Some people are way overpricing their old bicycles, IMHO *rant (Raleigh) $1996

I thought I would post this as a courtesy to everyone looking to buy bicycles on craigslist AND as a something for people selling bikes to consider. You can take it or leave it. (By the way, this is not to ask for any sympathy for myself but to see if I'm way off-base here or if anyone else can relate to this--afterall, I'm not an economist OR bicycle expert)

I have been looking on Raleigh Craigslist bicycles every single day for over 2 months trying to find a good value on a used mountain bike. Merriam-Webster defines value as: "a fair return or equivalent in goods, services, or money for something exchanged". I have yet to find this among the bikes I have been looking for. --> I'm not really talking about anything that is listed for over $500 because I haven't been looking at those. I'm not talking about very very old bikes or Wal-mart bikes under $100, which are fine and priced pretty appropriately. I'm talking about bikes that are well-made, mid-grade, good value performance bikes. Specialized, Gary Fisher, Trek, Cannondale, etc. The Hondas and Toyotas of bikes.

Of course I don't expect to find the nicest, best, lightest mountain bikes for sale very cheap on here, but I don't think it's beyond reason to find ONE or TWO good values, that would be better than going to the bike shop, in the last few months--but I haven't. Nevertheless, here I am, about to go to the bike store.

I thought to myself a few months ago, "Why go to the bike store when there are probably a lot of people with good bikes that are a few years old who are selling them on craigslist? I could probably get a bike that is a few years old at roughly half the price of what something comparable costs at the bike store." Instead, I find people trying to sell bikes that are 10 years old or older for almost as much as the same type of bikes (or better) are costing new in the stores. Maybe not AS much as new bikes, but close enough to ask, "for that price, why not just get a new bike?" It doesn't matter if you paid $700 for a mountain bike in 1994--that's how much they cost back then--you can't assume that it would be worth $700 NOW if you had kept it in a sealed box for the last 14 years, therefore, you need to adjust your price to the bicycle's present VALUE. Don't try to sell it for $350 because you figure that's half of what you paid for it 14 years ago and it still has some good years left in it. A local store has a lower-end but still very nice Gary Fisher mountain bike for $300. This same bike, if it were magically transported to 1996, may have actually cost $700 to buy new. But now it's the year 2008. You can't price your bikes based on what you paid for them in 1996. You just can't. We are talking about VALUE. Forget what you paid for your bike (unless, of course, you bought it new in the last 3 or 4 years). Look at what it costs TODAY to have the same kind of features your bikes has and judge your bike's condition, then price appropriately. Consider the materials and technologies used today and their cost versus the materials and technologies your bike has. The first SONY Discman I bought was around 1992 and I think it cost about $90. If I had kept it sealed in a package, even today, it's VALUE wouldn't be more than $20. Why? Because there are much more advanced CD Walkman portable stereos (as they are now called) that cost between $30 and $50.

Bicycles, especially mountain bikes, cost less now than they did in the past. At least this is what I have observed in my limited experience and if I need correction then I welcome it. And yes, I know that people ask for more than they really want on craigslist so they can have some room to go down, but (again, IMHO) on an item under $500, that should be $20-$30, not $80-$100... which I'm HOPING some of you have in mind when you post a 1996 bike for nearly the same price as a relatively similar bike costs new in the store.

Craigslist is not supposed to make you ask, "ouch--for that price, why not just get a brand-new bike?" I thought Craigslist was supposed to make you ask, "sweet--for that price, why would anyone ever buy a new bike!?"