Do your homework when using eBay

Lynn Larsen

Lynn Larsen
It has been my experience that items selling on eBay very often sell for MORE than the retail price of the item. I am sure we could come up with a whole host of reasons why this happens, but thousands of books have been written on psychology, sociology and social psychology.

Here is a great example. I was following a VHS tape on eBay entitled "Ford Legends." It covers GT40s, Cobras and Shelby Mustangs; cool, right? Well, once it went over $10, I was no longer interested. When I went on eBay this morning, the auction had ended and the video had sold for $36.

I then went to Goggle and typed in Video VHS "Ford Legends."
A list of URLs popped up with Amazon.com at the top. I went there and purchased "Ford Legends" for $4.88.

Caveat Emptor!! Do your homework and KNOW what the value of the item really is before you start bidding. Otherwise, you could end up making a huge mistake and pay way too much. Oh yeah, and always check the shipping costs: a lot of sellars make their profit in shipping charges.

Lynn
 
Lynn,

I'll go along with that. Last year I sold a set of soft luggage to fit a Honda ST1100 after I sold the bike.
I only paid £36 direct from a Honda dealer a month or so before, yet the auction went to nearly £60 + £8 p&p !
These were not rare or discontinued (they're still available from Honda now) yet it seems people must presume it's a bargain.
I say bring back the old days when you could go and talk a price DOWN !
Simon
(gotta get me some more of those bags though....)
 
Absolutely!
I've been looking for an MSD Digital 6. $275 from Summit.
2nd hand ones on ebay go for about 230-250 plus post. Why? I don't understand why you would want a secondhand one for only 10-15% off. There is even a 'Buy it Now' currently for $300. Incredible!
 

Lynn Larsen

Lynn Larsen
I watch 3 mustang/ford forums that seem to have a little more "sane" pricing on the stuff. You have to be careful because there are a lot of shade tree mechanics on these forums who's idea of "good shape" is a far cry from mine. They also have no clue about what the term blue printing is either and if it says it is for a SBF they slap it together and hope. So if you get heads or anything that needs a flat, non-warped surface, I would highly recommend taking them to a reputable machine shop and have them given the once over and assume nothing.

The forums I watch are:

StangNet
NMRA Classifieds
Corral.Net Classifieds

Lynn
 
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