# Ebay Tricycle Seller Rant



## ridingtoy (Aug 1, 2012)

Seems like a lot of ebay sellers dealing with older tricycles are getting greedier these days. They pull an old used and abused trike out of a barn and think they have a gold mine in ebay sales. Used to be you could win trikes from the ‘40s and ‘50s needing work with a bid of about $20 or $30…only 1930’s and older models went for more. The one exception was the Rollfast Hoppy trike of the early ‘50s which went higher no matter the condition.

I found this old trike just listed yesterday - http://www.ebay.com/itm/300752229347?campid=5335809022 – and could see it was definitely being sold “as-is” by the condition. The thing is, I knew exactly what this tricycle started out to be back in 1953 – a Garton Police model just like the one I had as a child and have been searching for. http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showth...p-Swap-Meets&highlight=garton+police+tricycle You can see the original white paint and black pin stripes on the section of front fender that has come out from under the fork. The head light mounting holes are also apparent on the fender. The straight front fork and rear step design was also correct for this Garton model. Of course, all the police accessories are long gone – windshield, red lens Delta headlight, siren, and antenna. Most of the original paint was black except the head and fender, so I guess that’s why someone went crazy and painted everything black later on.

Well, the seller originally listed it for a $1 opening bid since it was in “as-is” condition and I was considering bidding on it, hoping it would go fairly cheap in this condition. I sent the seller a question regarding the wheel size which he answered, BUT at the same time he upped the opening bid to $50!!! Was that because he thought he now had someone on the hook and could reel in a bigger profit? If that’s the case he’s definitely mistaken! Between his $50 flat rate shipping (unreasonable IMO for a trike going from Ohio to Maryland) and $50 opener the tricycle now isn’t worth picking up in it’s present condition to me.

I’ve seen a lot of old fixer upper trikes lately where the seller has big dollar signs in their eyes and is asking WAY too much for what they have. I’d love to buy and fix some of them up, but not paying hundreds of dollars for something needing complete restoration costing hundreds more. Instead of ending up with people who care about old toys and could fix them up, these old relics just languish with a seller who won’t budge off his ridiculous asking price. Guess they would rather the toy rust completely away before letting it go at a reasonable price.

Sorry for the rant…it’s just frustrating to be looking for a certain bike or trike for so long and then have a seller pull a stunt like this because you showed a bit of interest, and is also unreasonable with his shipping charges. Granted, his increase in opener wasn't that high, it's just the idea he could have done it only because of my interest that irks me.

Dave


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## abe lugo (Aug 1, 2012)

*that way too much shipping for that trike*

I hate when sellers are not out with it and making up money in the shipping coat.
Too bag about it being a douchey seller, I would not buy just based on how the seller prices their shipping and wait for another to show up. Also take the item off your watch list.


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