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Why are so many things on Ebay even more expensive then what the item would be brand new from the store?
I was searching for a Motorola MA1 Wireless Android Auto which is $80 brand new in a store, but on Ebay they are anywhere from $100 to $200. Even if it is pre-owned. It seems impossible that anyone is ever going to buy this so what is the purpose of these listings?
eBay has become the place for scalpers to sell overpriced wares, after they emptied store shelves. From toilet paper to graphics cards, that's where the buyout stock, sell for profit happened.
Now even without shortages, this philosophy persists at eBay. Nothing to lose for them, free money to make on uninformed buyers.
Worst case they end up not selling and can possibly return items for full refund.
Scummery at it's finest
Worst case they end up not selling and can possibly return items for full refund.
They’ve gotten smarter, and in some cases don’t even acquire the original item until they have a buyer. It’s basically arbitrage for shipping at that point.
Technically you can report those, but ebay should just be automatically taking those listings down
Probably listing bots that scrape eBay to decide what price to set. It can lead to some pretty interesting results.
See the $23,698,655.93 book on Amazon. https://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358
Lmao I used to "collect" listings like this a while back. When pricing bots go out of control, shit gets wild lol
Is that device out of production? They might be counting on limited availability to jack up prices.
Is that product not available in all markets? They might be counting on someone in Sweden, who might not be able to buy that device is willing to pay a premium.
Was there a recent price drop? Maybe this is listed in the product's old peice amd they are slow to drop it.
I wonder if it it just straight up money laundering.
Not sure if it's out of production, but you can buy them for $90 at a Target
The MA1 is not worth the trouble. It is soooo finicky. I've had to factory reset and re-setup on multiple occasions from things as simple as walking out of range.
After me and my daughter spent a full hour trying to get any of our phones to reconnect to the damn thing, I had had it and sent the thing back to Amazon and got my $100 back. Much happier just using a cable again.
I have the AAWireless one and it's not perfect but it almost always works. If it doesn't work then you can just unplug it and plug the cable into your phone. Worth it.
Never had an issue with mine. Seems to be car radio dependant honestly. Had a cheaper wireless android auto in my previous car that worked great but refused to work in my new VW, grabbed the Motorola and it hasn't given me a problem.
Same here. Mine has worked flawlessly since June of last year when I got it. Connects every time. Love it.
There was a while when Motorola couldn't keep up with demand, so they were out of stock in most retailers. These are probably leftover price-gouging listings from then.
Unfortunately, it's pretty well proven that people will still buy something at a ridiculous markup if it isn't available otherwise.
I think you are right with old listings and then maybe new people looking at old listings to make new listings without verifying.
In addition to what others have said already, keep in mind that the items in this list are the ones that did NOT sell. If there were 100 cheaper offers and 30 that demand a batshit insane price, the 100 cheap ones will be sold eventually and disappear from the list, leaving only the batshit insane ones active.
Just an example ....
Beauty and the Beast "rare" black diamond collection, still sealed - $35,- https://www.ebay.de/itm/134709088162?epid=15033850025
The same movie in the same condition - $6.000,- https://www.ebay.de/itm/115763173389?hash=item1af405d80d:g:KEkAAOSwIrhkQXJt
The prices for that thing vary extremely but guess which ones get actually sold ...
Part of me wonders if eBay is doing some price fixing.
They suggest prices, they offer AI generated descriptions for your products, they handle the shipping fees and process all of the money from buyer to seller and take their cut in the process.
But if they are suggesting prices and causing the price of everything to increase so that they can increase their cut of the proceeds then it seems like that might be if not illegal then at least concerning and possibly legally actionable.
ebay is where you go for aliexpress junk that you might find from a local seller instead if you need it sooner. that's about it. once in a Bluemoon a sale coincides with prices not being jacked and you can get a slight bargain (in the last year I managed to get a Bass at a good price and some bike tyres) but other than that just cheap junk is all it's good for
meh, it still has some use. my dog tore up the plastic housing on garage door sensors out of boredom and there was no way i was calling a local place to quote out parts for a 14 year old opener... found the same pair of sensors (albeit used) on ebay for $25. a little dog proofing later and bingo bango, back in business. but usually it's my last resort for obscure stuff that i can't find anywhere else and i have to be really desperate.
Used and NOS motorcycle and car parts are good to find on ebay, too. There is no reason to ever buy anything new from ebay, really.
100% agree, it's also how I keep my 98 Camry alive outside the occasional trip to the junkyard.
This is really only applicable to buying new things on ebay. Last gen electronics are the only thing I buy new on ebay but even then good deals are pretty rare. At this point if you want a good deal you need to go back 2 generations usually. I saved around $800 on my macbook pro by buying a 2021 model NIB on ebay a few months ago. Asahi linux only runs on m1 anyway so that was my prefered processor over m2/3 anyway.
At least with apple, the warranty only starts when the product is activated, so as long as the original plastic wrap is still on it you will get the full factory warranty.
The MA1 specifically was out of stock for a while which lead to high prices on secondary markets. Like most secondary markets when the primary market supply goes up there's a bit of a lag before the prices fall down again.
Because why not, maybe someone will buy it from you as they don't know better, and you cash in the profit. It doesn't cost anything to post something on eBay after all.
Some of them don't even have the thing in the first place, if someone buys the listing they go get one from Amazon or a local shop and send it.
If you actually want to know what people are willing to pay for something though, look at the completed auctions.
