EBay links to rare headphones.
Jul 1, 2008 at 8:04 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 23

lmilhan

Headphoneus Supremus
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Well folks, to the best of my knowledge, these Grado HP-1s were not linked to from Head-Fi at all during the entire course of their auction. Please someone correct me if I am wrong (I did a search, and I didn't manage to find any threads that linked to that Ebay auction). Now that the auction has ended, I figured I would point out that I found it interesting that (despite that fact that the auction was NOT linked here at Head-Fi) they still sold at a (relatively) high price.

Discuss...
 
Jul 1, 2008 at 8:09 PM Post #3 of 23
Tam, tam, tam....
tongue.gif

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/hp1...my-god-340055/
 
Jul 1, 2008 at 8:19 PM Post #5 of 23
I remember seeing these up on eBay a couple years ago. I remember it was THESE SPECIFIC ONES because of the way the lettering was worn off on the 1000 on one side and how there was a little knick on the headband.

Might be a coincidence...but I dunno. Sick headphones (from what I hear atleast) and pretty sweet condish as well.
 
Jul 2, 2008 at 3:05 PM Post #6 of 23
Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Tam, tam, tam....
tongue.gif

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/hp1...my-god-340055/




Ok, so they were linked at Head-Fi after all, but only with only a little bit of time left in the auction. I was hoping we would get through the entire auction without them being linked here at Head-Fi, in order to support my theory that headphones such as those will still sell for retardedly high prices even when they aren't brought to the attention of the Head-Fi community.

I do find it interesting that one of the bidders (who apparently really wanted to win them) was the same person who started the thread that provided an Ebay link to them.

Every time a pair of phones like this shows up on Ebay, I always (for giggles) bid at least $600 or $700 for them, since I know I don't stand a snowball's chance in hell of winning them - however if I somehow DID win them at that price, I would run away giggling like I just stole something. But I am not naive enough to truly believe that that will ever happen.

The only real way to win a pair of phones like that is to be in the right place at the right time, and find the auction with an uber low "Buy It Now" price within 10 seconds of the auction being listed. If you ever turn out to be one of those lucky S.O.B.s, then more power to you. But for the rest of us, don't ever fool yourself into thinking that you will ever win an Ebay auction like that at a low price (ie: it's HIGHLY unlikely that you are ever going to win a pair of phones like that for under at least $1,000) - regardless of if the auction is linked here at Head-Fi or not. And the prices are only going to go up as time goes by.


Discuss.
 
Jul 2, 2008 at 6:02 PM Post #7 of 23
Quote:

Originally Posted by lmilhan /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I do find it interesting that one of the bidders (who apparently really wanted to win them) was the same person who started the thread that provided an Ebay link to them.


x 2

Carrying out the bidding in stealth mode and getting the win first before posting a thread would have been my route; however, they look like nice phones. That pair seems familiar from an auction long ago in viewing those pics..hmm.

To be continued??
 
Jul 2, 2008 at 6:17 PM Post #8 of 23
^^ maybe he wanted to get outbid (wanted the headphone but deep down didn't want to pay x$ for it) or suspected that he was going to be outbid so figured why not let a head-fier try for it then, or possibly just couldn't control his enthusiam over being the high bidder with such a short time left and had to tell someone.
 
Jul 2, 2008 at 7:16 PM Post #9 of 23
To be fair, the headphones did sell for under-market value - although it's difficult to judge how an earlier thread would have influenced that price. The thing is, however, that real serious buyers aren't the type to check eBay once a month in hope of catching a bargain - these people will search relentlessly each day in all corners of the internet, and probably have sufficiently deep pockets to beat-out casual bidders.

I generally agree either way, though, that low-key advertising like the type generated on Head-Fi isn't about to dramatically change the selling price of any boutique item; especially something on eBay.
 
Jul 2, 2008 at 7:44 PM Post #10 of 23
Quote:

Originally Posted by lmilhan /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Ok, so they were linked at Head-Fi after all, but only with only a little bit of time left in the auction. I was hoping we would get through the entire auction without them being linked here at Head-Fi, in order to support my theory that headphones such as those will still sell for retardedly high prices even when they aren't brought to the attention of the Head-Fi community.

I do find it interesting that one of the bidders (who apparently really wanted to win them) was the same person who started the thread that provided an Ebay link to them.

Every time a pair of phones like this shows up on Ebay, I always (for giggles) bid at least $600 or $700 for them, since I know I don't stand a snowball's chance in hell of winning them - however if I somehow DID win them at that price, I would run away giggling like I just stole something. But I am not naive enough to truly believe that that will ever happen.

