Making a 'profit'

[cchris2lou]

By all means ask market value, but.......where I think people have a problem with it, certainly I have a problem with it, is the blatantly obvious attempt at profiteering........a recent example that springs to mind was a Cannondale somethingorother.....ebay auction ended Sunday evening, advert was up on here Monday morning with a sob story and a £100 mark-up..........FFS the thing wasn't even in his possesion yet :evil:

But in a fine example of instant karma (if you believe in such things...), when he got hold of the bike it turned out to be in a bit of a state and probably not worth what he'd paid.

Can you show where the £100 mark-up was, or the sob story. I didn't see any in the thread you mention.

Oh dear, I can see we're all going to fall out over this :?

He was charging more than he paid, and doing so within minutes of buying it - without even having it in hand to see if he'd got a bargain! It may have only been a few quid, but we're always only talking about a few quid - none of us are getting rich from old bits of bike (or are we? :roll: ).

As it turns out the poor chap has fallen on his sword as it sounds like only the frame and forks were worth keeping. He's gonna make a few quid from the wheels (they're non-retro so we don't care about them, right?) and fix it up as a project - Yay for him.

He could have avoided all this by waiting for it to turn up and listing it honestly. Whether he meant it or not, it looked teeny, tiny bit dishonest.

My real gripe relates to the ever increasing price of parts traded within RB, not because they are getting rarer but because a little gets added to the asking price each time...

nothing worng with a bit of wheeling and dealing .

with regards to the post with the Cannondale . the seller got flammed because of the way he was selling it . it appeared he had the bike for a long time and wanted to get rid of .
he should have mentioned he just bought it from ebay ,no longer needed it ( we all have impulse buy ) , and wanted an extra £50 to cover his time , postage cost etc....

 

[lewis1641]

My real gripe relates to the ever increasing price of parts traded within RB, not because they are getting rarer but because a little gets added to the asking price each time...

Just as an example...

I buy a pair of wheels for £25 posted. If I then decide I don't want them, to sell them at £25 posted I am making a loss of at least £10. So to break even I sell them for £35.

i entirely agree with this sentiment

 

[lewis1641]

Just as an example...

I buy a pair of wheels for £25 posted. If I then decide I don't want them, to sell them at £25 posted I am making a loss of at least £10. So to break even I sell them for £35.

And by the same token he sells them on for £45 etc, etc.

Whether I'm right, wrong, boring, pedantic, idealistic, foolish or anything else you wish to call me (possibly hypocritical too) - that is the crux of my point

but there will become a point where the market wont stand the price and they wont sell. up until that point i cant see the problem of covering your own costs

 

[Tallpaul]

but there will become a point where the market wont stand the price and they wont sell. up until that point i cant see the problem of covering your own costs

Ah, so as long as it's not you who has to absorb any costs? Gotcha

Fair enough, it's not an unacceptable philosophy - at least your honest!

 

[lewis1641]

i have very very little spare cash every month so i like to minimise costs wherever possible. thats not me being greedy, just being sensible. having said that i have also done (and of course received) a good deal of freebies

 

[barry2017]

Ah, so as long as it's not you who has to absorb any costs? Gotcha

But why should he not cover his costs? Is that wrong?

I'm not sure I understand your point here.

 

[Tallpaul]

But why should he not cover his costs? Is that wrong?

I'm not sure I understand your point here.

It was hyperbole.

The ultimate outcome was that at one point the part would reach a maximum market value and whoever held the part would be forced to absorb their costs if they wanted to sell it. But this was fine as long as ot wasn't him (or me, or you, or whoever - who wants to be the one to lose money?).

I didn't have a point, I was just highlighting what I perceived as the humour in his logic. But I'm probably not very funny.

 

[lewis1641]

i saw the hunour

 

[legrandefromage]

I got the karma claud butler frame cheap - lavished lots of work and parts to make it nice, took it for a spin - it was too bloody small...

I sold it - it covered costs and a bit extra to buy something else - I did feel a bit awkward though. :cry:

 

[lewis1641]

I got the karma claud butler frame cheap - lavished lots of work and parts to make it nice, took it for a spin - it was too bloody small...

I sold it - it covered costs and a bit extra to buy something else - I did feel a bit awkward though. :cry:

why? is it my old frame? - the person i got it off was happy, they know what happened to it and didnt care - i offered them the cash. i was happy to sell it to you for that chocolate cake. you spent time and money on it and sold it on at a price i'm assuming the purchaser was happy with. everyones happy!

if it wasnt my old frame ignore that but the logic applies.