Buying

Like for every blog post, firstly please be sure to read blog info to understand my blog.

⏱️Overview

In this post I describe and give my advice on how to buy rationally, not as the commercial world’s addiction (to fight consumerism).
I start with my approach of questions to ask before buying. Then I write more about buying groceries with further observations and my rules. Additionally regarding internet shopping.
Last chapter is about selling (an important opposite to buying), with advices from my experiences.

👉Approach

I think this should motivate us more to see buying (even if only a bit) more as a last resort action, not just a regular, normal daily thing to do. Or at least something to think through more, not just accept without caring about whole world’s consequences of careless, impulsive, emotional, addictive buying.

So if buying can’t be avoided, at least it should (always) be done reasonably and thoughtfully, not carelessly and routinely.

❔Questions

This is likely the main part of this page with my advice (and few examples too). Probably best before buying: hardware, appliances, electronics, PC parts, and more.

The key questions (for me) to ask before buying something are:

• Do I need it?
  This is the most important, first question.
  A question which no seller will ask you ever. Clearly any who did would be fired, as it hurts the business.
• Do I need to buy it?
  Is it possible to use or fix something I already have instead?
  Or could I maybe create something myself with same purpose/functionality?
  Surely it is more time consuming, needs effort, takes longer to finish, and is likely more costly too, but ultimately more rewarding. This way we learn and can fix it, modify, or extend later, and be more independent of commercial products.
• ✨Do I need to buy a new product or would a used one be cheaper and/or better?
  Problem with new ones is their price drops a lot when they become used. They are quite overpriced, because everyone needs a cut of profit there.
  Some new products are too cheaply made and old ones made were of better quality.
  New products have a lot of unneeded fancy features just to boost price and bring more profits.
• 🎛️What are the key parameters and which are needed for me?
  BTW. which don’t matter and are artificially made, e.g. to justify emotional buying (like in fashion) with stupid planned obsolescence tactic?
  E.g. for TV/monitors, size isn’t that important, resolution is, then color representation, etc.
• 📰(Optional) Is the description on a level? Not too short, not bloated.
  I’ve seen it too often: long, excessive descriptions of what an amazing thing it is, or how many features it has, with lots of useless text, or stupid manipulated images of this product in various places (I see it’s not even there, it’s image was pasted on a background image) or even generated by AI. Simply not on a level of a technical savvy person.
  This likely happens when a selling company mass enlists their products or for too expensive ones. Or to trigger emotional buying.
  The opposite can happen with regular people selling stuff. Not enough info, written on phone etc. Need to inquire for more if even possible. IMO you’re either selling or fooling around.
• 💵What price is okay for what I want?
  It may sound simple, but surely there is effort made to make it confusing.
  • 🪙There are too cheap products, just barely made to look and function. These either will break soon (can even during transport) or are so cheap that they will eventually make you buy again for more cost/budget.
    Clearly even if so, the purpose of such garbage (too cheap item) is done, if you can’t return it for free (or cheaply). It was only meant to be made cheaply, and sold for profit. Even if it was a lie to begin with.
  • 💰There are also way too expensive items. Where the cost is much higher than what you get for it. For these if you wait like 1/2 or 1 year they become much cheaper. You’d be paying to get it too early.
    So our target is in the middle usually, where cost per performance or quality (or other key feature) is optimal (lowest), i.e. it’s not overpriced or too cheap.
• 🏭Which products (not companies) are the best ones currently? As rated by users.
  Companies create new products yearly and constantly. It’s their business and by making more choices, they can earn more from people’s emotions, naivety or lack of knowledge.
  It’s why it is so important to not stick to one brand. That’s just what they want us to do so badly with ads, commercials, logos, etc. (as documented here their job is to lie and manipulate too).
• 📉Which are most cost efficient? Considering best price for quality ratio.
  E.g. fuel economy for (old combustion engine) cars etc.
  For CPUs/GPUs that is cost per performance. I.e. price per benchmark points (performance test result value). E.g. website for CPUs, for GPUs.
• 🧰(Optional) How to repair it later? If possible at all, and not consumable of course.
  I’d rather buy 1 product made every 5 to 10 years, with parts to replace. Parts available and continued for that time too. E.g. Fairphone is one such company for smartphones. Sadly the cost of fairly producing a smartphone is much higher than the cheapest commercial deals with brand software, bloatware, annoying setup, ads/commercials, etc.
• 🪛(Optional) how to modify it? As a DIY fan I see all products as unfinished now or even just ingredients. There is always something annoying, (e.g. a buzzer sound), too simple (no options, basic), or just not the way I’d like it. So at this step I look at possibility of changing it. E.g. for phone, audio player or anything with user interface (GUI) – is there an alternative software to use (e.g. OS, or firmware). It may be rare, but I always prefer products that have it.
• 🗨️What are user comments saying about the product? Possibly with user made pictures of the product.
  Those are very important to me. Especially the bad comments, which can reveal hidden product flaw(s), annoying functionality, breaking parts, and even more details.
  This is the way to get over the product or brand hype, etc. Only real (and intelligent) people (after using for a while) can tell if a product is good, well made and working properly for years.
  There could be videos of a product, but I’d value only regular people doing that. Not company’s short product intro, neither those channels that constantly show or unpack products.
  One could even go further if possible (takes more time, but great for cars) and look for common failures happening for users, or repairs they needed after years.
• 💸Where can I buy finally chosen product at lowest price?
  For new ones it means checking for cheapest store (could be a website that does it).
  For used ones in auctions it may require checking few models (not just one if rare), waiting longer to get one or checking those which get available. In the end it takes longer to buy, but it is definitely cheaper, a bit more stressful, but more rewarding. It also can have the benefit of meeting a human seller who used the thing and knows it in practice.
• 📦How to return it?
  There are a few things that can happen. E.g. you get a damaged product, or you test it and don’t like it, or you suddenly don’t need it or realized a better one. Whatever the case, even if rare, I say we need to know how to return a product before buying.
  Here also comes the benefit of buying (locally) new things, on auctions. I’m not sure how common it is, but for me I see mostly that I can return it either for free (I also have free shipping for a yearly cost) or at the cost of shipping. I’ve seen already few, too many, people in comment writing it was bad, but they had no time to return or such nonsense. Clearly still a profit for a company just a bit worse if with a negative comment, but not all even do that.

