Hot Rods eBay is what's wrong

This is a big problem, and it's the seller's fault, they're using what eBay calls "Search and Browse Manipulation" and it's very much against the rules but eBay doesn't police it, they depend on people to report those posts. It's a hassle but I report them whenever I can.

 

I've been on eBay almost 20 years with over a half million dollars in sales and this is the first time I've ever heard of this. This will make certain searches so much more fruitful. Thank you for posting it.

 

I used ebay to find a 36 Ford generator pully to use on my V8 A about a month ago and got an excellent one for $40, can't complain about that. I shop it sometimes and if the price is right I'll buy the part. Kind of like a swap meet there is always the guy with a rusty piece of crap priced twice what a nice part is worth looking for someone who needs it bad enough to pay his price. Got to know what you want and what you think it's worth any time you buy anything. The over priced stuff doesn't sell and often gets relisted.

 

I have been an eBay seller for almost 20 years, more than a half million dollars in parts sales, and I will say that the shift away from auctions to never-ending, fixed price listings was caused by buyer preference. Partially because the glut of unrelated listings showing up in a search made daily or weekly searches impossible (scroll through 300 listings 15 years ago, no problem. Now the same search might bring up 300,000 listings, no one has time for that.)

But mostly it came from buyers who want things right away, they don't want to risk losing out on an auction, and they don't want to wait a week. Post an auction now and have interested buyers barrage you with requests for "how much to buy it outright?" and very few bids. eBay isn't stupid, they have PhD's crunching data to figure out what the buyers want, and fixed price is it.

As for greed, damn right I ask whatever the market will bear and I'm willing to wait for my buyer to come, sometimes it's a week, sometimes it's a year. There aren't always ready and willing buyers for every single part each week, and I'm not giving things away just to move them out immediately.

Some buyers do not understand the incredible investment it takes to buy out huge lots of loose parts, identify, clean and test them, write listings with pictures and be willing to ship at the drop of a hat. That service adds a lot of value to an old car part, and the sources of those parts are drying up fast.

What the hobby truly needs is less guys buying up cars as investments and trying to flip them, and MORE guys buying up parts collections and parts cars and clearing out old junkyards and making those pieces available to the public.

Until that happens, be prepared for the prices on parts to keep climbing, as the prices of the cars taper off or even fall.

 

Some butt hole offered me a grand for an axle and set of wheels I paid $200 bucks for.
Can you believe the nerve of some folks.

 

The world is full of opportunists, they don't need friends and don't care who thinks what of them, and it only takes one hungry fish to bite at the worm.
As P.T. Barnum said "There's a sucker born every minute".

 

go to advance search and page down to seller section and change include to exclude and put that Chinese seller in there.

I looked up an off topic vehicle parts not long ago and got over 6,000 hits and when I did the advance search and added 2 sellers that kept listing car bras and luggage racks to the exclude list, I was left with like 180 listings that made it very searchable then.

Learned recently that if you use whohou.com instead of ebay search you actually get what you are looking for on ebay. Haven't played with it much yet, just took a quick peek at it. Looks like a different marketplace but it seems to be when you research someone it does turn out to be a seller from ebay Like I said I know very little about it yet, just heard about it..

 

Here's the deal: Private listing or no, the shill bidder, very often their dog or girlfriend, (regrettably for them sometimes it's the same) is bidding up the price. Last minute bid fever. Like many I bid what I want to pay for something and don't look back, "...elst you shall find yourself holding an over-offered bag of shit." (Shakespeare.)

 

What an asshole he was: Can I have his contact info?

 

for me when it comes to ebay......."who cares!"

 

I use eBay quite often and if there’s too many hits I tweak the search using the advanced features, works ok. I’ve gotten away from the actual “auction” items for the reasons Squablow mentioned above. Buy it now is cut n dry, just pay and they ship it.
What I don’t like is how eBay has affected swap meets. So many times I’ve found something at the swap, made a fair offer in the traditional swap meet haggle only to hear, “ Hell no, I can get twice that much if I put it on eBay”. Too bad. It’s true that the internet has given sellers access to buyers all over the world it’s just a shame it’s affected the face-to-face swap meet experience the way it has.


Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

You can tell your search to skip multiple things, by putting them in parenthesis. For instance, if I search for 1961 Pontiac I get around 70,000 hits. If I search for 1961 Pontiac -(fits) it drops to 12,000 hits. If I search for 1961 Pontiac -(fits, Oldsmobile, Buick, Chevrolet) it drops to 10,000, and so on. You can add more things like floor mats, car covers, etc. until the search filters out the majority of things you're not looking for, and then save that link for future use.

