Blatent profiteering

rody":3psbsdiv said:

Crap!

Seems I've got it backwards.

I've given away more on this forum than I've sold...time to rethink the whole "do unto thy neighbor" thingy

rody

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I guess so... I won something on eBay that someone else on here wanted more than I did - should I have refused to sell it on, or made a nice li'l profit (he offered)? Ah well, what goes around...

I've not got anything against someone making money - If I get a bike cheap & break it, I'm not going to sell the bits ridiculously cheap in order to not make a profit, but I would sell em for reasonable (less than eBay) prices. Maybe I'm too nice for my own good... & I'm not having a go at the person who 'caused' this discussion - I just wouldn't do it myself...

I've sold parts to people at what I've thought have been honest prices only to see them back on here a month or so later at twice the price.

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That is terrible...

This is a problem that seems to haunt most forums.

On a different (non bike) forum I bought a couple of things for someone using my 40% discount, out of the kindness of my heart.
He then put them on eBay 2 weeks later...

There's nothing wrong with asking a particular price for something - you're not forcing anyone to buy it.
It's when people abuse other peoples' kindness that pisses me off.

man a can not remember the countless parts i have given away on stw and iv,e done it on the bay at times when persons have asked.by any chance have you this part

all the more reason to just photograph your suplus parts and post them in the "retrobike swap shop" along with a list of your wants and then take a leisurely browse through the other swap sections.
and see what happens, zero hassle.

Difficult one this.

On the one hand a 267% markup seems a little unreasonable.
On the other hand I see nothing wrong with a bit of wheeling and dealing.

Think there's a happy medium somewhere inbetween. If you see someone trying to make a massive profit I'd suggest the thread get ignored. Let it slide without comment. If people do it consistenly it will become known and people won't buy from them.

Russell":2jtpz6fh said:

I've seen someone here buy something off e-bay for £31 and then advertise it here a week later at £83!! I know I'm probably being idealistic and at the end of the day we're a market economy but come on!!! If it only made £30 on e-bay with an audience of millions, is a £50 price hike realistic within a week???

I know its a problem endemic of the sites success, but as buyers and sellers of this stuff, we need to keep this in check

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Hmmm.

Look, theres no problem with buying a complete bike for peanuts and selling the parts for more than the bike cost you. You're spending you're time, using your tools etc to split the bike up, clean it and make multiple trips to the post office etc, I don't have a problem with that.

But as someone has said...

we are all friends aren't we?

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Yeah, we are, in a funny 'not met most of you' way. Would you go to a pub and buy a pint for a friend for £2.80, and then tell him that you want £7.40 for it?

I'm not trying to stir up ill-feeling, I'm just taking a shot across the bows of those here that try to piggyback the success of this forum for their own financial gain rather than a love of the sport/bikes etc, after all "...this forum is a group of retro bike enthusiasts and freinds who buy, sell and trade at prices they think fair", well it should be anyway

I make no apologies for starting a thread about something I'm passionate about or for speaking out instead of letting it slide without comment. There are some users here who would take the asking price at face value and not expect to be ripped off here and if I've helped them in raising this issue, then I'm a happy rider!

(it wasn't a saddle)

For what it is worth from my perspective, the issue is less about making a profit than the scale of the profit.

I have sold items and seen them recycled almost instantly at a much higher price (not on here) which does peeve me but what can I do apart from not sell to that person again? Does leave a bit of a bad taste in the mouth though.

My experience of buying, selling and swapping on here has been overwhelmingly positive. And in line with what others have mentioned above, if I don't like or can't afford an item I just don't go ahead.

I guess trust and good faith are required and there are certainly a number of people on here whose word I take as read - if they say it is in good condition it is, if there is a bit of a nick or scratch they describe as such.

Is it possible to address this at least partly via the Feedback Forum?

[removed]

None .

I wear a retrobike t shirt and pray in front of my PC surrended by bikes .

sorry