ebay madness

[Stillman]

An interesting cactus for sale.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Interesting-Cactus-63mm-pot-Cacti-Succulent-Plants-/271085973472?pt=AU_Plants_Seeds_Bulbs&hash=item3f1dfbafe0#ht_562wt_1105

[qualia]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Interesting-Cactus-63mm-pot-Cacti-Succulent-Plants-/271085973472?pt=AU_Plants_Seeds_Bulbs&hash=item3f1dfbafe0#ht_562wt_1105

i like how in the address it says "Plants Seeds Bulbs & hash"

everything an ethnohead could ask for really

[DarkSpark]

I saw 1 piece of TBM not rooted, go for 20 dollars lol.

 

Sorry! I sometimes put prices far above the average on my ebay auctions now purely because they still sell. On ebay it is not unreasonably to return $2-3/cm on trichos, which could be bought for 1$/cm or less here. Lophs go for a small fortune and even peres can fetch upto $5/10cm length.

I think that the issue is Australia doesn't have much competition in the entheogenic plant market. Especially the mainstream markets such as ebay, and most dont find their way to sites such as shaman australis or my own. As such the few (3-4 suppliers) that release entheo products on ebay are all content to charge exorbitant prices because no-one is offering it cheaper. Without competition it is the sellers market, if more members from here were to sell some of their babies on ebay we would start to see significant changes.

Whilst i still feel bad with some of the prices things go for on ebay i am still charging usually 25% less than the next cheapest supplier. Funny thing is though that often things i set as auctions starting at lower amounts will build to sell for more than i would list them as buy it now. In these cases it is the buyers own stupid fault

If you want to see a change in the market you need to try and start making it so yourself! Sell some plants cheap, share the love and hope that there is someone out there who isn't JUST in it for the money!

[tipz]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mexican-button-cactus-Grafted-onto-Pereskiopsis-/170933050029?pt=AU_Plants_Seeds_Bulbs&hash=item27cc675aad

[shruman]

Man I can't wait for tips's $2 ebay TBC's....

any day now...

[at0m]

Do they really expect someone to pay that much?

[bullit]

e bay good good ay!!!! 3 cheers 4 ebay

[PositiveHAL]

http://www.ebay.com....=item27cc675aad

 

also comes with a free red gstring

mmm charlie carp

[bullit]

ya cant sell much here!! soooo go ebay more coin !!!!!!!!!!!

[waterboy 2.0]

http://www.ebay.com....=item27cc675aad

 

At least they dont exclude WA and Tas....rofl.

Thats just bullshit as a starting bid..... fair enough if it rolls out there due to bidding (laughing)..

[DarkSpark]

At least they dont exclude WA and Tas....rofl.

Thats just bullshit as a starting bid..... fair enough if it rolls out there due to bidding (laughing)..

 

You would think a starting bid of that amount would turn people off, but it doesn't. If someone wants a button bad enough they will pay it. Although from my trials i have found that generally an item started at a lower amount will end up going for more as people get caught up in a bidding war.

i.e. same auction starting at $25 will end up selling for more (on buttons and columnar cacti) whereas pereskiopsis will sell for minimum bid 90% of the time, regardless of price ranging from $15-$30 for approximately 50cms.

also comes with a free red gstring

mmm charlie carp

 

g-string not included in purchase price sorry. (lace undies do make damn fine ties for grafts though)

Incase you didn't realise this is an auction posted by someone on my behalf (although they added their own profits onto it). The same people have listed similar buttons before and on average a 5 cent piece size button grafted has sold for $64.30.

Starting bids ranging from $10 to $50. For the fact some identical auctions have gone for just over $90 a starting bid of $50 isn't actually that unrealistic (highlights just how overpriced things are in australia). Also the starting bid seems irrelevant just about any trichocereus, peres, button or similar on ebay sells.

Funny thing is that most stuff i sell on ebay for excessive prices can be purchased from the webstore, for usually half of what it is on ebay for, if only the people would look harder.

Edited October 29, 2012 by DarkSpark

[applesnail]

Incase you didn't realise this is an auction posted by someone on my behalf (although they added their own profits onto it). The same people have listed similar buttons before and on average a 5 cent piece size button grafted has sold for $64.30.

 

blatantly ripping people off for what is realistically a $2 graft a shitty bit of peres a tiny graft that may most likely die...and as you say the sad thing ppl pay this which makes me wonder is it morally ok to rip ppl off with ridiculously over priced products, for someone(noob) who knows no different and would love to aquire a graft they prob would pay that , i have paid top dollar for my lophophora collection myself, but they were also worth there price, gosh id hate to score a bag of weed off you darkspark.....

[Stillman]

if the market accommodates then so be it. We all have bills.

