Classic & Vintage - eBay Prices

Is it just me, or over the last year to 18 months have the prices for "vintage" (well, for me that's late 60's through mid 80's) road bikes skyrocketed? What do you think - is anyone finding good deals anymore?

I have also seen some screwy autions lately for newer bikes - like a 51cm Lemond Zurich 2003 steel with a BIN of of $699 and minimum bid of $649 getting a $649 bid, thus blowing up the BIN, and the final price almost $800. Are there just some really dumb people out there buying bikes these days? What's going on?

yeah. thru da roof. I have been tracking things that come up over and over: nuovo record rear derailleurs. I paid about $32 last time I bought one - they are up to $80-$90. dunno what's fueling the madness. Maybe old bikes are cool or something.

Are there just some really dumb people out there buying bikes these days? What's going on?

You just answered your question. Ebay modeled after biggest idiot principal.

I've been stockpiling parts that I buy from local swap meets/flea market so I can make a killing on idiotbay.

I'm either going to use the money towards retirement or buy a custom frame.

yeah. thru da roof. I have been tracking things that come up over and over: nuovo record rear derailleurs. I paid about $32 last time I bought one - they are up to $80-$90. dunno what's fueling the madness. Maybe old bikes are cool or something.
Glad I stocked up when they were $32... :)

You just answered your question. Ebay modeled after biggest idiot principal.

Ebay == Entertainment Only...

Last year at this time, I bid on my dream frameset from the 90s when it came up. I had a ton of money at the time, so I made a high bid. At the last minute, some idiot came along and tried to outbid me, sending the price sky-high. I still won the auction, because my initial bid was higher than the multiple bids from the idiot who tried to outbid me, but I won it for much more than it had been going for all along. Yes, you could say I was the idiot for bidding as high as I did. But I had the money in my hands, and it was a frameset I had wanted but couldn't afford when it was new. I'm still happy to have the frameset.

BUT... last week the same frameset sold for about half what I paid for it, with NO last minute bidding wars. :fight:

...At the last minute, some idiot came along and tried to outbid me, sending the price sky-high....
Why sometimes it's best just to watch the auction & snipe at the end. Depends on circumstances though... I bought one bike after the auction 'cause it never met reserve. I figured out what reserve was (unrealistic) by bidding $30,000, then retracting my bid... I just made sure I was still high bidder (under reserve) at the end of the auction, and negotiated with the seller, who was local. Worked for me...

eBuy is strange. I saw a NOS set of Super LJ gold derailleurs go for $240. Then the following week, a used set sold for over $300. Watched many high flange Campy front hubs go for around $50, then when I go to sell mine, I get $15 for it.

i feel timing has the most to do with the high prices. i see some bike parts at times selling for more than the bike itself. if your working on a project now and need a certain part. do you really want to engage in a bidding war? if it's 50 bucks more than normal i would rather use buy it now and pay the higher price than getted swiped for 50 cents and loose time by still not having that part

anyone recomend a good swipping program?

i also saw that gold LJ sell for over 300. i think last week a new set sold for 180 or some crazy number. some guy pissed me off by swiping me and then selling his things way to high, so i bid on the same items. i needed them anyways but wasnt gonna be upset if i didn't win anything. i think that guy paid an extra $700 over 10 items. i just didnt want to engage so only bid once, so you can see that if 2 people really want the item its gonna fly high.

I do alot of ebaying, however I'm pretty conservative in my bidding.
a few hints, check other locations, not just ebay US. there are some
excellent deals out there especially on german and french ebay.
I set my highest price and leave it there. If I win cool, if I'm outbid
(out sniped?) thats cool too since I wasn't willing to pay more than
my high bid.

I have seen prices beginning to creep up. If you really want to see
prices get inflated look at Pista components.
I think a large part of the inflated prices for vintage bikes is
the fixed/ss crowd, they like steel frames and anything track
is highly coveted. 5 years ago pista frames and gruppos were
much cheaper.
of course there is the whole japanese-french manufacturer relationship
where old french components command exhorbatent prices ($6700 simplex
rear derailleur), watch all those PX and UO and moto's start to gain in
value. . .


marty

I've been buying on Ebay and I've been happy with it. If it's a part that I want, and especially if it's NOS, I'm willing to pay a premium for it. I bought an older, hand-made frameset last week at the Buy It Now price. It is a Croll Reynolds 531 competition lugged frame. I paid a little over $300 for it, including shipping. It was beautiful in the pictures, and it was even more beautiful when I unpacked it last night. The paint is a pearlescent silver and it just glows under lights (literally). The lug work is exceptional. Did I pay too much? I'm not even worried about it. I'm just thrilled to begin building this one up. So I guess I'm the perfect customer for Ebay sellers -- if you have it, and I want it, I'll pay.

Best free entertainment on the net. Scambay.

