horatio 

Just wanted to rant a little. I came across a Centurion Turbo, my size, within 10 minutes of my house, for a great price. Guy said he would hold it for me until Friday, but his wife sold it within 15 minutes of my agreed-upon arrival time.

goatalope

Wives...

dweenk 

I feel your pain. About 14 months ago I saw a Peugeot city bike in Bumblebee colors with some nice accessories (can't remember the model now) for sale cheap about 2 hours away. It stayed on CL for around 2 weeks, until I had a chance to grab it. When I called the owner at work, he said his wife had given it to a recycler.

gomango 

I hate to miss on items I really want.

Yesterday I missed on a stem on an ebay auction.

I lost by 8 cents.

horatio 

Whoever got it also picked up a well-worn Trek 330.

likebike23

That sucks, but any time you can't pick a bike up immediately or exactly when the seller wants, there's a good chance it'll get sold on you. Something else will pop up, they always do.

wrk101

+1 Regardless of any "agreement" for later pickup, I ALWAYS pick up deals immediately. I usually tell them "I am going to be in your area anyway". Of course, I am going to be in their area to pick up the bike....

Realize on deals sellers are often inundated with responses, sometimes with offers well over asking price.

Do not wait!

10 minutes away? I've never found one that close.

Myself, I don't believe in luck. Perseverance and hard work trump luck. Often the best deals require lots of driving and immediate action as there are always others out there ready and willing to pounce.

horatio 

Yeah. I know. I'm looking for that Goodwill DeRosa any day now! lol

horatio 

You are right, of course. There is no one to blame but myself, but I had my reasons for waiting.

auchencrow

+100 .

- And you can bet your bippy that when a guy hangs the blame on his wife/daughter/mother, it's because the GUY got a better offer and concluded it was too good a deal for you.

lostarchitect 

If it makes you feel better, the other guy may have had his max bid at quite a bit more than that--but it stopped when it exceeded your bid.

dddd

For what it's worth, maybe a good time to reflect for a minute on the last really good deal that you came across.

Might have made this one seem like small-fries.

This weekend has been unusually lucky for me, I'll try to post about it. It'll probably be your turn for a lucky find next week or next month, or whenever.

jiangshi

No, you bid 8 cents less that the least the winner was willing to spend. He could have bid $100 more.

Citoyen du Monde

One e-bay, the minimum bid increment is always more than 8 cents, so that means that the price that is visible WAS the actual price.

RoadGuy

Not always true. If the Current High Bid exceeds the latest bid from another party, but exceeds the new bid by less than the normal next bid increment, the Current High Bidder will still win the auction.

For example: Let's say the current High Bid is $10.00 (and the Current High Bidder has a Maximum Bid of $11.08). A new Buyer bids $11.00. The next bid increment would normally be $11.25, BUT SINCE THE OLD HIGH BIDDER HAD A PREVIOUSLY RECORDED MAXIMUM BID OF $11.08, the NEW High Bid becomes $11.08, and the Current High Bidder retains the High Bid at $11.08, unless someone else bids $11.33 or more.

If someone won the auction and the amount that he/she bested the next Highest Bid was less than the next normal bid increment, that means that the Old High Bidder exceed the top next higher/newer Bid.

72Paramount

I hate eBay.... But I love all the campy bits that keep coming in the mail

RoadGuy

With Craigslist Deals, if you are a Buyer, it's never a done deal until you are at the Seller's place, have handed the Seller the money, and have the thing/s in your car and are driving away. Don't assume that the Seller is going to wait weeks, days, or hours for you to get your act together and get to his/her place with the cash. Most Sellers are going to sell to the first person that show up at his/her place with the cash. Craigslist Buyers are notoriously flakey, and a lot of the time, they say they are on the way, and they never arrive.

With Craigslist Deals, if you are the Seller, you just want the Buyer to show up when he/she says he/she is going to, but you know that they probably will never show up. If you agree to hold the bike for an hour, or two, or a day or two for them to arrive, you should have the personal integrity to do what you say. Many Craigslist Sellers are just as flakey as Craigslist Buyers, and they will tell everybody to come on over, without telling them that they said the same thing to ten people within ten minutes of each other. They take the money from the first Buyer that shows up and tough luck for the others. Once you tell someone that you will sell the thing to him at a specific price, that's the price. Don't jack it up, even if someone else offers you more to hold it for a week for him/her. That person probably doesn't have any money, and wants to stall you. That person probably will never have the money.

Personally as a Buyer, I will not drive to go get a bike, unless the Seller promises that he/she will hold the bike for me for the time that it will take me to drive over. If I can't get there for two or three days, it must not be that good a deal, because I'm willing to take my chances. The really good deals will not last, you need to get there without delay. If the Seller jacks up the price over what you agreed to over the phone, try to get the Seller to honor the price you agreed on, and if not, walk away.

