What happened to this hobby?

[RuneRider]

I don't have a great amount of money these days to spend on my restarted hobby. Because of this I sold some machines and parts to have the ability to buy some of what I want to get going once again. I was kind with the buyers of the items I sold and am now regretting this.

Now that I've been doing some research I've discovered that our hobby has become a feeding ground for the greedy.

I've also recently discovered that the "people" who bought my systems and parts earlier this year (all five of them) are friends and are now parting out what I sold them for several times what they paid. These guys actually targeted me and made sure they could buy my offerings cheaply. I thought I was helping some young people get into the retro computer hobby.

They say "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and I'm not going to be taken again. I guess it's all about money and the hobby doesn't matter. The kid who wants my Atari 800 better have deep pockets.

 

[Arnie]

Beware there are snipers everywhere.

 

[tactica]

That's sad and also an extreme example of greed, but I guess it goes with the fact that speculation is out of control these days with everything retro, mostly where hardware is concerned. IMO the best deals can only be found in local flea markets and specialised sites where a bunch of people share a common interest and trade among them keeping reasonable prices. *bay and any international bidding site are the last places where you can expect to make new friends, and that includes Amibay, sadly. Fortunately, at least software is still affordable around here.

 

[Frederic_Freakazoid]

I recently had someone confront me on eBay saying I should be selling stuff there/to them because X game goes for XXX amount of dollars compared to what I sold it for here. I feel I got the last laugh because they could have bought it here and sold it there w/o saying anything (but probably can't because they are banned or something).

 

[Harrison]

..they could have bought it here and sold it there w/o saying anything..

Such activity is against Amibay site policy and would result in a site ban. Same for buying items, splitting and reselling them for profit.

 

[stephenfalken]

Yep same thing has happened to me. I sold something here recently and while browsing eBay I saw my item listed there, verified with the visible serial number. It was priced considerably higher than what I asked for it.

I guess there isn't much we can do about it.

Regards

 

[supaduper]

That's why Amibay is great , because mostly its like minded people not out to screw someone, we know roughly what we will pay for some of our retro gear and perhaps a little over sometimes if we really want that item.
And if you get dismayed with it all there is always Winuae

 

[khimru]

Just don't lose hope! Most people out there are really nice, that's not a wishful thinking, that's a fact. There are just a few assholes but even if only 0.01% of people are assholes it'll mean that there are dozen of them on AmiBay and about hundred thousand on eBay! And, guess what, they are actively looking to swindle stuff and/or money from the rest of us! Good people don't actively seek contacts with assholes while the reverse is most definitely true. Is it any wonder that out of hundred thousand assholes out there five managed to find and dupe you?

As was already said: AmiBay administration looks after the forum and while chances that you'll meed someone awful here are still not zero they are much, much smaller than if you'll just deal with eBay and other general-purpose sites.

 

[CrazyC]

Yep same thing has happened to me. I sold something here recently and while browsing eBay I saw my item listed there, verified with the visible serial number. It was priced considerably higher than what I asked for it.

I guess there isn't much we can do about it.

Regards

Based on Harrison's post above yours, should this not be reported to a Mod?

 

[khimru]

Based on Harrison's post above yours, should this not be reported to a Mod?

Absolutely. If the item was bought on AmiBay and then immediately sold elsewhere at much higher price then it's clear violation of rules.

AFACS it's not a violation of rules if you first offered it on AmiBay, waited adequate time, found no buyers and only then went to eBay (or any other site). In that case price will be higher because, well, prices are higher on eBay.

 

[Sardine]

for me if something doesn't sell here I add enough to cover my fees on ebay thats it, no profit.

there are some good members here, last year my lad wanted an A1200 like mine (he's autistic) and I was skint at the time. another member offered me a fully working A1200 for almost no money and he still fires it up now and again for a quick prince of persia or flashback fix

if we ever sold it (but we wont) it would sell for what we paid for it and for what we paid it would sell in 5 minutes flat

 

[RuneRider]

I still can't believe that these guys are organized enough to do what they did. Acting together on a local site to keep others away in order to make sure they get something and even removing interest strategically so they make it look like fewer are interested. I'm also starting to think they each have multiple screen names on some sites. Anyway, they got me and it's my own fault.

I did manage to spread the word a bit and others are noticing that they've been taken as well. This group has been banned from two local sites so far and I just got an e-mail from someone who said she knows them and is upset at what they do --ex-girlfriend is my bet--. She's promised to out them. I'll wait and see what happens.

