Amazon / Ebay prices versus supplier

newmug

Hi folks.

I cannot get my head around how people can sell brand new goods on Amazon and Ebay for a fraction of the price a genuine supplier sells them at. Are these goods stolen and repackaged, are they seconds that were binned in the factory, are they knock-offs?

To give an example, my OH bought a brand new iphone (the latest model) for E210 on Ebay. I couldnt believe it! I checked out the seller, and they claim to be a company that does nothing else, only sell mobiles. I find this very suspicious. Why aren't they all selling for that kind of money so? Is it the case that high-street iphone suppliers are making a killing hoping eejits like me will fork out E600, ignorant of the fact that it can be bought much cheaper online? How cheap are they wholesale, that internet company still has to make SOME profit?

Another example is I this: I was looking for a thing called a "boresnake". Its a newly invented cleaning accessory for cleaning guns. I looked on the manufacturers website, they're selling them for 39 dollars, excluding P&P. Taking into account excise duty, the exchange rate, and VAT, that has to be at least E50. But I looked on Amazon, and someone is selling them, brand new, for E29!

So whats going on? Who's being codded here?

Wats_in_a_name

Has your OH got the iPhone yet?

newmug

She has indeed! Why?

rainbowdash

newmug wrote: »

Hi folks.

I cannot get my head around how people can sell brand new goods on Amazon and Ebay for a fraction of the price a genuine supplier sells them at. Are these goods stolen and repackaged, are they seconds that were binned in the factory, are they knock-offs?

To give an example, my OH bought a brand new iphone (the latest model) for E210 on Ebay. I couldnt believe it! I checked out the seller, and they claim to be a company that does nothing else, only sell mobiles. I find this very suspicious. Why aren't they all selling for that kind of money so? Is it the case that high-street iphone suppliers are making a killing hoping eejits like me will fork out E600, ignorant of the fact that it can be bought much cheaper online? How cheap are they wholesale, that internet company still has to make SOME profit?

Another example is I this: I was looking for a thing called a "boresnake". Its a newly invented cleaning accessory for cleaning guns. I looked on the manufacturers website, they're selling them for 39 dollars, excluding P&P. Taking into account excise duty, the exchange rate, and VAT, that has to be at least E50. But I looked on Amazon, and someone is selling them, brand new, for E29!

So whats going on? Who's being codded here?

Firstly why do you think somebody selling on Ebay is not a genuine supplier?

Why is it suspicious that a company only sells mobiles?

I personally know people who only sell 1 product on Ebay and do very well from it.

They put a lot of their own cash into the product, like maybe 100K, use this to get a big discount from the manufacturer and then sell the product at a very tight margin, selling it for less than a smaller player can buy it wholesale for.

newmug

Wats_in_a_name wrote: »

Has your OH got the iPhone yet?

I think I see where you're going, are you suggesting that some people will advertise something that they dont physically have, let you think you bought it, take your money and vanish? Thats even worse than selling inferior products, that would be an outright scam:mad:

rainbowdash wrote: »

Firstly why do you think somebody selling on Ebay is not a genuine supplier?

Because they're not! Would Mercedes sell cars wholesale to an Ebay seller for retail? Of course not, they would only sell them to approved dealers, who meet their marketing and branding standards! Anything else is too "Del-boy"-ish.

rainbowdash wrote: »

Why is it suspicious that a company only sells mobiles?

I personally know people who only sell 1 product on Ebay and do very well from it.

They put a lot of their own cash into the product, like maybe 100K, use this to get a big discount from the manufacturer and then sell the product at a very tight margin, selling it for less than a smaller player can buy it wholesale for.

Well that kinda makes sense. So it IS a case of traditional high-street sellers making a killing then?

rainbowdash

newmug wrote: »

I think I see where you're going, are you suggesting that some people will advertise something that they dont physically have, let you think you bought it, take your money and vanish? Thats even worse than selling inferior products, that would be an outright scam:mad:

You can't do that on Ebay - once you pay by paypal you will get a refund unless the seller can prove you received it etc. Paypal are very much on the side of the buyer. Also a lot of sellers, depending on the product etc., will have a percentage of their funds held by paypal, also if somebodys activity on paypal rapidly increases their funds are frozen and they will be asked to submit a lot of documentation to paypal such as bank details, invoices for the goods etc.

newmug wrote: »

Because they're not! Would Mercedes sell cars wholesale to an Ebay seller for retail? Of course not, they would only sell them to approved dealers, who meet their marketing and branding standards! Anything else is too "Del-boy"-ish.

