Do you wring your hands this much when a seller under-prices their bike?

Here's some nice bikes at decent prices, down in OSU town:

https://www.bikeforums.net/22094069-post62053.html

a rash of reversed forks I have seen
now, I know these are not motorpacing bikes.
really wonder about the reversed suspension forks... that trick bike, tap the front brake and fly forward over the bars!

It seems to be alright around here, you just have to be quick to get a deal. I’ve picked up a handful of bikes recently that were priced well under what they were worth.

Regarding pricing strategies, here's what a bike flipper I bought a couple of good used bikes does: He sets a fair but firm price. No dickering. If the bike doesn't sell he gradually reduces the price over a period of weeks or months, however long it takes.

A couple of times I figured a bike he had wouldn't sell, so I gambled on that and didn't buy at his first asking price. But someone else did. So I missed out on a second 1989 Centurion Ironman, nearly identical to the one I bought from him in 2017, but in even better shape... for only $200. Very fair price, but I'd seen other Centurions sit around for months unsold. But apparently someone else recognized a fair value for a very good bike and snagged it.

Same with a nice mid-1990s Kona Lava Dome Race Lite, all rigid (no suspension fork), in beautiful emerald green, great shape. A pawn shop was asking $350. The price tag had a schedule for price decreases, one per month, until it bottomed out at $100. I figured I'd wait a couple of months and buy it later. My neighborhood is very low income and getting poorer all the time, so I figured there was no way any local would pay more than $50 for a bike. Welp, I was wrong. Someone snagged it for more than $200. My loss.

Lot's of that here in So Cal too. When surfing through CL I select wheel size in the filter on the left side, that will eliminate all those kids bikes. The deals are less frequent now for sure but still out there. A Bridgestone MB-1 posted in LA for $150 a few weeks back and I recently picked up an '87 DB Apex for $20

Seeing that this discussion is all about perceived value and going prices in different markets...shouldn't it be in the Valuations subforum?

Yes, I know exactly what I'm doing. 😈 ;)

-Kurt

One other also brought up this term. You really mean to say "free market" or "unrestricted market" where buyer and seller agree upon a price.

You don't really mean capitalism, where private entities control the means of production and determine where investment may be directed to optimize return to those who bear the risks of investing.

For the other side of the coin, I don't bother trying to sell my old stuff because of cheapskates. It is a huge waste of time.

List some immaculate Gen 1 Panto Campy C record stuff, and they want a NOS seatpost for 50 bucks. Try buying a high end, new seat post for that. Or an ultra rare 180 mm crank in good shape, they want it for 75 bucks. Or a rare 50 year old italian bike fully Campy with $300 of new tubies on it, they want it for 900 bucks.

As this is a rant thread, and not a thread about a speciific bike with an appraisal inquiry, it doesn't need to be moved to the Appriasals forum.

Oh, I know it, Bill - it was all /s.

Just needling the audience :D

-Kurt

When I sell, I like high prices.
When I buy, I like low prices.

The real question is why does anyone really need more than one bike? ;)

Other side of the coin... reminds me of an instance when some guy responded to one of my Craigslist offerings about a dozen years ago. I was listing a fully overhauled 198x Schwinn Traveler for $80.00. Without mentioning any objection beforehand, he showed up and tried to tell me that he had done his homework and found some reliable price guide online and insisted it wasn't worth more than $65.00. I was civil with him, but it was in nice shape and I didn't appreciate his attitude. I wished him good luck and sent him on his way.

I certainly understand and appreciate the rant, which I think is applicable across all categories of used items and not just bicycles. I guess all you can do is shake your head and roll your eyes. People can try to sell their stuff for whatever they want and what do I care? However, what I do find a little more obnoxious is the people who keep posting the same items over and over in high volumes for long periods of time with no change in price. I'm referring to people who might have 50 or 60 items (or even more) that have been posted for many weeks. It isn't so much that they are posting their items for sale but more that it tends to be items of little or no value and it can be cumbersome to sort through all of it to find something of actual interest. I also appreciate the occasional cynical post that pokes a little fun at the overpriced items, such as this one https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...8644499606176/

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c1a598cd10.png

Hahaha, "pavement princess." :roflmao:

Well, the "free market" or "unrestricted market" are only places where capitalism is conducted. The placing a bike on that market is controlling the means of production. The promotion (the CL ad) is the directed investment to optimize return.

The supply chain comes in many forms.

A bike is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

That said, raising the price of a listing after the fact (because of lots of interest) is just a crappy thing to do. Best way to handle it is to just ignore those sellers.

Plus I bet a sizable chunk of overly-priced bicycles aren't meaningfully for sale...it's just a way to get the seller's partner off their back :thumb:

So that's why I can't get my stupid bike do.go anywhere :bang:

What devilry is this? BURN, HERETIC!!!!

A few years ago, I saw a listing on Ebay for a Hamilton watch, with a Buy It Now price of $5000. There was one picture with the listing, just a blurry photo of a really generic watch that could have been anything. I checked the sellers sold listings and that same listing showed up as 'Sold' several times, for that price, in the previous couple months. I figured it was money laundering or other nefarious transfer of money using the listing for legitimacy.

...a good rant thread is priceless anyway. :)

Did I hear $3.50?

-Kurt

First of all, I very much appreciate your vintage bike contributions on BikeForums. And you have my unquestioned respect.

I think that you are having some misapprehension between individual buyer/seller behaviors and economic systems that enable them to a greater extent. The private buy-sell transaction that a bicycle represents is not governed by the capitalistic structure under which it may have been previously manufactured, distributed, and sold. This is simply a free market exchange. A critical element of free market exchange is, of course, the degree that the buyer and seller possess perfect information about the item in question and it's market environment.

Again, political economic theory is a separate aspect, like the theater sets and lighting, but not the dominant characteristic of the drama as it unfolds.

We should probably just talk bikes.

I concur