Retail pricing on ebay? For items actually SOLD? Or just silly, crazy listing prices. Hopefully you have been looking at completed auctions that sold. The rest of the pricing on ebay is nonsense.

Ignore what people are asking on ebay. That is meaningless. There are always a handful of dreamers on ebay (first 50 listings per month are free) that post silly sky high prices. Then some newb sees these prices, and joins in on the nonsense. Those items rarely/never sell.

And everything on ebay is about condition: NOS? With original box? Or lightly worn? Or whatever? Willing to ship internationally, or limited to one country? All of this has a huge impact on prices.

Finally on ebay you have the god of variance. Even with a great ad, some items go silly high, some go low, and some in between. Hang on for those swings, and do not expect to get the top price wise. And do you have a proven track record of selling on ebay, with perfect, pristine feedback? Buyers want to buy from "safe" sellers. And sellers with a long track record tend to go out of their way to maintain it.


If their son has earned income, buy him a Roth IRA. No earned income, consider a 529 account instead. Split proceeds 50/50 (if it is a lot of money, make it 25% you, 75% them). Bad bike karma if you just pocket the $$, even though it was a gift.