Hi Steve,
My comments are inserted:
> I am trying to restore a little respectability to buying and selling
quality
> bicycle parts.
Is there a problem with the respectability of those selling on this list? Rating systems do not work uniformly and consistently; that has been my experience and everyone that I know who has bought and sold items - regardless of whether there was a standardized system in place or not. Ask any professional appraiser and they will tell you that any system is a guide and is subject to the interpretation of the appraiser and buyer. If the problem of respectability exists outside this list, then whatever rating system we devise will have absolutely no impact whatsoever and will have been a waste of resources that could have been spent elsewhere.
I respect your ideal but I believe it is naive. I don't believe there is a
need for one on this list. For people selling off this list, it will just
be another system that is ignored and abused by less then ethical
individuals, or misinterpreted/evaluated differently by well meaning
individuals.
> Your comments below do not take into account that parts are
> often being misrepresented on the market for quality or condition that is
> simply not true.
Where? On this list? Let's name names or move on. If your comment is
limited to ebay and those types of venues why is this list devoting time to
something that ebay and the abusers could care less about?
> The creation of a condition scale endorsed by CR members will provide the
> start of greater ethics when buying or selling.
I disagree - those people of lesser ethics will not use our system.
> The attitude "who gives a
> damn - E CAVEAT EMPTOR" sounds like a cynic who really does not care about
> what they buy or who they buy from - perhaps your personal choice, but one
I
> do not agree with...
No, I too am not a cynic but a realist. I am an experienced buyer and seller of many collectable items and have seen one grading system follow another in attempts to improve the quality of representation of items being offered for sale. One grading system leads to another. One grading system becomes the latest standard for people that disagree too argue over. No system, in my experience solves what you are attempting.
Again, as I posted yesterday. The issue is not with the definition of the different condition grades - establishing one will be fine and dandy - the issue is with how those standards are applied and by the person applying them. There will be no one to moniter, no one to "disbar" them and no incentive for abusors to abide by the standard.
Ethical sellers represent their items as honestly as they can and accept a return for a full refund if there was a difference in expectations - for them a grading system is not needed and becomes bureaucratic.
People with less then honest ethics will not use the system.
Respectfully,
Eric Elman
>
> Regards, Steve Neago
> "On the Dawn Patrol in Cincinnati"
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Wornoutguy@aol.com>
> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2001 12:23 AM
> Subject: [CR]The list is being anal again with this grading system
>
>
> > I really enjoy belonging to this list. Every once in a while it gets
> weird.
> > If you want to know the condition of a part ask (if you are really
> concerned
> > ask for close up photos) why do we kick around such silly ideas as
making
> up
> > our own grading system. Anyone who has to have three people look over
a
> > part with a microscope should rethink life in general. Go outside take
> your
> > dog for a walk go talk to actual human beings. Sam DiBartolomeo
Southern
> CA