Re: [CR] Campagnolo Rally 1st Gen RD on eBay (with auction number) - now ebay secrets

(Example: Framebuilders:Dario Pegoretti)

To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:11:05 -0700
From: donald gillies <gillies@ece.ubc.ca>
Subject: Re: [CR] Campagnolo Rally 1st Gen RD on eBay (with auction number) - now ebay secrets


1. Here is a 'misspelling search' that one could use:

(campag, camagnola, camagnolo, campagnola, campanolo) in Sporting Goods > Outdoor Sports > Cycling

or

(cam*) record in Sporting Goods > Outdoor Sports > Cycling

campag is the terminology used in britain, I have noticed many USA buyers do not realize this fact.

I have benefitted once or twice from a misspelling, but lately I've been emailing the seller to say, "hey you've got a misspelled auction title you might want to correct it" which is the honorable thing to do. And sometimes when I think an auction sells for a ridiculously low price I offer to let the seller out of the deal but they almost always say, "no you won it fair and square". There are no hard feelings that way.

2. If the seller does not want to bother correcting the auction title, I sometimes browse in Outdoor Sports > Cycling > Vintage Parts at the auctions ending in the next 24 hours to look for auctions IN GENERAL that for whatever reason, might not garner a high bid. that's another 'Ebay secret' on how to find good bargins.

3. As the prices for campy parts are very high on ebay, it makes sense to pick a clone parts maker and select framesets that require the clone parts for restoration (gipiemme, omas, sr/sakae, miche, TA(tevano), Stronglight(106), ofmega, etc.)

4. Finally, some parts are unknown and sell for low prices because nobody has ever heard of them. In particular, I like to buy "Velo Jet Titanium" saddles (search for "velo titanium saddle" in auction descriptions) from Taiwan. I got my first such saddle as a "Systeme" saddle on an ALAN bike. It's a 200 gram Selle Italia Flite clone saddle. I have bought 4x of these saddles, used and NOS, none of them for more than $22 shipped. that's a screaming bargain compared to $75 for a used selle italia flite saddle. I recovered one of them for my all-asian carlton restoration :

http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~gillies/raleigh/international/pb260072.jpg

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA, USA