 

[Merlin]

This is what we term 'scalping' on here and we don't like it. If we discover a 'scalper', we usually have words with them and if that doesn't work, we have our own little island, located just off the Icelandic coast called 'Bänned' that we can send them to, for an extended holiday.

 

[Snoozy]

This is what we term 'scalping' on here and we don't like it. If we discover a 'scalper', we usually have words with them and if that doesn't work, we have our own little island, located just off the Icelandic coast called 'Bänned' that we can send them to, for an extended holiday.

Blankstare and AmigaRulez spring to mind as notable villains

 

[edd_jedi]

There are always two types of buyers, and this applies to everything in life, not just retro gear - consumers and resellers. There's nothing 'wrong' with reselling, everything you have ever bought has been resold at some point. I assume you don't honestly think the coffee growers in Africa get £2 for every coffee Starbucks sells. It's just the way the world works I'm afraid, and in fact resellers are a necessary evil usually (eg many things need to be bought in bulk.)

I've seen many 'respectable' members here do it over the years, I mean who wants to lose money on things? If I buy something for £25 + £5 postage, when I come to sell it a year later I'll probably charge £30 + postage. And the cycle continues, until it's been resold 5 times and doubled in price!

I respect your sentiment but it's unrealistic to expect nobody to ever sell anything they buy, or always be happy to make a loss when the time comes to sell.

 

[khimru]

Resllers are not just "necessary evil" - they are vital members of today's society where many things could only produced in thousands and some in millions.


But it's question of honesty. If you are the reseller then you usually have some rules (typical rules: if I buy something for £X then sale price will be £X multiplied by 1.1 or 1.5), that's Ok, people respect such deals and that's fine.


But when you present yourself as a customer and try to present himself (or herself) as a poor, pitiable guy (or gal) and try to drive price down then turn around and sell it for three times more... that's a scam, plain and simple.


What could we do about such things? Not much yet more than enough. Remember that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing - if you leave scammers to be they will just make life of more good guys miserable. Spread the world around. Just don't turn your life into jihad against scammers - you'll be miserable and will not eliminate them anyway.


But if we all spread around information about scammers then we'll make their life miserable instead! I have an acquaintance (not on AmiBay, he's not in retrocomputing at all) who I meet from time to time. He always miserable, complains that he's somehow cheated, people are out to get him and in general his life is quite bleak. He openly envies me and asks how come I'm never scammed when he's duped all the time.


Well, it's not true that I'm never scammed: I left some money with sleazy people. Yet it happens less than once per year and usually I lose some small sum.


Why am I cheated so unfrequently and my acquitance is cheated all the time? Because I don't try to deal with sleazy, shady guys, I don't try to outsmart them, that's just impossible. Well, sometimes you could do that but about half of the time you'll be scammed anyway even if you are a "pro". He, on ther other hand, tries to swindle other guys quite often (and he's quite happy when his attempt is successful... for a short time anyway till somelse will scam him again) thus of course he's only dealing with cheaters and "everyone is out to get him"!

 

[edd_jedi]

But when you present yourself as a customer and try to present himself (or herself) as a poor, pitiable guy (or gal) and try to drive price down then turn around and sell it for three times more... that's a scam, plain and simple.

Yes 100% agree. Hard to know if the OP's situation falls in to that category without knowing all the details. If somebody buys a complete computer and then takes the time to test/clean all the parts and sell them individually at a slightly higher price, that's fair enough IMO.

 

[Arnie]

I've seen many 'respectable' members here do it over the years, I mean who wants to lose money on things? If I buy something for £25 + £5 postage, when I come to sell it a year later I'll probably charge £30 + postage. And the cycle continues, until it's been resold 5 times and doubled in price!

It's that philosophy that drives the prices up.

If everyone was prepared to absorb the postage then the price would still be £25. Everybody pays postage, it's not part of the price, it's a delivery charge. The next owner will have to pay postage, and the next, and so on.

This was supposed to be an Amiga community, now it's an overpriced cattle market.

 

[khimru]

It's that philosophy that drives the prices up.

Nope. The attempt to recoup the postage plays a role but a very minor one. In a world where postage is the main driver of price we would see cheap light extension cards and expensive cases, keyboards, heavy SCSI CD-ROM and so on. In reality it's the opposite.

 

[edd_jedi]

It's that philosophy that drives the prices up.

If everyone was prepared to absorb the postage then the price would still be £25. Everybody pays postage, it's not part of the price, it's a delivery charge. The next owner will have to pay postage, and the next, and so on.

So you sell everything at a loss? You've never made money on anything you've sold? I agree blatant scalping and lying to get better deals is out of line, but to claim people aren't allowed to profit or even break even on things they buy is nonsense.