Bounties. Are they worth it and what's reasonable?
I just had someone ask me if I'd give a bounty to them for a rare cart I'm looking for, supposedly in Mint condition. Said member has had quite a few, postive transactions, so I assume this behavior is common.
I actually don't mind offering rewards to fellow traders that help me find those hard to find items that are in good condition. However, I'm not sure what's considered usual and good practice. So, if someone want's a bounty, what's a fair offer? Is it typically in the form of a little cash, or do you guys usually just send a long a game or peripherial that someone may want?
Is the value of bounty usually the same amount ($10.. $20????) or is it variable with the rareness of the item?
Some guidance would be apperciated.
I actually don't mind offering rewards to fellow traders that help me find those hard to find items that are in good condition. However, I'm not sure what's considered usual and good practice. So, if someone want's a bounty, what's a fair offer? Is it typically in the form of a little cash, or do you guys usually just send a long a game or peripherial that someone may want?
Is the value of bounty usually the same amount ($10.. $20????) or is it variable with the rareness of the item?
Some guidance would be apperciated.
Comments
What you're describing is a finders fee of sorts.
Bounty in the sense of mentioning the maximum you are willing to pay? Perhaps 50/50 on rare stuff. Price is a matter of how long you are willing to wait. People who want it faster may set a bounty above market value for a seller to come to them. People who are more patient usually don't set bounties and just wait for items to appear on their own.
Agreed. However, I'd rather not send out a monetary amount for such a service and over-price what's expected. Also, if this is unusual behavior, I might be a little suspicious. I'm really trying to find out some general information regarding community expectations and ettiquite.
If you are looking for something that has frequent sales history you can always just take the average for that and go from there or simply throw out what you are willing to pay for an item. For items that are seldomly seen for sale though you may have to consider what you feel is fair and go with that, which may end up being higher then previous sales in the sake of truly one of a kind items
Well, I may be willing to pay $1000 to the seller, but what about the middle man? Personally, if the cart was super rare, and you only see one on market ever 4-6 months, regardless of condition, I would want to pay a fee. However, I doubt I'd want to spend $100 in this context. I mean, it's a good service but all that guy is doing is starting a conversation. I'd pay him $20. It's a small percent compared to my final purchase but, at the end of the day, all he's done is sent a couple of emails. I dunno, maybe I'm to "cheap" and should forget about finder fees/bounties all together.
Posting a finders fee yourself that someone takes you up on is normal, and I definitely believe it can help. I would slightly scale the reward with the item, but keep it what you're comfortable with giving up simply for a connection. Sometimes I wouldn't offer more than $5, but if I really wanted a high value item, I might offer $50 or so.
Let the seller pay this guys finders fee. If this guy is helping his friend make a sale and putting money in his pocket he is doing his friend a service just as much as he is to you the buyer.
It would be an easy scam to say you're the middle man brokering the deal and just get a finder's fee on top of the price for the item
Partially true. I'd have to factor in the "finders fee" in as part of the cost. If the combination of the two is more than I'm willing to pay, both parties lose out. At the end of the day, the one that would really lose is the seller.
Still, I see your point. Someone could scrape an additional 1-2% profit just by sockpuppeting as a third party.
just find the item. pay what you want. Ive never heard of anyone asking for a finders fee. If they for some reason ask for one just dont buy it because that is beyond strange.
Can you give us an example of what you would be looking for?
I think you are inventing a dilemma that doesn't really exist. Who does this on a normal forum transaction?
just find the item. pay what you want. Ive never heard of anyone asking for a finders fee. If they for some reason ask for one just dont buy it because that is beyond strange.
My thoughts exactly. I guarantee this person was just asking for the price you are looking to pay for the item, and not for a finders fee.
Finders fees are for near one of a kinds, or R10's, not for uncommon loose Game Boy games.
Bounties are very common. People will say something like: "WTB Super Mario World: $12," which lets people know that the person is willing to pay $12 for a Super Mario World cart. Because it's common, having a lower than pricecharting bounty isn't too bad. If you want something rare, it's better to be above normal value. That will entice people to contact you. For example: "WTB Aero Fighters: $400" is not likely to get many (if any) hits, while "WTB Aero Fighters: $600" will definitely cause some people to look.
If a guy is asking for a bounty, he probably just wants to know how much you're willing to pay.
There was a guy on here with a bounty for Stadium Events at several grand less then the "going rate" for it and as far as I'm aware (being a longtime lurker before a member here) he never got the cart and gave up on ever getting it citing the "price being prohibitive". If that same guy had offered around the going rate or slightly above, he would've gotten himself a copy I'm sure. Money talks, after all.
Honestly when it comes to a collectors driven site like this, your best bet is to peruse the WTS board and just look through for stuff you want, and then try to iron out a deal with whatever person is selling the items you're after, (rather then hoping someone is magically going to sell you something out of the blue when they could just put it up on Ebay and get more eyes on their product). Or you too could just go to Ebay and not have to deal with any of the "bounty" stuff altogether. **shrug**
It's one of those things, if I wanted Faxanadu and offered $25 for a cart, I'd post that as a bounty. If gutsman004 found it at a yard sale for $1, and wanted to sell it quickly, he'd see my bounty and shoot me a message. I don't care that he's made $24 on the cart because I wanted it and was willing to pay that.