Ebay sellers are having a laugh...
I find it astonishing that ebay sellers are selling gear at over-inflated prices. Prior to Xmas Arcam cd192s were being sold at well over £400 (one I seem to remember was £445 + P&P), and I've just scanned the Roksan section and found that someone selling a Caspian M1 has suggested a RRP of £1600. I know you can pick-up the M2 for the same sort of money and get a full warranty.
Are we really that gullible?
Buyer beware 
There's nothing "wrong" in offering a product at an over inflated price, I see it in other areas too. If someone is gullible enough to purchase it, then more fool them.
Remember that eBay is global - just because the prices may seem high to us in UK, they may be a bargain for overseas buyers, whom
(a) would normally pay a lot more to buy imported gear and/or
(b) live somewhere with a strong currency compared to the £, so buying at UK price is a bargain.
The problem with selling new stuff on ebay is it has just got too greedy with the sellers fees, which are ridiculous - 10% of FVV capped at £40. I'm afraid most folk will try to go offline and do a cash in collect (the risk is the sale falls though of course but worth the cost of £40 for high value items). This is of course totally against ebay's on T&Cs but probably being broken all the time given the number of items that are mysteriously suddenly no longer for sale. I cannot see the point in selling or buying anything other than used stuff on ebay these days.
Are we really that gullible?
In short, yes. Lazy too. People assume that ebay is full of bargains and therefore anything on it is a bargain and they generally do not seek out the real bargains elsewhere on the net.
As for the global thing, well, any online business is global too, ebay is not special in that regard.
eBay can be weird sometimes,
I've had both real bargins and found a lot of things that are actually cheaper straight from a 'normal' retailer.
Having recently sold kit on eBay I found the majority of interest was from places as far as India or Australia, despite shipping costing over a hundred pounds or so..
When selling I usually set the start price at half what I paid for it. Although recently I put a Beresford Camian up for nearly the same price as it could be bought new (the new gatorised version has knocked the standard price right down). Strangely it went within about 20 minutes or so of being posted. There wasn't even enough time to respond to buyers questions so just suggested they check out the beresford site instead where it could be bought new for near enough the same price..
I guess as with everything its just a case of doing some homework and being in the right place at the right time with regards to finding a bargin 
As for the global thing, well, any online business is global too, ebay is not special in that regard.
But eBay had a much larger reach - it's a huge international marketplace few (if any) can match. Hence its ability to charge higher fees. Not that I am condoning its fee structure - just pointing out the facts....
As for the global thing, well, any online business is global too, ebay is not special in that regard.
But eBay had a much larger reach - it's a huge international marketplace few (if any) can match. Hence its ability to charge higher fees. Not that I am condoning its fee structure - just pointing out the facts....
Exactly! It is what it is; accessible for the world and if you do your homework, whether buyer or seller, in my experience it's usually a win-win.
Remember that eBay is global - just because the prices may seem high to us in UK, they may be a bargain for overseas buyers, whom
(a) would normally pay a lot more to buy imported gear and/or
(b) live somewhere with a strong currency compared to the £, so buying at UK price is a bargain.
You're so right.
We've let our lords and masters systematically devalue our currency since 2007 without batting an eyelid (or eyelidding a bat). Mervyn King & pals should be guillotined and the banks left to bail themselves out IMHO. For what it's worth.
Moving on.... must be good for UK exports....
Actually, the people really having a laugh on ebay are those who say 'new' when they mean, er, 'used'.
Remember that eBay is global - just because the prices may seem high to us in UK, they may be a bargain for overseas buyers, whom
(a) would normally pay a lot more to buy imported gear and/or
(b) live somewhere with a strong currency compared to the £, so buying at UK price is a bargain.
You're so right.
We've let our lords and masters systematically devalue our currency since 2007 without batting an eyelid (or eyelidding a bat). Mervyn King & pals should be guillotined and the banks left to bail themselves out IMHO. For what it's worth.
Moving on.... must be good for UK exports....
Actually, the people really having a laugh on ebay are those who say 'new' when they mean, er, 'used'.
The ones I've been talking about, especially the CD192s, are UK deliveries only.
Actually, the people really having a laugh on ebay are those who say 'new' when they mean, er, 'used'.
I know, there's a Marantz NA7004 up on there at the moment, described as "as new". When pressed, the seller admitted the unit is "ex-demo" really. Now then ex-demo is perfectly acceptable, but advertise it accordingly. To push something "as new" is misleading at best.
.
I'm wanting an Aplha 9 cd player. Seen one on there, been listed at.......wait for it!!
£400 
It's not just ebay that you need to be wary of, and know your prices/values. Amazon can be equally dangerous, especially through the resellers, but also amazon itself. And the prices seem to fluctuate from day to day too.
Shop around and find out how much things are really worth (new/used) before clicking on the buy button.
I highly recommend to anyone buying on amazon checking price fluctuations on 'camelcamelcamel', it's superb and very quick. You can get it to email you when a price drops below a certain point and there is a plug in so when on amazon you can check prices with one click.
Are there still new CD192's available in shops? In fact, don't answer that, I've got one to go on ebay...
I've noticed the same, I'm toying (still) with a Roksan K2, why buy it from ebay for £750 or so when I can get from the high street with warrenty. Someone somewhere must be buying them otherwide the prices wouldn't be this artifically inflated surely. I've also noticed a lack of second hand models on ebay recently. Maybe a sign of the times, folk can't afford to upgrade and just hanging on to what they've got?
Hi-fi - NAD 542CD & 325AMP, Dali Royal Tower speakers, Black Rhodinium Jive bi-wire speaker cable and rhythm interconnect