FS: Auction - Pair: (445nm 1,200mW) and (405nm 650mW)

rhd said:

I'm sort of starting to give up on this community as far as drama, negativity, and jumping to bad intentions as a default assumption goes.

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You're kidding...right? Its the internet man, you always have to assume the bad. Its just the way it is.

Also this forum has a huge membership. Its impossible to figure out who is good, and who is bad in a short timely matter. Hell, I've known a few people here for a long time, who I thought were good, that turned out to be dishonest, or straight bullshitters. I dont think you are going to find any community without pessimists. Its a nice thought, but its not really reality. Talk is cheap, and on the internet its totally free.

rhd said:

I give a big "boooo" to the drama on this board lately.
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Maybe the solution is that Auctions are just a bad idea? Because the reality is, this is a small community relative to eeekBay where the model works. I think it's inevitable that there would be cross-interest here. Given the nature of an auction, how the heck would that work without looking improper.

I'm sort of starting to give up on this community as far as drama, negativity, and jumping to bad intentions as a default assumption goes.
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I hate the idea of auctions in a group like this. These have repeatedly lead to hurt feelings. Even in ebay, they learned that knowing who you are bidding against is a bad idea. With a small community like this it is a very bad idea.

Figure out what you want for an item and ask for that price. Then sell it if you get it. If you think an item is worth more than the community does, then you can lower the price to match the market.

If you truly do not know what something is worth to you or in this community, then do some research.

Auctions put profit above community. It is a way to extract the most money that you can get from the market. That is fine in an anonymous community like eBay. It is not fine in a community such as this.

Peace,
dave

Hmmm, so how about that other auction style, closed or secret bidding.
Everyone interested sends an offer via PM to the seller, then the item is sold to the highest offer.
No hard feelings involved there, I guess....:thinking:

anselm said:

Hmmm, so how about that other auction style, closed or secret bidding.
Everyone interested sends an offer via PM to the seller, then the item is sold to the highest offer.
No hard feelings involved there, I guess....:thinking:

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This still places profit above community (and relieves the seller from the responsibility to research his market and product).

Peace,
dave

I completely agree that this form of auction doesn't seem productive or positive - but not as a general rule.

For example, when I had to sell that C-Mount 635 of mine, I did know what it was worth. I had paid for it ~2 weeks earlier. That said, although I had put >$250 into it, some of that was actually less than the cost would be to reproduce it. But further, there was a limited market, so it required a specific purchaser, and demand was lower.

So an auction, was the best/only way to do it. That diode and equipment went for ~$160, but I had no idea ahead of time whether it would sell at a premium, loss, or dead on my cost in. Unfortunately it sold as a loss

Now maybe if I had just said $250, the same person who ultimately bought it for $160 via auction, would have paid that higher asking price instead. Who knows. My point is just that an auction setup doesn't necessarily mean you're putting profit above community. Or at the very least, it doesn't mean that's why the seller was doing it.

To a lesser degree, I'm not entirely sure what this auction is worth either. I know that the 445nm blue would probably go for around $150 to $170. I know that the 12x seem to be about the same cost (though I think there is less demand for them). I know that 650nm reds could go for anywhere from $50 to $100. With that laser in the mix, and with the glasses I'm including (just a $10 value) this package could be worth from $360 to $450. An additional wildcard is that the "matched set" nature adds some appeal, but it also pushes the purchase price out of reach for some, and lessens the size of the potential market.

Long-winded story short - the auction seemed to make sense to me because I don't *really* know what this package is worth. Not for lack of effort in researching. Certainly not for trying to put profit above these ^ guys

But at the end of the day, I still agree that in practice, the auction just wasn't fun here. I'm going to let this auction conclude as an auction this evening, but I probably wouldn't do it in the future, unless it was a completely unique un-pricable item like I described earlier.

I agree with RHD. I did an auction a few weeks ago, and was NOT putting profit above ANYTHING. I had tried selling the item multiple times with multiple price drops. No hits whatsoever. I had it for $150, and nobody bought it,
I made an auction startging at $100, and it sold for $185. I SOLELY did the auction, and put a $100 reserve on it SOLELY for the fact that I needed cash QUICKLY and would have sold it for $100 if it would've meant having it gone asap.

You can tell when people are gouging prices, I think that is more unfair than auctions

I think the happy medium is to say:

"I'm selling XYZ for $200. I'll also seriously consider any reasonable offers."

That's what I'm going to do in the future with the rest of the stuff I need to sell before moving.

But rhd, an XYZ is worth way more than $200 now a days! :beer:

Alright, you've convinced me. No more of this selling XYZ's for $200....

Next XYZ is $750. I'll also consider any serious offers that are at or around $200

Ok, so I believe the high bid is $305

This auction/sale closes at 9pm Eastern tonight.

I'm going to also include (to balance out the colours ) a 532nm 2xAAA green laser. It's nothing big or expensive, just the typical eBay/DX variety. Tested at 26mW peak. Just a little bonus, nothing too crazy.

Exciting - 15 minutes to go
$305 high bid!

Hey,

Congrats thejamey!

This set is yours

Thanks rhd. Very nice set, Arrived quickly. You've now gotten me addicted to this expensive hobby. I really like how they all look the same, the prob is telling which is which

Glad you're happy

I probably should have given you color coordinated dust covers!

Cheers