[CR]Was: pink RH vs.Masi, Now: 50th Anniv. Sales History

(Example: Bike Shops:R.E.W. Reynolds)

Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:34:27 -0700 (PDT)
From: Raymond Dobbins <raydobbins2003@yahoo.com>
To: wheelman@nac.net, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
In-Reply-To: <11289.65.220.90.243.1190149216.squirrel@webmail.nac.net>
Subject: [CR]Was: pink RH vs.Masi, Now: 50th Anniv. Sales History

I agree that you can't use eBay to judge workmanship. I don't think anyone would seriously argue that prices paid for frames/bikes on eBay, or in private sales, are necessarily indicative of their level of workmanship.

And yes, eBay results can be inconsistent. Some variances, like in Ray Homiski's experience, are hard to explain or understand. But ON AVERAGE, past eBay prices are the best predictor of future eBay prices. I believe that eBay prices are the guideline that most of us use to decide, not what a bike is "worth," but rather, how much we can expect to get, or pay, for a bike on eBay. Obviously this wouldnt apply in all situations, like garage sales or thrift store finds.

I've always had a fascination for the Campagnolo 50th Anniversary gruppo, and I've been following the sales of NOS 50th gruppos on eBay for about three years now. I have decided to start tracking the stats, and I've created a page with a simple table, which right now has four sales/gruppos in it. This is the link:

http://www.raydobbins.com/50th_Sales_History

If anybody has bought or sold an NOS 50th gruppo on eBay or privately, I would like to get the details so I can add them to the history table. Please contact me off-list if you want to contribute. Anonimity is available upon request :)

Thanks,

Ray Dobbins Miami FL USA

wheelman@nac.net wrote: Nick Bordo makes a great point. Using ebay to judge workmanship and value is like predicting hurricanes with your corns. Case in point, I tried to sell a bike a couple of year back on ebay that I felt was worth around $400-$500. The best I could do was a little over $200 so the bike did not sell. My wife who knows nothing about bikes took an interest in this one bike and asked if she could have it and gave me $200 for it. Less than a year later, she put it up on ebay with my old description and photos and the damn thing sold for over $1000.

If we used ebay to do a statistical model of bike values, I am sure we would find that bikes sold to Japan fetch the best price. Does that mean that those bikes are better than ones sold in the US for the same make/model?

My annoying 2 cents.

Ray Homiski
Elizabeth, NJ