I just got done looking at ebay for some items. Been looking at some steam engines like the 777 Hudson and the C&O SL Hudson. The prices are all over the place, from $300.00 to $1200 for the same thing, and condition. It seems some guys are living in a fantasy world if they think they will sell their stuff for the price they are asking. But, to each their own.
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There are several factors that go into the price someone is willing to pay. One is what is "reasonable" for an item and that is a very subjective thing. That $300 may reflect an engine in poor condition or simply broken rather than "a great deal". I'm suspicious of "too low prices" and simply ignore those outside my range. That being said, I am currently looking for an item that is hard to find. I am still want excellent condition but I am being a little more flexible about the price range.
The other thing you have to remember about places like e-bay is that the audience is much wider than those that are normally interested in and knowledgeable about a particular item. If someone like this gets bidding on an item, they will pay way more than it is worth. More power to the seller in those cases.
Good points, Gandalf. Another thing to consider is that an eager buyer may pay more than an item's "worth", whatever that is nowadays. I've knowingly paid as much as 4X an item's "value".
Good points, Gandalf. Another thing to consider is that an eager buyer may pay more than an item's "worth", whatever that is nowadays. I've knowingly paid as much as 4X an item's "value".
I hate to sound like someone's father but my Dad used to drive me crazy with the cliche, "Something is worth only what you can get someone to pay for it". I can appreciate the wisdom of that better today but I prefer to use the word "exactly" instead of "only". Perhaps it was too much math in college. Anyway, to use your example, I would say that when you bought that item and supposedly paid 4 times the "value" you were actually paying what it was worth. To you, that *was* the value otherwise, you wouldn't have paid it. The difference between you and someone caught up in a bidding frenzy was that you "knowingly" paid what you did. To me that will set a value every time.
Don,
It matters not what some will say.
Unless it's your wife. 
Lucky I have a railroad wife, she understands. Her father worked for Southern Pacific. Don
Many sellers go fishing on eBay to catch the big one!
I search for specific items on Ebay every couple of days, and almost every search has one or two of those fantasy priced results. They are there for months and years on end, LOL
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