Surely eventually Ebay will lose the serious collector and specialty niche markets to auction sites with expertise in-house. Ebay lacks the ability and even seeming interest in running a well managed auction site. If there was anyone knowledgable in the respective fields keeping an eye on the auctions running, virtually none of the scams it is plagued with could continue, most being dead obvious to anyone versed in the niche. All they've got going for them is their size- which admittedly is a lot.
The problem, it seems to me is, each niche can only realistically support one or maybe two online sales/auction venues. If one needs to search six or seven different sites to see the market in whole, few will bother. At least with Ebay's primacy, there's only one marketplace that matters which massively simplifies things for both buyer and seller. And even if one vintage bicycle sales/auction site emerged supreme among collectors, you'd still need to scan Ebay for those attic and barn finds sold by people unfamiliar with the market where the true bargains are often to be found. A site run and frequented by knowledgable, savvy collectors will be no place to bargain hunt I reckon.
Kurt Sperry Bellingham WA USA
On 5/22/07, hersefan@comcast.net <hersefan@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> Hi CR folks,
>
> Grappling with a bunch of stuff here - but my intent was to grow my
> vintage road bike site - build up the price guide - and eventually create an
> ad environment that could be monitored by real human intervention. One idea
> - and I'm wondering if this catches folks interest, would be to charge a
> sliding scale (depending on usage) that would enable folks to post
> classifieds at a very reasonable rate for a year (maybe for typical
> collector that wheels and deals a bit perhaps $20-$40 per year - and that
> might also get access to more specific market pricing info I'd put together.
>
> So - feedback folks - would people ante up $20 to $40 for annual access to
> buy/sell classifieds and price guide info? Last month my ebay fees were
> $300 and I didn't even move that much. And dealing with crackpots and Darth
> Vader types remains a problem.
>
> Now - nobody will ante up a dime until the website is up and classifieds
> are running as freebies for awhile to build traffic - I understand
> that. But once up and running, if I was to get this really going, would
> there be support?
>
> Mike Kone in Boulder CO
> Vintage Road Bike
>
> -------------- Original message --------------
> From: bruce thomson <masi3v4me@yahoo.com>
>
> > Listers: I have been havaing the Bicycle Trader Classified list keep
> popping up
> > when I do a search for parts or bikes. It seems that some of the ads are
> stuck
> > there FOREVER and are never removed. Has anyone else had experience with
> this
> > sales page. I have tried a couple of times and have had the replies
> returned as
> > "sold that two years ago" or WTF are you talking about? Others no reply.
> > I am really bemoaning the loss of the sales and want ads on the CR site.
> > Remember these??? It was really nice and yes I know there were a few
> scammers
> > that came to prey on the unwary, but all and all I would like to see it
> back.
> > Perhaps someone else besides Dale could monitor the page. I would
> volunteer,
> > but I get first dibs on the Masi bikes. Bruce
> >
> >
> > Bruce Thomson Spokane WA 99204
> > (509) 747 4314
> > Masi3v4me@yahoo.com
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Don't get soaked. Take a quick peak at the forecast
> > with theYahoo! Search weather shortcut.