I bought a NOS '80s TA Specialties water bottle cage on eBay for $20 Two weeks later, one just like it sold for $76 It's definitely is a strange thing with old bike parts. There's always someone willing to pay more.
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Matthew Gorski Sent: Monday, April 19, 2004 7:30 AM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: RE: [CR]wheeling and dealing NOW do-gooder appraisals....
Charles, I'm with you brother....Just a few weeks ago at a ride an old timer brought a Urago....fishing for a price/value. A non-buyer-nice-guy-rider says the cranks are worth $700+ by themselves....that buyer now has a minimum bid in his head....I see it and amble over....An interesting and nice bike but not to die for....it has a type 63 crank not a 57 or Supercomp as they thought....huge difference in value but the seller is not going to shake the higher number from his mind.
I have been usurped countless times at swap-meets and the old Rec.Marketplace when I'm buying or making an offer and a do- gooder tells the seller this item "X" is worth "X" bux! So the deal derails and later...even weeks later the item would be unsold. I would occasionally get items I offered to buy even cheaper because I followed up weeks/months later and the guy just couldn't get what it was 'worth' HAAAAAAAAA!!!
Folks e-mail and ask me often what such & such is worth... I avoid hard numbers for this very reason of not wanting to be the friendly advice/value maker. I tell them it's all in the condition and the timing <light rant off>
Matt "doesn't bother with swaps anymore because of this" Gorski Belmont Shore, CA
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But, I will tell you what *does* bug me in this connection. When there's a bike for sale, offers are sought, and some do-gooder decides to tell the owner that their bike/part is worth some huge amount of money, but said do-gooder is not willing to *pay* that for said item. That really rubs me the wrong way. Now the seller has what is very likely an inflated sense of what their stuff is worth, and I have to try to put him or her back in touch with reality in the course of negotiations. I've had this happen to me more than once, and I must confess, *that* is very annoying.
Charles "what's the equivalent of *caveat emptor* for a seller?* Andrews SoCal
"...logic is man's most destructive illusion. All thinking is done with the glands, and the logic part gets stuck on afterward to neaten things up."
-- John D. MacDonald