Buy and Sell forum: is it allowed for ppl to pull a fast one?

[Xiao_shin]

I am only interested to know.

Who's the guy? :bsmilie:

 

[TsQ]

not fair to state it here la.. as no hard evidence.. but if u stick ard BnS section long enough you will start to see... theres a few is always selling and buying one... and a history search on their nick also suggest the same..

this is like market manipulation.. hahaha..

 

[night86mare]

let's be fair here, it is not just sellers.

buyers are a big headache as well.

if everybody zhi dong, and doesn't have a crap attitude when it comes to dealing online, i.e. honesty and straightforward without some attempt to bao ka liao all the benefits for themselves, cs b&s will be a much better place.

easier said than done though.

 

[twisted illusion]

I been monitoring the BNS forum (canon one in particular) and I suspect some ppl are doing this: (example)

1) buy a DLSR kit say for $800 (quietly)
2) few days later continuously post a few for sale for $880 and then replied SOLD

(this will drive up the mkt price as buyers will hv impression that mkt trded price now is ard $850-880)

3) then this person who bot the came for $800 starts to advertise $880 and try to profit a $80

got some ppl price too high (to me personally i think is high) oso still buy one... for me, 10-20 more can get new, i get new one... there is a good list of RRP price list here every where... just do a search and can compare easily... homework pays i believe but i am selling, i will oso ask for higher price... lol... this is only human right... unless i want to get it out of my house, then i will sell low...

 

[TsQ]

got some ppl price too high (to me personally i think is high) oso still buy one... for me, 10-20 more can get new, i get new one... there is a good list of RRP price list here every where... just do a search and can compare easily... homework pays i believe but i am selling, i will oso ask for higher price... lol... this is only human right... unless i want to get it out of my house, then i will sell low...

no thats not the point.. u can list whatever px u wanna sell.. thats the seller's preference..

what i am pointing out is that some people seem to manipulate the prices by posting a "WTS" post at a higher then usual price and then reply to it as "SOLD" .. then he/she may post such post again in few days time (But he may change the model.. say D80 now, then next week D90..etc) .. in short, he/she made an artificial 2nd hand price by posting such thread.

OR.. he post WTB at higher price but ignore all the real offers..

then evetually.. he post his REAL one for sale at the prices he artificially pushed up.

and ofcos, they can use multiple nicks to do this.. i mean, a lot of the potential buyers night not remember each nick with their postcount.. therefore back in their head they will think "ermmm ...so a 1 yo D60 kit used mkt now is ard $800 (example la, since new is $840 only)"

 

[clioboy]

that boils back down to the buyer again.

How much was traded was irrelevant to yr own value of the item.

Too high. Relak and wait for the next wave.

But i do note when someone is selling or buying something, there seems to be a wave of similar requirements popping up.

U note someone selling 10-22mm then suddenly there is a rush of pple selling the same lens.

Coincidence? seen it too many time to believe it to be so.

bid for the item at the value u deem "fair", u couldn't get it. Camp for the next one.

 

[Xiao_shin]

not fair to state it here la.. as no hard evidence.. but if u stick ard BnS section long enough you will start to see... theres a few is always selling and buying one... and a history search on their nick also suggest the same..

this is like market manipulation.. hahaha..

Pm me please..

 

[XC Pictorial]

there are hell many more crappy buyers.

i encounter 5-6 on average per week :bsmilie:

 

[XC Pictorial]

Of course there are people who CAN earn through BUY and SELL. It's really up to YOU yourself to monitor and if you feel that the TS of the specific B/S thread is reliable, then get it. If not why not wait awhile more and get something that you feel safe and satisfied with.

I am posting here being really bored in office..

but seriously i see why the TS even brought out this thread.. as quoted from above, it is really UP TO YOU.

basic econs 101, demand and supply. If i need something badly, and shops in whole SG dont have ready stock, i will buy from someone here used even at 200% the usual shop price even if that item is already old and old of warr.

similarly, people would think that used shops sell higher than buy/sell here as they need to make a margin, which is most of the case but occassionally they can give significantly lower than the usual buy/sell price to facilitate their turnover.

put it simply, nobody owes any body to give him a GOOD deal.

caveat emptor.. if you are too lazy to research, then be too lazy to post a complain thread too

 

[my2ndidentity]

I think moitoring IP is not the way. It does not solve the problem. Think of ppl using a public computers to access CS.

