Pricing new parts with no available data?

Graham

I'm parting out TLM sets - **new** parts too!! - Some interesting.

I started attempting to part out "Emmet" but there is no price data or listings for the constituent parts - is there a good starting point for heads torso's legs etc?

I guess someone has to start, not too high not too low, not encountered this before.

Thanks G

DadsAfol

You could look on BL, but you are right. Whoever parts first gets to set the precedent.

Graham

I had a look - nothing there either - set still awaiting inventory - I guess another plus to the 'Owl - inventory is already here - even caught the correct variants

I suppose what I was looking for was a kind of best guess start point - $1 per piece $2 etc.

Graham

OK I guess that's what it is then "a guess" !! cheers G

Thor

I don't think it is a good idea for sellers to be advising other sellers how much to price their goods. Technically, we are all competing sellers in the same business selling the same product. Suggesting and advising each other about specific prices might be construed as a form of price-fixing.

DagsBricks

It always strikes me odd that Lowe's And Home Depot (2 big box home improvement retailers) have the same prices on thousands of items. Not all but many.

Big difference in the AFOL community is that we're (mostly) friendly to each other. Helping each other out helps ourselves. A rising tide floats all boats.

I appreciate your legal concerns Foster.

Brian

Thor

I don't believe the "friendly community" defense has ever been successfully used in a price-fixing case. Price-fixing requires some overt agreement or collaboration or cooperation. Advising or suggesting that another competing seller price their goods at a specific price - e.g. $1, $2 or $5 - is way different than if Lowe's sent an employee over to Home Depot to secretly compare prices. As long as Lowes and Home Depot don't actually discuss or agree on certain specific prices, the fact that they do have the same prices on many things is OK. Just like most realtors charging the same commission. Friendly or not, and regardless of the chances of getting in trouble, I just don't think it is wise or appropriate for sellers to be suggesting specific prices to each other.

Thor

budgetkids

Thanks Thor!

Price things at whatever you feel will work for you! I am not one to get into legal trouble.

P.S. I really should hire you Thor

BinOfBlocks

I don't believe the "friendly community" defense has ever been successfully used in a price-fixing case. Price-fixing requires some overt agreement or collaboration or cooperation. Advising or suggesting that another competing seller price their goods at a specific price - e.g. $1, $2 or $5 - is way different than if Lowe's sent an employee over to Home Depot to secretly compare prices. As long as Lowes and Home Depot don't actually discuss or agree on certain specific prices, the fact that they do have the same prices on many things is OK. Just like most realtors charging the same commission. Friendly or not, and regardless of the chances of getting in trouble, I just don't think it is wise or appropriate for sellers to be suggesting specific prices to each other.

Thor

I think your thinking about this... WAY to much. First off no, its not price fixing. price fixing only applies if you can control supply and demand, and sense everyone here is NOT a major corporation, or manufacturing the items they are simple used/new second hand items... that don't apply. People helping people here is between them. If someone wants to hint to someone else what to sell an item for... its kinda their own risk if they loose sells to that person.

Thor

Sorry Eric, but you really don't know what you are talking about. As a retired attorney who represented several clients or co-counseled with local attorneys in price-fixing matters before the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, Canadian Competition Bureau, European Commission and civil courts, I can assure you that price-fixing does NOT require that you control supply and demand or that you be a major corporation or manufacturer. The DOJ and plaintiffs attorneys have gone after many smaller mom and pop type businesses for price-fixing and similar anti-competitive activities. The DOJ likes going after the little guys because they cannot afford to put up much of a defense and so it is fairly easy for the DOJ to establish legal precedent in such cases that the DOJ can then use against bigger violators. And plaintiffs' attorneys love these cases because they have lucrative minimum, treble damages and/or punitive damages, as well as frequent awards of attorneys fees and costs. For plaintiffs, they don't have to win in court. They just have to wear down their opponent and make them settle.

While YOU may not have much to lose, other bigger sellers do. Including possibly websites that knowingly allow such activity to occur using their resources. The biggest sellers here have inventory (i.e. an asset) valued in at well over half a million dollars. Some have inventories in excess of one million dollars. This inventory has an established market and definite value.

If any big sellers here scoff at the idea that they are too small to worry about price-fixing, then PLEASE... listen to Eric and publicly discuss and advise each other on specific prices. I would love to have you hand over your inventory to me free of charge in a year or two.

BTW, I always loved representing clients who mistakenly insisted the law did not apply to them or that they were too small for anyone to worry about. They funded a large part of my retirement and paid off much of my mortgage.

Thor

Thor

If I came on too strong in the above post, I apologize. I just don't like the idea that you can break the law if you are small enough or do it just a little. This mindset seems all too common these days, particularly among the younger generation. It is like arguing that you only pirated (stole) one DVD off the internet, so it is OK. Or that you can commit customs fraud because there is only a small chance of getting caught. Competing sellers discussing and suggesting specific prices to each other is a form of price-fixing and anti-competitive. It shouldn't matter that you are small or only do it a little, or that you are "friendly" with each other.

I am also a bit sensitive about this nowadays because my daughter just got her provisional drivers' license last month. And already she is asking if she can drive after 9:00 p.m. or drive more than one friend in the car (both of which are illegal here for provisional license holders). "It is just a few miles down the road Daddy." "It is just this one time for a short while Daddy." She knows how to push, and I had to put my foot down this afternoon. Now she is sulking and giving me stinkeye. But I know if I give her an inch she will take a mile. Accept breaking the law a little and it becomes easier for you to break it a little more later. Slippery slope and all that.

Thor