Even beyond the realm of automated retail arbitrage, I am continuously shocked at the literal junk people will pay money for on eBay. I work in the durable goods industry and I have random odds and ends... extra components, parts, boards, etc. that just accumulate here so sometimes and I don't know what to do with. So I slap them on eBay and without exception some punter buys them. Probably under the expectation that they'll be able to flip it for a profit. But I have to figure that most consumers have no idea what the random handles or control boards or what have you would even fit. But someone wants to pay me to take my trash out of here, so... I guess I'm not complaining.
And then I see the retro nerd youtubers paying big bucks for hilariously out of date PC components. One of these days I should dredge that old milk crate full of ISA and AGP cards out of the basement and post them all.
Image Transcription:
Four eBay listings for Motorola MA1 Wireless Auto Car Adapters.
The first listing is for a pre-owned Motorola MA1 Wireless Car Adapter for Android Auto by seller garyinok11. The image shows the adapter partially resting atop its manual. The listing is priced at $95, +$12.25 shipping.
The second listing is for a brand new Motorola MA1 Wireless Android Auto Car Adapter NEWSEALEDSHIPS TODAY by seller jotam-25. The image appears to be a stock photo of the adapter. The listing is priced at $189 or best offer, with free shipping.
The third listing is for a brand new NEW Motorola MA1 Wireless Android Auto Car Adapter USB Bluetooth FAST SHIPPING by seller beautysupplyoutlet88. The image shows the box for the adapter. The listing is priced at $189.95, with free shipping.
The last listing is for a brand new Motorola MA1 Wireless Android Auto Car Adapter Dongle - FREE Shipping ! NEW by seller ausgoods1. The image is the same stock image as the second listing. The listing is priced at $127 with free shipping from Australia.
[I am a human, if I’ve made a mistake please let me know. Please consider providing alt-text for ease of use. Thank you. 💜]
Because people do pay the money.
If an item is hard to find they will pay it.
People that only buy stuff on eBay will pay for it.
If someone randomly sees the item they need they will buy it.
Example: I paid $2,200 on eBay for an RTX 4090 FE because they were sold out everywhere. The extra few hundred bucks for me was worth it to get the FE card over 3rd party cards since it is the smallest and quietist of the bunch. None of the other 4090s fit in my case.
Scalping I can understand completely, but this is a thing that is still made and available all over the place.
Huh? Get the AAWireless, it's better.
Ebay is like a free market in itself. If someone post a product and it sells for an extravagant amount then other sellers will increase their prices... because capitalism and all that.
Get the AAWireless instead 😉
I have the MA1 and love it. Why the AA wireless?
Since you have one of these, I have to ask if it's easier to switch users than the stock.
My SO and I just got a 2019 Honda with Android auto and it seems to require both bt and USB to work, the bt has to be connected first, then plug in the phone by usb and then auto becomes available; the problems start with both of us having our phones connected to the car over bt... So the bt on the car will pick up one of our phones, and the other will be driving, plug in their phone for Android auto and the whole thing jams up on itself.
This leads to a fun dance of unplugging the USB, going into the stereos bt and forcing it to the correct phone, which may take several minutes to even show the phones to pick one, once the bt is sorted, plug in the USB again and finally things start working, usually takes 2-3 minutes to figure out.
If we can eliminate that song and dance when switching between us, that would be ideal.
Do you have any insight into how the aawireless unit handles this?
I haven't tried the multiple phone song and dance on the unit. It lives in my old 4x4 which my wife refuses to drive.
We do have a similar issue with our other car however '05 Subaru Forester (non Android Auto). It randomly connects phones - as in I can be sitting in the car, start up to go somewhere and the car connects to my wife's phone while she and it are in the house. The only reliable option I've found (only practical if we're both in the car) is to quickly tap Bluetooth off on one phone before starting the car. If your Honda is starting with a Bluetooth connection, then I'm guessing the same solution should work.
I do that for her when we're both in the car before she powers on the radio. I'll just bump mine off if she's driving, then after she's all connected, push it back on so my smartwatch can reconnect to my phone. It usually works, but sometimes it glitches out anyways.
I'm going to look into getting the aawireless unit. I looked at some information about it and it looks like the phone connects to that and not the car, which should solve the problem, since only one thing will be taking to the car itself at any time. The unit itself was built to be used with multiple phones, and you can set one as primary so if multiple are present it will prefer the primary over all others.
Seems perfect. I am going to curb my enthusiasm since something that's perfect on paper, rarely is when you use it. But for the cost, even just having Android auto available wirelessly will be a guaranteed agreement from her. Simply, she was less than impressed when she found out she has to plug in her phone each time she gets into the car, for Android auto to work.... So as long as it doesn't do any worse than the car does with a wire, this will get a big thumbs up from her. If the other stuff works, so much the better.
My current problem is that the unit only seems to be available through Amazon, and only via the UK and US versions of the store. I'm in Canada.... I can order from Amazon US and they will ship to Canada, but it's going to be extra for that. At the end of the day it will likely cost around $100 USD to get it. Even at that price, it's worth it for us.
Thanks for the tip on this, I appreciate it.
No stress, glad I pointed you down a hopefully workable path. Good luck mate 😉 And yes the US tax. Purchased mine from Amazon US, I'm down in Australia. Even with the higher cost it has been an absolute joy even with my single-phone use case.
People still use eBay?
eBay is still the only game in town for a lot of items. Vintage record albums to name one.
Aside from some of the other reason already talked about, a lot of people are delusional. They think their second hand trash is worth millions.
Saw a person trying to sell a "Rare" Cinderella Black Diamond VHS tape for $400. Those things are a dime a dozen and you get one for $10.00
... Discogs and Facebook groups would like a word regarding vinyl
People still use eBay?
Do you have a better alternative to find old parts and vintage items worldwide?