Over valuing of second hand bikes ?

cooldad

Chunkers1980 wrote:

They can be. They know and are trying to hoodwink.

Hoodwink? Rubbish, the buyer should do some homework - if they are happy to pay a price where's the hoodwink?

mrmonkfinger

The marvellous thing about overvalued second hand items is the freedom you have to not purchase them.

Equally if you spot a thing you think is undervalued, you can snap it up. And then proceed to overvalue it when selling it on.

Go capitalism!

njee20

In this situation the seller is not the chump, he can ask what he likes. It's up to the buyer to do the research & discover that he can get it brand new for the same price. If he doesn't do the research then he is a chump.

+1, I do this frankly! If I'm selling something and Merlin happen to have a sale on that particular item I'm not revising it. If it doesn't sell hey ho, if someone doesn't bother to do the research and assumes it's a bargain then more fool them and lucky me.

I tend to know what I want to get for something, and I'm not too interested in budging massively. Maybe the odd £50, but I really hate people, like the OP frankly, who act like they're doing you a favour by offering you less. If something takes a while to sell so be it, I've never failed to sell a bike for a price I'm happy with.

FWIW I sold my last bike (used) for £2800, having been told by someone he was "prepared to give me" £1500.

The Rookie

There are buyers and there are sellers, both are entitled to an opinion, if they meet, then fine, if not, both can go elsewhere, eBay valuing is poor as there are too many variables unrelated to the actual bike. I still get bargains so I'm happy!

EH_Rob

Depends totally on circumstances. If they need to sell it quick they'll accept a lower offer. If they don't, they won't.

milko9000

The ones that do my head in are the guys trying to persuade you to end the auction early. I had a really persistent one who wanted my netbook for a not particularly good (for me) price, busting to get it before he went away on holiday. When I deliberately didn't respond til after his 'flight' it turned out he was still on email and could send his brother to pick it up so it's still all good. Amazing! By then the auction had gone way past his offer anyway, the cheeky git. Every auction I ever do seems to have a few like this, with cash now end now gotta hurry messages.

njee20

I tend to end early if I get offered, to avoid eBay's exorbitant fees. I usually tend to ask as well, but certainly wouldn't take umbrage if someone didn't want to, and wouldn't push it.

milko9000

Everyone who's asked me seems to be doing it because they think they'll get it cheaper that way. I suppose some (the ones who say "how much to end it early") might be doing it the way you are, but whenever I've given a price on that they've gone away rather quickly despite the auctions always heading up to that kind of total.

allthegearnoidea

ebay for years has been the place for selling things for Significantly more than they are worth, its all down to 'ebay fever', its on ebay. it must be cheap,
not just bike parts as has been said, buyers downt seem to care if they are paying more for the items than if they spent 2 minutes on google looking!!
when i was first off with my illness, i could never sleep at the usual times so would nose around and see whats what, i picked up a carbon mtb frame for £42! and a set of carbon cranks for £43!! both lots ended at 2am, - beats me why you'd list it at that time, as you know no ones going to be watching it,
ive often sold things for more than paid by timing it for half 10 on a saturday morning, many old RC car parts, old cr parts, phones etc. everyone sais its a buyers market and it certainly is, just seems some buyers arnt overly switched on to what things actually cost!!

there are a few peeps about that trawl the classifieds for bargains and then list them on ebay knowing there likely to make a few extra quid!! mind you, as njee said, if you can avoid ebays frankly Rediculous fees then all the better!!!!

chez_m356

allthegearnoidea wrote:

i could never sleep at the usual times so would nose around and see whats what, i picked up a carbon mtb frame for £42! and a set of carbon cranks for £43!! both lots ended at 2am, - beats me why you'd list it at that time, as you know no ones going to be watching it

is that going to be your new name then ? ''mr no'one''

njee20

I always set auctions to end on Sunday night, not sure Saturday morning is a particularly good time. Plenty of people use sniping software these days (although it doesn't seem as prolific as it was) so it's often irrelevant anyway.

