What is up with people selling used stuff? (1 Viewer)

[MarkHastings]

Here's a good site that talks about ticket resale laws by state:
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/lis/ticketscalplaws.htm

And here's a quote - note the part in bold.

There are no federal laws directly governing ticket resale, but several states and a number of municipalities prohibit the reselling of tickets for an amount in excess of the face price. Some states that have resale laws allow a small premium to be charged, usually no more than $3 by a reseller, though they generally allow "authorized" ticket agents to charge whatever they want. These laws in these states are generally called "scalping laws", and the offenders are commonly called "scalpers".

Considering scalping is illegal in CT no matter what price you charge, this guy has GOT to be doing something illegal.

 

[John_Berger]

Considering scalping is illegal in CT no matter what price you charge, this guy has GOT to be doing something illegal.

This is also the same state that has a 50 MPH limitation on a 6-lane Interstate.

If they guy is out there every time, why isn't he being reported? An undercover policeman would probably do wonders in this situation.

 

[MarkHastings]

why isn't he being reported?

To be honest - Laziness

 

[Chris Lockwood]

That site's incorrect. Here in FL you can resell tickets for up to $1 over face value. The only restriction I know of is that many venues restrict you from selling on their property. I've even seen radio stations setting up ticket resale areas near major events.

In reality, when I go to concerts, people are usually selling tickets for way less than face value, like 50-75%. Some of them have extras because somebody in their group couldn't make it, so they'd rather get 1/2 or 2/3 of their money back than zero.

Tell me what's unethical about that. Some people are getting cash for their unwanted tickets, & others are getting tickets (sometimes for a sold-out event) at a discount.

There are also pro "scalpers" who make their money by buying tickets from the types of people really cheap, & then reselling them at a healthy markup, but still at a discount. For instance they might give somebody $10-15 for a $50 ticket, then sell it to someone for $20-30.

If you think the person getting $10-15 for their $50 ticket is getting ripped off, you're wrong, because the sale only takes place if both parties agree, and people who dump their tickets that cheap are usually glad to get any amount. If they don't think the price is high enough, they're free to hang around & try to get more.

The resold tickets are so much cheaper that I hardly ever buy tickets in advance; I just show up an hour or so early & look for people selling them. That's how I noticed how the "scalpers" did their thing- the same guy will have a "Need 2 tickets" sign, then he'll put it away & start selling.

Those guys provide a win-win-win-win situation: they make money, somebody gets money for their unneeded ticket, somebody else gets a cheap ticket, & the venue is better off having the ticket used, since empty seats don't buy food, drinks, t-shirts, etc.

 

[cafink]

And further more, the theater still isn't getting any more money than the original "low" ticket price, so why is it ok for another company to profit from the generous pricing of the theater?

Because that's how economics work. Everyone, both businesses and individuals buy things only when they expect to profit from their purchase. The profit is not always in monetary form as in this example, but the point still stands.

 

[MarkHastings]

If you sell them for less than you potentially could, then you make less moeny that you otherwise would have, and the person who most wanted the ticket (as evidenced by his willingness to pay more for it) will have to do without in favor of selling it so someone who wasn't willing to pay as much.

Wait, you're losing me here.

I'm talking about a theater selling tickets (not the reseller or anyone in conjunction with the reseller). Let's say (and for simplicity sake) there are 100 seats and they are all $10. If the theater sells all of the tickets to people who buy them at the counter (i.e. people who are planning to come to the show), the theater makes $1,000 on the show.

Now if a corporation comes in and buys 50 tickets and the theater sells the other 50 tickets, the theater still makes $1,000. What difference does it make if the corporation sells them for $50 a piece? The fact is, the theater still makes $1,000 in the end. And what difference does it make who bought the tickets. Why would someone who spent $50 be more appreciative of the show over someone who paid $10? You still have 100 people there no matter what, but in the case where there is NO corporation being the middle man, I'd assume that the people would have a better time. I know I always have a better time when I've spent regular price as opposed to a 500% increase for a ticket. I'd tend to be more critical of the show if I paid more than the ticket price.

 

[Aurel Savin]

Getting back to the original question ...

Having sold thousands of items on Ebay, for myslef and for clients, the reasons some people overpay for things are:

1. they do not have credit cards to buy things on Amazon or other sites (paypal does not require a CC to open an account) OR they send Checks or Money Orders.

2. they live in such remote areas of the country that locally nothing can be found.

3. they do not do their homework and do not shop around for price on the internet.

4. sometimes an Ebay seller with a lot of positive feedback is more trustworthy to them than a small unknown site or a seller with the same item and pretty much no feedback.

5. they are stupid


Price is just half of the sale, trust and service are the other!

 

[cafink]

Why would someone who spent $50 be more appreciative of the show over someone who paid $10?

You've got it backwards.

Suppose two people are willing to see this show but only one ticket is left. One person wants to see it quite badly, and is willing to pay as much as $100 for a ticket. The other is only casually interested, and wouldn't pay more than $20.

If the ticket is sold cheaply (under $20 in this example), then the theater makes less money than they potentially could have, and the ticket goes to whoever happens to get to the box office first.

If, on the other hand, the ticket is sold for a higher price ($20-$100), the theater will make more money, and the guy who wants the ticket more will be the one who gets it.

