I experienced a situation similar to Chuck's this past fall. I sold an Olmo with all the pantographed parts on Ebay. It sold for less than I expected--it was in very good condition. I shipped the bike Fedex ground on a Wednesday and to my utter dismay and horror, it was fully parted out on Ebay the following Sunday night! The guy must have been waiting for the Fedex truck with a wrench in his hand. And of course, to further torture myself, I tracked all the auctions of "my" bike parts. All in all, he sold the parted out Olmo for around 30 percent more than he paid for it.
Now at the time I had sold this Olmo, I had also sold 2 other complete bikes and a bunch of parts and had done rather well. I sold a Paramount track bike (which sold for the higher end of what I expected) and a Raleigh Competition GS (which sold for almost double of what I expected.) So I kind of figured that was bike karma--you win some and you lose some.
It seems that that marques that were (almost always) sold as complete bikes (like Raleigh or Schwinn) sell for more (with original parts) than bikes that were often sold as framesets (such as many of the Italian marques). I hate to say this, but I'll probably part out the next Italian bike that I decide to sell or sell the frame and keep the parts.
Rob Anderson
Brooklyn, NY