[DarkSpark]

blatantly ripping people off for what is realistically a $2 graft a shitty bit of peres a tiny graft that may most likely die...and as you say the sad thing ppl pay this which makes me wonder is it morally ok to rip ppl off with ridiculously over priced products, for someone(noob) who knows no different and would love to aquire a graft they prob would pay that , i have paid top dollar for my lophophora collection myself, but they were also worth there price, gosh id hate to score a bag of weed off you darkspark.....

 

I am actually quite generous. Though somewhere i need to make the money to be able to be as such, i have spent most of my life giving away, selling underpriced etc only to end up with no money and very little in the way of even thanks from those who have recieved goods from me, i still do this though i use some avenues to actually make a profit. Now if someone is prepared to pay it then so be it (again i sell the same stuff that is on ebay for far less elsewhere, people just need to RESEARCH)

if they are prepared to pay $50+ for a small graft then odds are their intentions for the plant aren't that great. furthermore If someone is prepared to pay it then obviously it has that value to this person. Not my fault that people are so damn naive. Most of the times i throw free grafts in with my peres purchases etc, i deserve to make some profits somewhere! Particularly this week with the amount of bills on the table hence i have listed this as well as some tricho cllones for sale. I NEED THE MONEY. you can hate me but you dont need to buy from my auctions!

Though as i stated above the start price of the auction is irrelevant and this is more of a test/research of the market buying trends than a consistant pricing schedule. It is tempting to list my research here on values and trends but i would rather keep it to myself ;) Though who are we to say a plant isn't worth that value?

The grafts i sell have been established for over 6 months so if they die it would be the fault of the purchaser.

edit: i have had people offer me $75 for grafts of this size purely because they cant seem to get grafts to stick themselves. If you want people to not get ripped off by me you better start selling some cut price plants on ebay!

edit2: I know for a fact that other members here are behind some of the other overpriced auctions. However i stand forward expecting to cop shit over being a greedy bastard(in relation to this one auction) to explain that the starting bid is irrelevant, the people will usually almost end up paying the same price within $15 whether it starts at $10 or $50 except for a rare few cases where the auction goes un-noticed.

Edited October 30, 2012 by DarkSpark

[applesnail]

if the market accommodates then so be it. We all have bills.

 

well lets all rob and rip everyone off to pay the bills! no wonder i prefer plants to ppl & money!

[DarkSpark]

well lets all rob and rip everyone off to pay the bills! no wonder i prefer plants to ppl & money!

 

I am not robbing anyone. I am listing something for sale, people are CHOOSING to buy it.

I used to hate ebay sellers just like you applesnail, after months trying to sell market average price in the hopes of getting the overall price down i realized 'fuck it i am not going to change things, their auctions are still selling, the only difference is that i am making half as much'

[DarkSpark]

Being recently unemployed relying on my business and things like this to provide for me my wife and two kids, i am looking out for number 1, me and my family.

Am i a bastard, fucking oath, but at least my family are healthy, and evidently the prices aren't that unrealistic as business is growing steadily.

As this happens the prices will drop, but for now fuck yas all!

I view $30 for a b caapi to be obscenely overpriced but that is the common sale price for them. But as i am concerned the value of a product is dictated by what people are prepared to pay!

Edited October 29, 2012 by DarkSpark

[Stillman]

Applesnail its not as cut and dry as ripping everyone off. That is ebay, sometimes its a buyers market sometimes its a sellers market currently its a sellers market. I'm just saying take it while its there.

[qualia]

blatantly ripping people off

no ones forcing them to buy it. that's the thing about ebay, people choose to buy stuff on there,

and like they said, if they want to pay it good luck to them,

contrary to channel 7's idealised view SAB isn't some secret lair where only the super elites get to hang out and talk shit, i managed to find it.

“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

[Stillman]

“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

 

thats a great quote.

[at0m]

Bumping for some cheap Pach. in the North of Adelaide.

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/greenacres/other-garden/cactus-san-pedro-plants-trichocereus-pachanoi/1011510630

Well under $0.50/cm

[Nemisty]

One plant. Cloned 50x over for a grand.

Here

[Evil Genius]

Well, its not really a bargain for a bulk purchase but it is a realistic salesprice if you would sell them Seperately. Normally, a San Pedro of that size goes for about 30 Euros on ebay germany. Doubt the lot will sell for that price but i dont think its that far away from prices on the open market either.

Edited February 7, 2013 by Evil Genius

[mutant]

Good comment.

We cacti people of this forum know our field of expertice, and dont wanna pay lots of money for a cactus, unless its really rare - and then again, we can spot the rarities of our community which otherwise are considered rare and choice and eventually can even get one for trade or a cheaper sale price.

