saint.panda
Headphoneus Supremus
Quote:
What is a fair price?
If somebody is willing to pay $500 and another buyer is willing to pay $420 and you decide to sell it for $400 because of the "community" or because that's the price you bought it for, and the person who's only willing to pay $420 gets the nod just because he was faster, then that isn't particularly "fair" to the other buyer either. That is unless the $420-buyer is buddy of yours, or a long standing member or whatever, and you value goodwill at $80. "Fair pricing" can quickly turn into first-come-first-serve pricing and that isn't particularly fair in my eyes. It happens all the time, too. If you want to avoid that, you have to use an interest check, aka auction, to determine the winning bidder by weighing monetary value against community goodwill. But in the eyes of most HF-ers, these auctions are evil, too.
And then you also have the time value of money to consider. Surely, a $2000 R10 bought ten years ago is worth more than that today. But where do you draw the line of what time span is enough to warrant a price increase.
In general, I consider whatever buyers are willing to pay as fair. If the price wasn't fair, why would they offer me that price to begin with. Of course, that is unless I'm untruthful about the condition of the headphones or something like that. Sure, there are bubbles but who am I to tell whether something is bubble or a genuine price increase (exceptions of obvious stupidity need not apply).
But for all of the above to work, I need to know the market price and that's why I can't stand people erasing the sales price of sold items. It's their right, sure, but that doesn't make it good.
I think what people mostly complain about is when it's obvious that people commit arbitrage sales, i.e. buying things to make a quick buck. I also find that despicable in a community but what else do you expect if people want "fair prices" and if sales prices are constantly removed. It's a self-made problem.
In any case, because of that and because HF is neither an open market nor a strict community, deciding on a case-to-case basis usually works the best for me. And the case usually depends on how much I'm in need for money at the moment and how much I value goodwill at.
| Originally Posted by -=Germania=- /img/forum/go_quote.gif The truth is that you should always sell at the FAIR price! |
What is a fair price?
If somebody is willing to pay $500 and another buyer is willing to pay $420 and you decide to sell it for $400 because of the "community" or because that's the price you bought it for, and the person who's only willing to pay $420 gets the nod just because he was faster, then that isn't particularly "fair" to the other buyer either. That is unless the $420-buyer is buddy of yours, or a long standing member or whatever, and you value goodwill at $80. "Fair pricing" can quickly turn into first-come-first-serve pricing and that isn't particularly fair in my eyes. It happens all the time, too. If you want to avoid that, you have to use an interest check, aka auction, to determine the winning bidder by weighing monetary value against community goodwill. But in the eyes of most HF-ers, these auctions are evil, too.
And then you also have the time value of money to consider. Surely, a $2000 R10 bought ten years ago is worth more than that today. But where do you draw the line of what time span is enough to warrant a price increase.
In general, I consider whatever buyers are willing to pay as fair. If the price wasn't fair, why would they offer me that price to begin with. Of course, that is unless I'm untruthful about the condition of the headphones or something like that. Sure, there are bubbles but who am I to tell whether something is bubble or a genuine price increase (exceptions of obvious stupidity need not apply).
But for all of the above to work, I need to know the market price and that's why I can't stand people erasing the sales price of sold items. It's their right, sure, but that doesn't make it good.
I think what people mostly complain about is when it's obvious that people commit arbitrage sales, i.e. buying things to make a quick buck. I also find that despicable in a community but what else do you expect if people want "fair prices" and if sales prices are constantly removed. It's a self-made problem.
In any case, because of that and because HF is neither an open market nor a strict community, deciding on a case-to-case basis usually works the best for me. And the case usually depends on how much I'm in need for money at the moment and how much I value goodwill at.
