Buying Ebog gear

[vvv]

So I have one of these, paid US$300 or so mebbe 5 years ago.

Same exact item from Japan, per the photo:

US$1,044.11
https://www.ebay.com/itm/144910532249

US$880.63
https://www.ebay.com/itm/40412371149

US$710.47
https://www.ebay.com/itm/225317552477

US$867.00
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266029428742

[kslight]

I assume one or more of these auction is a scam, right?

[vvv]

I have read/arrived at a cuppla-3 theories.

One is that the item is for sale locally (Japan) and these listers are looking to "middleman" it without the seller knowing; if they get a bite, they buy the item locally and then re-sell.

The second theory is that the local seller does know about it and so these sellers are like brokers (say, the orig seller doesn't wanna deal internationally); if they get a bite, the sale price determines their cut.

The last theory is, like you said, some kindsa scams.

I buy a fair amount of gear on the Ebog, and I have bought from overseas (altho' I've only seen the above thing outta Japan) but only new stuff, or small stuff and I check for doubled listings.

[kslight]

I see this sort of stuff for all kinds of auctions in Japan and I come to the same conclusion - whatever game they are playing, I don’t have time to play and find out if real or a scam.

[digitaldrummer]

when I am searching on eBay I purposely use the filters to see only "north america" because I'm not interested in that bullshit either. but that only get's me to about a 39% BS-free search.

[markjazzbassist]

these are no scammers, it is a common business practice in japan for these "middlemen". the items are listed in shops in Japan, they use the stock photos or take their own pics and list them on ebay/reverb for whatever price they want. if you buy it, they go and haggle with the shop and buy it then sell it to you.

i have bought MANY things from these people, what i love most is since they are haggling with the shop, you can also haggle with them. i have gotten 150 dollars off an item just cause i asked. Regardless of their price and whether you can "Send Offer" just contact them and send an offer and usually they will negotiate with you. If they can't make it work they are usually very upfront and saying I need X amount of dollars to make this work.

the reason it's listed at different prices by different middlemen is because each has their own differing concept of profit margin. some are ok to make less, some want more. they are all independent of one another.

[vvv]