posted on April 19, 2004 06:40:01 PM
Has anyone ever checked their auctions? I just did & found they have over 1100 auctions going right now. It really P'O's me to sell to tkem & then see the same items on sale here. Gives me second thoughts.
You may as well sell them yourself then if they are getting more money. If it were me, I'd watch their auctions closely and see if it's worth your selling them on eBay or if, once fees and time is figured in, you're better off doing it the way you are now.
posted on April 20, 2004 05:50:06 AM
Sanmar, thanks for posting this. Well, I guess I won't be sending anything to replacements for awhile. You know, I saw some big named stores put stuff on ebay. It lasted short term. Remember Sears? I don't think they do that any more. maybe they are just trying it out? Maybe we should just wait and see what happens.
posted on April 20, 2004 06:05:25 AM
is sharper image selling on ebay??
for these companies,the labor cost of listing and taking photo etc must exceed the benefits of disposing those items.
they are better off selling them to scrap dealers in lots
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on April 20, 2004 08:22:26 AM
if i am an ebay seller ,i am looking to unload some of my stock outside ebay and i thought i found a place called replacement.ltd.
when i find out it is also selling where i am selling(whether it is mine or others),it is just giving me more competition.
yes,at first glance,the results do not seem too impressive,also i see some lenoxware!!
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on April 20, 2004 08:28:32 AM
Replacements has been selling on ebay for about as long as I have. They registered in '98. I thought everyone knew that they sold on ebay but I guess not.
posted on April 20, 2004 08:32:35 AM
not terrified,just ticked off.
ticked off for the fact that i thought i have found a place outside ebay to unload my bloated inventory.
(i dont deal with replacement,i dont have much dishes and vases,whatever they sell on ebay),i am just adding my 2cents worth on this topic!!
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on April 20, 2004 08:34:01 AM
They most likely buy on ebay too. They have lots of customers searching for certain patterns and ebay would be the perfect place to try to locate the pieces. I've done the same thing for my customers. Not everyone buys on ebay, believe it or not.
posted on April 20, 2004 09:11:10 AM
many dealers buy on ebay,like one who has a small shop in the mall said,you got to have something new,else people will stop coming to your shop.
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on April 20, 2004 09:46:28 AM
Stop - your logic is flawed. Replacements has and continues to be a venue for people to sell their items to outside of ebay. If you accepted a payment offer and recieved that offer, why are you have any right to make judgement on what they then do with the property they own? How are you competeing againt them if you have sold them you items? Also, if you think Sharper Imagge is going to garner more income from selling to liquidators you know nothing about liquidation prices. Remember SI listers have no need to take photos or write descriptions, they are already done for the catalog. They already have order fulfilment in place, they are simply utilizing already existing assets to to bring in additional income that was formerly written off.
Sanmar - I assume that you research which venue is going to garner you the highest reward on your product before making the decision to sell to Replacements. With that in mind, is it possibe that replacements is just using ebay as a venue to move slow moving items? There was a Today Show report on them a few months ago and I seem to remember that they said the take in 40,000 pieces a month. With that type of volume, you have to keep up turn around times or you end up over run.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on April 20, 2004 09:57:59 AM
we all know selling on ebay -how laborious and tedious it is,remember that outfit affiliated with ebay-return,com something,it hires people to sort things out,take pictures and load them onto ebay,well it folded.
big company has more overhead than you and i and for each employee,there is ss,benefits,coffee and lunch break etc.so they dont have to take photos,but thats just one task.
human resources can be better deployed elsewhere .
true,replacements is unloading the stale,slow moving or not moving ,obsolete stock like we all do.
things are worse on amzn for b ooks,the wholesalers you buy your books from are also selling on amzn for less,your customers who got tired of the books after reading them are unloading them for one penny.