CliffordK

Every once in a while I'll win an E-Bay auction which takes it right up to my maximum bid.
Friday I snagged a pair of brake levers for $7.77, with the previous bid being $7.75 (2 cent difference).

If the final bid is 100% of a person's max bid, it normally means the next previous proxy bid was less than the minimum bid increment. Consider the following situations:
Current Amount: $5, with Bidder A having max of $10. If the increment is $1, then bidder B can bid anything greater than $6.
If Bidder B bids $9.96, then A wins at $10.
If Bidder B bids $10, then A wins at $10
If Bidder B bids $10.08, then B wins at $10.08

One has to exceed the previous bid by the minimum bid increment, but one does not have to exceed proxy bids by that amount.

As far as Craigslist purchases, I've had a couple where a seller said he would hold something, and then didn't.
If it is within 10 minutes from your house, then just go there as quick as possible to pick it up.

I'm currently working on assembling a Litespeed Frame which I snagged for $100.
I decided it wasn't worth dickering on that one. It isn't quite the frame I would have chosen, but it still should be nice.
I wrote an e-mail as soon as I saw it, then another one a couple of hours later.
Seller said I was #3 (sent him another reply that I'd wait to see what happened). Also made him aware that I was prepared to pay the full $100.
The next day I got a message saying that the first two flaked, and I was there a couple of hours later to pick up my new Titanium frame.

gomango 

Likely quite true.

I just missed, but I can always pay for a new one.

It's only double the ebay price.

tmh657 

Indeed. I have found that a lot of buyers want to buy what you have but guess what, they just don't have the money. Trek touring bikes, 520/620/720 seem to be so popular I have sold 3 of them to people that were more than 100 miles away after holding them for 2-5 weeks. The buyer said, "I have to have that". They sent the funds Paypal and I held the bike. No problem.

I have missed a bunch of deals and also scored quite a few. To be fair there are plenty of honest sellers that keep their word when holding an item for the 30 minutes it takes to drive to buy the thing.
It helps to be perfectly clear when communicating. I will tell the seller, "I buy and sell a lot on CL. I know there are a lot of flaky folks that can't make a commitment. I am not one of those people and I will be there". It gets their attention.

Often when buying the bike or whatever the seller might say, "I must have priced this thing very well I have had 20 e mails". I usually give the buyer my opinion on the situation, like his $100 bike got a big response because it has a Columbus frame and some Campy bits but it's a mid level bike that has been sitting for 20 years. If he put 5 hours of work into it and about $60 it would be a worth 2.5 to 3x as much. He typically says, "oh" as he eyes his Porsche and $22,000 Harley in his garage.

I actually returned a bike to a seller which was a great deal. I bought a 1990 Trek 520 in a very small size for $100 on July 4, 2013 from a lady that was about 3 miles away. She called the next morning in tears and said she was moving and sold it in a moment of weakness. It had been her pride and joy for many years and could she get it back. I returned it. She let me keep the pedals for some reason. Karma for the future.

Citoyen du Monde

We are saying the exact same thing. Whenever the bid increment is less than a full minimum bid increment, you know that the TRUE maximum bid of the winning bidder was exposed. If the final auction price is a full minimum bid increment above the second highest price, then one cannot know what the winning bidder had actually bid.

CliffordK

The reality is that for some items, if the seller puts $100 on it, they might get 100 calls.
If they put $200 on the item, they might get ZERO calls.

So, perhaps the $100 price was low, but it was the price that brought the customers.

And, price it fairly, and there is no need to deal with the buyers who want to bargain for every half cent.

gomango 

It really comes down to the fact that I cut it too close. Should have bid another $10.

That may have sealed the deal.

RoadGuy

Never overbid, unless you really want or need the item. The problem is overbidding is that there will always be someone to out bid you, no matter how much you bid. That's the Sucker's Bid that Sellers and auctioneers are looking for. If you want something that bad. and price is no object, then wait till the last seconds to bid to improve your chances of winning, and reduce your final cost, and bid the maximum that you are willing to pay.

Never revisit. Do you homework, decide what something is worth, and set a limit. If the bid exceeds your limit, let the thing go. Just because someone is willing to pay more than you are doesn't mean the other Buyer/Buyers are right. There will be more items tomorrow or the day after. Live to bid another day (hopefully the other Buyers will be broker by then).

rjhammett

The biggest miss I suffered is one that I made the decision to miss out on. The local CL had a listing for a complete Dura Ace groupset (including brifters) for $100. I immediately contacted the seller and made arrangements to stop by right away. As I was getting ready to go my wife reminded me that we had to leave shortly for the opera and that I would not be back in time to make it. I called the seller back to let him know I couldn't make it then and he said that since I called he had a ton of other calls and was going to take the next in line. I lost out on the groupset but there was peace at home.