eBay/Craigslist Why buy a tractor on eBay?

[SageBrush]

"Advantage to the buyer - he has a choice."

Sellers will recieve what buyers are willing to pay. I never bid more than I'm willing to spend. I've never sold anything for more than the average market price, though I would take more. I have bid many times and won items well under my max bid. Place your max bid and forget about it.

I buy Ham Radio junk on eBay and have found that most people are willing to pay more than me for the same item. When I do win a bid, its for a good price. eBay is a great service, I buy all kinds of things not easily found that would cost me more in gas money than postage. For the most part, eBay is full of bargin hunters. When I sell health products on there, the competition is fierce. I don't sell much anymore as a business because the profit margin is too small on food and nutrition stuff. Tractors are like cars, the price can go any where.

Like anything else, know what a good price is and for DVD's check Walmart first /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[CTyler]

At the risk of sounding rude...You don't seem to get it.
Sometimes the reserve price is the asking price, usually this is not the case. Your taking a chance at an auction so its a "I don't want to get screwed to bad price" vs an asking price. Some people use it as such, just like "buy it now" or an initial bid price.

Example:
I set a reserve price on item XYZ at $100 on Ebay. If I were to put it in the paper the asking price would be much higher.

Why?
Because people will always try to dicker you down on the asking price. In an auction the price is going up not down. If it doesn't sell in the paper your not out anything but the ad price. If you put it on Ebay and nobody happens to be bidding or you misplace your item so it has very few views you could get stuck. I've had some smokin deals on misplaced and mispelled items.

There are also a lot of buyers that wait toward the end of an auction before bidding, like me. Let me tell ya a little story. A number of years ago I was bidding on a digital camera that was selling locally for $800. There was a supplier that had tons of these and they would always go for about $600 each. The price was usually low until the end of the auction. I put a bid in for three of them at $300 on a beautifull Sunday afternoon all across the country. Evidently EVERYONE was out enjoying the weather. I got all three of them for $300. Bet he wished there was a reserve price because he got it in shorts on that deal. BTW...it took me a couple months of bidding before I got that smokin deal.

The buyer has the advantage if you have any kind of self control and patience. I'll say it again....If the price it to high wait for the next one.

 

[toddwulf]

I bought my New Holland 1920 on E-Bay from a guy in Texas. He even drove it out to California and sold me the trailer for $600 cause he didn't want to haul it back. I think I paid him a couple hundred to haul it out here.

I had been searching for a year for a decent tractor to go with our 12 acre's, visited local dealers, local FSBO's, searched online ads from southern cal to washington state and I just ended up with what I thought (and still think) was a fair price for a very good tractor with low hours and a backhoe.

If you know what the market is for the item your searching for, you will niether pay too much or too little 99% of the time, regardless of the avenue of purchase. With E-Bay, there is a bit of trust that goes along with the deal so caveat emptor definately applies.

Like most everything in life, common sense goes a long way. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[CTyler]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( cal to washington )</font>

LOL.....I misread that at first and thought it was Cal Worthington. Cal Worthington and his dog spot.....Lets all sing the jingle now.....LOL!

 

[jlemon]

I agree, the reserve price is a reasonable tool that prevents sellers from losing their shirt in cases where there are no buyers for some reason. Good weather is one reason, another good example of where the reserve price is useful is if eBay is having server problems.

However, as a buyer, there are some things that I don't really like as they relate to reserve price auctions:
1. Buyers who set a reserve price Y, but start the bidding at $X, where X << Y. The problem with this approach is that this assumes that there *will* be other bidders who eventually drive the price over the reserve. But if there are no other bidders, then I don't even get the item, even if I place my maximum bid of Z, where Z > Y. Sometimes the sale is concluded outside of the auction (afterwards), but eBay is really cracking down on that kind of behavior, since they don't get their cut when that happens.

2. Sellers who set "reserve price" == "buy it now". This is legal, and yes, the seller wants a minimum price, but these people are using ebay as a *store*, not as an auction house, and their prices are usually equivalent to discount retailers. If I wanted to shop at a store, I'd go to a store. I find these slightly annoying because they clog up the listings and make it harder to find the real auctions.

