Topic: what ticks me off about some sellers on ebay

[hondachopproject]

 
You know it really ticks me off (not what I would like to say) when sellers on ebay take a perfectly good bike and strip it down to every nut bolt, and washer and try to sell ever single piece of it to turn a nickle. But they want 40 bucks for a $10 part.

It wouldn't bother me if they were a seller that shared our love of these machines and was just clearing collected stock or just trying to get rid of extra stuff to help someone out.

Hell I wouldn't even mind if someone wanted to just make a little profit off extra or uneeded parts that they had acquired.

What ticks me off is sellars with names like bikebasher, destroys-bikes-for-a-buck or seller-who-destroys-perfectly-good-bikes-because-I-don't-have-the-balls-to-build-it-or-ride-them....I hope these are not actual ebay names, BUT, if they are I am not sure if I could buy parts from someone with a name like that.
Sorry, for the rant, had No beer tonight,
Lee

[oldbiker]

No beer, so you can see things straight for once!

[anubiscycle]

I sell on eBay as many people know. I have buddy who runs a walk in repair shop. Put a set of gauges for just about anything in his hands and the starting price is $50 and goes up from there. I put it on eBay and the price starts at $9.99. I figure people will bid just wht they think it is worth. Locally if you go through Scabber's I mean Suters, the same gauge set will cost your $75 plus.

Some guys have this idea that parts are gold. They see a clean rear fender for a CB 500 with minimal underside rust and say that should be worth quite a bit, I chime in...."Yea, about $10-15" Naturally I am met with a nay sayer attitutde.

I get the same when I keep hearing this #$%* about a "buck a cc". Totally untrue, and I hate buying from or selling to guys with this idea. It was concocted over a night of heavy drinking. Anyone want to sell me thier 400F for $400 bucks? Like anyone in thier right mine would pay $900 for a POS CB 900 that is worth about $150. 

[6pkrunner]

The worst part for me is that some of the bikes they are parting are superb examples. One guy parted a K1 that was a real beaut. That's the part that gets to me.

[hondachopproject]

The worst part for me is that some of the bikes they are parting are superb examples. One guy parted a K1 that was a real beaut. That's the part that gets to me.

my point exactly

[CBGBs]

OOOH!  I recently won a CB350f front wheel complete form some auto dealer on eBay. He didn't seem to know much about it cause what I got was worth alot more than what I paid.


I got a nice wheel, most spokes clean, tach drive, nice performance tire, and the piece de resistance.... An excellent drilled rotor which will fit either my 400 or my 350G. Halleluyah!

I don't care whose sellin what for what price. There are many overpriced things posted on eBay, but they dont' sell and they get reduced and reposted.

Ebay is the epitome of a free maket system in motion and I love it. ....Except when they charge you over $60 to post a bike which is worth less than a grand.

[Uncle Ernie]

bidnez is bidnez... When I was looking for a 400 rear fender, they kept getting bid up over $80. Consistantly. It's not the sellers fault if that's what people are willing to pay.  Plus, most bikes are just worth more by the piece. 

[nickjtc]

As has been said many times before, you just have to be careful.

Case in point, I found a pair of NOS airfilters for the CB175 (I thought that they were rarer than rocking horse manure, but obviously not) and bid up to what I thought was a fair price. I lost the auction by 50 cents (isn't that always the way) but then got a second chance offer within minutes. I guessed that the seller has a pile of these things so declined the offer.

Sure enough another set showed up the following week. Nobody wanted them this time so I got them for two thirds of the price I was prepared to pay for the first set.

All fun and games!

[mrbreeze]

Yeah...its all fun & games.......until someone loses an eye!!! Just won me a set of chrome speedo/tach covers still in the wrapper from Drag Specialties...$20.60 + $5.00 shipping. I am jazzed!!!! I've been looking for these for a couple of years now and got them far cheaper than I thought I would have.

[hondachopproject]

bidnez is bidnez...

