Projects What the heck happened to asking prices??????!!!!!

I call bull shit.
That works only if what the seller has he got for free, has a regular supply of the free, and then he controls the market selling what he obtained for free at what the market will support in sales based on a need for such an item or service, controlling the volume of sale to control/maintain prices.
But in order to do that... he probably needs a Gov. license to sell in the first place or risk a fine /imprisionment for not having one.

It was mentioned that maybe after 3 years I should understand that I'm over priced or should lower the price if I wished to actually sell it? I say, I've given them three years to figure out they can't afford to buy what I got to sell, they haven't done anything to rectify that position, or they just don't need what I got to sell bad enough to want to buy because cheaper is around. What I don't see is my need to accomidate their wanting.

What he said. Because like it or not, It's the truth. It the consumer that buys and who pays. Think plastic bag tax. Bottle tax. Tire tax. Carbon Tax. Gas tax. Recycling tax fees. The hidden cost of playing in the sand box.

 

Well Noel,
If one can find what you have for less money, doesn’t that mean you may be priced over the market value?

In the past 3 years of your asking price, what has happened to your dollar buying power? I/e if you get your asking price in 3 years from now, would it have been financially better to have lowered the price 3 years ago?
I guess I’m an odd duck, I put something up for sale because I don’t want/need it anymore. I never bought or made something with the intent to get top dollar for it when I was done with it, be it a car or a plow.

 

Man, Are they really $4k now?
You must be talking about a built one ready to run? About 10 years ago I bought a new winters center with R&P and a take out ‘40 rear and put one together for about $2K. I hope they aren’t $4K to build one now, though I guess I wouldn’t be very surprised they way things are going right now…

 

No rust, straight and true 40 Ford wheel. I mean no rusty pits at the tire surface or anywhere on the face, not a wadded up primed and sanded wheel, a wheel you might find in say, I dunno, 1942. Yes it's that nice. How much? Why?

 

I have three garden sheds full of car stuff. A lot of which had been dragged to swap meets for many years and still never sold. Stuff I tried to sell 30+ years ago and didn't and just fired back in the shed and forgot about. But all of the sudden in March 2020 when they shut the border and people now had time on their hands I started getting a lot of response to my ads. I sold stuff that i'd been trying to sell since the 80's and sometimes ads would be on Craigslist for less than five minutes before i'd have a buyer. No matter the asking price. Instead of the usual 50% that would never show up and 10% that would ever offer more than half my price I was getting 100% showing up and paying full price.

For instance those two piece 80's 5 Litre Ford intakes that curve over the left valve cover... i'd never been able to get money for one... had five in the shed and was getting $75 to $150 each for them! Off of just one ad I sold all five. At some points i'd have three people all over at the same time.

That started going back to normal by the end of 2020 but still just today i've had someone over to buy parts and am running out of stuff to sell. The one shed is gone, torn down, and the others now have room to store stuff from the garage and basement.

People I know that were selling cars and pickup trucks were doing well too.

 

Enjoy the musical chairs as long as the music plays..it will stop eventually...but then start up again....

 

I’ve seen pairs not as nicely described as your wheel for 150. Crazy in my eye. But that’s just asking prices, selling, not a clue.

 

Well Noel,
If one can find what you have for less money, doesn’t that mean you may be priced over the market value?

Well B,
How about we change the angle from which we look? Instead of from the angle of seeing an unfinished project car looking to be sold for $14,500.00, we see a hand holding $14,500 dollar bills looking to be spent?

I noticed your in Oakland. That my friend is living the car dream. But due to circumstances, my $14500cdn car is worth about $.35 on the dollar less with your buying power. Take a holiday and bring a trailer.
I'm only going to guess that they sold a few more down there then they did up here, but that's just a guess? We didn't see much for cars from what I'm told untill the 50's.

So...if you lived up here for a winter you'd discover a good portion of the population is going to think a winter holiday long before they think about buying a hot rod. They couldn't give a darn no matter the price.
And really, if you think Edmonton Alberta in the 6 months of winter, knowing you'll expect 2 spring, two summer, two fall before the winter tires go back on and those flights are full.

But let's face it, if your a young guy in the business of building cars, it is your way to make a buck, you know the easy and more complete cars are few and far between so do trucks instead.


In the past 3 years of your asking price, what has happened to your dollar buying power?