 

[DIYGuy]

As for item 1, if your bid is over the reserve price, the auction amount jumps to the reserve price, reserve is met and if there are no other bidders, you get the item for the reserve price. If your bid is below the reserve price, then your low bid is registered with an unmet reserve. Worst case here is that the reserve is $4000, you bid $3999, and the starting bid is $100. Your bid would be listed at $100. If you bid $4001, then the auction would jump to $4000 with you holding the winning bid at $4000.

I have bought my tractor, RFM, and a dozen other items over the last couple of years and haven't had a problem.

The RFM I picked up for 2/3 of the going price, I picked up a 300 lb. antique anvil for <1/2 of the going price, and I saved $1000 on the tractor compared to advertised sale prices.

As mentioned before, the key is patience. I bid on a dozen anvils before I got what I wanted.

DIYGuy

 

[jlemon]

Hmm, I haven't seen that behavior on the reserve price auctions I've bid on. For example, in the last reserve price auction, it started at $9, I put in a bid for $75, and the bid stood at $10 afterwards, still saying that "reserve was not met". I think the reserve price on the item was $30, based on watching the seller's other auctions. And yes, I eventually had the winning bid at $70.

I agree patience is the key in getting bids, as well as not getting carried away by last minute bidding. However, I only have so much time in the day, and I seem to be spending more time on TBN than eBay. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[cmsedore]

Actually, one of my frustrations with eBay is that sellers do the following:

1) List an item without reserve
2) Wait until just before the end of the auction
3) If bid is less than they'll accept, cancel the auction

As I understand it, this is allowed by eBay rules, but I find it quite frustrating. Some would say that they have the item for sale locally and reserve the right to cancel if the item sells. It has happened to me often enough that I doubt that it sold (particularly since it only seems to happen when I'm getting a really good deal).

I don't dispute the right of the seller to not sell, but I think that should only be allowed by reserve, or the auction should be listed as "not absolute".

-Chris

 

[shado]

I personally don't like the 'reserve price' method due to the fact I won't know until days later what the seller really wants for an item. Big ticket deals are not as bad since I would probably just be interested in that one thing, but if I'm shopping for lower priced items & there are multiple listings of the same thing, I would not care to keep up with them all at the same time waiting for the bidding to finish up. If I know that the seller is already willing to let the item go for his posted minumum, then I can just put my max bid in and let it go. A 'reserve price' makest me think that they want too much for it anyway. I also never understood why post a 'reserve' with the 'reserve price' mentioned in the description, defeats the purpose.
But on a big ticket item, I have already seen more than one scam for tractors running about in the past, I would never even send a 'deposit' unless I'm ready to head out for pickup of the item within a week's time, that way I can see it for myself before handling over any money. I see that some think those on-line payment services are going to protect the buyer (not always foolproof), but why go through the aggravation of having to get one's funds returned?
I have also attended a lot of local auctions & watched the frenzy, a beleiver that most people don't get out much. An item selling for more than half it's original cost (not talking antiques here) & no warranty does not quite add up, unless, of couse, it's some item that never breaks down.
But in conclusion, I'll have to give credit to eBay for one thing, it can expose an item to the greatest amount of people compared to any other medium as long as their are those that are looking for such (and as long as everybody spells things right).
J.W.

 

[bluechip]

Yes, ebay does seem to allow the sellers to cancel. As I recall, their fees are based on reserve or beginning bid price, by allowing sellers to cancel without penalty, they are shooting themselves in the foot. I've see it happen often and always take "no reserve" auctions with a grain of salt!

All in all though it is a great marketplace. LOTS of exposure. Sellers get the benefit of "national pricing" might be little demand locally that may otherwise have kept the price down, but with national (international in fact) exposure a seller is more likely to find someone willing to pay the most.

For the Buyer, what might takes weeks or months to show up in the classifieds, if ever, can be found with a few mouse clicks, and bargains can be had.

My answer to the original poster's question would be "becasue you can't find it locally for a similar cost plus freight" Or if you can, then it might just be "becasue its 2AM and its the only "store" open!