ThatBikeGuy

I remember buying some gear from a bloke off ebay. He opened a "dispute" against me after i had paid and he had sent the item because i hadn't paid HIS seller fees!

The Rookie

ThatBikeGuy wrote:

I remember buying some gear from a bloke off ebay. He opened a "dispute" against me after i had paid and he had sent the item because i hadn't paid HIS seller fees!

One born every minute!

shigllgetcha

allthegearnoidea wrote:

both lots ended at 2am, - beats me why you'd list it at that time, as you know no ones going to be watching it,

This is always a good one, they probably put the listing up at 2am and hit end in 7 days

I got a real bargain on a camera i wanted becauset the auction ended 10 AM monday morning

stuisnew

ThatBikeGuy wrote:

I remember buying some gear from a bloke off ebay. He opened a "dispute" against me after i had paid and he had sent the item because i hadn't paid HIS seller fees!

Funniest thing I have read in ages!!

Northwind

Thing is though, stuff does sell for more than it's worth. I sold a used guitar amp for more than you could buy them new, frinstance. Put up a gig ticket with a buy it now of £20, someone put in a bid over that, someone else did as well so the final price was £35. So it's not daft to try and sell for more than something's worth, only to refuse the best offer you're likely to get on the hope of having an eejit come along.

Took me a long time to sell my Ellsworth but I got what I wanted for it- rather than just caving in and selling it for 2/3ds that to some feller who didn't think it was worth what I thought.

njee20

Took me a long time to sell my Ellsworth but I got what I wanted for it- rather than just caving in and selling it for 2/3ds that to some feller who didn't think it was worth what I thought.

This is always my tactic, I'm never in a tearing rush to sell, and if I'm selling a £5000+ bike I know the market is small and it may take a while to get the right person.

Be flexible too, with the Euro exchange rate bad (for us) they can get a bargain, I've sold 2 bikes to guys in mainland Europe. Shipping is c£120, but as long as you make that clear I've never had a problem.

Gamblor

When selling on ebay I'll usually take an average of what a similar item in similar condition would sell for and set my price based on that. Otherwise I'll just put the starting price at what I'm happy to accept for it, and if it goes over that price then its a bonus, if it doesn't sell then its fine, I wouldn't have wanted to sell for below that.

Funnily enough though, I bucked this trend once and sold a few books with 99p starting and free postage. They sold for about £1-£2 each but after posting each one separately I ended up making a loss! Never again.

njee20

Conversely I once had a clear out of stuff that I really didn't want, but I didn't think would fetch much, so stuck it all on with 99p start prices and got some mental offers - £80 for a Gore Tex jacket that was at least 10 years old and looking fairly tatty, £25 for a heavy Spesh saddle off an entry level Allez etc.

I think people do get caught up in the bidding wars when things start low. I know I do, if I'm looking for an item and it's £50 (for example) I'll often ignore it, find one that's £5, then end up putting in a max bid over £50 in the end.

querhoch

the main problem causers are either middle aged men who bought a 3k bike a couple of years ago and want thier money back, or kids who just dont know any better.ive seen a few old bikes recently with the tag 'vintage' or 'rare' when they should really have been described as 'crappy designs that didnt sell'

Its nice that your super monster Ts were 'brilliant back in the day' but that doesnt mean theyre worth £500 now. Same goes for your ugly overbuilt DH frame. i recently had a seller on ebay tell me his bike was worth around £300 more than I valued it at because he had counted all the money had had spent on it, including the mechanic fees.

so, £120 for a new back wheel, plus £60 to have it built and fitted = £180 of wheel. I told him he was never going to sell it for the asking price and he got quite angry. he had been riding for years blah blah and knew more than I ever would etc.the bike had Hope bits on it and was made in the USA so that made it special. on that note, a Hope seatclamp isnt an 'upgrade'. it wont hold the seatpost any tighter, it just looks nice.

