francophile 

I dunno, that one goes both ways. I picked up three bikes in a single buy recently, the seller came to BF for pricing. The valuation was pretty far off for a few reasons: The appraisers who responded were from wildly different markets. The bikes were pretty obscure brands with few realistic metrics. The seller's pics were poor and failed to show a number of problems quickly obvious when seen in person. Seller wouldn't respond to questions for more info and lived (was selling) in in a very remote area, at least an hour from any reasonable civilization - an hour NE of this De Rosa, actually.

I suspect there being chrome socks on all three, two with no decals, one of those being full Campy, surely sparked some highball speculative appraisals, but, seriously, fair price "seen in person" was half (or less) than appraisals here. Some stuff missing from the pics: front fork bent on one frame w/o wheels (side impact), missing decals were due to piss-poor rattle-can paint jobs, some weird brazing lumps under spraypaint on the DT & TT of one bike, rust/rust/rust/more rust all over chrome and every screw on the Campy bits, two B17 saddles ala "beef jerky", misc seized parts, deeply scored steer tube from riding with a loose headset, rodent damage to the last seat, yadda yadda yadda.

That said, sure, it's great to get a ballpark from some forums about what your C&V is worth. At the same time, I wish there was a very clear disclaimer attached to every appraisal post (rather than just the forum) that said something like: "Everyone has their own personal opinion of value. The actual value of your bike depends heavily on your local market and you can expect an average of what you see here. Most importantly, value cannot be determined without very clear pictures and some questions being answered."

This guy took the highest appraisals from the thread as "gold" and was convinced what he had was worth more, despite listing for almost a month with no buy, loose/mixed interest. Took me half an hour to talk him down to a price that I knew I could get my money back out of after using the parts I needed, and possibly end up with one cool complete project.

It's all relative.

daf1009

Just saw this thread...yes, I could possibly do some facilitation if still interested...as @francophile talked about...I am not familiar with this seller...and I do go to Athens occasionally...then again, if you are not still interested, I have been looking for a Derosa myself!!! But...you would have first dibs...

cpsqlrwn

No longer interested. The size is slightly too large for me.

KonAaron Snake 

I think you might not understand the appraisal section and the values offered; typically there are disclaimers as to market variation and the "high" prices you see are more what it might be worth in an experienced hobbyist's hands at retail" than what you should expect to pay from a guy cleaning basements who throws it up on CL. I know that I always add inexperienced sellers should not expect full value, or even a fraction thereof, to evaluations. If a seller didn't understand that, that's his problem. He can hold on to it, try and do what it takes to get maximum value or he can make concessions to local market reality.

The difference may be illustrated by Pawn Stars...the expert gives an appraisal of potential value, not the amount you should expect from the shop. At the end of the day it's free advice and you often get what you pay for. I see valuations that go too low as often as too high, at least in terms of my market. Smaller name stuff is variable because there aren't as many data points to define a range. In those cases the seller's marketing and knowledge can be the difference between selling a bike no one has heard of or selling a master piece by an artisan who crafted bicycles for only the elite.

francophile 

It's not that I don't understand it, I think the general fly-by appraisal seeker doesn't understand it. That's the main source of my gripe, it was one of those times I caught myself thinking, "man... people should re-think the online appraisal process". It wouldn't hurt to apply a child-proof cap, some extra disclaimer layer posters must pay attention to before posting a WIW. Three-question quiz would be nice

Edit: But back to the basic point: Sure, it's great when people research, but it's a double-edged sworn on which very few people seem to land on the flat side of. It seems to hurt more than help

daf1009

OK...thanks for letting me know...I have reached out to the seller...

bikemig 

Are you sure it's Italian?

CliffordK

Ok, from now on, I'll quote everything as 99¢

Just in case some of the bikes make it up onto Craigslist

It is a good point that professional "tuning" of a bike can take a lot of work, and can be expensive depending on whether one chooses a $40 pair of tires vs a $150 pair of tires.

Needs for an appraisal may vary from simple curiosity to a replacement value quote following theft or damage to buying a bike to selling it. And, while a single value might be nice, often a range is a bit better.

For the casual bike aficionado, we may watch a few brands, but it is easy to get out of our comfort zone.

francophile 

Superb point, reminds me of something I love to see in appraisals: When someone mentions "left untouched for 10+ years" versus "ready to ride" and what that means to the actual value.

Just sucks when someone misinterprets "ready to ride" as equivalent to "well, the cranks aren't seized and it rolls OK, so it's totally ready to ride!"