⌛Conclusion

Yes, that’s a lot of (possible) info to get, before buying. And surely it takes time🕗 to buy rationally for me. I think for smaller or cheaper items I don’t even spend time for most (of above). But the more expensive thing you buy the more time you’d need to make sure it’s good for you (not for producer/seller). Especially for houses, cars, boats, etc.

I do value highly people’s ratings and user comments🗨️, especially negative ones for products. Because they often reveal product flaws or bad quality, simply even disqualifying them for me. Sometimes it’s enough for just one (clever) person to mention something like e.g. being from plastic and not metal (meaning it will break eventually after using, or even in transport) to reject a product. Surely if more people mention a flaw then it’s better to look for an alternative, possibly meaning higher price range.

With product rating⭐ I can filter out all those stupid products that don’t even serve its purpose (well enough) and don’t deserve to be bought (and frankly shouldn’t exist).
The only problem being there is so much variety in products nowadays that some aren’t bought often to have a decent number of ratings or comments.
On the other side if a product is very popular, it has lots of reviews and comments. And there always are some bad ones, sometimes those are due to people not necessarily bad product.

But for long lasting things (like PC parts) I can spend days before buying. Surely if I’m buying e.g. tea or food, which I’ve already done before and know it, and see the price is still same, after I first determined it to be best, then it’s a quick choice to buy again.
Once a while though it’d be good to consider if it’s not an addiction or if there is some even better alternative. E.g. buying it through internet instead of in grocery shop, to have it delivered without effort or have much better price and variety. Or not buying at all, due to not being healthy etc.

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🛍️Groceries

This is a special case of buying, since it’s so common, thus I made an own section for it here.
Buying groceries (food, etc.) is something that I do most often and since years. So naturally I have a few observations and I got myself a couple of rules. I describe them below, in case anyone finds them useful too. Some aspects may be broader (for more products, not just groceries).

❔What to buy locally

What do I buy in local grocery shop(s)? Well ideally only things that I need to buy: new, rather quick and especially those I need to take a closer look at. E.g. vegetables, fruit, bread, wraps, dairy, meat, etc.
So I’d rather buy locally things that could be damaged in transport, possibly due to cheap, bad packaging. Same if I can’t wait 2 days to receive it in a package. Also things I’d not need to return for any reason.

Buying from internet is great, if you know a product: is packaged well, hard to damage, easy to return. Or if you want more choices, lower prices. And if you can wait, also are prepared to return it if needed.