The only real way to win a pair of phones like that is to be in the right place at the right time, and find the auction with an uber low "Buy It Now" price within 10 seconds of the auction being listed. If you ever turn out to be one of those lucky S.O.B.s, then more power to you. But for the rest of us, don't ever fool yourself into thinking that you will ever win an Ebay auction like that at a low price (ie: it's HIGHLY unlikely that you are ever going to win a pair of phones like that for under at least $1,000) - regardless of if the auction is linked here at Head-Fi or not. And the prices are only going to go up as time goes by.


Discuss.



I completely disagree with your theory and it pretty much fails after taking a quick peak at the bid history.

Look at what time the thread was started, then look at what time the bidding started escalating above $1200. A whole entire 2 minutes.

I think that's pretty much the end of discussion. I really find it difficult to see why you continue to push your flawed theory.

If headphone A and B are the exact same model, and headphone A is brought to head-fi's attention the day it is listed while headphone B is somehow not mentioned on head-fi until the day it ends, the I guarantee you with 200% certainty that headphone A's price will be higher come the end of the two auctions. It's just painfully obvious that's the way this works.

Quote:

Originally Posted by M0T0XGUY /img/forum/go_quote.gif
To be fair, the headphones did sell for under-market value - although it's difficult to judge how an earlier thread would have influenced that price. The thing is, however, that real serious buyers aren't the type to check eBay once a month in hope of catching a bargain - these people will search relentlessly each day in all corners of the internet, and probably have sufficiently deep pockets to beat-out casual bidders.

I generally agree either way, though, that low-key advertising like the type generated on Head-Fi isn't about to dramatically change the selling price of any boutique item; especially something on eBay.



I wouldn't call the price those ended up at under market value. They are right where they're supposed to be.

The prices seen lately in the for sale forum are quite above market value IMO.
 
Jul 2, 2008 at 10:03 PM Post #13 of 23
Quote:

Originally Posted by subtle /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I completely disagree with your theory and it pretty much fails after taking a quick peak at the bid history.

Look at what time the thread was started, then look at what time the bidding started escalating above $1200. A whole entire 2 minutes.

I think that's pretty much the end of discussion. I really find it difficult to see why you continue to push your flawed theory.

If headphone A and B are the exact same model, and headphone A is brought to head-fi's attention the day it is listed while headphone B is somehow not mentioned on head-fi until the day it ends, the I guarantee you with 200% certainty that headphone A's price will be higher come the end of the two auctions. It's just painfully obvious that's the way this works.



I wouldn't call the price those ended up at under market value. They are right where they're supposed to be.

The prices seen lately in the for sale forum are quite above market value IMO.



Market value is obviously determined by the average selling price of an item, and thus the amount a buyer is willing to spend for such a used item. Since most of the HP-1's I've seen have been selling for $1800 or greater in imperfect condition, the sale price of the eBay auction can indeed be considered under-market value.

The issue with your other logic, at least in the case of high-end boutique items, is that very few buyers purchase based on impulse. They've done research, weighed the pros and cons of the product, and know reliably what they're looking for and how much they're willing to spend. In other words, the people bidding on HP-1's aren't going to stumble upon them based on some thread posted here - these guys make it their business to search all over the internet for the things they want, and know when something goes up for sale.
 
Jul 2, 2008 at 10:09 PM Post #14 of 23
Quote:

Originally Posted by M0T0XGUY /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Market value is obviously determined by the average selling price of an item, and thus the amount a buyer is willing to spend for such a used item. Since most of the HP-1's I've seen have been selling for $1800 or greater in imperfect condition, the sale price of the eBay auction can indeed be considered under-market value.

The issue with your other logic, at least in the case of high-end boutique items, is that very few buyers purchase based on impulse. They've done research, weighed the pros and cons of the product, and know reliably what they're looking for and how much they're willing to spend. In other words, the people bidding on these items aren't going to stumble upon them based on some thread posted on a forum - these guys make it their business to search all over the internet for the things they want.



I agree with MotoXguy, most people purchasing these items know what they want and have everything planned out. People that have thought about the item may consider it tempting but everything is planned out.

Just by posting an item in a thread here for an item like that would not make much of a difference. When people want something they are persistent and precise in finding it. I guarantee there are people who want a pair of those that wake up every morning and check the FS forums and check ebay, each and every morning until they get them.
 
Jul 2, 2008 at 10:18 PM Post #15 of 23
Also consider the flaw in Subtle's other point: he assumes that the item's rising price was a direct side effect of generated interest by the Head-Fi thread. While its hard to definitively prove this idea one way or another, one can observe two damning pieces of evidence against it: only 2 new bidders entered the auction after the thread was posted, and the price difference between bids of new and old members was negligible. Indeed, looking through the history on eBay, it's clear that at least one bidder remained active in the auction before and after FallenAngel's thread began - and the difference between the offering price of that old member and the final sale price amounted to less than $60.

In this case, at least, it's pretty clear then that the thread had little impact on the outcome of the auction.
 

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