it with his alt and placed it on sale in his online shop for £150! However to be fair, if he's willing to play the long game and people are daft enough to pay silly prices that's life. Capitalism's working for him.

 

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2 hours ago, nonlinear said:

This may be contentious, but here goes:

Am I the only one really fed up with a certain dealer (who I won't name to comply with forum rules) who buys from the same online sites/ forums as we do, and sells it back to us with a hefty price increase? I'm not against dealers, if they bring something of value to the community, but to my mind this is taking the mickey. As an example: ZEISS Abbe-Barlow Telescope Eyepieces bought at the end of Aug for £2245, sold for £3840, a Vixen VC200L bought for £410, currently for sale at £1200, with a load of patter about how his mate thinks it's too cheap. He buys from ABS as well.

I've got it off my chest, I think I'll just block items from him on ebay, stop using ABS and move on... 

I don’t believe he frequents SGL.

The Vixen you mention is £1530 new and his price is £1000 which seems fair. It makes you wonder why the original seller sold it so cheap ? But he/she must have been OK to let it go at that price.

I have never bought from him as he is too expensive.

Edited by dweller25
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They used to have good deals years ago. Bought a TAL 200K from their clearance section for £350.00. Someone had totally messed  up the setup and everything was miles out of adjustment but a few hours work to take it apart and put it back together properly and I had a perfect scope.🙂

They seem to have changed just a bit now and no bargains.😢

.

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Of course if you buy from them via their eBay operation. That Tak accessory I mention above, £414 from FLO, £400 from them, I could buy from their eBay shop for £480 😊

It all depends on what the market (or purchaser) will bear. 

Edited by JeremyS
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18 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

You're missing something. 😀

I sold a 30mm Vixen NLVW for iirc £80. A certain chap bought it with his alt and placed it on sale in his online shop for £150! However to be fair, if he's willing to play the long game and people are daft enough to pay silly prices that's life. Capitalism's working for him.

 

As a matter of interest, did they identify themselves to you when they bought your eyepiece? I’m not asking you to say who or how, just whether it was obvious.

The reason I ask is that I am selling a few things atm and was wondering if I could tell if approached. Not that I’d have anything against selling to them….

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38 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

As a matter of interest, did they identify themselves to you when they bought your eyepiece? I’m not asking you to say who or how, just whether it was obvious.

The reason I ask is that I am selling a few things atm and was wondering if I could tell if approached. Not that I’d have anything against selling to them….

I did some sneaky internet investigating after noticing the buyer's location. The buying account is an alt account with no indication it's a retail buyer. The gear then goes up for sale on the main account. Confirmed a few days later when the eyepiece appeared on the shop for £15 less than new...

Edited by ScouseSpaceCadet
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Ok, I see who the OP is talking about. 

I used to browse their website and the telescope  prices before Covid were sometimes very tempting - much cheaper than here in Germany! After Brexit, I didn't bother looking anymore.

Do they offer returns on their sales? At least that might explain some of the high prices. 

Edited by Peter_D
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If it is who I suspect, the kit offered is clearly second hand and from what I can see the  prices do reflect this. And based on the level of stock, it isn’t a pop up shop venture.

Isn’t the moral of the story that if you see an item you want in the classifieds, don’t hesitate  or else it may be acquired by this or other dealers and then be offered at a higher price.

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I agree, if it's the dealer I think it is, he's a good egg, he makes a living out of it so his prices are higher than selling your own kit second hand, but he gives a good service, knows what he is talking about, as far as I know checks the items over before selling them and has certainly helped me out on a number of occasions.  If you don't like his prices don't buy from him.

Carole 

 

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I've bought and sold with the person concerned and met him a couple of times.

He saw an opportunity a few years ago and took it. I don't blame him for that.

When I've sold to him he has always paid the price that I'm asking promptly and the items I've bought from him have been exactly as described.

Where the price is not what I want to pay, from any seller, I simply don't shop there :dontknow:

 

Edited by John
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Actually I can see both sides of the argument. We are lucky to live an a free society and people are free to make (and spend) money as they please. It does seem a strange market however where a trader adds nothing but cost to the end item. If he aggregated items from sources I had no access to, or eased access somehow to those items then he is adding value, and I respect that, and pay appropriately. Just to buy and re-sell at a higher price in the same market seems peculiarly parasitic. One solution is play him at his own game, there is clearly still plenty of money to be made. 

 

 

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Isn’t he just the same as thousands of other businesses that deal in second hand goods, he just happens to specialise in Astronomy gear?

I recently bought a used item of equipment from him for about 75% of the new price with which I am entirely satisfied. As chance would have it a couple of weeks later the same item came up on the SGL classifieds for £15 less but if I want to pay the lowest price I would wait forever.

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My brother in law would find this thread amusing as he spent nearly 40 years as a second hand car dealer. He didn't limit himself to cars either, he would buy and sell anything. When the Internet came along he was never away from a computer. He always said that there were enough folk out there who either didn't know the value of goods or wanted quick sales. There is a caveat to this though. Making a living from doing this over the long term demands a certain character which he definitely had. If you want a good reputation then you have to earn that and sometimes it can be costly. He would buy a car at an auction that you or I could just as easily do. But a customer he resold that vehicle to would at least have some redress if it turned out to be a lemon. I'm not sure if the guy being discussed here provides refunds, but as I've said, to preserve reputation. Quite likely. 

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I’ve bought a few things from ENS over the past couple of years and the prices have been very good and it’s nice to have a resource you can go to that has a huge range to choose from that just might have that hard to find thing you’re looking for. Never buy from their ebay shop though! Frustrating to think you may be bidding against them on the bay but on the plus side they’ll want to get it cheap enough to make a profit unlike a private bidder who really really wants that rare thing that you do too.  

The ZAOs were interesting- maybe they spotted it reading about them on here 🤔 but they knew the market value and bid accordingly and won a “bargain” and made a nice profit selling them on. But those are real collectors pieces and the price they got them for didn’t seem like a bargain to me lol.

Mark

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3 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

That's hardly a fair comment...

How is it any different to an antiques dealer?

That's the whole idea of trade? You buy cheaper to sell for a profit?

Whether you like it or not, it's how free markets are supposed to function. If there is demand, then someone will provide the supply. 

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