Latest way to keep a few pennies out of the shareholders pocket is to almost give the item away and charge outrageous shipping. Saw an item listed at a penny with $375 shipping!

If you are buying bike parts, here is my experience. "Excellent" bottom bracket - must have been used in a coal mine, triple der that was a double, sorry no refund sucker, mt. wheelset pictured with skewers, no skewers, seller trashed me on scambay saying he sent 2 pairs? Seat thrown in a bag for shpping, Crankset from Tiawan that went around the world twice before I got it. Should I continue....... 70% of your purchases will be ok, 30% will be misrepresented.

The thing with eBay is that you see stuff you've been trying to find for 30 years. But the only other three guys on the planet looking for the same item also see it......
My main love is professional grade cameras of the '30s-'50s, mostly Zeiss-Ikon Contax and Speed Graphics. No way I'd even see this stuff in rural Maine, and the big camera stores in NYC are a dying breed as well. But on ebay I've put together Contax kits that Robert Capa could have shot a job with and Graphic kits worthy of Weegee. Sure, you have to be careful, but I've been rewarded far more often than I've been burned.
For instance, I won a Miyata 512 last month for $54 and change. Even with a $40 shipping charge I'm ahead on parts value alone, and this was too nice to part out (and my 57cm frame size to boot!) At that price I didn't expect anything close to factory new, and I didn't get it. But I did get a good quality winter project bike at a decent price.
But you gotta ask questions! I BEG bidders on my auctions to ask detailed questions, and I'll shoot addtional scans just to make sure we're all on the same page.
Most folks who ***** at ebay really don't understand the deal: eBay will make dough off both ends of the deal, and is set up to maximize their take. It is a business, after all. But you can miniumize your expenses by figureing out you absolute high bid and bidding it at the last minute, say within 5 seconds of the end of auction. If you can't follow an auction or have a stone-age dial-up (like me), a service like www.auctionsniper.com will do it for you at a very modest price.
Like 'Vegas, the 'Bay is a good thing; but don't put your money down until you know the game.
Top

Yes, there are dumb buyers on eBay. I see stuff selling "used" on Ebay for more than the same item sells for new up at the corner store. But, leaving the idiots out of the equation, the rest of e-Bay pricing is simply supply and demand.

I really like mid-80's bikes with light lugged steel frames and Shimano 600 components. New bikes of comparable build and quality sell for over $1,000. On E-Bay, I can buy a 1988 Centurion Dave Scott for between $100 and $200. A guy living in San Diego who sees similar bikes in his local Goodwill for $25 thinks $200 is a "rip-off". But, I don't see these bikes at Goodwill in Houston. And, to buy a nice road bike for less than the cost of a new pair of decent wheels for $200 strikes me as a bargain.

I think it also depends on the listing. Sometimes, really good stuff is being sold by somebody cleaning out their grandpa's garage. They don't know the value and don't list the item well, in which case, it usually gets taken for a steal, or completely missed. I have a suspicion that the people who manage to score those kinds of things turn around and post them for 10x their cost on their own ebay stores. Now ripoffs--the ebay stores are a ripoff. I don't think I've come across anything I wanted that was reasonably priced in an ebay store.

stores are often really good for new stuff. not that that is applicable here, but, I just bought a DA 10 spd chain for about 50% of what the lbs wants, about 25% less than catalog prices...

banana brain's e-bay store is pretty good, lots of vintage stuff,
of course I still like his website renassaince cycles.
Baron can be expensive for some stuff but he sure
has some interesting stuff.

marty

I have mixed feelings about the upward price swing on ebay-- as a seller, I love it. As a buyer--eh...

I live in rural Oregon and the closest selection of any used and vintage parts is either in Portland, Seattle, or (gasp) San Francisco. I haven't found any real "deals" in any of these cities, at least not on vintage bikes or parts. People that live there apparently do--but not me when I'm there. Too, I can't afford the time or travel expense. Ebay literally opens up an avenue of parts that I can't get anywhere else. If I consider gas alone to Portland (about 20 bucks) and add that to the cost of the part--if I can even find what I'm looking for which I usually can't, ebay's prices look a lot more reasonable to me.

As for the escalating prices: In the '70's I was a foreign car garage owner. I regularly turned down Jags and Ferrari's for literally a couple of hundred bucks because we figured that after restoration we couldn't break even. Now I see some of the same cars going for over a hundred grand--some quite higher than that. True, bikes aren't Ferraris, but as most quality items age (with perhaps the exception of humans), at some point they become desirable--hence collectable. It may seem ridiculous to some but not to others.

