In the same way real corpo scum are great at it. I don't think most of us are applauding how Walmart and Amazon run their biz.
- And yet Amazon and Walmart are titans in their respective spheres (Online/Big Box Retail). At the end of the day, the consumer is the one that wants the cheap stuff. Business follows culture and our culture is all about wanting Nordstrom quality at Walmart prices. This is getting off in the weeds though.
"all other goals are subjugated to the pursuit of profit." That's no way to live, or to treat others. Rules of Acquisition can suck it.
- It's just capitalism. eBay is a market place, every seller that says no to me can afford to wait and find someone who will say yes. I'm not their buyer, they will find a buyer that is desperate and take advantage of them with their pants on head ridiculous prices. I think that's a sham but it's how the market works.
I am a buyer that can wait, and eventually I'll get paired off with a seller who can't and we'll arrive at a fair price for a working product that is equitable between the two of us and no one else.
That's the thing with a true marketplace, every transaction is exactly as fair as the buyer and seller want it to be. The best transactions are always the ones where both the seller and the buyer think they got one over on the other, or at least got what they wanted out of the sale.
And yet it usually doesn't. The bathtub curve/cradle to grave is better metric IMO. Even better, with crypto behind us, it should no longer be accelerated for GPUs produced after.
- I know, that's why I am so willing to buy used. But there are a LOT of people that will not buy used and will pay new prices because that warranty carries an implicit monetary value to them. What an intangible like a warranty is worth to people varies from buyer to buyer and seller to seller. I would be a bad buyer if I didn't openly communicate what a loss of warranty and features, plus wear and tear are worth to me. If that doesn't line up with a seller's perception of value then that's life. If they have a number in mind and why, they can communicate that to me as well and see where I land.
I am mostly being devil's advocate. As I price my stuff using about the same criteria you use when making offers. I am not a greedy person/Ferengi. I usually sell my stuff at prices where there is enough meat left on the bones for resell at a profit.
- Understood and this discussion isn't intended to be a value judgement of you as a seller. You know the worth of your products, and you shop for the right buyer. Same in inverse.
I hope you find your altruistic seller. You are missing out by shopping Ebay. For sale/trade forums are where the consistently best deals are found. 1000s of reputable Heatware traders that do not misrepresent what they sell.
- I hope I don't find an altruistic seller. I'm not looking for anyone's charity. I'm looking for someone who values their time like money and is happy to sell a product at an agreeable price for the guarantee of a sale quickly. Someone who wants to move their merch quick and accepts that there is a cost associated with selling quick vs the time it would take to get market or above market pricing for their product.
I'm always open to a negotiation and if someone came back at my "lowball" with something I'm willing to accept then that's fine by me.