Posted By:
CoreyRSh.anusPrudent businesspeople who are in no rush/need to sell will often list items at ridiculous prices. This practice is hardly limited to eBay or to baseball collectibles. The targets are uninformed buyers or buyers who for whatever reason absolutely positively need the item and aren't willing to wait for another one to appear. In most cases I would think the seller has no realistic expectation of selling the item at or near the BIN price. But if an item is worth, say, $1,000, and is listed with a BIN of $5,000, a certain buyer might think he/she is getting a "deal" when the seller drops the price to $2,000.
In a lesser way this practice goes on all the time in merchandising. Many retailers don't even ask for full retail. They immediately list the item at a "sale price". That way the customer immediately thinks he/she is getting a deal when he/she buys the item for 50% off. I can't tell you how many times my wife has come home beaming over what a great purchase she made. I'm still trying to think of a way to persuade her that the retailer never had any intention of selling the item for "full retail", and that her purchase at 50% off was in fact full retail.