John in Oregon

ebay is like any other store. If you don't like the price, don't pay it. I had only one bad exerience with a purchase on ebay and it was the idiot I dealt with, not ebay that caused the problem. I only bid high on items I have looked for but can not find, like a Nishiki cycling shirt. But when it comes to common items like a new seat, I wait for a really good buy to come along, then I bid what I think is a bargain price. If I win, that's great, if I don't, I forget about it and move on. If you're upset because you didn't win, then you should be upset with yourself because you did not bid enough to win. As for prices of vintage bikes going up, you should be happy, the bikes you have are worth more.

Is it just me, or over the last year to 18 months have the prices for "vintage" (well, for me that's late 60's through mid 80's) road bikes skyrocketed? What do you think - is anyone finding good deals anymore?

I have also seen some screwy autions lately for newer bikes - like a 51cm Lemond Zurich 2003 steel with a BIN of of $699 and minimum bid of $649 getting a $649 bid, thus blowing up the BIN, and the final price almost $800. Are there just some really dumb people out there buying bikes these days? What's going on?
No not really. It is pretty standard actually. Older items, not just bike, are limited in quantity and hence more desirable. If you check newer bikes are going for a song. Just ask your LBS about ebay. He'll tell you that it's the end of inline retailers.

Tim

I watch that stuff regularly. Right now there is a Raleigh Pro that is going for better than $1300. It seems that the prices are climbing pretty rapidly, though if you watch there are still some deals.

I bought a Raleigh Super Course for my wife. It had Cinelli bars and stem, a Stronglight cotterless crank and a set of Phil Wood pedals. I paid $60 for the bike. I sold the pedals for about $90 and put the Cinelli bars on my Raleigh Pro. My wife wanted upright bars.....

I've noticed an upwards climb in the last year or so on ebay. It does not greatly effect me because I'm such a scavenger locally, and tend to take what I find; although I've bought a pair of frames and a pair of complete bikes on ebay in the last year. The last was a 531 Follis frame at what I thought was the ridiculous price of 24$.

I don't think the rise in prices can be attributed to the singlespeed/fixie crowd; then items like derailleurs wouldn't be rising in price; in fact they probably would be falling as fixie riders flooded the market with unwanted rear mechs. Something a bit broader is going on here. Hopefully it's not a rise in the speculators/dealers/investor sorts; hoarding by their like can force an artificial rise in prices (gawd that happened in the industry I "work" in, what a disaster that was). One of the joys in collecting bikes is that it's relatively affordable even for a low wage sort like me; I still regularly find some pretty neato stuff for relatively little cash. Once the speculators arrive in force, finding the good stuff will become far harder and more expensive. If we're moving towards a speculative market, replete with printed price guides and the whole lot, (insert your deity here) help us all.

Some of it is no doubt the rarity issue. Another is probably the easy accesibility of ebay to almost everyone. It used to be if someone saw an old bike they liked, they'd actually have to seriously search for it; ebay's made the process that much easier. The search would frustrate many folks, who would then give it up. Now with ebay, fewer people get frustrated by their searches, because ebay's a fairly quick resolution to their searches, unlike toiling locally thru want ads and thrift stores and trash heaps. The latter is cheaper, but you have to be open to what you find and not expect to find your exact desire. On ebay, you can likely find that exact thing, and fairly quickly.

I've also thought for some while that the month of Febuary is one of the best to troll ebay; enough removed from both christmas and the beginning of riding season that prices suddenly get cheaper. Just a theory with no empirical evidence to back it up. And still, whole bikes tend to be cheaper than components.

Ebay is a great source for small parts. I figure I can keep my old bikes running for quite some time. Lately all of the decent frames and mid-level old bikes are being snapped up by people who want to make fixed gears they will get tired of in a month, and collectors bid like mad for the high end stuff, which is fine with me. They can have it.

Yeah, people blowing the BIN price is just stupid. Happens all the time. If the price is fair, snag it.

I think there are still some deals to be had, but you've got to be careful and patient. I have come to the conclusion that bikes are like toys for middle-aged men, and that there is always a middle-aged man who wants the toy from ebay more than I do.

One reason for the escalation may be the unsatisfied market demand for high-quality, low-price lugged-steel frames with semi-horizontal dropouts and component groups that were designed to be mix-and-match instead of mutually excllusive. Hint hint.

There also seems to be an aftershock from the bike boom. People who got their first decent bikes during the bike boom, quit riding/thinking/living in the 80's or 90's to cash in, and now, with money and time, are getting back into the last sport they knew, and blowing wads on vintage rides just like they were a 57 Chevy.

Prices seem to be sort of at a whim too, just depends on who is looking for what when. I was considering buying a complete bike that ended up going for about $600, well out of my price range, only to see the same bike, frame ONLY go for $750 a couple of weeks later.

I used to find fantastic deals of vintage bike stuff a few years ago, but the supply of those parts have dried up. Vintage parts are vintage because they aren't manufactured anymore. The demand is there, but the supply has decreased, so the prices have gone up. It's economics 101 folks.