It's lessened, as it has for most everyone. However, and to be clear, that car is nothing more then a dinner not eatten, a holiday not taken, a new pair of shoes not bought and worn. Or paper in the bank.

I/e if you get your asking price in 3 years from now, would it have been financially better to have lowered the price 3 years ago?

lol, some days I think of all the pussy I could have been chasing...but I don't regret spending the little bit of money it took to get where I'm at with this or the other cars I own. Isn't that what you do with your money is buy stuff? Yesterday, today tomorrow? I call it saving? But in another three years, I'll hopefully weld up some bullit holes, prime some color to it, maybe drop a small block in it and of course, ask more for it.

I guess I’m an odd duck, I put something up for sale because I don’t want/need it anymore. I never bought or made something with the intent to get top dollar for it when I was done with it, be it a car or a plow.

Not at all. Keeping things light, keeping it tight. Maybe that's living in Oakland?
Edmonton used to be bit of a wild west. Nowadays, well let's say just they keep the bike lanes open in the winter time and we have two bins out back.
Our demographics are changing. That social change does affect our hobby and it's automotive value especially from the perspective of holding the money to spend and seeing a value in doing so. Scarcity aside, I'm a keeper or I'm a throw it the hell out. And if I had a field... The idea of parking it next to a plow would be a possibility.

 

Advertised local for @ $5k.

$2500

$6000.


Maybe it's not the price we are asking that prevents a sale, but rather the condition of it for the money being asked? I mean really, spend a couple grand and your going to be driving... just not one of the above. Spend $20k and I'm sure they all will run enough to take you some where?

 

All good Noel, except I’m about 90 miles from Oakland

A man needs to stay true to himself, if that means you won’t let go of something whether it be price, history you have if with it, etc, I can respect that.

 

I'm mad that I can't buy Google at the IPO price and sell it for today's...

 

Had this conversation with my boss a bunch of months ago .

we had the shop absolutely filled with forklifts , cheap trade ins , non runners , parts trucks etc. We where bursting at the seams and had a huge order of new forklifts coming in. We scraped out roughly 40 units probably 150,00-200,000 if we could have prepped and put up most of them for sale .

it killed me losing all those parts and cores .
But like I said to my boss , every sqft of this warehouse has a cost and a value , a unit sitting here for 2-3 years doing nothing ends up costing you money .
Some times it’s not about getting what you want out of something , but just getting what you can and moving on.

like I said we scraped those 40 units and on the high side we could have made 200,000 grand.

last month we sold almost 1.5 million , we could not of don’t that if we did not have the space .

I don’t grow personal attachments to my stuff , it’s just stuff . When it’s no longer serving it’s purpose or I’m board of it or what ever time to move on.

 

one thing not mentioned is with the number of scammers on Craigslust, Fbook etc many people have stopped
advertising their castoffs that they might sell for a few $ just to clear them out. I know my better half will not
allow me to advertise anything that would bring people to our house. I junked a good running 216 and trans
just to get out of my way, would have given it away if I could have figured away without having people come
to the house.

 

I offer them half price to get him pissed off, then it's a challenge for the seller to get it sold. Doesn't always work, but sometimes

 

I'm thinking the Bitchin/crying about prices does/will not change anything, we've had threads both ways prices down, now up and if you're a young man get used to it as all these things run in a cycle and now is a time to sell, wait a few years and it will change, always has and always will. Three things are for sure, death, taxes, and nobody is promised tomorrow, enjoy your life, the hobby, where there's a will there's a way. Best advice ever from my parents (depression era people) "There are No excuses, Make it happen"

 

I never got in the.old cars for money. I sell a car I've built and driven awhile then sell it to cover the cost of the build and buy another junker and do it again. I'd like to keep them all, but I can't afford to

 

This is basically what I was trying to say above. Just give it some time and things will change, the price is going to drop, of that I'm certain, and I don't think its going to be long. I'm already seeing signs of the change coming. If you're into these cars for the money, sell now. If you want something but the prices are too high, just wait, they'll be coming down.

 

Built, less only brakes, they are $2799.99, plus $99.99 shipping.

You can roll your own for far less.

 

It has been mentioned before, and not to be ageist, just speaking to reality: A whole lot of these cars and parts that are for sale belong to folks that are somewhere between old, and very old.

Unless they change their mind on prices, your chance to buy will come at the estate sale, if the heirs do not simply, which is all to common, send it all to the scrapper.

