Really dumb stupid prices !

<p>I'm really trying to understand how Amazom are selling the SB-900 at $424 and the older SB-800 at $600 ???<br>

Recently, I bid on a used MB-D10 motor drive on ebay because it was cheap at the time, but stopped bidding when the price came too close to the price of a brand new one. The final price had surpassed the price of a new one (which I eventually bought) , but I couldn't help thinking , are people that stupid that they'll pay for a second hand one , plus postage, more than the cost a new one ? It beggers belief !</p>

<p>I've noticed this a lot lately on eBay. My guess is people are to lazy to do research on what they want or they are from another country that has higher prices.</p>

<p>Don't confuse Amazon with the third party vendors who sell <em>through</em> Amazon (you can tell the difference on those offers at Amazon if you look closely). If a retailer has a couple units on the shelf, and they know that <em>somebody</em> out there is going to be absolutely fixated on getting the older unit, they'll put them out there at absurd prices just to see what happens. Some people really don't do their homework, or really do have more money than time - and there's always somebody more than happy to cater to them.</p>

<blockquote>It beggers belief !</blockquote>

<p>It buggers phrases too.</p>

<p>Y'know the great thing about the internets? You can keep clicking 'til you find something that doesn't bugger you so much. Cheaper prices, funner comix, better pr0n. It's all out there. Lots of <a href="http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?sid=12334876821191361">not-Amazon</a> and <a href="../gc/domain-multi">not-ebay</a> are out there too.</p>

You need to factor in what value retail customer support is worth and how to evaluate it for a particular retailer.

<p>Simply, because they can. With a billion people connected, one of them will fall for the 800.<br>

Its also a saller unit, and might be better for some things (film users)</p>

<p>On ebay, people love to win, and often forget that it can be found cheaper elsewhere.</p>

Never question the stupidity of people. Never, never question it.

<p>r<strong>emember how photo course instructors were " fixated" on the pentax K1000? forcing students to by used at higher prices</strong><br>

<strong>the camera Still sells for too high a price.</strong><br>

<strong>nothing wrong with it just a "cult classic"</strong></p>

<p>What I can't figure out is why people reliably pay at least 75% and often higher than new prices for Canon L optics that have been utterly destroyed beyond repair (e.g. by being dropped in the ocean and stewing in the brine for weeks on end until all the parts are corroded together).</p>

<p>Yes, people are stupid.</p>

<p>Many fish get caught if you have good bait.</p>

<p>So, $875.99 for that Golden Skink Kodak Instamatic 'classic' from the boys in Brooklyn was too much ... sigh, now you tell me ! :-(</p>

<p>(They did throw in those special long life Duracell AA batteries tho; their gold tops went well with the camera color.)<br>

PS - I was the only bidder too!</p>

<p>The crestfallen one.</p>

<p>Here's a good example of this sort of mentality currently on eBay. Search there for 'repronar' (a Pentax slide copy machine from the late 60's) and you will find one complete unit selling BIN for $135. Right below that is another for 'camera only' for $660 ! The seller is a German company famous for outrageous prices. The hype for this is also outrageous:<br>

<em>Very rare Micro Camera made by Pentax with Repronar II 4/5 cm lens </em><br>

The camera looks like it went thru a war AND the complete unit for $135 has free shipping, while the camera only has a shipping charge of $38 !<br>

I know 99.99% of us can see the absurdity here, but it only takes 0.01% to make the sale.<br>

If P T Barnum were alive today, he'd probably be a top seller on eBay.</p>

<p>"r<strong>emember how photo course instructors were " fixated" on the pentax K1000? forcing students to by used at higher prices</strong> <br /> <strong>the camera Still sells for too high a price.</strong> <br /> <strong>nothing wrong with it just a "cult classic""</strong><br>

<strong>It is starting to dry up, but I have bought a fair number of nice cameras that were traded in for digitals. The prices were good and you get a chance to handle the cameras and even to return them. One of the cameras was an EX++ K1000 with a 50mm f/1.4 SMC lens. Price? $50.</strong><br>

<strong>I also bought an F100 in LN condition for $500. I thought I had got a fantastic deal, but they are now going for about $250. I still love the F100. </strong><br>

<strong>As for student cameras, I think that good alternatives to the K1000 are Nikormats, Spotmatics, FTbs, and SRTs.</strong><br>

<strong>Having bought too much junk, I am trying to be selective in my old age.<br /> </strong></p>

<p><strong><br /> </strong></p>

<p>Amazon ships to USA, some of the ebay buyers may live outside the country and the price that they pay for an item used shipped to them is still cheaper then what they could buy in their country of a used item of the same type. May or not be the case in the item that you are referring to but it happens often.</p>

<p>With reference to the specific sale, no, it was a UK only sale, and the 25 or so bids were UK bids, even though I'm not UK but got dispensation to bid. Its just common sense to note what the new price of the item is, and say that the second hand one is worth X% of that cost, not equal to, or more.</p>