When to buy locally

I need a good reason to go out to shop. E.g. I don’t have bread, wraps, stuff for next lunch or I have many things to buy already (having more would be to much to carry, I don’t have or use a car).
I usually go twice a week, I dislike it more often (makes me feel like a consumer, wasting time).

Sales

I never go because there is a promotion or sale (e.g. something is 50% off etc.). If I see one, and I’m sure I will use it (or 2nd product, when 2 are cheaper) then I’m okay to buy. But honestly such sales are just for profit – a fake reason to get people more often into stores, where they’d be presented with lots of other products, or placed on purpose near common things, to buy impulsively or emotionally.
Yet there surely are people who “hunt” such sales (visit and use many), but the reason is different, they don’t have much money, but do have time (e.g. older people).

🗒️List to buy

I first (always) prepare a list of things to buy, on paper. I never go without it into store.

• Why? Easy, stores are made to show off everything they sell, and manipulate people to buying. The latter is against people (not for them, just for profit). And having a list of things I need before I enter a store helps me stay focused on what I need, and avoid all the garbage they have.
• Why paper? Well it’s cheapest, lightest. It also isn’t a problem to loose of drop.
  I surely wouldn’t use a heavy, battery powered, smartphone (or other device), showing ads or otherwise bothering me (I mostly don’t even take it into store).
  I like paper also for other things like my electronics schematics or to do lists, it’s really the best, it definitely proved to last longer than my HDDs.

But honestly can’t I think I ever saw anybody with a list in grocery store. IDK maybe once, can’t remember. It is a serious problem IMO, if most people can’t buy reasonably, buy more than needed, buy unhealthy garbage, or visit shops too often.

💵Prices

Knowing the prices is key. Yet so easily to forget about it or just not care.
It is also discouraged by the system, due to economy changes, constant inflation, etc. BTW likely all made on purpose (more in human stupidity post, by governments to keep people stupid and steal from them, benefit from it, etc).

If you don’t know how much something costs then you’re just gambling and are likely to pay more. I think it’s obvious, that the one way of saying: “oh no, I’m not buying it here and now” when presented with a product, is when you know it’s more expensive here (while you know the lowest price). Doesn’t matter why, but local shops (especially those near city centers) will always have higher prices than internet stores.

💰Inflation

Yes inflation is a PITA (for prices) here. I can only assume if something is generally more expensive due to inflation. Can’t anymore have one price of product(s) for years. I’m sure it’s done on purpose (by governments etc). Would be too easy for people, and so prices are more elusive and it’s easier: for sellers to cheat, for governments to manipulate, etc.
I’d like 0%, ideally no inflation ever. So I could pay for milk or bread/flour always the same (or close) after years, it would be easy to predict living expenses for whole life so.

9️⃣Ending 9s

Lastly one more thing BTW. Fortunately not everywhere, but likely in malls, galleries, etc.
The freaking ending 9s in prices, e.g.: 4.99, 149.90, 199, 2999, etc. Why can’t they just make it right: 5, 150, 200, 3000. Why this still continues is so retarded and stupid that I can’t even. It’s like they assume buyers are 6 years old (but then again they also want us to be so, using commercials, having the same level). I first thought it’s to keep coins and other values in circulation, but it’s not. It is so you can’t figure out that easily how much you’ll pay. Seriously I think this should be forbidden, penalized, it’s so f%$ed up and dumb. Not only prices look bad, they also needs constant adjusting. I guess some people have money and forget to add 1, or they buy so much they don’t even care, or don’t even count (or estimate) the final price to pay. Now that’s even easier to happen without using physical money (just cards, paying with phone, etc). Even if so, some may end up either paying more then they thought, or just not buying a product or two at end. Either way I see this as a (way too long) practice for profit, and against humanity.

⚖️Ingredients, nutrition stats

Another key and very important aspect of products. Like the only one that matters. For example colorful packaging is just a commercial and distraction. Ingredients will tell if any stupid additives were added by producers. E.g. sugar, sweetener, more salt, any taste, any artificial pigment or regulator. These may be added for the product to stay edible longer (but being more artificial), or to simply make money of people’s taste, naivety or childish addiction to sugar, etc.

🌎Alternatives

If I can buy something from internet then it’d be worse to buy from local shop(s). Internet stores (without physical location to enter) don’t need to pay rent etc. and can operate at smaller expense, this results in them having lower product prices. Other reasons for using only internet stores is: more to choose from and having larger packages. E.g. I recently found a good local company selling heavy (also not colorful) packages of nuts etc. I never saw such big packages and such low prices (per mass) of nuts in a local grocery shop.

