Hey Everyone,
The staff have decided to put this topic to a vote. Normally we would make a decision internally, but this scenario we want to leave up to the members.
This has been an ongoing debate for the Buy Section: Should Buy threads require a price?
Select your answer in the Poll, and the staff will create a rule accordingly! Thanks! 
I am for this.
I think adding a price cuts down a lot on the time wasting aspect that a lot of other makeshift markets have.
I should emphasize, this currently only pertains to Buy threads, NOT Trade threads.
On top of that I think it provides a great snapshot into the market value of an item at that point in time which is valuable to the forum. Weeks/months/years from now people with a card will be able to search back and see what a certain card was going for (or at least being offered for thereby pinning down a low bound on itâs value) at the time.
What better way to value a card (again or at least pin down a low bound) than to see how much cold hard cash someone is offering to exchange for one at any given time?
Yes. Absolutely.
Thereâs no reason not to state a price or at least somewhat of a range for rarer items that donât hit the market very often. Even if a potential/new buyer doesnât have a clue what the item is worth, thereâs price and market discussion for that too. Thatâs the place I visited before creating my first buy thread so I wouldnât lowball, but also not overpay.
This forum is great, but many members waste too much time trying to get people to post an actual offer. Then you have legit sellers contacting these people and wasting time when they realise theyâre paying half price. Perhaps we should just ignore them, but this would be a HUGE step in the right direction and it would solve a lot of these problems.
I also agree. Plus it allows the user to do *some* research on their own rather than making a semi-meaningless post to skirt around doing the work themselves. If a rule is created it may be beneficial to list a good number of resources said person could use so we dont get a âI tried looking but came up with nothingâŚâ. The internet is a plentiful resource.
Scott et al.,
The requirement to provide a listed price should not be enforced. The nature of listing a price is heavily dependent on many variables from the buyer - individual budget, time constraint, volatility of the market, and most importantly, ability for negotiations. To effectively reduce the scope for negotiations, albeit saves time for both parties, will greatly limit the potential for meaningful conversations or rapport that typically spawns from successful, and sometimes even unsuccessful, transactions.
Sellers have the opportunity to list prices above market value and allow for âbest offers;â however buyers will be more easily overlooked for providing âlow-ball offersâ but be âwilling to negotiate.â
Granted, if the buyer has a budget cap that is below a fair market value, then that individual should indeed list his or her desired price out of respect for potential sellers. To set a blanketed policy on all buyers to set a price, however, will dampen much of the conversational and discussion-based atmosphere that this forum has reputably established. Deciding whether or not to provide a price should fall on the responsibility of the buyer (assuming the buyers of this forum are reasonable and understand this responsibility).
Frankly speaking, there is no requirement for potential sellers to respond to a post without a price listed. Sellers should just move on to the next listing if they do not have the time to negotiate. The same result would happen if the buyer provided an undesired price regardless. If buyers are indeed enforced to place a price for each item, then based on this premise, all trades must also require price allocations for each item to âsave time.â
cpbog1
Also, sellers are free to ignore any WTB posts they wish to ignore.
Agreed.
I have yet to see a well established member of this forum NOT to post an actual offer. There will be talks/negotiations going on regardless if you put a price or not, especially if weâre talking things like graded cards where value can fluctuate quite a bit between a âsoft or strongâ grade. As a buyer, youâre just limiting your chances of success when you donât post a price.
Iâd argue even the lowballers might score a deal every now and then if a certain seller needs funds quickly.
A few points to better help understand this situation.
First, this site is not a marketplace. The fact that any buy/trade thread exists is purely an accommodation to members. In fact many would prefer to eliminate the entire section, which was considered when we eliminated sales.
Also, trade threads require an inherent value. You have to state your haves & wants to establish a value. Buy threads without any metrics are inherently incomplete.
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The reason why this is put up to a vote is due to a consistent reacquiring problem:
Person A makes a thread, âI want to buy PSA 9 1st Ed Jungle Holosâ
Member B, C, D, etc. have said cards, click on thread, and there are no specifics. Therefor saying a âsellerâ can simply ignore the thread does not remedy the issue. The Buy threads are inherently vague, and donât provide a metric. Where a trade thread with haves & wants provides some starting point.
Stating a price, is just that, a starting point. You can still negotiate. The price is a suggestion which gets the negotiation underway. The pattern we are experiencing is the threads without any willingness to name a price, especially after asked, are an unwillingness to negotiate, which inherently is not an actual buy thread.
Hopefully this helps capture the reasoning for this scenario. Regardless, we chose to put this to a vote. So cast your opinion with you vote.
Ahhh⌠democracy. Love it:)
Since we are mainly a collectors site Iâd say leave the bargaining (normally time wasting) to all the other eBayâs, Reddits, igâs, beaches, gyms et all.
We are different.
Would love the change to posted prices on buy threads:)
I feel like the only thing that would change if prices had to be listed is that instead of people nagging that there is no price, theyâd just start nagging that the price is not fair.
I could personally tell every member everyday that I Love them, and people will still nag. People will nag no matter what. This is why we put it to a vote. Vote for your opinion!
Do you love me?
You canât just tell us you love us, you need to prove it. I have a long list of PSA 10 cards that would fulfill this requirement.
Scenario 1: Person A doesnât state price, Person B asks for price, Person A states lowball price, Person B complains.
Scenario 2: Person A states lowball price, Person B complains.
Even in worst case, scenario 2 still seems more efficient. Not to mention, thereâs more incentive for Person B to get mad about a lowball offer in scenario 1; due to the wasted time.
There are a few cases where a member will politely tell the buyer that their offer is too low and point to sold listings or confirmed private sales that they know of. I feel thatâs totally acceptable and usually the buyer welcomes it tbh.
Often times that is what ends up happening in DMâs after time is wasted already. May as well happen out front. I mean if someone is going to come in here and offer a fraction of the value on a highly liquid item that can be clearly demonstrated with eBay sold listings then they may as well be pointed out publicly. Buy threads in their nature are only going to spawn for a few reasons.
The item isnât available anywhere else
a. because it is very high end and doesnât come up much
b. because it is very low end and isnât listed often as it isnât often searched out
The person is looking for a steal of a deal and passing up the frequent or current eBay availability
Other
I think the buy trades on this forum are best suited for the 1a. or potentially large buys of 2. I can and do give a decent discount off my eBay listings for forum members especially if they are going to drop 3 figures +. Most of those sales I made have spawned from a good buy thread. I am always happy to give a solid fair price to forum members on any items that I have, but that being said I wonât give them away. We have had a few recent vague âbuyersâ come in with threads lately who I have been in DM conversations with. They talk big and act like they will pay fair prices but at the end of the day after several tries I donât think I have ever successfully sold to anyone that I have reached out to who didnât start with at least a ballpark price listed in their thread. I have made dozens of sales where buy prices or ranges were listed.
It seems like youâre overlooking the possibility that a buyer (and seller) would like to fairly split the wealth that is not going to eBay as a result of selling here. Unless Iâm missing something, that principle would apply regardless of whether an item is high or low end or somewhere in the middle.