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on April 20, 2004 10:17:18 AM
I don't think I made myself clear. It isn't that Replacements Ltd is selling on eBay, its that they are buying from people like me & then boosting the price & selling it. I don't send them anywhere near as much as I used to. I do much better on eBay.
posted on April 20, 2004 10:23:12 AM
Stop - I don't know about how you do things but I work from an established inventory as does Sharper Image. In your example, items had to be sorted from a plethora of different sources, sorted, photographed, described, ec. SI does not need to do that they have a defined inventory list with descriptions and photos. All of their items can be quickly uploaded into any listing programs data base. Photos are actually online from their website which means that listing is simply a matter of a couple clicks.
It takes me 2-3 minutes to create an inventory item and that includes having to actually come up with a despription which SI and the like do not have to do. Once the inventory item is listed it's there for the long run. I listed 30 items from my inventory for sale today. it took under 5 minutes and most of that was deciding which items to list today.
Automation is a wonderful thing. Hell, this is the type of thing that could actually quite easily be outsourced.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on April 20, 2004 10:25:11 AM
Sanmar - well in that case, I am confused. Are you upset that Replacements is taking advantage of less that savvy sellers by picking up inventory on ebay? Isn't that just good business?
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on April 20, 2004 10:45:18 AM
I know they do buy on ebay as they won a friend's auction about a year ago Maybe they don't buy as much or don't leave FB for anyone?
I love there book on stemware - really helps if you know the maker when selling. Really it's the only way to sell on ebay
posted on April 20, 2004 10:50:37 AMI don't think I made myself clear. It isn't that Replacements Ltd is selling on eBay, its that they are buying from people like me & then boosting the price & selling it.
Sanmar, you've seen their selling prices on their website? What did you think they were doing with the pieces they bought from you?
This reminds me of people who come into a shop and sell something and they say "I know you have to make a profit" and then when they come back and check the selling price and see that it's double or higher than what they sold it for they get angry. Makes no sense to me. And they still refer to it as "their" item even though someone else has legally purchased it and it's now owned by them.
posted on April 20, 2004 11:02:19 AM
In short, they get high prices because it is likely they will have an item on hand that can't be purchased easily elsewhere. Don't forget that the business model for an outfit such as Replacements requires that they hold an enormous amount of inventory, a large percentage of which may never sell. If a small seller wants to hold on until the person who needs a cup and saucer in that obscure 1948 pattern comes along, they can pretty much set their price high as replacements. If that person doesn't come along, it will still be sold, but at the seller's estate sale. If you can find merchandise that doesn't sell quickly, but Replacements will buy, you would probably take the lower price, but have cash in hand. On the other hand, if you come across a popular item, with regular demand, for example, a Waterford Lismore goblet, you would probably do better on eBay yourself.
posted on April 20, 2004 11:08:52 AM
fenix,
is sharper image selling refurbished,returns and remanufactured stuff or brand new ones?
kiara,
individuals do not realise you have rent,utilities to pay.
sanmar,
it is hard to buy on ebay,mark it up and resell on ebay,i have found ebay bidders to become more and more savvy when it comes to not overpaying.
one of my competitors start his items at 9 cents and let it get bidded up to 100 dollars,but recently,the bids are much lower,it is hard to take an item from 9 cents to 100 dollars if you have the same pool of bidders nite after nite bidding on the same items(or similar items),even tho he does have some nice,scarce items.
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on April 20, 2004 11:35:35 AM
Whoever is doing the listing for replacementsltd is using stock photos that they already own. I checked on a few items. Where they don't have the photo already they just gloss over the omission.
Their eBay starting prices seem to be about 10-15% less than they offer the same item for on their Web page.
As a marketing tool (rather than a direct sales tool) their eBay auctions are probably quite effective. No way to tell from here how many people buy from them on eBay, then go on to purchase from their Web page. In that sense, isn't replacementsltd just doing the same thing that many sellers here have advocated (to get away from eBay)?
posted on April 20, 2004 11:57:58 AM
Stop - you brought them up. You don't know? The sell returns, overstock and closeouts. As far as I have seen, no refurbished.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
