First, this was not exactly the deal of the century. I thought it was a pretty good deal, but not like some of the deals others have posted around here recently.

As far as this particular auction, seller did make a few mistakes.

First, this one was under: "Collectibles/Transportation/Bicycle/Bicycle Parts" category. If you did a general search by name (Paramount), you got it just fine. But if you were doing a search in the regular category: "Sporting Goods/Outdoor Sports/Cycling/Bicycles & Frames/Road Bikes", you would never find it. Even if you were searching in the collectibles area, most would not be looking for complete bikes in the "bicycle parts" category.

Another "mistake" was the scheduling of the auction. It ended Monday evening, 5PM PST. Monday is a bad day to end auctions, and 5PM is a bad time too (too early in the evening, anyone on the West Coast would be still at work, or driving home).

Description was sketchy too: "Sorry I don't know too much about this bike but picked it up because it was a Paramount." No details, pictures were OK, but not great, etc.

It was a VERY experienced seller, 13,800 feedback score. But 99.9% of what he sells is vintage Krate parts.

So this one had some posting issues, but not too bad.

But each minor mistake cuts down the competition. Get the size wrong, that cuts down some competition. Wrong category, ditto. No details, fewer yet. It all compounds, and eventually, can make quite a difference.

I can see how the seller got it in this category. Like I mentioned above, he mainly sells Krate/Stingray parts. That is the right category for those parts. I bet he just copied an old ebay listing of his, and edited it to reflect the Paramount. I do that myself all of the time. You just have to be really careful about some key details, like the category, shipping price, and so on. I have cost myself some $$ doing this on occasion. Usually I bungle the shipping, as I almost always do flat rate.

Lots of variance in ebay auction pricing. Deals come and go. Best not to fall in love with any single auction, and wait for a deal to come by.