Not only that, I also see much more products to choose in internet. Good for lower prices or finding stuff you’d never see in shop and for more variety (flavours, brands, producers, etc). More of course means bigger selection possible, but also means you could end up buying more (just because) and more time needed to grasp (e.g. product alternatives or variety). Spending less time on all this (for research first, before buying) would brings us back into gambling, i.e. rushed purchase, missed products (needing return, so more time and effort) and consumerism.

Surely a store in a freaking shopping gallery will have higher prices to pay for rent. While yes, you could check out a product in real life (like a jacket, for quality) before buying. But the general idea of shopping galleries is to spread consumerism and making money from emotional, impulsive, irrational buying (driven by human stupidity).

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▶️Videos

There are probably lots of such videos (even now done with freaking AI), I’ll list a few.

Overpriced

First topic is about overpriced products. It is sickening that some things in shops are 3 or 10x more. And there is no limit to it either, water bottles reach 2000x price for what they are worth. While also being extremely polluting and detrimental to Earth and in result whole humanity.

Overpriced Products That Are Really Cheap To Make
Markup, value x is additional price added to cost of making
it is completely avoidable and simply theft)
List of products (and markup):
– 🛌Mattresses (15x price)
-🍿Popcorn (18x)
– Text messages (10000x, probably and old thing from past)
– 🖨️Printer cartridges (3-10x), related: Why Printer Ink Is So Expensive | So Expensive (sick company greed)
– 📚School textbooks
– Electronics: calculators (7x), cables (>6x)
– Clothing:👕 shirt (2x), 👖jeans (7x), 👟shoes (6x), ♥greeting cards (1x),🌹 roses (1x-3x)
– Drinks: 🚰water bottles (2000x), cola (5x-12x)
-📱Apple phones (1.7x-2.5x).

The 6 Most Overpriced Things You Buy Every Week And What to Buy Instead!
🚰Water bottles – use tap water, possibly purifier, and thermos. Never buy water in bottles.
☕Coffee – IMHO never drink coffee seriously, but you must, then do it yourself at home, never buy it outside.
🪒Razor blades – One of biggest scams in history. Buy single blades and universal razor for it once.
Pre washed and pre chopped vegetables, fruit – Just buy vegetables and fruit. Will also be longer fresh.
🔌(Premium HDMI) cables – Cables either work or not. And in local stores are way overpriced. Buy from internet, any brand (check price, user comments, etc.). Have spare cable or charger. Don’t charge fast.
🪥Toothpaste – Fluoride is the only ingredient that matters, all have it. All other functions are just freaking marketing lies. Buy basic/cheap paste with right ingredient, in possibly bigger packages.

Other

💰6 Types Of “Rich” People And How To Identify Their True Financial Situation
A more general video. Only right human type is the quiet accumulator (it’s my type too).
This way of living means: not spending, saving money, being frugal, preferring DIY approach, once bought cloths (years old and still functional), disregard for: consumerism, fashion, luxury, new products, hype, marketing, etc. And yet having a high net worth (most of it invested, bringing profit), knowing investment strategies. All that allows financial freedom and even no working needed over time (for some even by 40). They are modest, have more free time and freedom (I think the most of all).
They value financial security over status.
I’m not even mentioning any other types, as those are rubbish, wasteful and stupid ways of living.

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🗺️Topics

There are few broader topics reaching further than just buying. I’ll briefly describe them here. Buying from buyer’s point of view can be a quick gratification or satisfaction for spending money,

🛍️Consumerism

It’s crystal clear for me that the current world’s commercial addiction (consumerism) is way too high. There are countless shopping malls🛒, centers, etc. They’re getting bigger, more fancy, annoying and addicting, more Earth unfriendly and resource wasting. I mean the garbage produced on Earth is even noticeable from space now, in many places.
In addition anyone may start a business and sell almost anything. There are plenty of garbage items on big auction websites (e.g. aliexpress and similar) and smaller (likely in every country).

🔨Planned obsolescence

Sadly no company makes things that last for long anymore. Most are even specifically made to break just after warranty time (more info here: planned obsolescence). Here a video about Apple, which is notorious for using many such practices, of course done on purpose to maximize profits.
Why? Sadly because “f@ck you all, we need profits” is companies only interest. This goes also on such scale that it effects whole humanity and Earth. Yet it will continue as long it makes profit and enough people support its existence.

