Pipe prices/value?

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kaitlyn3837

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Since I sell my pipes in the show that I work in, I have to give the owner a percentage each pipe. I feel like I am priced a little high because of that, which I am fine with and people understand. My friends, regulars, people that I know, I cut a deal with them for cash (and my boss knows and is fine with it), that way they get a better price.

My issue comes when I am trying to find a price/value for my refurbs. I use Ebay a lot to look at past sales BUT I am pretty helpless when nothing shows up in the search history (or current items). It's good because it means it is a little harder to find that specific pipe, but it's bad because then I have no idea what to set the price at. I don't want to gouge anyone and most of my friends aren't as deep as I am in the pipe world, so they have no clue what a good price would be either.

I also don't want to cheapen my products by selling then low. Suggestions for finding a good price/value? I truly just want to be a fair and honest because I put good effort into my refurbs. Of course, the time and effort comes into play but I think finding what a pipe is valued/priced is a good start.

Any direction or help is appreciated.

P.S. I'm about to post my first pipe in the trade/sell section!

 
Having worked in manufacturing for many years, the norm is to take labour +materials + % overhead + cost then you add Profit % = selling cost. Your time is WORTH money and many folks underprice themselves, but skill is WORTH something! :twisted: :twisted:
 
I'd put a little higher price, I just made some sort of a research, and it turns out that pipes made by women are more expensive than usual. Also they tend to be far more superior in terms of aesthetics and appeal. There is some elegance and harmony in the pipe made by a woman.

Just sayin.
 
Thank you guys! I will keep all of that in mind when selling my refurbs! I just like to be fair but it does take quality time to restore a pipe.

Maybe I will even get into making my own pipes someday!
 
kaitlyn3837":x18klw1i said:
Thank you guys! I will keep all of that in mind when selling my refurbs! I just like to be fair but it does take quality time to restore a pipe.

Maybe I will even get into making my own pipes someday!
It really depends on the pipes your selling. Lower grade pipes such as Grabow's and such you'll never get your labor and or materials out of. Higher grades like Radice, Mastro's, etc. you may make a decent profit depending on condition. What brand pipes are you wishing to sell? PM me with a list and I'll try and help you with value.
 
There's a large variety! It just depends on what I am working on week by week. Lot's of Grabow's, Kaywoodie, Savinelli, Peterson, Linkman's, I have even had stuff like House of Robertson. Large variety and I was just wondering if there was an index. Like baseball cards have the Baseball Beckett magazine. Is there a pipe equivalent?
 
kaitlyn3837":mx7czexr said:
There's a large variety! It just depends on what I am working on week by week. Lot's of Grabow's, Kaywoodie, Savinelli, Peterson, Linkman's, I have even had stuff like House of Robertson. Large variety and I was just wondering if there was an index. Like baseball cards have the Baseball Beckett magazine. Is there a pipe equivalent?
many of the pipe refurbishers many folks here use , such as Walker's and Norwood, have pricing for the various services they perform on pipes and you might want to go to their sites and take a look at what they charge and the range of pricing they exhibit.
 
kaitlyn3837":fybdqrw2 said:
There's a large variety! It just depends on what I am working on week by week. Lot's of Grabow's, Kaywoodie, Savinelli, Peterson, Linkman's, I have even had stuff like House of Robertson. Large variety and I was just wondering if there was an index. Like baseball cards have the Baseball Beckett magazine. Is there a pipe equivalent?
There's just way too many manufactures to be able to compile such a document.
Ya just have to go by and average value of recent auction sales. Heck there's over 20,000 pipe auctions listed every day on eBay alone, would you like to catalog those? :fpalm:
Research, research, research and more research.
 
Good! That's what I have been doing, so I was just making sure that I wasn't doing it the hard way! I figured that was the way to go but I wanted to check and see if there was a database for it. Thanks for the input!
 
I have notice from studying ebay pipe sales as well as my own ebay sales experiences that you are better off offering them with no reserve or buy it now price. It seems pipes with reserve price never even get bids, buy it now rarely get bought. I may be wrong, but this is what I've found.
 
I have noticed the same thing. There have been some success in the ones that have a bid AND a but it now. But you can't start the bid too high or your just killing the process.
 
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