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Knocking me on the price!!

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When I was at memory lane last year for the first time it cracked me up how often someone bought something from a few rows down and then put it out for sale at a higher price minutes later. I think I seen the same bike at 5 different locations with a different asking price. I sell quite often but I sell to buy the stuff I like.
 
When I was at memory lane last year for the first time it cracked me up how often someone bought something from a few rows down and then put it out for sale at a higher price minutes later. I think I seen the same bike at 5 different locations with a different asking price. I sell quite often but I sell to buy the stuff I like.

It's not unusual for a bike to trade hands five or six times at Memory Lane.
 
This hobby is fun and I love the circus. I win some and , well...some stuff I've taken a bath on. Interesting thing is, some folks get so pissed about one bad transaction they've made here on the CABE and lack of expected support from Cabe membership, that they disappear ... never to be heard from again. How sad is that?
If you are a seller at Memory Lane, it's always fun to watch Ebay the following week. I've seen stuff I've sold sitting on the bay, unsold, like Otis Redding...for a long, long time.
 
I make a point of just buying an item ( complete bike or accessory )at what I can get it for. I have no interest in saying it's for my Aunt Martha or It's a part I have been searching for years to complete a project or any other reasons at all. It's actually not the sellers business why I want something. Why open a can of worms that doesn't need to be.
 
This is definitely not the case for me with 99% of my dealings with folks on the CABE, but recently I sold an ND two speed rear end with shifters, etc. to another CABER from the 'for sale' section. I put a very nice price on it, well under what I probably could have gotten on ebay for it. I posted lots of large clear photos of it as well, and even told the buyer to please ask for more photos and be sure he knew what he was getting and that he wanted it. I don't know that much about these ND 2 speed set ups, in fact had just posted questions about IDing what I had, so I expected buyers to look at the pix and decide if it's right for them.

Well, the buyer received the thing quickly and well packed, and I sent a tracking number immediately. It was exactly as described and photographed, but the buyer decided to say I misrepresented it and wanted me to adjust the price. I told him to just return it, but the only response I got from him said he would always remember me as a "dishonest seller". Again, I replied to "send it back", but never got a response after that. His only goal was to further negotiate the already good price, and grind me down further.

Soon after, I noticed an ebay seller (coincidentally with the very same name as the CABE handle of this buyer) selling just the shifter, and it closed for more than half the price of all the stuff I sold him. I looked at his past sales, and clearly he has been trying to get parts from CABERs at the lowest possible prices, then sell on ebay to make his profit. It's his right, of course to buy low and sell high, but this kind of grinding tactic with a private seller is really abhorrent to me when it's really just to make more money. The end result is I will think twice before listing something here for a good price instead of just going straight to ebay with it. It only takes one bad, money grubbing actor to ruin the goodwill of sellers here on the CABE. The bike community as a whole is quite wonderful, and I've had many, many good exchanges with folks here. I've forged some excellent friendships along the way, but sadly there are people like this exploiting the goodwill and good nature of sellers here for their own personal gain. I will not name this buyer, but if you want to avoid the same fate with him, PM me and I'll fill you in. Now that I know his game, I will certainly avoid him altogether in the future.
 
As much as we like to complain about Ebay it does get the job done and I have to say that selling here on the Cabe has been pretty frustrating lately. Seems like there is an epidemic of flaky buyers who make offers and then evaporate into thin air. I always end my replies with "Let me know what you'd like to do." Why is it so hard to grant this simple courtesy?
 
It's not unusual for a bike to trade hands five or six times at Memory Lane.
My foggy brain remembers going to Brimfield 30 years ago and hearing dealers say "It left the field for $x" Telling stories of an item that entered low and was flipped several times on the same antique flea market field...Some times for thousands of percent higher.'
I think it is great if someone sells an item they bought from me at a profit- they will come back and buy more...
 
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