jebensch

What is this BikeLINK Blue Book? It occurred to me that a huge portion of ridiculous Craigslist prices must be due to ignorance, not swindling attempts, right? I mean, if Joe or Jane-flat-tires-in-the-basement decides to unload his Schwinn Varsity, how would he/she have any idea of what to charge, besides referencing other misvalued Craigslist postings. When I collected baseball cards, Beckett's magazine kept pricing in check against a standard. When I've purchased my used cars I know whether I'm getting a good deal or not using Kelley's. The only reason I know bike prices to any degree is that like all of us, I'm obsessively combing the classifieds!

It would be a huge undertaking, but could turn a profit for its creator if it took off - a standard Blue Book for used bicycle values. Anyone out there bored, unemployed with a masters degree in statistics or market research? This could be your meal ticket and bring some rule to the unruly!

IceNine

As mentioned in another thread, this is a bad idea for the following reasons:

1) there are substantial regional variation in terms of college town, hipster influence, amount of commuting, and general price differences so what is fair market value in Portland is not the same as Tampa.

2) The lack of an efficient market benefits those who buy cheap old bikes, fix them up and sell them, as well as those who just buy them for themselves. Why would you want to eliminate the inefficient market?

jebensch

Good points. I guess one can always put faith in the buyer knowing that they shouldn't pay 250 dollars for a poorly maintained World Tourist.

dannyg1 

Point 1 is debatable. I believe that market variation shrinks as good information becomes universally available. That's not to discount your point which is a good one.

Point 2 though,"Why would you want to eliminate the inefficient market?", is a bit over the top. Ethics for one and besides, there's no way that the market as it stands will even take a dent by any of these ideas. My idea is about offering people who come here looking for good information on the value of their bikes, find it and leave knowing that they've come to the best source for that information. The benefit is universal; informed buying and informed selling are both based upon the same useful information. Protectionism/withholding good information for the sake of 'winning' an advantage is a kind of dishonesty, which is why it's characterized as 'taking advantage', as in 'taking advantage of the poor sucker'

IceNine

The regional differences are not caused by information or lack thereof, but rather different kinds of bike culture and infrastructure in different locations.

Protectionism? You lost me.

Buyers have no obligations to tell sellers that their price is too low. If somebody is buying a home and they find one that is below market, must they tell the seller that they are willing to go higher than the asking price? The only obligation for information disclosure in the sale of a bicycle is on the seller to disclose any known issues.

repechage

Who would be willing to compensate for all the work a useful or even half useful Bicycle Blue Book would be worth?

And right now, the Kelly Blue Book for autos is almost going bye bye, it does not follow anything close to what the wholesale or retail used car market is. It is being outpaced by online evaluators.

Little Darwin

Pont 1 seems true to me.

I can take a similar vintage lightweight, it will sell for maybe $100 in my area, within 2 hours drive (depending on direction) it can go up in value by up to 3 or 4 times as high... As I approach State College, Philadelphia, New York or other high value locations, the price goes up significantly.

Both Tolfan, and the late Stacey used to buy bikes in their areas (Lancaster or Allentown), and advertise them on the CL in Philadelphia since they could do a little driving and make a lot more than selling locally. And values in Allentown are easily twice as much for a similar bike as my area, which is an hour north of Allentown...

My LBS owner brought a bike to the Allentown area to a swap that he couldn't sell in a couple of months for $100 sitting outside his shop, and he didn't even get it off the truck before he had it sold for $300 in the Allentown area at a swap meet.

Now, whether the influence of the region is as stated in #1 or "good information" may be debatable, but frankly, if there is no hipster/commuting/college influence, there is no desire or need for the information. It really seems like pure supply and demand to me. The demand for bicycles, especially vintage bicycles does not seem as homogeneous as the demand for other items. And that demand may rely on the groups listed (and possibly others)

dannyg1 

[QUOTE=IceNine;8383830]
Protectionism? You lost me,
QUOTE]

Of the information that'd help everyone know what they were buying and what they're selling.

IceNine

I don't see that on this forum. People often post questions asking what they have just purchased or to ask for info on a specific make and model. Those threads always have plenty of info. If you know how to use a search engine or this forum's search engine you can get info on 99% of vintage bikes.

The people that you are concerned about don't know that this forum exists. So even if there was some database they'd still not be any better off than they are now. And I think most of the people who know about this forum know how to search to find make and model info that's already here.

RobbieTunes

I thought the vintage value thread would sort of solve the loading of the C&V forum with valuation questions, and I think dannyg1 is just trying to help funnel some of the overload into a reasonable direction. For that, I'm pretty grateful, will help if I can, and hope something comes of it.

It seems that a lot of the threads in C&V are still about "how much to pay, or how much is it worth?" I'm not complaining, it just seems I see more now.

I'm just more wired to the caveat emptor reasoning. If I pay too much, it's generally my fault, unless there's a misrepresentation, and ebay has a lot of that. I'm wondering if that orange Centurion frame only is really worth $300, but to someone, obviously it is, and I understand completely.

Given that, I try to do a little homework, and if dannyg1 comes up with a better matrix than the one in my little pointy head, I'll use it and be glad.

I'll still probably get ripped off once in a while, impulse buys.

cudak888 

Starting with this thread and its doppelganger, which should be under Vintage Value in the first place.

-Kurt

jtgarr

I just ran across this site https://www.bicyclebluebook.com it has used bike values you can even get a custom quote or even add for upgraded components.

shnibop 

Wow, back from the dead thread.

The link provided hardly comes close to anything C&V. I guess the idea is what the OP was asking about, only problem is, it might as well be the KBB for cars site.

As some previously suggested, the location of the sale has a huge effect on asking prices. Also, there's so many variables and basically unidentified makes and models out there, there's no chance of ever coming up with a completely thorough list. Best to just do your own research.

Road Fan

This belongs in the Flipper's Forum. Oh, wait, there isn't one!