Man, the sales threads have exploded

Seems like the number of active sales threads have doubled on thie forum...guess it's related to the economy people need to sell.

harder to sell too:mecry:

I think that it's more like a flea market now. It used to be more about flashlight enthusiasts trading or recycling lights that they were no longer interested in. Profit usually wasn't a motive.

Now there are dozens of members that only post in the MP. It's still the best community out there, but I miss the older atmosphere.

I only started getting active in the Marketplace and doing some serious buying over the summer. Even since then in the last 6 months or so it has really changed. I got my first Surefire then, and at the time you could pretty much put up anything at a little less than retail and when you refreshed the page it was gone. Now there are NIB Surefires staying unsold at 30% or 40% off list price.

Sign of the times I suppose, definately a buyer's market at the moment.

Maybe to save up for the new SFs?

I think it is part economy, but also the flood of new lights seems to have increased in quantity and frequency, and people get caught up in having the latest, greatest light (out with the old in with the new) and hence all the activity on the BST. I have taken a step back and really evaluate purchases on the actual merits of the light, and have been finding most times that it is a marginal increase for the dollars spent and have avoided some clearly impluse purchases.

I wonder how much of it has to do with the CPFM restructuring?

kitelights said:

I think that it's more like a flea market now. It used to be more about flashlight enthusiasts trading or recycling lights that they were no longer interested in. Profit usually wasn't a motive.

Now there are dozens of members that only post in the MP. It's still the best community out there, but I miss the older atmosphere.

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Not much of a profit motive these days, even the McGizmo collectibles are selling less than original prices.

I have seen a lot of high dollar lights for sale by people with virtually no CPF presence. But I understand how that can happen since I have some nice watches and knives and have no presence on knife and watch forums, but I might go there if I needed to sell.

Unfortunately, some of these new members haven't really been around CPF long enough to "get" the unspoken rules for selling stuff. Great pictures and a CPF presence will net you a faster and higher price sale, and stop bumping your dang item if you haven't sweetened the pot any (aka price drop). If it didn't sell the first day your price is to high.
:shakehead

cave dave said:

stop bumping your dang item if you haven't sweetened the pot any (aka price drop). :shakehead

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Yeah! 15 bumps in a row with no price drop drives me crazy.

I think a lot of Surefires are being sold in anticipation of the new offerings this Summer?

I know thats why I sold my L1, E1L and A2...

Also the new Nitecore R2s and Ra Clickys are forcing sales of the older models.

addictedmatt said:

Yeah! 15 bumps in a row with no price drop drives me crazy.

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Ha.. you should see how long some people hold out for on some other forums. I am following a thread on a cellphone.. It has been on the market since last June/July with a near daily bump.

yeah I know what you mean.



:nana:

ackbar said:

Ha.. you should see how long some people hold out for on some other forums. I am following a thread on a cellphone.. It has been on the market since last June/July with a near daily bump.

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WoW, that's ridiculous!

I don't mind sales threads, and like people have said there are many possible reasons.

I do find the daily or every other day repetetive bumping over many weeks without price drops/changes in package to get abusive after a while. I almost wish there was some kind of a reasonable rule to prevent people from doing that. You can tell when it has crossed the line.

> rule
Yeah, a baseball-type "three bumps and you're out" wouldn't hurt.
Let the person decide whether to bump it daily or every three months, and after the third bump it's time to give up.

Or better yet a mandatory discount after the third bump (grin) ....

hank said:

> rule
Yeah, a baseball-type "three bumps and you're out" wouldn't hurt.
Let the person decide whether to bump it daily or every three months, and after the third bump it's time to give up.

Or better yet a mandatory discount after the third bump (grin) ....

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your referring to Donn_'s thread right?
yeah, I agree

greenLED said:

I wonder how much of it has to do with the CPFM restructuring?

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hardly, the demand for this sort of things sucks, you have to keep in mind that a flashlight is a commodity...in 21th century there is no need to consider it as a necessity.

I'm lucky to still have a job, think of those potential buyers who lost theirs

I've been using eBay more and more to sell the common items.

olrac said:

also the flood of new lights seems to have increased in quantity and frequency, and people get caught up in having the latest, greatest light (out with the old in with the new) and hence all the activity on the BST

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I believe that's the biggest factor

Illum_the_nation said:

I'm lucky to still have a job, think of those potential buyers who lost theirs

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I agree with this very true and yet disheartening observation. While I still am employed, I'm certainly not seeing any sales bonuses like I did last year, so I'm accordingly evaluating my purchases much more in depth than before. If I don't 'have to own it' then I usually pass, unless it's an absolute steal and I'm at the right place at the right time.

Not too long back you don't see any Spy007 in BST, when ocassionally one trickles in, someone will snag it instantly paying higher than original price. In the past 3 weeks, there were probably 5 spy007 and a couple of spy005 posted in bst. One got sold with an art of the hide holster at a very reasonable price. I think there are still two spy007 is still unsold now.

I also see a McGizmo Alu PD-S that's very good price, but no one's buying.

Not sure we need a short time limit on sales in the Market Place. We have: Members: 62,432, Active Members: 8,411, on CPF, many of them using the Market Place, but not checking in regularly.

Bill

the spy007 thing suprised me too. thought that everyone who got it really wanted it for keeps! and just loved it.

i guess its the economy forcing to sell the special ones that are worth more.


what i have noticed with some of the lights i am interested..

like good condition used novatac 120p seemed to have normal asking price under 100 in 2007 and early 2008. (searched the posts when i was bored, found many in 80$ range)
now past 3 months or so the "normal" asking price seems to be from 100 to 150. (at the same time some vendors have been selling them NEW for 130 or so!)


to me it looks like that some seem to sell medium priced lights for about the same as new. and many buy them.

in my mind used goods loose minimum 15% of their value the moment you take out from the shop, when you have used it 20-25%.. and when the use is visible (dings scratches etc) 30% and more.

for instance. seen used lummi raw´s for sale for 2 to 5 dollars more than whats the asking price new.. and they were sold the same day.

All in all.. it seems that number of high priced lights for sale have increased, and selling them is harder.

but at the same time the medium priced lights could be put to sale with near same price as new and still get sold in fast pace.



and..a personal petpeeve..
i see a interesting light for sale.
the price is right.
and shipping might even be said to be free or reasonable..

but..

its only available to people in con us.