First.... Happy New Year to all of you lugged steel stalwarts!
Would anyone pay $145 for a Unicanitor seat? Not many! But consider the person who is looking for that "final" piece of their classic puzzle. *If* you had/were building a show-only or display bike that was going to undergo judging, and the bike was near-flawless both in condition of components and historical accuracy.... and "everyone" knows that this bike would have been delivered with a Unicanitor (and NOTHING but a Unicanitor!) as original equipment, well just maybe that "perfect" and "correct" saddle starts to become feasible.... and possibly even looks sufficiently attractive for that person to be able to justify this level of expenditure to finally complete their puzzle. From my experience with several "hobbies", once objects achieve a "collectible" status inevitably rational thinking ceases to be consistant with market pricing. Good, bad, or ugly, that is just the reality and something you must be prepared to accept irregardless of how despicable this may be to your personal philosophies.
David makes a lot of good points in his reply below, but the real bottom line is that as long as there are people willing (and financially able) to pay "outrageous" prices for eBay items this situation is not going to go away. Even if everyone in the CR group sticks together and attempts to effect a change in the "commercialism" that pervades this hobby by boycotting overpriced eBay sellers, the CR group is not large enough to influence the situation. Sad, but true. Look at a recent example that Lou Deeter brought to the attention of the group - as long as you have the "kauzo"'s willing to pay $310 for three severely rusted brake cable clips, it's going to be an uphill battle....
Sometimes you get a GREAT deal on eBay however, and a decent human on the selling end as a real bonus. Since this discussion started with Cinelli Unicanitor saddles, I wanted to recount a recent experience that I had purchasing one on eBay. The seller was located in NYC and had only one rather poor quality photo in the auction listing, and shipping within the USA quoted at $8.00 for this Unicanitor No. 3 suede-covered saddle. I stumbled upon the auction quite by accident with only an hour remaining until closing, so it didn't allow for the "Ask Seller a Question" option - something I routinely do because I live in Canada, and prefer to get the "bad news" about shipping costs up front. I bid $23.01 on the saddle based on the "good, usable condition" description in the listing. This bid won this auction! I emailed the seller my mailing address and requested a shipping quote and received a reply of $11.00 for shipping. I paid the $34.01 by PayPal and crossed my fingers. Two days later I received an email from the seller stating that he had refunded my PayPal account $6.00 as the actual mailing cost was less that he thought - this has rarely happened in my personal eBay experience and was a pleasant surprise. But the real surprise was the condition of the saddle when received. It appears to have only been ridden a couple of hundred miles. Flawless suede covering, perfect rear inked "Cinelli" and the inked oval emblems on the sides both still about 75% legible from lack of "thigh rub". The round white sticker with the black number "3" still clean and in place on the underside. Not "NOS", not a perfect "concours" saddle but a VERY nice example (say 8 out of 10) for a whopping total price of $28.01 delivered!
Good deals can still be had on eBay if one exercises a bit of patience, and a bit of good luck helps too.... But it never hurts to assume you are jumping into shark-infested waters the moment you log into eBay.
Brad Orr Alberta, Canada (riding rollers in a snow-covered small town called Ft. McMurray in the far northern part of the province of Alberta. Alberta is situated in the western part of that rather large land mass located above the perceived [to its' inhabitants] center of the universe, the US of A. Please feel free to write if you want GPS coordinates or further details pertaining to my location.)
.... sorry Dale B. , couldn't resist. Pardon me while I extricate my tongue from my cheek.... ;^)
At 04:38 PM 1/1/03 EST, David Anderson replied to Jay Sexton:
>Jay-
> In the back of my mind, I had always feared the day when I would see a
>posting such as yours. I for one, believe that many a greedy SOB has
>infiltrated the ranks of our purist hobby, and hence the stupid $145 price.
> I recognize others will say, "The price is what ever the market can
>bare. Its basic supply and demand". I disagree, someone a lot smarter than me
>once said, "A fool and his/her money are soon parted". Unfortunately, put the
>greedy and the foolish ones together and you get what we have today, ergo
>Ebay.
> I could go on about the "sold out" Regina Corsa chains ($8 max) being
>sold for $40, the "never to be made again" Brooks Pro Saddles ($45 max) being
>sold for $120, the "impossibly rare" cheap plastic Campy measuring tapes ($2
>max) being sold for $25, but I fear it doesn't stop here.
> I am by no means perfect, ubber moral, etc., but my disagreement has
>become greater by a statement I recently heard, "There is no right and wrong,
>there is only get as much as you can for yourself". Jay, Do Not buy the Unica
>saddle from whoever this mutha fudger is.
> I bought mine from BC at Renaissance Cycles in Holland for $29, two
>seasons ago. Has inflation risen 5X since then? Obviously not, only the greed
>factor has. Lets not rise the fool factor by 5X as well. Give this mutha
>fudger and his kind as much berth as you can! Cheers,
>David Anderson
>Cut Bank MT