But you know, markets are dfifferent, and sometimes stuff sell at very high prices, stating that some people are willing to pay that. I am not the guy who will pay lots of money for a cult object, if it's too expensive, fuck that, even if I got the money - you can get 10 things with that money that will prove superior if you really wanna spend. But y'know people wanna buy stuff, and they wanna buy expensive stuff lots of the times.

f.e. I am into the synthy and circuit bending fever these days. The other day I got Casio casiotone mt-800 for 40 euros, a vintage 1983 home digital keyboard with analogue drums sounds [cool sounds and looks]. I hear it can be sold up to 150. Fuck that. 40 is a decent price. In any case, I did not get 70's Roland SH-101 for 500 euros, even if I'd love to own it.

I sold an amount of dried edible mushrooms this year, still selling, a pretty good year yield wise. There's also a bigger company doing this and selling at almost half my price, greek mushrooms, found out recently. Fuck. Thankfully not so common in my town. Besides his product I saw a french label offer two species at the same price as me.

What should I do? sell at their price? no fucking way, I'd better give them away. He is collecting using cheap immigrant workers , big groups of collectors , as pros do, I am collecting and drying everything myself in a home drier. I picked say 40 kilos of choice edible this automn and it was record year - he might have picked 2 tons or more. I have lots of thoughts about this. I advertise my quality the fact that all mushrooms are processed and picked by me and that I offer a much bigger variety of species than commercial products. As long as I can sell them

In a way its similar with cacti : if you offer something that not lots of others offer, you can partly choose the price. I am not into the capitalism trip - but y'know that's the way it is and we have to swim, and for us in greece f.e. the potentials are really not much - and however harsh it it, we still need to find something to do to earn a buck.

It has been discussed a lot, but why should we complain about high ebay prices? We are able to get what we want cheap. Its not easy for people to get to that level of involvement in the cactus department, sometimes they just want to get a cactus to much on or whatever. In fact, I do believe that people buying cacti to consume have to be charged more, while people into horticulture should get the plant in the horticulture price, heheh.

cheers, luv ya

PS: This having been said, this thread is an awesome and interesting look into the crazy world of cactus sales in ebaby!

Edited February 8, 2013 by mutant

[Optimystic]

The only problem with high prices on ebay, is when one marks a price up so high that no one is interested... just because everyone in the forums with a trading relationship isn't interested doesn't mean that absolutely no one is interested.... I found most of my plants on ebay and Im very thankful for ebay, cause not only is it difficult for me to establish any kinda trade relationship with anyone, but also I find things on ebay I haven't found in the forums.. and I happen to appreciate uniqueness... though there are a helluva lot of pc pach's out there... PC Pach, the most successful of all the trichos in its ability to spread its genes far and wide... lol I actually cancelled my paypal account in protest a few years back over something unrelated.... after a few months, I was so limited on choices that I had to renew it just to get some better prices on seeds... and I was after alot of seeds as I was on a mission to grow a 1/3 acre of healthy foods and herbs... now I realize how much work that really is! its not ez at first!

Plants don't give a crap if you use money or not, they just want to grow ;) and they want to grow all over the place, if they didn't they wouldnt' make so many seeds...

if someone sells a pc pach for 100 bux, more power to them! Chances are that pc pach will be cared for alot better than what most ppl put into caring for their PC Pach... whats the dealio lolio

what I have noticed is that most ppl who have a hardline anti stance about trading plants for money, also have a favorite vendor, and therefore I think its just ego playing into the equation... not that its bad, I have high respect for those who respect and appreciate the plants, but if you really were aligned with the best interest of most plants, then you would likely be spreading them around... Supplies are not cheap, soil, nutes, time, efforts, losses, disease and pest control, overwintering etc... these are all services that require a cost.. unless one is growing in large bulk then whats the problem with getting a little return for all the other services?? but yeah, some are overpriced... big deal... great opportunity for you to list one at what you believe is fair price... also, there are some clones I would have no chance at as a newbie, if someone wasn't nice enough to list them on ebay, and give me another option for expanding my collection... I have to decide if I would like the plant so much as to pay the price the ppl are asking... if 2 ppl list the same clone, well then I have more choices... Theres alot more options in Aussie.. I envy your entheo sites cause I barely have any choices here in usa, in regards to trichos.. you'd think it would be the other way around but I think we are quite limited partly due to our legal environment here or at least I guess as much...

The only one that gets me is when someone lists an obviously mislabeled plant and puts a ridiculous price on it... like 20 bux for a myrtillocactus labeled as a Peruvianus... but I seek first to understand, and so I email that ebayer and if they realize the problem and change it cool! if they don't, then they are naughty...

Edited February 8, 2013 by Spine Collector