More Insane Craig's List Pricing

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Two factors:
1. People NEED money
2. People have no idea of what something is actually worth, but have heard that old appliances can bring big bucks. They don't know about scarcity like a rare washer versus everyone's basement refrigerator. They think every old appliance is worth a lot of money. At least on eBay, people learn that overpriced stuff does not sell and after they have lost a few listing fees, the either learn or stop playing. I don't know that there is any similar mechanism on Craig's List. It is a shame that so many people are so up against it, but that does not mean that discerning collectors are going to pay bend over prices for common basement refrigerators or unwanted stoves.
 
Tomturmatic:
Substitute the words refrigerators, stoves with washers, dryers and the same statement applies to our situation. If they can't sell it for the high price, there's always a place for it at the scrap yard. Saw a GE monitor refrigerator there a few days ago.
 
Look at it this way;

*IF* the seller lists the item for 25 dollars and it sells instantly;


They will hear forever from other family members that they were fools/idiots/dolts for selling it so cheaply.

A relative sold our iron patio table and 4 chairs and cart for 25 bucks "since they are rusted" . I repainted these every 3 to 4 years for 3 decades. I was gone for awhile and a relative convinced my dad they were worthless; they sold for nothing. Now I look at replacements and all the iron is thinner and to get the old stuff might be a grand. Thus I am still ticked off 20 years later for a foolish sale.

Often the seller starts pricing high to not start WW3 with a spouse or relative.
 
Stuff out of vogue is crap to most; before becoming collecti

In Detroit back in 1963 we sold my grandmothers 1955 Chevy for 150 bucks. It had a dented front bumper thus not the blue book of 250. In Detroit in that era; nobody would be caught dead driving such an old car. One got laughed at. There were no collectors; it was just an old car, just like an old CRT or 486 computer or old cellphone. At county fairs they had old worthless cars like this where one paid a quarter to hit it with a sledgehammer.
 
this may be a little off topic.....but I need to RANT.......my sisters boyfriend was cleaning out his deceased mothers house......rather than be bothered selling them, he decided to put her washer and dryer on the front lawn, figuring someone would pick it up for scrap........

not sure of the year or model....BUT....it was a PINK Whirlpool washer and dryer......

after they were gone, my sister tells me about them, but it DID NOT occur to her that I would want them since they were PINK!.......

temptation to BITCH slap the fake color right out of her hair!....
 
I don't visit E-bay often (have purchased a few vinyl albums; that's about it) and have never been to a Craig's List....but I think it would be awesome if someone from AW listed a restored vintage appliance for some truly astronomical amount of money...say, $150,000,000. Or do the powers that control those sites just kick you off for such acts of foolishness? I'd be interested in the kind of e-mails/comments/messages something like that would generate.

One of my favorites is the pink Maytag pair for $2,000 (or some such nonsense) that pops up every once in awhile.
 
NO, you do not want to list an appliance for that amount of money because potential sellers would only see the dollar amount, not the condition. That is why we have seen stoves listed for over a grand with a note saying that restored stoves sell for more. Yes, well, your stove is still a potentially restorable POS that still has to be moved, then restored. We are only hurting ourselves by inflating the prices of appliances or other collectibles. These sellers watch a bidding war errupt on something highly sought after and think their rusted, chipped, down at the heels, common as crabgrass, NONworking whatever is worth just as much. As my mother used to say if someone was misbehaving, "Don't encourage that kind of behavior."
 
OK....since were on the subject......I watched a Kitchen Aid mixer, I think roughly from the 50's go for 2000.00 on ebay....not listed as, but sold for that amount!

I have one like it and I am considering listing it......any opinions, good, bad, ugly?

I know, my sister should be shot.....this is the same one who gave away her mint condition 1969 SQ solidtub, but mentioned if the guy who it was offered to first didn't take it, then I could have it.........I always felt I should have had first dibs!
 
imho people like your sister, are like waffles, you ought to be able to throw the first one away! LOL Your Biological family is the one you are born into, however your real family in my opinon is the one you choose to surround yourself with. AW org. is the best part of mine :)
Hugs,
David
 
Money laundering and Tax evasion

There are folks who list items on Ebay too with super HIGH absurd prices and the items sell too.

The reason is money laundering and tax evasion.

It allows transfer of cash in a hidden way.

ie one has IBM Pentium III computers from 1999 actually selling for 499 dollars; when other ebay auctions have them at 85 bucks to 35.

Thus if I want a spare power supply for a trusty server that draws little power; I may buy a complete working spare for 65 bucks with freight. And then "high seller" has the same model listed at 10x higher; and actually has sales. The unit he parts out will have a pulled power supply for 180 dollars.

