At one time it was good looking across eBay at ham radio equipment. Now there’s little ham gear just a billion Chinese companies selling dodgy DC-uwave pre-amps or iffy low-spec radios.
There’s the loonies who try to sell FT-290s for £250 with “for parts only” no guarantees. Big money for a 42 year old radio that you don’t say is working with similar stupid prices such as £1001.22 for a TS-870. Again for parts only. Still these same items come up on rotation and act as a useful reminder of the passage of time.
But it’s the complete take over of the listings by AI. Gone are people putting starting prices of £10 or £50 or £300. No, now everything is based eBay recommended prices £130.72 or £52.72 or £373.52 etc. The AI suggested prices stand out so much that you know as soon as you see them that the seller has no idea what the items are truly worth. Though, Business 101 says “there’s no such thing as a fair price, just what the market will support”.
I said exactly the same thing a few years ago and was told I was wrong, have you tried Ham Radio Deals? Most of the new stuff that gets tested on TechMinds YouTube channel comes from Ali Express
Not eBay but the government. Governments all over Europe were losing revenue because imports from China were not being taxed. Companies based in Europe could not compete as they had to collect the VAT. The VAT rules changed all over the EU just as the UK left the EU but went along with the VAT changes. Now eBay (and other large trading platforms) collect the VAT due and pay the Government. AliExpress and the like also collect the VAT due.
eBay have recently introduced a “Buyer Protection Fee” which is added to the selling price for items sold by private sellers.
This fee is 4% + 75p per item. The BPF has been rolled out to different catagories since 4th Feb. The result is if I listed an item for £9.99 before the 4th Feb it will now cost a buyer £11.14. Lots of the ‘odd’ prices are the result of this BPF being sudden added by eBay - often overnight as new item catagories have been included.
That is what I meant, I was going to buy an Antenna Analyser from Ali Express, but I might as well wait for a second-hand MFJ one being sold in the UK. Also, the VAT is added after postage and packing have been added the Ali Express seems to add a little bit more, probably hoping that no one will notice!
VAT is payable on the total cost of delivered goods. Delivered goods are the items and the cost of post and packing you are charged. You’ve paid VAT on delivered goods since always.
There is a long thread on the ebay seller discussion forum about this. The ebay help page describes the fee as 4%+75p but it seems they are calculating it as
Seller price + ((sellers price - 75p)*4%) + 75p
So for a £50 item, the price with fee would be £50 + £1.97 + 75p, hence the £52.72.
Probably not today, but given the unusual economic times we are in I’m not sure how much £500 will be worth tomorrow. Buying a crate of FT290’s might be a safe investment …
If you’re a seller it’s one of the best places to sell. Likely the biggest audience you can reach, and now the buyer pays the fees
Not all hams know about their local classifieds, e.g. flea market or HRD. I guess there’s facebook too if you close your eyes to the rest of the site. Or they might not trust the other side to be honest.
People who price things stupidly won’t sell anything, unless there are stupid buyers, in which case both parties can enjoy each other’s company.
I’ve found ebay is a great place to offload old computer hardware.
There are - shall we say odd? - deals going on over the counter, so to speak. My FT-857D is 20 years old now and I was wondering what I would replace it with if it became necessary. One possibility was the FT-891. One dealer was selling it for £640, but had a couple of them second-hand for £570, a saving of £90, right? Well, I noticed that the VAT free price of a new one was £533, and there is no VAT on second-hand goods, so in reality a second-hand FT-891 is £37 more expensive than a new one. This seems par for the course for current rigs sold second-hand! I hope my FT-857D lasts a long time…
Dealers are far worse than individuals selling on eBay. It’s a capitalist society but I’d strongly discourage anyone from selling or buying used items from a dealer. Never do part exchange.
If you buy from a dealer and it doesn’t work or breaks soon after you buy it you can return it. If this happens with a private seller you are stuck. So it’s fair that a dealer charges more.
I’m not against a fair profit and know the value of a warranty, but feel that the current pricing trend is a bit too rapacious. Hams seem prepared to pay these second-hand prices so no doubt everyone is happy.