🏭Corporations

Companies (corporations) act as psychopaths (movie explaining this) with disregard to humanity, law, resources, workers and Earth, they also (in newer movie): lie, manipulate, falsify, addict, etc. about really anything they do, to maximize their profits.

There are surely few tactics used like: sales, fashion, planned obsolescence, addicting to buying, products to buy on emotions (from colors, smell, variants, art) etc. all meant for profit only.
These not only come from human stupidity (which allowed them to exist) but also drive human stupidity (consumerism and (all other ways of) unnecessary buying).

Since worldwide stores (or even local ones) are corporations, the movie is right here too. They are the psychopaths, not your friends or allies. Thus my view of stores (and sellers) is the same as for any company, they are not here to help me, but to abuse my situation, and to extract as much profit as possible. The situation is not being able to grow food or make all stuff myself and avoiding buying.

Likely also what governments want us to be (and wanted since long) as they profit from this too. Now corporations even dictate laws, bribe politicians and so rule governments and us, to the point of destroying Earth habitat and enslaving humanity.

I wrote more from those 2 documentaries in human stupidity page’s section, continuing topic.

🐝Bees

Well here will be my comparison image (or allegory):
Producers, sellers (and psychopathic corporations running them) want us to be like bees when buying. I.e. tiny, mindless creatures that will flock into stores and buy products with their eyes only. Just like bees🐝 whole day flying onto colorful flowers🌼🌸🌺, because it’s all they know, they can’t see further or don’t know the big picture.

I like this image. It reminds me to use logic, reason and think for every purchase. Not to be like a bee. And 2 C more😄.

There was a video somewhere of that rush of people (like a swarm of bees) overflowing a store on black Friday sale or some other shit. Great example of what consumerism does to people, driven by psychopathic corporations.

⛓️Dependency

I don’t want to already say slavery, but I think the goal is close or same. Centuries ago people in general could do more themselves. Sure some still can, and there are even people living free from money or corporations. But on average I think most people buy daily and don’t even think about it.
My point here is that: when we buy regularly, we forget about doing things ourself (more on my DIY page). Especially if buying was caused by ads or commercials, and not thought out well.
But this approach is of course the goal of companies and producers: to addict (as many as possible) people to buying (and being dependent of) their products (or services). Later it’s a matter of getting more money, either by higher prices, cheaper ingredients/materials, smaller portions, etc.

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🤝Selling

Well selling is basically the opposite of buying. And it is an equally important thing to do.
I could say the more I buy the less I sell, meaning I’m more addicted to buying.
The best way for lasting products, would probably be selling old one or something else first, then buying a new one. But how often that happens?
I think I have some experience. I sold maybe over 30 items, including most of my past toys, few older PC parts, grandfather’s old tools, our old stove, mother’s car, etc.

⚖️Alternatives

There are few (mostly bad) alternatives to selling like:

• 📦Donating (to someone who needs).
  Well a good thing, but clearly while loosing any money (that could be got back if sold).
  Still, sometimes the fastest way, and with respect to others who need it. Also may be the easiest, least time or effort. Especially if there is a dedicated place or a note telling a date when they visit you (or you just put up a yard sale). Then you can pack and just leave your things for others.
  I think this is popular for clothing items (due to fashion and over producing, True Cost).
• 🤝Giving away to someone, like a relative.
  Many times I seen it in family by parents and older people. It was due to lack of ability to sell things. And the easiest thing to do then.
• 🚮Throwing away.
  Another way, rather fast one, to get rid of old/unneeded products, without getting any money back. Clearly the worst, loosing money, parts, disrespecting Earth. Unless it’s e.g. food gone bad thrown into compost. Or left out furniture where others could grab it. Or just things nobody would use, like: broken tools, torn clothes.
• ♻️Recycling.
  Still, if recycling is possible and items have easy to split metal, you could get a bit money from scrap metal. Otherwise if you’re already paying monthly fee for garbage disposal, then it’s okay to sort plastic/metal/glass/paper and throw out small stuff, after all you’re paying for it. It helped me get rid of many hopeless, old things from basement, without the trouble of selling any.
• ❌Breaking or destroying.
  Clearly the stupidest thing to do, yet still seen. Some even on videos. It is definitely a lack of respect for the effort needed to create products, and also a way to disable any reusability of products or their parts. But yeah, on the other hand, nowadays there are just way too many unusable garbage products, only for tricking people to buy.

