Online Auction Site Hysteria?

[Joe Bailey]

first have a look here:

ebay item 130680942135

Correct me if I'm wrong but it looks like you can buy the 5 pc set from LN for 275.00 in A-2 or O-1.

[Robert G Brown]

I see it the same way you do. The winner has over 1400 wins/sells. They should know better or maybe they know something I don't.

[James Owen]

There is a fairly good probability that the winner is overseas, in which case, the cost of the eBay auction + shipping may well be significantly less than the cost of buying them (new/used) in the winner's home country (taking into account shipping, customs duties, mark-up, etc....)....

[Sam Takeuchi]

Doesn't LN sell directly to people in certain countries or what?

[Chris Vandiver]

It's all about the VAT(value added tax).

[Klaus Kretschmar]

In Germany the set is EUR 349 + shipping. Currently that is about USD 460 + shipping. Regarding this the winning auction bid isn't that bad.

Klaus

Edit: The set price includes the leather roll.

[Erik Manchester]

The winner of that auction is the same dude that spends $5K a week buying premium vintage saws and has done so since Christmas at least. Must have a heck of a budget as well as a collection of premium saws. I am certain that money isn't the object to him that it is to most of us.

[John Coloccia]

He could be buying them and selling them locally. :)

[Jack Curtis]

The winner of that auction is the same dude that spends $5K a week buying premium vintage saws and has done so since Christmas at least. ...

How do you know that? I can never tell who's buying what these days, what with ebay making bidder names anonymous.

[Gary Herrmann]

I think it's a couple things. That site has the psychology of winning down pat. So that drives some people. Probably more than we'd think. For others, maybe they feel they need the tools right away, or that they'll actually save on shipping, taxes etc. Overseas could be the answer as well.

In person auctions are even more interesting to watch from a behavioral standpoint.

[Charles Bjorgen]

I've always thought that online auctions are a form of sport and that winning becomes the ultimate goal despite the cost for some. If I see something I like, I try to set my outside limit and never go beyond that price. Sometimes you just luck out like I did recently when I got a nice Stanley No. 813 brace for 99 cents after no one else bid on it, probably because the photo was bad. Shipping was 10 bucks.

[Kurt Cady]

I also had a similar situation when I was selling a video game system I won at a charity bingo thing. The buyer, in a major US city, paid more than retail. It made zero sense to me until when the buyer paid I noticed he used a 20% off ebay coupon. (For the record I still got paid the full amount due)

[Sam Takeuchi]

I don't know. I buy from US and Canadian shops and manufacturers all the time, even when there is a local authorized retailer of said tools since Japanese yen is obnoxiously strong for some time. When I have the misfortune of customs levying duty and VAT, it's still cheaper than locally retailed price for the most part. Even when yen wasn't all that strong, it was still cheaper to buy from across the pond. I know each country has different VAT, duty and so on, but so is VAT levied only on items from retailer/manufacturer, but not if sender is an individual? As for me, I've only had to pay duty and VAT twice I think, out of dozens of purchase, so that's why I'm bit puzzled about the whole "overseas" logic.

[Joe Bailey]

I don't know about anyone else, but I learned a lot from these responses. Some interesting insights posted. Thanks all.

[Jeff Bartley]

Sam, I could be wrong on this but someone once told me some VAT/duties, etc. only apply to brand new items therefore a good used tool on ebay is cheaper to import....even for more than US retail. I'm sure this scenario applies only to certain situations/countries. I used to get so frustrated watching all the auctions on Ebay and I could never understand why the prices were so high!