Here I have groups of IBM computers/servers of different vintages, with many of the same Model and Type code so I can swap parts so futzing cost is low. Some sellers of old IBM stuff have there stuff priced 10 to 30 times higher than the "norm" on ebay; for the exact same Model/FRU/part number. I have been on ebay since the beginning and have noted how aburdly high auctions *DUE HAVE SALES*.

One can buy that old fridge for 1000 bucks and your 1000 dollars goes to your buddy/relative/friend/gangster not as a gift; but as a flubbed hunk worth 50 bucks and the extra 950 hidden from the tax man.

Starting unknown items at high prices and dropping them with time has been done since ebays start, newcomers to retail may not understand this. It has been done with houses before any of us were born. It has been done since the beginning of time. If the price is too high one has no sales thus one drops the price.
 
Your ebay seller is mostly Postcards and Kodak Filters

Your 1999 buck Pink washer dryer seller's ebay auctions has many big Kodak Wratten filter squares in the 5 to 170 buck range. His infrared ones I bought new back in the 1970's for about 10 each are listed as 170.

His knowledge is probably more filters and postcards than washers.

It is hard to say what that pink combo is worth. To a non collector they are just old stuff with a horrid color.

Many times high ebay prices are just fishing.

If one was shooting a movie and wanted a pink washer, one would just buy a junker and have the paint crew pink wash it for the scene.
 
You guys are the best family anyone could ask for!

just like Ralph, Gary, and Joe are my brothers from a different mother....lol
 
Well Martin, we do think alike on certain subjects, don't we?

 

So hey everybody, which one of you is going after that $1,000,000.00 Frigidaire?
 
Speaking of relatives...

I have a cousin in her late 70's who is "not hurting for money." She is the daughter of my favorite aunt who passed away in 1973. Having been a "change of life" baby I never knew any of my grandparents and this aunt was a serrogate grandmother to me. Anyhoo, one day last summer I received a telephone call from this cousin who was very excited. She said she had a yard sale and couldn't want to tell me that while cleaning out some of my aunt's things (none of which were offered to any of my family members) she came across a sewing kit I had given to my aunt for Christmas back in 1965 and told me I had handwritten the sweetest note which was attached to the kit. The kit had never been used and she sold it for a WHOLE DIME! She was soooo excited that she got a whole dime for the kit and it never occurred to her to offer the kit to me. Heck, I would have given her a whole dollar for the kit! I don't remember the kit nor do I remember having given it to my aunt. However, I would have loved to have had it and I would have cherrished it. I have to say that I was both pissed and hurt. I mean, why call and tell me about the kit then tell me she sold it for a whole dime. Self-centered idiot.
 
Craigslist and ebay pricing makes me laugh and cry at the same time.  On one hand, the internet has opened up a whole new collecting avenue.  It made finding items much easier.  On the other hand, it has also caused prices to escalate.  Let me elaborate on this one.  As some of you know, my brother and I collect early cast iron stoves.  There are sites out there selling completely restored stoves and most are asking arm, leg, and 1st born male child for them.  When the internet researcher goes looking for something like what they have (and it usually isn't anywhere close to what they have anyway), they come across a site retailing the said refurbed item.  What these folks do not usually realize is that A LOT of these stove sites have had the same stoves listed for sale for YEARS.  This in turn drives up the price the seller is looking to get for their rusty gem. We've all seen it...."There's one for sale just like mine and they want $5000, I'll take $1500" (when in actuallity the same item can be purchased at a local auction for under $100).    It makes collecting that much harder.   One can ask any price, it's what these items actually sell for that matters.

 

The big thing people don't realize or want to grasp is .... OLD DOES NOT MEAN ALWAYS MEAN RARE OR VALUABLE.  SOME OLD JUNK IS JUST THAT! OLD JUNK! 

 

Also, the other thing that craigs and ebay is famous for is people listing stuff as "antique."  Antique is usually reserved for something at least 100 years old.  Heck, I've seen 30 year old items being listed as antique. It's not frickin' antique, but may be considered "vintage."    That's another thing that sticks in my craw. 
smiley-yell.gif
 
then theres the ones, at least their honest about it, but needs fixing, up to 100.00 for parts.....and their still asking a high price for the machine!......

internet intelligence is black and white....these people are stuck in the gray area
 
Here is an example of what I was talking about earlier.  The stove was "restored" a DECADE ago.  It still has coal debris in it.  Normally, if one would find this stove at an auction, it would go for about $100, maybe $150 tops.  It sounds like it had a crack and they "reinforced" it.  All this for only <span style="font-size: large;">$2695!!!  WHATTA BARGAIN!</span>

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/atq/2320319936.html
 

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