You can buy a brand new Mercedes on Ebay.

newmug wrote: »

Well that kinda makes sense. So it IS a case of traditional high-street sellers making a killing then?

If the high street shops were making a killing they wouldn't all be closing then. Suppose a shop sells 2 bikes a week, compared to a guy on Ebay selling 50. The shop probably buys the bike for more than the Ebayer sells it for. Say the shop makes €200 and pays wages, rent, insurance, rates and all the rest. I can't see where you are getting the killing from.

Some people buy online and happy to take a bit of a chance on the quality and suitability of product etc. Others go to the shop and pay more, happy in the knowledge that they know they are getting exactly what they are paying for.

newmug

rainbowdash wrote: »

They put a lot of their own cash into the product, like maybe 100K, use this to get a big discount from the manufacturer and then sell the product at a very tight margin, selling it for less than a smaller player can buy it wholesale for.

I was thinking about this, but I'm still not convinced.

Eventhough what you're saying makes sense, its too idealistic. If you had a spare 5K lying around, and bought 1000 items at E5 each, and sold them for 10, you'd double my money. So why isn't everybody doing it then?



Firstly, very few people have 100K to play with like that. Those who do either have good enough jobs or businesses such that they dont have to / wouldnt bother selling stuff on ebay for a meagre profit.

Secondly, IF I had 100K spare cash, I would be utilising it in a far less risky way. eg pay off mortgage, buy gold etc. The "tight margain" would be too little reward to risk your 100K for. One business blunder could waste all your profits, AND your investment. You might aswell gamble your 100K on Ronnie O'Sullivan getting through the first round of the World Snooker Championships at odds of 100/1 on!

Thirdly, space. 100K worth of material will take up a sizeable amount of room (unless you're dealing in diamonds or something like that!) Lets say you bought 100K worth of jeans. Where are you going to put them? You may indeed double your money on them, but it could take you years to move all that stock. Is that not exactly why we have high-street shops? You need to rent a premises to store your stuff, so you might aswell stick a sign with your name on it outside and sell as a high-street retailer. At least that way you're more visible, and can charge a bit more to compensate for overheads.

rainbowdash wrote: »

You can't do that on Ebay - once you pay by paypal you will get a refund unless the seller can prove you received it etc. Paypal are very much on the side of the buyer. Also a lot of sellers, depending on the product etc., will have a percentage of their funds held by paypal, also if somebodys activity on paypal rapidly increases their funds are frozen and they will be asked to submit a lot of documentation to paypal such as bank details, invoices for the goods etc.

Cool, I didnt know that!

rainbowdash wrote: »

You can buy a brand new Mercedes on Ebay.

Not arguing, but I typed in Mercedes and this is what came up, ie. no new ones:

http://motors.shop.ebay.ie/Cars-/9801/i.html?_nkw=mercedes&_catref=1&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282

rainbowdash wrote: »

If the high street shops were making a killing they wouldn't all be closing then. Suppose a shop sells 2 bikes a week, compared to a guy on Ebay selling 50. The shop probably buys the bike for more than the Ebayer sells it for. Say the shop makes €200 and pays wages, rent, insurance, rates and all the rest. I can't see where you are getting the killing from.

Some people buy online and happy to take a bit of a chance on the quality and suitability of product etc. Others go to the shop and pay more, happy in the knowledge that they know they are getting exactly what they are paying for.

This ties in with the third point I made above. Where I'm from, high-street sellers are actually expanding and forcing the small local man to close. A new Lidl has closed a few grocers, and both O2 and Vodaphone have opened a SECOND outlet in a town of 5000 people!!! Aswell, I would imagine the volume of sales would be the other way around, ie the guy on Ebay sells 2 bikes per week, and the high-street shop sells 50. How are people going to know about some anonymous ebay seller when they have billions of other websites and online sellers to choose from every time they search google or ebay for the item they want? Even the high-street shops have websites which appear first when you type in what you're looking for. The Ebay seller is a small fish in the infinately big sea. Compare THAT with a brand which has the power to be a household name. Word-of-mouth doesn't cost a penny, and that kind of power is a license to charge whatever you want.

