Hello Once more---
Ill try to be as brief---yet as thorough---as possible here.
What I delivered was not a personal attack. It was a critique, limited in scope, regarding what IN MY OPINION I perceived as terse and inadequate descriptions of auction items by an ebay seller working under an alias.
It was not a personal attack against any individual, for until I received subsequent messages from others, I had no idea what names were behind the sellers moniker, or that any of the parties were CR Members. Even after being told the names behind the sellers I.D., I still had no knowledge of who they are. So how could what I wrote possibly be deemed personal?
My impressions were based on my viewing of hundreds (probably thousands) of auction items by the seller over the course of several years. And I believed I had made myself clear by primarily addressing the IMPRESSION that the listings made upon me, a prospective buyer with no prior actual interaction with the seller. I said nothing regarding the actual quality of items the vendor sells, or delivery or guaranty of those items.
I was speaking about the language and demeanor of certain auction listings. If I sounded harsh, or led any individual to feel that I was attacking them personally, I am sorry and genuinely so.
I believe I shall leave it at that.
Peter Jourdain
Whitewater, Wisconsin USA
> hello all,
> I put the crazy headset up on Ebay for that crazy
> price. Remember a
> few years ago the threads involved with some Midwest
> seller that
> listed a $10,000 UNiversal brakeset on Ebay? Sure we
> chatted about, it
> did not sell and he did it for sheer publicity.
> I, on the other hand, listed this not for publicity
> but to actually
> sell it. As it was pointed out a few times, my
> prices are overpriced
> or what one list member wrote as the upper end of
> the price range of
> its' value. But as Steven Maasland also wrote, sure
> I can list the
> item for a lower bid to maybe attract more bidders,
> but what if the
> serious bidders are on vacation? Remember, it takes
> two bidders. I
> love the hobby and I am a collector myself, but like
> other sellers on
> Ebay, I get paid to list items on Ebay. That is my
> job in the winter
> to keep the guys at the shop working and getting
> paid, where as most
> shops, especially as you get into colder regions,
> lay off there
> employees or significantly cut back their hours. Ask
> any bike shop
> about winter hours. Well bike shops that don't sell
> skis! Selling over
> 200 items on Ebay a month, allows for the guys to
> work, and for people
> otherwise would not be able to find some these
> items, the access and
> knowledge that we have about them.
>
> I really don't understand Peter Jourdain's disdain
> for the caveat -
> WYSIWYG. I have been selling on Ebay for a long
> while, and as much as
> the CR community is the most bike knowledgeable
> group on Earth, I can
> list a set of cranks on Ebay, with a photo of the
> cranks, with a
> description of the cranks, and when the winning
> bidder gets the cranks
> in the mail, they ask where is the Bottom Bracket?
> Where are the
> pedals? Anyone who as bought from us before knows,
> that if we ever had
> a problem with an item, we will completely work it
> out. I have no
> problem refunding money, exchanging items or
> whatever. As much as we
> are in the business of making money, we are also
> keeping the hobby
> alive for people who don't have the resources that
> we have. We travel
> all over the East Coast and as far as Michigan(My
> boss has also
> attended VeloSwap in California), buying and trading
> and creating
> connections with fellow bike collectors. I just
> returned after a 6
> hour drive from a swap meet this morning and bought
> items that I will
> soon list for all those people (CRers included) that
> did not attend.
> Paramount front hub, various Campy derailleurs, and
> other bits that
> would have ended up back in somebody's pile, or in
> the trash. And to a
> preemptive defence to those people that dislike
> buyers like me going
> to swap meets and "buying up all the good stuff,"
> talk to the sellers,
> I never haggle over prices, if the seller wants a
> certain price for
> it, I pay it. plain and simple, if it is too much, I
> say it is not for
> me. From my experiences, sellers are generally happy
> to see me at
> swaps as they know I will spend money. I also
> generally drive all
> night to get to the swap meet, sleep in the cold
> van, and have to load
> the 30-50 bikes we buy.
>
> I am not sure either what questions Peter might also
> have about the
> headset, other than stake height, that is not
> available in the title
> of the headset- "TA french threaded headset NOS new"
> It is sealed in
> the original package. Sure I can open it, but that
> is part of the
> charm of it- the French air. As it came from France.
> What auction
> pictures are not clear? As much as I do not have a
> Ray Dobbins setup,
> most of the pictures are clear and fairly accurately
> describe the
> condition.
>
> I take offence at Peter Jourdain attacking a fellow
> CRer. Your blanket
> attack aimed at me for the disclaimer is malicious
> and unjust. Your
> use of the phrase "these dealers" in the same email
> about me puts me
> in the category of sellers that you feel are trying
> to get over on the
> customer. CR sweetheart sellers that fail to deliver
> a package in a
> timely manner are given a warm receiption as "wait
> and it might come,
> if you remember to remind the seller." But someone
> that list items for
> what they feel the market value is, after buying and
> selling on Ebay
> for the last 8 years, having all worthwhile items
> descriptions and
> selling prices on Ebay since 2000(like CR market
> high x10000) on file,
> is distasteful and upsetting and incomprehensible.
> How does that make
> since?
>
> If an item on ebay needs more than one picture to
> accurately describe
> the item, then I generally have more than one
> picture. I give a brief
> description for most items, as it seems that most
> Crers already know
> what it is and what they are looking for. I am not
> playing "20
> questions" or any other game, or trying to hide
> anything.
>
> last point, as Joel Metz states, and others, when
> was the last time,
> if ever did you see a TA headset on Ebay. Well, to
> an be exact, about
> a year and a half ago, I had one, just like this,
> never installed but
> no package that sold for $450. So as much as the
> price seems
> astronomical, it is rare. Stronglight headsets are a
> dime a dozen. I
> have seen at least double the amount of 1st
> generation Campy headsets
> on Ebay in that time, and they are super rare. Of
> course more people
> seem to value Campagnolo more this week. If it
> doesn't sell, so be it.
> But I already have people knocking so. . .
> ralph
> philadelphia PA
> ebay handle -senditnow
> auction in auction-
>
http://ebay.com/
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