CPAP Auction Question

[LSAT]

I've often wondered where these sellers get the masks the sell at severely discounted prices. Often they are new, in original packaging, and selling for a fraction of the priced offered at cpap.com.

[jules]

I have wondered too - how many "fell off the truck"?

[Wulfman]

I've read that they MAY be "bonus" items they got (free) from the manufacturers.
They also could be slow-movers or surplus.
But, yeah, I've wondered that, too. It's always seemed a little suspicious to me.


Den

[JeffH]

The one I have up for sale I paid $99 @ cpap.com for and am selling it at a loss in that it didn't work for me.


JeffH

[LSAT]

The one I have up for sale I paid $99 @ cpap.com for and am selling it at a loss in that it didn't work for me.

JeffH

BUT...That's used equipment...not brand new in original package

[Janknitz]

There are people on there who have good ratings from HUNDREDS of sales. These are not people selling their extra mask or something that did not work out for them.

I appreciate that it might be possible to obtain gear without paying the full retail price on the auction site (though the minimum bid prices have been pretty high on some of the things lately), but I am left wondering if the sellers are DME employees selling samples or stock so that the prices are driven up for the retail market. Is this the "dirty little secret"?

I hope curiosity doesn't kill this cat (still hoping to score an affordable FX), but this has been a question I've had for some time as well.

[Uncle_Bob]

I have received a couple of perfectly new masks with something along the lines of

For medical office use only.

So they were clearly not the ones intended to be sold for patients use at home.

In total I've purchased about 8 new masks from the cpap auction web site all at prices around 50-70% less than cpap.com so no complaints here

[carbonman]

What about the steady supply of new S9s?
As soon as one sells, another one appears.

I did get an S8 Autoset and Elite II that were brand new.
They came in sealed Resmed boxes that had stickers on them
that said they were "RMA replacment units".

[DreamOn]

I did get an S8 Autoset and Elite II that were brand new.
They came in sealed Resmed boxes that had stickers on them
that said they were "RMA replacment units".

"RMA", as in "Return Material Authorizaton" perhaps? That's interesting.

[dsm]

I knew of one guy in NY who supplied medical equipment to a small hospital they he lost the contract. He had quite a few cpaps some new some with just a few hours on. Sold them all via the Internet (was prior to cpap auction being set up). He also had SpO2 units. They varied from the top of the line bilevels of the day down to PB42x units.

Also, a few mask I have bought were clearly 'not for resale'

Seems US is a very big market.

DSM

[carbonman]

"RMA", as in "Return Material Authorizaton" perhaps? That's interesting.

Exactly.

I'm guessing that these were warranty replacment machines,
that for some reason are not sold to patients.

....more of the winky-winky of our medical industry.

[magicland]

I've noticed that some people seem to be buying a lot more equipment than they can possibly use. Apparently they seem to bid on almost everything (both new and used), and those that don't exceed a certain price threshold (I'm assuming some percentage of what they think they can resell it for) without any other bidders they get. I assume they then attempt to resell those for a profit.

Of course, this drives up prices for those who really need the equipment, but it's within the rules in a free market economy. I do know it annoyed the heck out of me when I was attempting to get a unit I needed because my insurance won't cover it, only to be bidding against someone who'd bought several units already that month.

In the case of masks (new), I assume some are sold by folks whose insurance covers more than they actually need. Doesn't explain all the new machines that turn up, however.

[PetrusKy]

On the other hand, I also wonder about people selling masks for $170, who are they selling them to?