 

@Squablow is spot on. I discovered about 10 years ago that I can purchase an entire collection of parts, keep what I want and sell the rest to put some cash in my pockets. It's not for everybody (it's a hell of alot of work) but I think of it as providing a service too. I clean out what the seller wants to get gone and I take it ALL and sweep the floor while the seller takes the cash to the bank. I haul, clean, store and put the parts on the market, some of which haven't seen the light of day for many years. As far as ebay goes, I have no problem with the 10% they take off the top, it's cheaper than what it costs me to take off work, buy food, fuel, pay for accommodations and spaces at a swap meet like Hershey. I try to list parts for a fair market price and if it bids up great and if it doesn't it often sells for my bottom listing price. I NEVER bid my items up! It is true that most buyers prefer and buy-it-now price and I am just starting to move in that direction. I still think ebay is a great resource if you can weed out the crap and ignore the get-rich-quick idiots.

 

This is still a capitalistic country despite those who think sellers are greedy. eBay sellers know that there is East and West coast money. Midwesterners can stretch a penny 3 miles and have a number in their head what a part "should" cost. Guess what, a seller can try and get the bigger numbers from the coasts on somewhat hard to find parts. Squablow hit the nail on the head about what it takes to buy parts and get them ready to sell. All so the buyer can sit on their butts and do no work to buy something or complain.

 

The only time I'll say that is when some Asshat offers $25 for the part I have priced at $75 that would sell on ebay for $100. A fair offer I have no problem with, 1/3 of the asking price is not a fair offer assuming the part is priced fairly to begin with. I love to go to swap meets though and I hate to see less and less vendors setting up but the internet in general has brought that about, not just ebay.

 

I am sick and tired of reading the accusations of "greed" from every mother's son that is either .....

a) uninformed as to the real market value of the part in question.......

b) is ignorant of the principles of a free market economy.......

c) a cheap SOB who loathes the idea that anybody should make a profit from his sorry ass.......

d) has no concept, or appreciation, of what it takes for the Seller to have the parts available for sale in the first place. He actually believes everyone one else should feel privileged to cater to his wants and needs because ......well, he doesn't really know why, but that's what he expects.....

e) is a Saint who usually and knowingly distributes his 'stuff' for free or for well below a price he knows he could get if only he asked, but chooses not to because he wants to make the old car world a better place. I submit the latter is the most rare of the above choices.

edit: by the way, I am in category e) .....

Ray

 

Personally I wouldn’t buy a vehicle on EBay, there’s too many fraudulent sellers, scammers and dreamers. If I was buying, which I’m not, it would have to be somewhat local so I can look it over in person.

I have purchased a substantial number of parts on EBay without any problems. Maybe the guys selling parts are a different breed of cat...

 

It's easy to hide a bunch of flaws with an old car, parts not so much. Let's face it, most cars 40+ years old have a LOT of crappy past work/repairs.

 

I am an ebay seller of totally OT merchandise, in a highly competitive field... my margins are thin on ebay... but, my ebay sales more than pay for my website, my shipping service software, my listing and seller fees, my monthly photoshop subscription... pretty much all my business costs besides my raw materials and consumable supplies.
My profit comes from doing shows, face to face accounts, word of mouth, etc

For car stuff:
1. I dont ever seem to have enough money to "over pay" for anything
2. I keep 4 to 8 cars and 10-20 parts in my watchlist on ebay...that, combined with a somewhat daily craigslist search, FB market place views, and auction coverage, I have formed my semi-scientific way of keeping up with car and part pricing... as a bonus, all that car searching limits my available time get caught up in to much current event stuff...lol
Ebay is just another tool in the modern tool box......
Chappy

 

I scrounge eBay, and our local kijiji for stuff. I've found a lot of stuff at what I would say are reasonable prices. Purchased a bunch of stuff at Hershey this year (first time) and prices seemed a bit high overall, but what are you going to do. I was amazed at all the work those vendors had to go through probably only to bring back 90% of the stuff home. Free market is right, but they don't get it. Biggest auto swap meet in the world, and they figure somehow they'll get more money someday.
As far as greed, I feel that the world has gotten "too greedy". I'm all for capitalism, and free market, but free market is becoming an illusion as one merger after another have greated essential monopolies in everything from insurance to print media.
I had a friend who repped Suspa gas cylinders for the the big three. They had a signed contract with Chrysler at the time. Fixed price. Check comes in for lower amount. He calls what is going on. They say we lowered the price we were willing to pay. That was it. If you want to continue to supply us, that is the price. That was twenty years ago. That is what's wrong with today's companies.
Same issue we had with Prevost Car in Quebec after they were purchased by Volvo. We sat down with the new Volvo management, and their terms were if we were going to be one of their suppliers, they wanted a 5% price reduction ever year for the first four years. The owner of our company said thanks, but no thanks, and we got up and walked out of the meeting. Again, that over twenty years ago, and I'll say it again, that is what is wrong in today's world. Greedy for greedy sake is alive and well unfortunately.

