By Jeff Glucker
Above this bit of text sits a Mopar battery tray. It’s designed to fit a slew of B and E-Body vehicles, and Classic Industries sells it for $24.99. They have plenty in stock.
[sc:ebay itemid=”380459287137″ linktext=”THIS is the same tray for sale on eBay” ]. Now the tray costs $3,999.99, and they’re are just two left. Apparently, per the auction listing, 16 others have already been sold.
I understand that Mopar products can get pricey. I understand that sellers can price items however they want. I don’t understand why the seller of this particular BATTERY TRAY thinks it’s worth more than the entire project car that Hooniverse just acquired. Not only that, the product is available for well under the cost of a tank of gas elsewhere on the Internet.
Now I’m curious if you, dear reader, can find a worse example of insane-o pricing than this? If so, pop it in the comment section below. If the listing disappears, don’t worry I grabbed a screenshot, which you can find after the jump.
*UPDATE: Reader Boomer found out from the seller that this is a way to keep the ad up and running while they restock. Actually a pretty smart move, especially if someone actually buys one at this price. Thanks for doing a little investigation Boomer… (something I probably should’ve done)
The Phaeton was worse, as you needed TWO of them.
Whoa, eight thousand dollars!
*Plus labor at $130/hour.
I think at that rate they start to call it "Labour"
I was debating how to spell it when I wrote it!
I've got to assume he was going for $39.99 and got a little happy with the 9 button.
I just saw somebody on another site post an old beatup chevy pickup that was listed for $75,000.00. The ad was quickly edited down to $750, though.
It says 16 sold though…
Also, I'm going to assume, for the time being, that this is a secret Internet way to sell drugs to people.
Anyone who pays $4000 for that has enough drugs already, thank you very much.
Yea- not everyone is an ebay wizard.
I got a set of 911 wheels plus new Toyo tires for $500. The seller put the quantity as 4- meaning a set of 4 wheels/tires. Ebay saw it as 4 sets of wheels and tires. Some other guy kept bidding up another 'set' so my initial bid never had to increase.
Yay internets.
It looks like Summit Performance just accidentally goofed up their listing, because all of the battery trays on their listing prior to this one sold for $26.69. I bet someone was supposed to change a listing to $3999.99, but picked the wrong one
Either that, or maybe they have to pay an additional eBay fee once they have sold all 18 pieces? That would explain why they would purposely raise the listing price to a ridiculous amount with 2 pieces left.
<img src="http://i.ebayimg.com/t/DAIHATSU-TANTO-2006-Rear-Seat-1687080-/00/s/NDUwWDYwMA==/z/pKkAAMXQCndRiglW/$(KGrHqIOKpMFFyvV80QIBRiglWNOtg~~60_12.JPG" width="600">
Damn, I really want this Daihatsu Tonto seat, but it is $1,397,399.00 more than I am willing to spend. <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/DAIHATSU-TANTO-2006-Rear-Seat-1687080-/310664853482?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item48551177ea&vxp=mtr” target=”_blank”>http://www.ebay.com/itm/DAIHATSU-TANTO-2006-Rear-Seat-1687080-/310664853482?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item48551177ea&vxp=mtr
<img src="http://i.ebayimg.com/t/93-97-Z-28-CAMARO-HOOD-SCOOPS-WITH-BLACK-RUBBER-INSERTS-/00/s/MjcyWDQ4MA==/$(KGrHqZHJCwE9!Vqql6qBP(h8)w24w~~60_12.JPG" width="600">
I'm going to make an offer of $17,000,000.00 on these Camaro hood scoops, see if the seller is willing to go that low.
*fingers crossed* http://www.ebay.com/itm/93-97-Z-28-CAMARO-HOOD-SC…
This…
https://www.mitsubishicars.com/MMNA/jsp/outlander…
The IIHS says the Mistubishi Outlander is the only small SUV with a crash rating as excellent as the Subaru…and since it will probably spend a lot of time in the Mitsubishi dealer service department, it is even less likely that you will crash in it than a Subaru!
At least shipping for your $4k battery tray is free.
It could be the same thing that happens on amazon. A bot is responsible for pricing and sometimes that not gets in a weird loop with another bot and your prices skyrocket on something silly. Or maybe you get a free car with purchase of the tray.
A few months back I bought a replacement exhaust downpipe / flexpipe on Amazon for a reasonable $80. There were three available. After I bought mine, the price immediately jumped to $120. I just thought that was interesting. Why hike the price when there are two left, but not three? Or was it even cheaper before?
My understanding is that it's a tactic to keep a listing open while they restock so they don't have to create a new one.
I'm sure if anyone was stupid enough to order it at $4k they'd do a happy dance in spite of that hassle.
Interesting, and it seems you're right – comment below
I asked the seller why the high price, this was there answer.
Hi,
This is our default price for items currently out of stock. The price will return to $26.69 once part is available.
Sorry for any confusion.
Regards,
– summitauto888
Pffft…that's no fun.
How much more advanced as a species would we be, if we found the truth even half as entertaining as wild speculation?
(I like Jeff's)
Yup, I work for an eBay seller and we do the same thing. Removing and re-listing an item means it loses all it's previous page views and watchers, which means it'll likely be lower in the search ranking when you re-list it.
<img src="http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Radio-Stereo-Install-Mounting-Trim-Dash-Din-Kit-Wire-Harness-Antenna-Adapter-/00/s/ODAwWDgwMA==/$(KGrHqJ,!i4E5d(EFcNIBOcz47gkNQ~~60_12.JPG" width="500/">
Only $19,000.99 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Radio-Stereo-Install-Moun…
My first guess was a money laundering scheme.
It's something weird to do with 'bots or automated apps that manage sales on eBay and Amazon and the like.
I think Wired (maybe, or another consumer tech mag) has covered this, which is why an ill-mannered oaf like me as heard of it.
The only example I've ever had was buying some Automoblox for my boy's birthday. I paid about thirty quid, Amazon said I'd gotten the last one. I went back twenty minutes later to get a link to paste into an email to someone and there were 14 more available for fifty five quid. Crazy.
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