Simon_84's suggestion below makes more sense. Generally, we should all beware of those in BnS with 0 post.

The anonymity nature of the internet makes it hard to identify users with multiple account.
And if we want to track unique users then we will be facing pirvacy issues. It will be endless.

I think for the 50mm, it's more like supply n demand case. If everyone thinks that 2nd hand lenses are cheap without checking the SRP outside then the demand for 2nd hand lenses would hence increase, driving sellers to up their prices. If no one wants to buy the 50mm @ $100, eventually the price will lower.
There might also b ppl who need to buy a lens urgently n dont mind the high price, so let them b.
My obersavtion is that, most ppl think that BnS should b cheaper so they just stick around.

The admin here can only intervene so far, banning new users from BnS also does not solve the thing. In fact, it would prevent ppl from selling. Less ppl sell means higher price, basic of economics.

We should educate our users to use the Price List to compare and make judgement for themselves.

It would be a good idea if the admin here could do up a rating system though, but i doubt it would be of any use. The price list in the sticky is good enough for ppl to agar agar the price liao. It's more of the older lens n dslr that are harder for ppl to give a value.

So lets just let the nature of market force do its job.

Personally, I've learnt a lot from buying and selling through BnS, made some mistakes here and there.
I've even made a friend from buying n selling.
So now, I'm more wary.

P.S. Lets not forget that you might be in the seller's shoe one day!

I am posting here being really bored in office..

but seriously i see why the TS even brought out this thread.. as quoted from above, it is really UP TO YOU.

basic econs 101, demand and supply. If i need something badly, and shops in whole SG dont have ready stock, i will buy from someone here used even at 200% the usual shop price even if that item is already old and old of warr.

similarly, people would think that used shops sell higher than buy/sell here as they need to make a margin, which is most of the case but occassionally they can give significantly lower than the usual buy/sell price to facilitate their turnover.

put it simply, nobody owes any body to give him a GOOD deal.

caveat emptor.. if you are too lazy to research, then be too lazy to post a complain thread too

XC Pictorial's & niaomer's points very similar.

I also agree with them.

 

[TsQ]

I am posting here being really bored in office..

but seriously i see why the TS even brought out this thread.. as quoted from above, it is really UP TO YOU.

basic econs 101, demand and supply. If i need something badly, and shops in whole SG dont have ready stock, i will buy from someone here used even at 200% the usual shop price even if that item is already old and old of warr.

similarly, people would think that used shops sell higher than buy/sell here as they need to make a margin, which is most of the case but occassionally they can give significantly lower than the usual buy/sell price to facilitate their turnover.

put it simply, nobody owes any body to give him a GOOD deal.

caveat emptor.. if you are too lazy to research, then be too lazy to post a complain thread too

so now i am being too lazy eh? FYI i never buy more then 1 thing off the BnS forum in all my years after registering here..

if u see a crime in ur block.. are u gonna report it or just tell ppl "ITS REALLY UP TO U" .. "u got robbed.. so its ur bloody fault not being careful.."

great.

but pls excuse me.. i think i am just pointing out something i see potentially gonna be a problem here and effect the quality if BNS section, which eventually the whole forum quality

if making a effort to point out something i see wrong in this forum and to make it a better place for all and then labeled as being lazy.. i shall shut myself up from now on.. and just continue reading and keep to a minimal posting ..

 

[clioboy]

Relak lah..

XC means not "you" as in you lah.

U posted here right?? so u not lazy what..

:bsmilie:

 

[XC Pictorial]

Relak lah..

XC means not "you" as in you lah.

U posted here right?? so u not lazy what..

:bsmilie:

yeah.. "you" meaning all people reading this thread and probly not posting anything. not just you..

no need to be defensive, you haven even bought anything, or claimed you did. but this reminds me of some joker keeping a "banned" seller list.