📝Skills

Selling does need some skills and time to learn. Doing it for longer gives more experience and knowledge for future.

For me it’s clear that anyone could sell almost anything (that somebody else would want). The two most important things when selling something are IMO price and reaching out (i.e. how many people see your offer).

💵Price

This is crucial, so it’s first in list. Surely if you can’t sell something for long, it may be because of too high price (other issue is if offer visibility is too low).
Thus it’s rather a requirement to know a product’s price (real value) that other people sell it for, and what normally people would pay for it.
The only problem is when you can’t find a price, e.g. when you want to sell something unique (can’t find anyone else selling) or original (e.g. self made, not common). So I think it’s best to start with higher price to be safe.

I think worse case happens, if you set price too low.
I once had done this: few people almost instantly wanted to buy stuff, because one (item in set) was underpriced. I sold it so, was less trouble.
Other case: I didn’t know value and set it lower. Then two people at once were interested and I texted both about it and after that one won with higher price. A bit unnecessary, but yeah at least I didn’t loose money for my mistake. I didn’t rush, instead managed a basic auction.

🌏Internet portals, auctions

There are big (worldwide) internet auction websites (e.g. ebay, amazon, alliexpress, and many others) for people (not only companies) where you could sell. Their benefit is that your offer will reach a lot of people, but the problem is paying the website a percentage when you sell.

Possibly somebody could message you before selling and you could avoid paying website and still sell it. Not sure though, since it surely isn’t good for those websites, so they may even forbid it or make it difficult or requiring more effort.

📄Local websites

There are also smaller, local websites, where anyone could put a short message (with pictures) for free. IDK for how long this will last, since any such website would want profit. If not from what they do then from ads, etc.
From my experience, I liked them most, no cost of using and still my offer reaches out many people. If I sell a common thing, then it’s a good choice.
It also allowed sometimes visiting someone before buying and checking the product, learning about it, possibly good experience.

💬Contact

Well maybe apart from online selling auctions where no contact is needed even.
Good contact is important: quick answer, availability, understanding of possible buyers and few various methods of contact with seller available.
Those were the lessons I learned from selling. Perhaps nowadays this isn’t an issue, when almost everyone has a phone with them. I did for some time count only on that contact form with messages, and got less people interested.

Many just wanted a phone number (which is also a bit of a problem for privacy). Some people preferred SMS for package address. And many actually wanted to pay for item on package arrival. Somewhat more expensive package (only post office did it) but allowed anyone far from city to buy easier.

Putting more effort to allow such options for people will surely grant quicker sell or get more interested people, possibly buyers. But requires being available and answering. Obviously not doing that, and just posting on a bigger website (selling portal) with rules is less trouble.

🪟Info

Whenever I posted a used product for sale, I always gave few good pictures (from camera not e.g. old phone), wrote decent length description with possibly a link for more on producer’s page. Usually it’s best to tell any flaws or issues from using, or scratches etc. This way you can skip questions from possible buyers, and any complaints after.

🗓️Time and waiting

Well if you set the price high it’s less likely somebody will buy. But if you wait longer someone still could. It’s just usually more trouble for me to wait e.g. 6 months until holidays to sell a toy or something that would be of more interest to people at that time.
So: if you want to sell quickly and not bother for long, set the price lower than item’s value. If you want to get highest price for item, start from higher price and wait. If after a month (or even more) nobody buys, looks (view count) or asks (contact) then lower the price. It takes long and is a bit tedious to remember but gets you more money.

🤝Barging

Well almost anyone who could ask, did ask if I can lower the price by 10 or 15% (it’s like a rule IDK). Or wanted to get a discount for package cost, or for gas if they traveled to me to pick up item. IMO that’s wrong to do, after all I set the price and if you’re not interested don’t bother. But maybe most people assume that’d be so, and thus likely best to know it and already set price 15% higher to be prepared to drop. Or don’t and try to force people to pay more. It depends, if you know it will sell anyway then I’d say don’t lower price for anyway, as some else would buy instead. But if you’re selling something that’s used, old, rare, cheap etc. and that’s the only one interested in months, then I’d agree, after all it’s my goal to sell and get rid of something.

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🧰Do it yourself (DIY)

This is the full alternative to buying.

Continued on its own page.