I completely take your point that given the economy of scale, some sellers can retail their produce for less than other sellers buy it wholesale. But I just dont believe its viable for ebay sellers to compete with well established, accountable, high-street outlets. Hence my suspicion that all is not as it seems.

MyAmber.net

I would be very suspicious with "too cheap" iphones.
When being in Asia everyone had an "iphone" that you could get on the local market for 10% of an original price.
Comparing visually you wouldn't know it's a fake, but the software and the whole "look and feel" experience was much different.
So compare your OH iphone with another one, just in case.
Sometimes the fake phones might be very hard to distinguish.
I heard a story of a guy who got a Nokia a while ago in Asia sent it to the company when it broke.
Got a letter from Nokia that this phone was fake and 90% of parts inside the phone are not recognized by their hardware department.
Bu be careful, this story might be fake as well ;-)

Liveit

Hate to break it to you but that iPhone you bought is definitely not a genuine apple iPhone. So this is either a scam or else you OH misread the advertisment. The words 'like' or 'for' are used all the time try to play by the rules on ebay yet appeal to the buyer. Throw up the link of it there

tman

There's no way someone would sell a new iPhone 4 for 200 quid... I'd eat my hat if that's a legit phone!
You'd be lucky to get a used 3gs for that price on ebay!

newmug

Indeed all was not what it seemed. The seller asked for the phone back the day after I opened this thread, citing that it was damaged. He offered my OP her money back. She told them to refund her first, then they'd get the phone. In fairness, they did, and hence she sent back the phone.

I dont know who the seller was, and I dont have a link. They were from Donegal, and claimed to do nothing other than deal in mobiles. They are just one of the thousands of iphone sellers that come up when you type "iphone 4" into ebay. This was all done through the bro-in-law, so neither me nor the OH actually saw the sellers site.


@ Rainbowdash, I dont doubt that some people make a few quid selling on ebay. But you said you know of people who do quite well at it. Could you give an example of this, as I seriously doubt anyone could make a living at it, well not above board anyway!!!

SouperComputer

I managed a retailer in electronics\computers from 03-05. It may not be the same now, but I can tell you that that a lot of suppliers and the companies they supplied were in the dark ages and didn't shop around. The prices that most "suppliers" sold for were pathetically higher than major online retailers. The suppliers kept selling because a lot of retailers could still sell on to unsuspecting customers at that inflated prices. Good old ripoff Ireland at its finest.

Hopefully that's changed. But based on my experience a while ago, its not unusual to find a genuine electronic\tech product for sale by an online retailer for 20% less than an Irish "distributor".

Newmug, dismiss eBay at your peril. Keep in mind eBay doesnt really sell anything but auctions, the rest is caviat emptor like anywhere else. Lots of large, legit companies deal on there and indeed I've established some very successful business relationships with companies that sell on eBay. Open your mind a bit. You bought a dud, that's everything to do with not reading the fine print and less to do with eBay.

A common way of making money on eBay is "drop shipping". It's a lotta work, but people who refined the process have made a lot of money from it.

AndyJB

Evening All,
I always purchase technology gadgets on-line. Lastest purchase was 2 "1 tera byte" disks. After P&P and sterling charge I got both disks for the same price as 1 in a local PC shop. Since my purchase same disks online are even cheaper!

Also recently bought 2 iPhone 4 covers for 5 sterling, local mobi shop sells them for about €12 each!

All were from UK seller on Amazon.ie. They had v-positive comments from previous customers.

Although disks were a goodish brand I was concerned about loading databases and files so I spent a month testing and retesting and they're fine.

Key to online buying via amazon or ebay is only buy from shops with positive ratings in the 90%+ and only use PayPal. As previous poster mentioned, PayPal is secure and they'll arbitrate any probs.

Before any purchase do look around the net and the hi-street.

Best of luck