If i were to come out with a "banned" buyer list, i think it would take too much effort.
i have encountered tons of ppl, bargained with you like their lives depended on it, after confirming and arranging deal, last min they come out with tons of excuse, friend need to borrow money, dog died, retrenched, eyesight bad cannot manual focus, wrist broken before cannot carry too heavy lens, backache, cannot ejeculate... tons of them :bsmilie:

i am sure this thread is read by many :bsmilie:

 

[vince123123]

I agree with you and disagree with the others telling people to caveat emptor and the burden lies with you and what not. I don't see any harm in alerting people to such tactics, and indeed, becuase I don't camp at Buy and Sell the way others do, I was unaware of this price jackup tactic until I read this thread. Hence, I can therefore be more careful if I ever need to buy something and/or will take other "SOLD" prices with a greater grain of salt.

Hence, I support this thread and think that others should not try to bring it down with cries of caveat emptor. If you think this thread is not useful to you, then just skip it instead of pouring cold water on others.

so now i am being too lazy eh? FYI i never buy more then 1 thing off the BnS forum in all my years after registering here..

if u see a crime in ur block.. are u gonna report it or just tell ppl "ITS REALLY UP TO U" .. "u got robbed.. so its ur bloody fault not being careful.."

great.

but pls excuse me.. i think i am just pointing out something i see potentially gonna be a problem here and effect the quality if BNS section, which eventually the whole forum quality

if making a effort to point out something i see wrong in this forum and to make it a better place for all and then labeled as being lazy.. i shall shut myself up from now on.. and just continue reading and keep to a minimal posting ..

 

[fatigue]

2) Selling his DSLR on behalf of someone
Either his friend is a INTERNET IDIOT or from outerspace that he finds it troublesome to post it himself and rely on his friend to answer to all the queries and decide the price for him somemore...:think:

There are a few reasons. Here's some list based on my experience:
1. There are some people don’t want to waste time meeting several buyers, different places, at different timings. Sometimes end up with no deal.
2. Some had a bad experience with buyers
3. Some people don’t want to be disturbed in the middle of the night, during office hours, and so on.
4. Some sellers could not answer all technical inquiries about the item for sale.
5. Some don’t want to deal with buyers who still want to negotiate/bargain even with items that are selling at a very good price
6. Some sellers prefer to give me a small commission in return for ensuring that the item for sale is in perfect condition. And I would take care of claims after the sale.

 

[murashige]

Thank you TS for pointing this out to alert buyers. I personally encounter suspicious activities in BnS too...

 

[Rashkae]

The best ones are the ones who want to sell a 4-day old camera because it was given as a gift by a friend/relative... And the "just bought, still new" camera has already been phased out, is not manufactured or sold anymore.

 

[murashige]

That's the problem with unfilled warranty card, everybody can claim their equipment only used for 2-3 months, thus able to fetch higher second hand price. I encounter this with camera shop too, told me the lens is just 4-5 months old, unfilled card, but after i check the serial number, the lens is around year 06/07.

My friend just bought a lens by post yesterday, the seller claim it still have 8 months warranty, but she was so shock to receive a old lens with serial number dated to year 04/05. So at the moment request it for return. For nikon users, you can check your serial number at http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html

Hope this will help.
Check first before u buy! Happy scouting : )

 

[+evenstar]

i'm thinking..if organisers for shoots are charged a price for posting shoots, why don't CS charge those sellers who often do WTB/WTS too? perhaps each member gets one or two WTS monthly/bi-weekly..and any additional WTS threads will require a subscription of sort. this might be able to reduce the number of phony posts and more genuine sellers.
e.g.
New Member - 1 WTS/mth
Member - 2 WTS/2weeks
Senior Member - 5 WTS/2weeks

my 2cents

 

[TsQ]

i'm thinking..if organisers for shoots are charged a price for posting shoots, why don't CS charge those sellers who often do WTB/WTS too? perhaps each member gets one or two WTS monthly/bi-weekly..and any additional WTS threads will require a subscription of sort. this might be able to reduce the number of phony posts and more genuine sellers.
e.g.
New Member - 1 WTS/mth
Member - 2 WTS/2weeks
Senior Member - 5 WTS/2weeks

my 2cents

I support this.. but wonder if the forum has such features to limit members?