So yeah, if its overpriced or has a silly starting bid just ignore it. most people will. Ive stopped selling on ebay, partly due to thier fees and tax avoidance, but mainly because Im fed up with scammers and offers to end the sale early for around half of what the bike is worth. if i was that desperate for cash I would go to crack generator.

njee20

on that note, a Hope seatclamp isnt an 'upgrade'. it wont hold the seatpost any tighter, it just looks nice.

Why not? Where do you draw the line? A Thomson seatpost doesn't hold the saddle any better. But I'd consider it an upgrade on a £20 seatpost.

querhoch

but why would you consider it an upgrade? it does the same job as the last one you had. unless its significantly stronger or lighter, if youre a weight weenie, then I wouldnt consider it an upgrade at all. only label whores get excited when they see a bike specced with Hope, Thompson, Spank etc without checking to see if what theyre paying for is the name.

Northwind

Hope QRs work better than most.

rrsodl

milko9000 wrote:

The ones that do my head in are the guys trying to persuade you to end the auction early. I had a really persistent one who wanted my netbook for a not particularly good (for me) price, busting to get it before he went away on holiday. When I deliberately didn't respond til after his 'flight' it turned out he was still on email and could send his brother to pick it up so it's still all good. Amazing! By then the auction had gone way past his offer anyway, the cheeky git. Every auction I ever do seems to have a few like this, with cash now end now gotta hurry messages.

The other day I offered this guy to buy his saddle outside ebay but he said he would let the auction run till the end, however, he pointed out he had an identical saddle which he would auction too. Well I was prepared to pay £160 for the saddle I think the saddle went for £165. After paying ebay and Paypal fees he was worse off than taking my money. I offered £140 for the second saddle and he took the money. I ended up quite happy and I guess he did too.

Ebay fees are scandalously high, I'm sure they used to be about 3% for the first part then another % the last time I sold something, a few years ago.

MountainMonster

RRSODL wrote:

milko9000 wrote:

The ones that do my head in are the guys trying to persuade you to end the auction early. I had a really persistent one who wanted my netbook for a not particularly good (for me) price, busting to get it before he went away on holiday. When I deliberately didn't respond til after his 'flight' it turned out he was still on email and could send his brother to pick it up so it's still all good. Amazing! By then the auction had gone way past his offer anyway, the cheeky git. Every auction I ever do seems to have a few like this, with cash now end now gotta hurry messages.

The other day I offered this guy to buy his saddle outside ebay but he said he would let the auction run till the end, however, he pointed out he had an identical saddle which he would auction too. Well I was prepared to pay £160 for the saddle I think the saddle went for £165. After paying ebay and Paypal fees he was worse off than taking my money. I offered £140 for the second saddle and he took the money. I ended up quite happy and I guess he did too.

Ebay fees are scandalously high, I'm sure they used to be about 3% for the first part then another % the last time I sold something, a few years ago.

This is exactly why I wait for either free listings to come up, or just don't bother at all.

querhoch

Northwind wrote:

Hope QRs work better than most.

better how? I have never had a QR clamp fail on me. ever.no matter who made it.

bennett_346

My Hope QR clamps really smoothly and tightly for minimal hand effort whereas my stock one needed a breaker bar to lever it shut and still didnt hold the post.

MountainMonster

Hope products look great, work well, and are not obscenely expensive. I could it as an upgrade as well.

The people who say aesthetic things are not upgrades needs to re-evaluate their life. Aesthetic plays as much of a part as any.

sloppycowpat

most people 'HOPE' they can get as much as possible for stuff they don't want any more or often haven't used it much so think it is worth nearly new price, and people will pay for it. Simples!

Northwind

querhoch wrote:

better how? I have never had a QR clamp fail on me. ever.no matter who made it.

...and as long as a part doesn't fail, it's equal to all other parts? I've got a 20-year-old mountain bike frame I can sell you, it's never failed either so must be as good as an S-works Demo.