I recently decided to further my career by taking the PMP (Project Management Professional) exam. Of course, I’m one frugal girl. I like to clip coupons, use online coupon codes, and search high and low for the cheapest prices. So naturally I started comparing prices when I decided to purchase a test preparation book. I’m not a big fan of eBay, but I thought I might as well research prices there too. After all, I don’t care if the book is second hand. What I found surprised me, although products are initially listed at very low prices, they ultimately sell second-hand, for more than a brand new book at an online retailer.
For example, a search on froogle, for the PMP prep book, (PMP Exam Prep), resulted in prices ranging from $50.59 to $89.00. Rather than purchasing the cheapest book, including shipping, I decided to hold out for two eBay auctions. In the first auction the book listed for less than $10 in the second auction roughly $20. Surprisingly the first auction closed at over $60, the second at $55. So what are eBay buyers thinking? Why would you spend more money for a second hand book that will inevitably arrive in far greater time, than you would for a brand new book that will arrive from a reputable seller? Am I missing a key piece of buying and selling on eBay?
Honestly I think a lot of people assume that because they’re buying something on eBay it’ll automatically end up being a “deal”.
More and more lately I’ve been noticing big price differences even between eBay and Amazon…but even more so compared to other online etailers.
Of course there are people like me who like to exploit this. 🙂
On the other hand, if you can find obscure or badly listed items on eBay you often can get a pretty good deal on them.
I saw an old magazine on ebay that I really wanted, but the bidding went up very high so I did a quick google search for used magazines and I found a store selling the same issue of the magazine for a fraction of the current bid on ebay.
This same sort of thing has happened several other times. Just a few minutes of googling has located the same item for a much lower price than on ebay.
Am I the only one who does this before making a bid???