Well, I'm not exactly unbiased, being an Ebay seller on a much smaller scale than Mike and some other dealers.
But there are some aspects of dealing in old stocks that haven't been addressed yet.
One is that Mike was looking for large stocks, not just individual pieces. Large stocks can be great, but also involve some risk. I have a decent stock of Campagnolo pumpheads that I bought on Ebay. Nearly all of them fit british pumps. The Ebay lot was over 200 pieces, and was there for the taking by anyone willing to spend the asking price. I forget if it was a buy it now, or if I was the only bidder, but the listing was a few days old, and had been looked at by several people. I've done well with them, but it did tie up a bunch of money for a few months. And they were a small outlay compared to buying say 200 cinelli stems.
Have any of the people suggesting that the buying offer wasn't quite proper been willing to buy even a lot that small and tie up whatever the cost until enough sell to cover the lot?
And old stocks from shops have their pitfalls as well.
Much of my inventory comes from a local distributor that went out of business. I missed the auction, but was able to buy the leftovers from the people that were clearing out the building. Again, I'm doing Ok, but only a few of the items sell well. There's lots of stuff that isn't really wanted. Like what you may ask? Here's a few details Dia compe cable hangers with pulleys. -- Selling quite well, especially the forged body ones. SR custom stems -- Also doing pretty good, I'm low enough now that I'll probably raise the price a bit.
The items I could just as well have left behind? 25.6 mm steel chromed seatposts, about 400 of them Black painted seat clamps also something like 400 of those. 43 and 44 tooth chainrings for one piece cranks. 6-7 cases of 50. You get the idea. And just to stay close to being within the rules, the first two things are in my Ebay store, and the last three I'll be willing to fill a flat rate box with them, assorted or un assorted for say $12 shipping included.
And I'd bet that everyone who has bought a shop stock or old inventory has been faced with the question of what to do with the essentially unsaleable items they get stuck with. The unwanted stuff probably goes to scrap, but I just can't toss brand new stuff that easily. (I also have a couple Huffy quality bikes in my collection)
Steve Birmingham
Lowell, Massachusetts
USA