Electronics

[JamesC]

Jay had commented on this weeks episode about selling a DVD/VCR player and how he had to lower the price to $30, and is worried about a return, etc.

Since these are one of my favorite items to sell, I thought I’d make a quick post about this topic.

There is a huge market for this stuff, but it is a particular market of a mixed lot of people – nerds that are super into quality made (and hard to find) stuff, and people who just never upgraded to the latest technology. The latter group is much less picky, but the nerds are the ones willing to pay high prices. These nerds are looking for specific models and also are very picky about the sellers they will buy from. There are forums dedicated to talking about this stuff, and a favorite topic is how bad ebay sellers are.

Its a common frustration among these enthusiasts to buy from ebay sellers who just pick stuff up from Goodwill without fully testing, and also who are not aware of what to look for when judging the condition/functionality. These buyers want to see you’ve done a full range of testing, including all inputs/outputs on front and back (every single one), and all functions (record, play, and whatever else is present). If its a DVD recorder, then that means recording a DVD via the back RCA inputs, the front inputs, the S-Video inputs, and also testing the outputs.

Different models have different capabilities, and some DVD recorders have features which improve the picture, and people will buy them just for that feature alone without ever planning on recording anything with it.

With VCRs, you need to be able to also judge the condition of the heads by examining the picture as it plays back, and also it helps to be able to manually clean the heads yourself. Certain VCR models are built with a much higher quality, have various different features and the higher valued ones were not being manufactured after a certain point. So any VCR made in the late 90s or after is generally not worth a lot.

The same ideas apply to stereo equipment, and lots of electronics. You really need to understand how they work, and what features are very desirable.

If you don’t have this kind of knowledge or interest, I personally would advise to stay away from selling electronics because the people who buy this stuff have no reservations about returning it if anything is messed up. Packing electronics is a huge job, and shipping is expensive. Returns on these items is a very bad experience all around.

And the last consideration is that people use Goodwill and thriftstores as a free trash disposal service for electronics, because you have to pay to recycle this stuff now. So a large percentage of the electronics found at thrift stores is broken in some way.

[Jay]

Very good advice. We’re amateurs when it comes selling electronics.

Case in point: the guy who bought the DVD player is returning it because it doesnt work. We just refunded his money and let him keep it.

We power tested it but didnt do a full test because we dont have all the right equipment as you suggested. We’ll leave electronics to the pros.

[Steven S]

Yes, all good pionts.
I’ve sold many DVD recorders but always test them and include a video of the testing.
Some models sell for well over $100 and can usually be found at garage sales for $5 or less so it’s not big risk for a potential big reward.
But as James has pointed out you need to have the knowledge and experience.

[JamesC]

Yeah Jay, yours is a pretty common experience among sellers I’d say. There are a lot of sellers getting into these kinds of electronics because its good money to be made, and they are somewhat commonly available, but probably at least 50% of the electronics I buy at Goodwill have to be returned because they are broken and not worth fixing. Some things like turntables are an easy fix if they just need a new belt, and some things will still fetch a good price even when broken, but VCRs and DVD Recorders aren’t really worth the hassle of repair unless that’s already your specialty.

And I don’t mean this as an insult to any sellers trying their hand at electronics, but the influx of people who don’t know what they are doing seems to be damaging the electronics market because they are flooding ebay with low priced stuff that is probably messed up.

Last month, I bought a DVD recorder on ebay because I happened to need one for a video project. It was super cheap, $40 including shipping (the model is worth about $100), so I went for it. The seller sent it to me in a cheap retail box for boots – extremely thin cardboard and one layer of bubble wrap. Of course it arrived damaged. There are tons of similar listings from sellers on ebay that don’t know what they are doing, and this makes knowledgeable buyers very nervous about buying any of this stuff on ebay. So the more you can assure the buyer that you understand what you are selling, the higher the likelihood of making the sale – but you need to actually know for real, or you’re asking for a return.

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