@Blues4U is correct. Pricing is cyclical. It will not be long before the long thread pops up about prices going too low, with people complaining that they cannot recoup their "investment".

 

Not being a "buy & sell" guy myself, I was talking to a buddy who is pretty good at flipping. I was asking him what he does when he just can't get the money he wants for a car or parts. He said lower the price, get it sold, and make it up on the next deal.
Forget all about the economy and inflation. No ands, ifs, or buts, if your car is for sale for 3 years and still has not sold, you have clearly and radically overestimated its value. You have locked out even the guy who wants exactly what you have but who still cannot justify your price.

 

If you are sitting on cash, or something that has cash value, every minute that you sit on it it loses value.

Inflation exists. It is only rarely that we have deflation. Only the rate of inflation changes.

What that means is that, in whatever currency you are using, that currency loses buying power over time.

Wages have not kept place with inflation in my entire lifetime. Every minute of every day, of every year, the buying power of every dollar that I make has dropped. Thankfully I make more of them now.

$20 in 1972 purchased a whole lot more than it does in 2022. Lately, prices are way up, pushing buying power way down.

For a mind-bending example: I make two-times as much as my parents did, with both of their professional careers combined. If you took the same percentage of my income, as the percentage of my parents income that they paid for the full-value of the house that I grew up in, that percentage of my income would not even be just a down payment high enough to avoid PMI on the very same house. It has not had any major upgrades since, either.

All that said, if you have wed yourself to a price, and you are unable to sell at that price, it is the incorrect price.

Every minute of every day, of every year that you insist on that price, it becomes even more incorrect.

 

The problem with too low an offer is real. I've had a guy shoo me out of his garage and close the door when he didn't accept the offer. Also been at a swap meet when a friend had quite rare , mint shape four barrel carb on a SB Chev intake (Rochester 4 Jet? I dunno, mid sixties one before they used Quadrajets) One guy kept coming back offering a third of what he was asking and he finally told him "Forty bucks" to which the guy offered him $20 for just the carb. Steve said no, $40 , have it all . The guy pulled out a $20 bill and Steve picked the intake off the table, high over his head and slammed it on the ground carb first. Carb was destroyed in a million pieces! Steve tells him it's his for $20 now. The guy starts crying "Do you know how much that carb's worth??" Steve says "Apparently not forty bucks".

 

I see Craigslist ads in a similar vein.

"No lowballers. The price is $1800, or I send it to scrap" when the scrap value is about $90-100, depending on the recycler.

If it is something that I can use, I contact them and ask them to get a quote from the scrapper, and I will double that.

 

See that with engines for sale as well on CL, etc. “500 or it’s going to scrap”.
I wonder if those who say that think someone will pay to see it not go to scrap?

 

Speaking in terms of strictly monetary value, the value of anything that you have is zero. Your opinion of value does not necessarily have any bearing on value.

I know that is a difficult thing for folks to understand and accept. The monetary value of anything is set at the time of transaction, and that value is to the seller. Once the buyer takes possession, it reverts to zero.

If you have something that you think is work 1000x, and the best offer that you can get is 500x, it is worth 500x.

If you do indeed get 1000x, then that is the value.

I am seeing used cars sell for what I think are stupefying, irrational prices, but it does not matter what I think. They are selling! That's the current market for used cars.

Someone offered me $5k over book value for my wife's car. That is close to what we paid for it! I of course said no, as she needs it to work.

If people are paying, that is the market rate.

 

I went to TEN swap meets in 2021. Petit Jean, Chickasha and 8 in Texas. I am looking for parts for many ol cars and its all ordinary stuff but I didnt find anything to buy last year

 

A rich man goes to college and a poor man goes to work.
The rich man thinks about economics and inflation and the poorman feels the pain of it?

I read on the news today Deadmonton is going to see an increase in homeless...forecasting double from last year. I mention this because lets face it, not everyone can afford to leave.

While inflation eats away at our purchasing power, those with money still buy and will continue to do so, those that don't have the money... they do without.

This hobby we dump into, we know we're paying to play. Most will agree, your doing the work or going to work, but it's still work to play in the game. Working for free is volunteering.

And yea, you could have the prettiest pig out there, but at the same time there is only so many who want pork.

 

its funny how us younger guys have only experienced high prices on classics, so we never second guess them.

 

What has happened to asking prices? Two answers. Short and sweet.

1. Inflation.
2. Supply and Demand.

That is it.

 

I saw this listed.......$8500.