People in collectors markets across the internet know well enough that everything on eBay sells for higher prices than you’ll get elsewhere. The best we can do in something like the C&V appraisals forum is assume those asking about their bikes at least know that much. We can’t do all the work for them.
We would also be doing a disservice to continue influencing people that bikes like a Raleigh Portage should sell for $1800. That’s a disservice to everyone interested in purchasing these bikes. Both sides of the coin are equally important for any collectors hobby. Do we want to shoot oursleves in the foot by continuing to influence eBay markups?
The appraisals forum does a good job, imo, of appraising something for the C&V sales forum, offerup, and Craigslist. eBay is an outlier and it’s own beast entirely. And eBay users can simply look up old auctions for a valuation if they care to go that route.
In my opinion, as hobbyists who really care about this thing and are not looking to just totally milk it for money, it’s our job to offer fair prices for the community to keep this hobby accessible.
Last edited by polymorphself; 06-27-22 at 10:58 PM.