Blatent profiteering

manitou916":llm9wvor said:

Lol at some of these comments. I've written a lengthy response but I won't be posting it... unless John and Russell insist

It's been entertaining, but back to more serious matters of my tax return.

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If you've got something valuable to add, then post it.

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My head hurts now - when I've got something to sell would it be better to invite offers?

manitou916":3nodaquy said:

Oh dear, here's a bit more heat for you mrkawasaki

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I'm sure Mr Ks Mac is heating up nicely

Regardless of your beautifully written reply above I still don't agree with your first point regarding ebay.

If somebody posts something in 'ebay watch' I see no harm in them mentioning the fact they are bidding on it. At the end of the day it's up to the other forum member if they bid against them or not. What would you suggest ? Shut down 'ebay watch' and thus deprive the e-bay member of the increased interest in their auction ? Or ban people calling 'dibs' ? I'd be interested to know the number of potential 'fair bidding wars' averted by 'e-bay watch' vs. the increased price (or even just a sale) an e-bay member may have recieved due to the exposure on this site.....


As for the second point that is trickier because as you yourself mention things are very subjective and 'variable'. It seems to me trying make a huge percentage profit on kit using the classifieds here is a pretty uncool thing to do but it's up to them if they post and up to others if they chose to buy or not.

with 700 members it i obvious that some people are only here to sell and make money .

Is it bad ?

well, we get the opportunity to buy some more stuff .

and if you think it is too expensive , DONT BUY IT . Nobody is forcing you .

Manitou 916.

I actually said...

Simple economics dictates that with so many millions of users on e-bay, the selling value must be close to the products actual market value. Sure there is a few quid difference here and there according to the 'who has the biggest wallet' factor, but most of the time, e-bay is pretty fair.

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So no, I wouldn't disagree. If you're going to quote me to substantiate your arguement, please do me the honour of quoting me correctly.

You have still given me no reason why the e-bay purchase price isn't the market value? There were 7 people who definately wanted the item and bid for it. There were probably 50 watchers who were interested enough to want to keep track of it and probably over 200 who were sufficiently interested and viewed the item. After all that attention, the item sold for £26. Tell me how after all that, that £26 is not the market value of that particular piece of kit. Whilst you're thinking about that, also take into account that the same brand and model of kit was advertised on this forum just two months ago for £35.

It's a nice thought that our £83 friend would resell for £31 but how realistic is that? I don't know him from Adam, but if he was in a tight financial situation and was just using his retro knowledge to help generate a bit of extra income then I would hope some people on here would be more supportive than to broadcast that he's ripping people off.

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Who on earth is suggesting that he sell for £31? If he went for a 50% profit he would be doing well and still be flogging it for £40, far more reasonable. If he was using his retro knowledge, he'd have looked through the forum archives and seen that the last lot that sold went for £35 (as above). I support peoples right to fair trade, not somebodies right to make a fast buck, I appreciate that you're not that type of guy.

Russell, Yes, there are millions of eBay members... are they ALL bidding on retro gear? And there was me thinking I saw the same names crop up time and time again, silly me

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Anyone around the world thats looking for retro gear will probably look to e-bay first. I refer you to my earlier quote regarding market value.

Thats my last post on this thread.

Well it looks like Ive sold my black Trimble. And yes I have made a profit on it.

However the chap wants it as much as I wanted it. Now I have another I think its:

1) a good idea to shun one bike down
2) Dont need 2 Trimbles fully built do I
3) Could do with the money
4) It was a good offer and I took it

Wheres the harm in that. None. Potentially 2 people happy. Great.

Tell you what - as soon as someone manages to quit their job to do this "trading" full time I would be mightily impressed...

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i did say, at the start of this thread, that i had a good idea where it was going

Moving this off-topic. The bun fight can continue there....