Thursday, December 28, 2006

A $3,800 barbeque grill?

As I said, I've been watching the show everyday and taking notes on prices, bidding strategies, pricing game rules, etc. Generally speaking, I'm good at figuring out the cost of the smaller, grocery-type items. But the big-ticket items are throwing me a little. To wit:

- A Meade telescope that costs $2,100. At one point a few years ago I priced telescopes that looked just like it, and they were nowhere near $2,100. Maybe there's some sort of gold nuggets hidden inside of it.

- A silver-plated punch bowl with 12 cups - $1,575. Really? I know it's silver-plated and all, but $1,575? I would have said 700 bucks, max.

- A $1,000 espresso maker. What?!?!? A thousand dollars for a glorified coffee maker? (I forgot to mention that bid included a supply of Hot Pockets pizza snacks, but I doubt those accounted for much of the $1,000 price tag).

On the bright side, I'm getting better at pricing cars. And so far I've seen only three or four different cars that they're giving away with any regularity: Ford Mustangs, Ford Focuses, and Dodge Chargers. Throw in the occasional Lincoln or SUV, but those are the cars you see most often.

Anyway, the point is, I've still got prep work to do before I get out there. If I somehow manage to get picked as a contestant, rest assured that I'm going to kick butt...

2 comments:

  1. One thing I've heard about the pricing on TPIR is that you have to add approximately 10% to what you would normally pay, to account for A) being in California and B) that fact that they generally use the MSRP and not what you would pay in the stores. Not sure how much truth there is to that, but maybe one of your websites will have a little more background on that.

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  2. Your humble roots are showing....

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