No, I understand that. I am not against finding that good deal.  I am a dyed in the wool capitalist.....It just irks me when someone (usually a non biker)  takes a good running bike(or good project)  then strips it to make a buck. And sometimes their stuff isn't that good anyways. I would have loved to get my hands on a few of these bikes that were destroyed, and the seller really didn't give a rats ass as to it being a classic bike.

[Gordon]

It can be a shame, sometimes, but at least the parts are going to the cause of keeping other bikes on the road rather than the bikes rotting away until they're worthless and then being scrapped and shredded. 

How's that for a silver lining?

[hondachopproject]

How's that for a silver lining?

 

[CBGBs]

 THere is a bit of shame in it isn't there.

[Raul CB750K1]

I just gave two typewriters for free last week. They were very heavy to ever ship them, and not very succesful at sale. But believe me, if they would have been worthier in pieces than in a whole I would have not lost a minute in tearing them apart and selling them key by key and spring by spring, even if some typewriter lover in a lost forum down the internet creeps in anger.


I think I've made my point clear....


Raul

[6pkrunner]

It can be a shame, sometimes, but at least the parts are going to the cause of keeping other bikes on the road rather than the bikes rotting away until they're worthless and then being scrapped and shredded. 

-very true, but in some of these instances the bike that is being parted is in better condition than 80% of the bikes the parts are going to. Sure she dies to keep 5-10-30 others going, but they couldn't hold a candle to her, shapewise. The speculators have invaded and are making hay while the sun shines....rising sun maybe?

[kghost]

It just makes all of mine worth more 

[samfig]

What about "shilling"(someone bids just to get it higher for the seller, often times the seller themself under a different name)!!  I was looking at a 76 750 this summer that was being sold at a dealer but also on ebay.  I went to the dealership and tried to see what they were willing to let go of the bike for and the dealer insisted that it wouldn't  go for under 1k and that I should just buy it then.  I waited and just bid on it.  I didn't win the auction with my bid being under 1k ... a couple of days later I get an e-mail that its being offered as a second chance offer.  I know #$%* happens sometimes but this seemed really fishy to me.   What do you guys think?

[Troy R]

As a (former car salesman) smart man I know it was the owner holding out with the fake offer.I'd go back with a reduced offer after that! Remember he came to you .He wants to sell it. 

[CBGBs]

I just realized that this discussion is an example of the whole point of Motorcycle Maintenance and the Art of Zen. The book was discussed in another thread.... The premise of which is a motorcycle enthusiast developing his philosphy on life through his experiences on his motorcycle.

Some of us look at these motorcycle parts romantically and some of us look at the classically. Romantically these parts may have been a beautiful whole, but classically these parts are just functioning individual parts that still have fuctional value and monetary value.

 

[Terry in Australia]

Well, I beg to differ men. I reckon parting a mint example of a bike is the height of motorcycle nobility, it's like a soldier throwing himself on a grenade so his fellow soldiers can all live!

One bike parted to put up to 100 back on the road? That's a noble sacrifice if there ever was one! Now that you all agree with me, anyone got a mint set of K1 gauges going cheeep? The one's off your "Museum quality" bike will do fine? Ha ha, Cheers, Terry.

[74cb750]

So, Maybe the reason I have stopped/slowed down selling on ebay lately
is because I am noble and refuse to part out my running cb750s?
Yeah, that's it.

[6pkrunner]

I just realized that this discussion is an example of the whole point of Motorcycle Maintenance and the Art of Zen. The book was discussed in another thread.... The premise of which is a motorcycle enthusiast developing his philosphy on life through his experiences on his motorcycle.

Some of us look at these motorcycle parts romantically and some of us look at the classically. Romantically these parts may have been a beautiful whole, but classically these parts are just functioning individual parts that still have fuctional value and monetary value.

 

-very well put! I went through my first bike phase from the Dream 150 to the 1974 740 K4 stage. The bikes from those years will always be more than just machinery for me. And attrition took a lot of them away. That's why when I see a fine example parted for profit, its a bit of a let down. But on the other side of the coin, without eBay, the hobby would lose an invaluable source of parts. Each bike I'm working on has a awful lot of eBay in it.