Again, this is basic economics. The idea is for the seller to maximize their revenue (it's why businesses exist), and that entails having neither a surplus (as happens when prices are too high) nor a shortage (as happens when prices are too low) of product.

By selling tickets at a price too far below this "magical" price point, the theater is creating a shortage, because they don't have enough tickets to sell to everyone who wants one; some will have to do without, in sptite of their willingness to pay the asking price. If the theater raised the ticket price, less people would want to buy tickets (and that would presumably include this mega-corporation), and there would be no problem in the first place.

 

[Rob Speicher]

Buy New: $24.00
Buy Used: $25.99

I know that you'd pretty much have to be dumb to fall for something like that, but there are smart people out there falling for this kind of BS all the time. It's those people (i.e. the ones that are trying to scam others), that are on my "Looser" list.

Let me get this straight - there's two prices next to each other, the customer opts for the used one that costs more, and the seller is at fault? Please. If there are smart people "falling" for this, they're not all that smart.

 

[MarkHastings]

Rob, I am not saying it's the sellers fault, but it's still considered a "Scam" - give me one good reason why a seller should sell a "Used" item for MORE than the "New" price?

Yes, if you fall for it, you deserve to be scammed, but that doesn't change the fact that the seller is trying to trick and scam people. Which is why I have an issue with those types of sellers and think they are Loosers.

A moronic scam is still a scam no matter how you look at it.

 

[cafink]

give me one good reason why a seller should sell a "Used" item for MORE than the "New" price?

Because someone is willing to pay it. What is one good reason why a seller should sell an item for LESS than he could get for it?

 

[MarkHastings]

Because someone is willing to pay it.

The key word I disagree with is "willing". I don't think people are "willing" to pay more for used items over new ones, I think they are being tricked (or fooled) into it.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Some people value their time and convenience over savings from looking for the lowest price.

 

[Malcolm R]

True. This is why people will pay high prices at convenience stores for the same items they could probably buy for 1/2 the price if they'd drive to a nearby supermarket.

I don't think anyone is being "tricked," it's just whether or not you pay attention. I see those "used" prices all the time and chuckle at them. The people who buy used items at those prices must be the same people who buy from telemarketers and respond to spam email. They deserve to be scammed.

 

[MarkHastings]

his is why people will pay high prices at convenience stores

Kind of, but not really the same thing.

Imagine going into a convenience store to get a coke. There are 2 cokes side by side and one has a $2 price tag and the other has a $1.50 price tag...Now imagine if you ran in quickly and just grabbed one and figured the $2 was the price, but not only until after you bought it, you find out that there was a cheaper price for the exact same thing.

 

[Malcolm R]

If that Coke is worth $2 to you, you should be fine with it. If you didn't want to pay $2 for it, you should have looked for a better deal.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> the seller is trying to trick and scam people

Huh? Trick them by stating the price for the item? It's only a scam if the buyer pays but the item isn't shipped, or isn't correctly described (like advertising a hardcover book but sending a paperback).

I guess a store like Suncoast that charges more for items than other stores do is also running a scam. :frowning:


> I don't think people are "willing" to pay more for used items over new ones

Yeah, I'd much rather have a new Superman comic book than one of those used ones from the 1930s.

 

[cafink]

I don't know what else to say except that I agree completely with Patrick, Malcolm, and Chris. When seller lists a price for a product, it is up to the customer whether he wants to pay that amount for it or not. It is up to him, not the seller, to search for a better deal.

And don't forget that, as Patrick and Malcolm have suggested, the time and convenience involved in the sale are a part of the product he's buying. Time is money, as they say, and sometimes it's simply not worth it to go out of one's way to save a few pennies.

 

[MarkHastings]

Wait, I think we are all talking about something different here.

 

[Burke Strickland]

give me one good reason why a seller should sell a "Used" item for MORE than the "New" price?

On Amazon, the various "new" and "used" prices represent offers for sale from different associated vendors in addition to Amazon itself. They probably do not know when they submit their price what other prices will appear on the same page on the site. They base their price on a lot of factors including their cost for the item (which can vary widely by volume) and cost of doing business. So while it may appear strange when a used item is priced higher than a new unit of the same goods, that is coincidence, not some diabolical scheme to bilk the unaware buyer. Which source anyone actually orders from is completely up to them. But the information is there for all to see and use to make their own choice.

While we are on the subject, I recently bought a CD at Amazon that was unavailable locally. They had it listed as an “import” for $27.99, which qualified it for “free shipping” directly from them. The same item was listed on the same page as being available from one of their independent associated vendors for $11.35, but with a $2.49 shipping charge added to that for a total price of $13.84. While we can do the math (I just did it for you) :>) and see which is by far the better deal, there are probably some people who 1) cannot believe that the same item available for less than half Amazon’s price could really be as good and 2) they want that “free” shipping. :>)

The low-price vendor also has a nearly perfect 4.5 out of 5 star average customer rating with over 2200 transactions rated. That’s an order of magnitude fewer customers than those who gave a vendor selling the CD at $18.67 (plus shipping) the same average satisfaction rating. In case you are wondering who I ordered from, that rating was enough of an indication for me to take a chance on the low-price vendor. The CD arrived in perfect condition within the time promised – and I saved some money.