 

Buy it now has taken over bidding as I see it.

 

St. Ray does have a ring to it.
He is spot on like many here have said in so many words "ya steps up or ya steps back".
And as I've asked the question before......why are people so willing to dole out hundreds of dollars every time the newest model cel phone comes out but squeeeeks like a rusty barn door when it comes to buying hot rod parts?

 

I am not quite sure I understand how ebay is "ruining the hobby for everyone." How exactly is that defined?

I have bought one car on eBay, sight unseen. It was better than pictures and phone description given by seller, which was a "classic car dealer." I have sold 3 cars on ebay and thousands of parts, although I quit selling more than a dozen years ago. I do still buy quite a bit of stuff on there, from parts to automotive books, and am quite happy with every purchase. On auctions, I bid what I am willing to pay and if I win, great; if I don't, no problem. Another one will come along. As others have said, ebay is one tool among many.

 

The only problem with this is that you have to exclude the seller (or sellers) every time you do a search. Used to be you could put in to exclude seller in one place in your profile and you would never have to see another listing from that particular seller again. Somewhat like the ignore feature here on the HAMB. One of eBay's "upgrades" got rid of that option. It would be nice to see them bring it back. I can think of a half a dozen sellers I would immediately put on it.

 

More often than not, those sellers are breaking one or more of eBay's rules, and if you can figure out what one is, you can report them, and if enough people report them (sometimes it only takes one), you can get them suspended or removed. It is a hassle, but it's for the common good.

 

I just purchased my 3rd car on ebay this afternoon . The last two turned out to be better than I expected . and after talking to the owner I am sure I will be happy with this one .So I don't think ebay has ruined my hobby

 

Well as for prices on cars some of those cars have been on Ebay at those prices for months. Same with Craigslist. A local guy has a mid 30's mopar coupe with a 283 and glide with hemi valve cover stuck on the 283. It's not that bad of car but it isn't a 25 K car it's maybe a 15k car if that. He also has a nice in the photos 59 Cad coupe deville that seems to be in line with what I see that model going for. I use to see the Mopar at shows 20 years go and it looks like a 20/30 year old build. You can ask what ever price you want but you may never get it unless you run into a fool with more money than sense.
I'd play hell gathering parts if it weren't for the internet right now. Local wrecking yards crushed out the old stuff a long time ago, there are two swap meets a year that are within 70 miles and the rest are 160 (Portland) to a bit over 200 (Monroe). Last time I went to Portland I bought 1 car part and a skill saw but spent 400 bucks on the trip counting motel room and meals and gas. That 400 would have gone a long way on Ebay or the Hamb Classifieds.
I've never had problems selling stuff on Ebay, good description, take real high rez photos with a real camera and post an honest starting price. The best part is that the guys who buy the parts usually have done their homework and know what they are buying. Can't say that for FB Market place where the strange ones slip out of the woodwork.

Buying= I bid in one of two ways. I bid my "I won't get hurt if I get it for this but I am not paying more" bid early in the auction and that's that. If I get it I get it if I don't I don't. If I really want it. I wait until the last few minutes or seconds and bid and hope to snipe it at a reasonable price. I may be the one that someone complained that he had had the winning bid for five days and 23 and a half hours then someone jumped in and stole it from him. Yuppers, I do that, guilty as charged.

 

I searched and came upon this old Mercury powered SV tractor, love it

 

I am a buyer and seller on ebay. Only got screwed on a car I bought because of the pos seller. But then again I should have looked at it.

Now when people have "make an offer" sometimes I will low ball and have had many people accept my offer which suprises me honestly.

The fees seem to be keep adding up on ebay and paypal. But if I dont like it i will try to sell elsewhere. Pretty simple actually.

I do like Ebay because it's easier to find parts.

Now on the other hand I have posted wanted ads on here and on other sites. Seems like when someone knows you want a part then they think its gold and ask more than it's worth. Comes with the territory.

 

Except, you will miss the one ones listed as flat head or flat-head.