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Western Electric Phone inquiry

Started by Peggy2116, May 22, 2023, 08:30:26 PM

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HarrySmith

All very good advice from John. I have sold on eBay for a while and have found lots of good picures are the key. I have listed glass & porcelain with good pictures and they sold for more than other listings of the same item with only one picture. Have you looked inside the phones for the speaker?
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

FABphones

Quote from: Peggy2116 on May 25, 2023, 09:33:18 PMI am not sure what to start the bidding at...

Start it off at 99 cents.
Demand is down to who sees it, who wants it and who has the money.

All of the advice above is good.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

LarryInMichigan

The phones and controller box are quite rare and will likely sell for a very high price.  I would not be surprised if they get well over $2000.  I once sold a single used interphone desk set for over $1500 on ebay.  It might be best to sell the components separately to realize the maximum profit because there may be people who need only certain parts.  From what I have seen over the years, the best time for an ebay auction to end with a high bid is on a Sunday night. 

Larry

Doug Rose

Quote from: Peggy2116 on May 25, 2023, 09:33:18 PMThank you for the advise. I appreciate it. I am not sure what to start the bidding at. I am not sure the demand for this system. I think it is pretty rare but I will have to see if there is any interest in it.
good luck.....you will do well....Doug
Kidphone

FABphones

Here it is on ebay. Listing started 4th June:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266284229616

Bidding from $1350.000.

Just over 3 days left on the auction, currently 21 watchers, 0 bids.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

TelePlay

With that high starting price, you probably won't get any bids until the last 10 seconds of the auction.

Lot of watchers is good.

The interested buyer(s) will place their one and only bid at the very end with the set going to the one who places the highest last second bid.

TelePlay

Auction ended with 0 bids, did not sell at $1,350 plus $39.99 shipping.

What went wrong, many possibilities.

First, I think, is selling it as a package. Selling one item at a time might be a better way to do it but not sure which item I would sell first, probably the controller.

Next would be starting price. I just watched an item listed at $20 move up to $77 over 7 days and jump to $460 in the last 5 seconds of the auction, typical for a desired item starting at a low price.

After that, more photos of the phones inside and out, detailed descriptions for each piece including dates and item part numbers from each part. Just the stuff needed to assure a potential buyer of exactly what wii be received and condition of each item.

Selling these items one at a time will take a lot of seller work and time to get maximum market value.

Then, again, resisting the package over and over, with a starting auction price of $1,350 and maybe with a Buy It Now price of $1,500 may eventually end in a sale.

Just my thoughts, others may have better ideas on how to get this sold.

RDPipes

Well, I think the starting price was too high (and NO I'm not interested in it nor would I be able to afford if I were anyway). I don't think the OP paid that much or even near that so trying to get top money for it will take some time and a lot of it I'm afraid. Lets say they sell for $1000 on average and I paid let say $50 for it, I think I'd put it up starting at $450-$500 in an auction, not BIN. And I'm pretty sure it would have gotten some bids but, even if it didn't and got one bid I would have made a very good profit just the same.

TelePlay

Quote from: RDPipes on June 17, 2023, 05:03:36 PMLets say they sell for $1000 on average and I paid let say $50 for it, I think I'd put it up starting at $450-$500 in an auction, not BIN.

On that point, I suggested a starting auction price AND a higher BIN price, say, using your numbers, $450 with a $1,500 BIN. If a bid is placed, the BIN goes away and a normal auction proceeds.

If someone saw the value of the "package" at more than $1,500, the BIN sale at that price would give the seller a very good profit and the buyer will feel like they got a deal - a win/win sale.

Starting the auction at $20 with a BIN would see the BIN go away quickly so your number of $450 or $500 would be a good price with a $1,500 BIN. I'd also turn on the automatic relist function is listing with those numbers.

RDPipes

Quote from: TelePlay on June 17, 2023, 09:36:04 PMOn that point, I suggested a starting auction price AND a higher BIN price, say, using your numbers, $450 with a $1,500 BIN. If a bid is placed, the BIN goes away and a normal auction proceeds.

If someone saw the value of the "package" at more than $1,500, the BIN sale at that price would give the seller a very good profit and the buyer will feel like they got a deal - a win/win sale.

Starting the auction at $20 with a BIN would see the BIN go away quickly so your number of $450 or $500 would be a good price with a $1,500 BIN. I'd also turn on the automatic relist function is listing with those numbers.

I think your BIN price is too high, with the inflation were in and know getting top dollar for anything these days is a stretch and I think if you have to have a BIN I would say $1250 is more reasonable. Somehow $1500 just looks expensive. But, that's just my opinion and I'm sure there many others out there that would do it differently.

TelePlay

#25
Regardless of the BIN price, the point I was making of putting it in the offering is to get an initial bid to make the BIN go away. A high BIN does that nicely. Simply bid $450, make an opening bid, early in the auction to get rid of the BIN and then hope no one else bids and when it ends the buyer gets a deal, and the seller makes a nice profit. If two or more buyers bid, the seller gets a better profit.

I'm talking about the mechanism of the auction, not the initial price or BIN price which in this case is tricky to determine.

And being the summer and a rare but low demand Interphone package, repeating the auction with a low starting price and reasonable BIN is the only way to make it available beyond the one and done time frame. A buyer may be out there but not watching eBay during any week.

Until a bid is placed, only the seller sees the number of watchers and that is the best way to see current market demand, what prices to use. The number of watchers shows how elastic or inelastic the demand or supply curve is for this item. No one knows the current market price until the auction ends.

This "package" is supply inelastic, quantity of 1, creating a flat supply curve leaving the demand curve, the price, to be whatever a buyer determines it to be by making an offer or using the BIN, that price, the current market price, is today somewhere between $1 and $10,000.

I've seen some auctions that had only a high BIN, didn't sell and the seller would lower the BIN by $100, or so, and try again. It sold after several auctions restarts at the current market price on the day it sold. But that's a mechanism that benefits the buyer who simply waits for the price to drop to that which the buyer finds acceptable.

So many ways to go at this at so many price levels and all without any guarantees of a sale. Takes a seller offer and a buyer who finds the offer acceptable, or a buyer counter offer the seller finds acceptable, to make a sale, the way it is when selling anything.

LarryInMichigan

I still think that the best way to sell these things is to break the lot into several smaller items and set lower open bids.  There may be collectors who want to add a phone, controller, or speaker to their interphone system, but don't need or want the whole lot.  Make sure that the auctions start at or around the same time so that bidders will be able to bid on multiple items in case they want more than one of them.

Larry


TelePlay

The OP, Peggy2116, logged in the day after the auction ended but did not leave a reply as to her intent.

Larry had the best plan, selling the individual parts (parts are always worth more than the whole) but she decided to re-list the "package" as a BIN listing for $3,800 or Best Offer.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266295939960

The listing has 13 watchers.



FABphones

If nothing else it will be interesting to see how many relists/price changes it takes to sell this bundle, if it sells as a bundle.

First thoughts are if it didn't get any interest at $1350, $3800 is somewhat hopeful.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

TelePlay

It didn't sell at $1,350 but has been removed at $3,800 and not for a Best Offer, just no longer available.

OP still hasn't logged on since June 11, I guess like some she just wanted the forum to provide her with the item description and approximate selling price so she could make some good money on her flip without doing the work herself.