Effect of eBay on AMCA swap meets

[azpaul50]

FOR PAPS

Paps- You are indeed a guru of elevated status! I completed the deal with the gentleman you mentioned and I am sitting here among the palms and cacti astounded at having parts I thought I would never find! This man (I believe he does not prefer notariety) was knowledgable, friendly, helpful, kind, honest, timely, and probably, a Republican! AMCA rules! I am so pleased, I have called my lady friend and told her, "We are ON for tonight! But, SAFETY FIRST! I hope she doesn't get stuck with the windshield brackets or carb parts when she rolls over!! **"America The Beautiful" gets softer and light fades to black......**

[Paps]

Thank you for the gracious complements Bro ! I must humbly refuse them though. It was this one of it's kind organization, the [AMCA], and it's awesome membership, who rightly deserve the high fives.
Yes indeedy !!!!!!!! My Buddy is special ! A rare breed to say the least !! So are most of the AMCA membership. This is what it is all about. Ebay can score some parts, magazines can score some, swapmeets can score some, But all in all........PEOPLE are the best source, whether by any of the previously mentioned sources, it still takes good people to come through for ya. Jeez...I am still searching for an NOS OEM 1964-65 Servi-Car starter pinion gear. Paps

[azpaul50]

$4500 '61 Duo on eBay?

Anyone know what's up with that '61 Duo on eBay for "Buy It Now" $4500? The description says it is a documented 99.5 pt AMCA bike yada, yada. Meanwhile, you have to email to get on the approved bidder list. So, I did with no response. Then you get into his story and it is another "I'm selling for a friend" deal. Then you read the shipping info and it obviously comes from another ad saying he'll overnight it to you for $10 bucks. It says they are in "St. Augustine, USA." I wonder what that is all about. I saw it after it had been posted only 4 hours (on Nov 20th).

["jb"]

If it sounds to good.....

most likely if it sounds to good to be true .....it most likely is, A friend of mine got scammed last year out of 1100.00 his recourse was none he sent the funds western union and he never saw anything for his hard earned cash. When I asked him later about it he said ..."I should have known better it sounded to good to be true."

[KDR]

I especially love the one where you can buy a '63 split-window vette for a Buy It Now price of $8500.00 but must be pre-approved to bid. Must send money via Western Union............

[azpaul50]

Ad Gone!

Well...they ended the ad last night saying it was a mistake in the posting of the prices. That still doesn't explain the weird shipping instructions. I'm waiting to see if the ad comes back. I'm betting the correct price was supposed to be $14,500 which seems just a bit too cheap given the description.

[cheifrider]

ok guys ,oley is over .right now there are approx 1000 items for sale in the indian section of ebay motors. id be willing to bet that within the next few weeks you will see this number climb up over 2000and stay there for awhile.this tells me that many dealers have gone to oley with the intent of buying parts to specifically sell on ebay .im not complainin but i think it goes to show that getting your parts from an ebay sale is the way it is goin to be.its much easier for a guy to take a photo ,put it on ebay and instantly show his part to the world, instead of haulin it all over the country and hope he breaks even for the weekend.i didnt get to go to oley this year ,but im curious as to the turnout and the number of parts around . were prices through the roof?

[Paquette]

Oley was a great meet as always --Maybe the parts you mention are from vendors that could not sell them at Oley--Just a thought--M

[Paps]

I visited Oley. Some pricing was through the roof but deals were to be found also. My buddy scored many parts that are usually over priced on ebay. Paps

[Barry Brown]

I heard a real nice 38 four engine went for circa $4200. I saw a barn fresh jdh two cam go for $18000. There were LOTS of deals . Ebay will NEVER kill the swap meet as long as the government is watching Ebay!

[INLINE4NUT]

BARRY,Well put !

[sswaney]

I saw the JDH that sold for $18000.00 at Oley. Does anyone know anything about it? For those who did not see it. It was in somekind of Indian Spring Frame chassis complete with Spring Fork. That was a classic pile too. Guy showed up in a U-haul truck and got swarmed for most of the morning!

[framemaker]

I was talking to a friend here in Australia today. He said the recent desicion of US Postal service to drop Surface freight and increase Air freight costs, has knocked him out of the sport of Ebay. I have not looked into this price rise yet, but if this has prompted such a drastic desicion by a person who I know has bought a lot of nice high dollar parts, I wonder how many others will simply not be able to afford to get the parts out of the US.
Maybe your swapmeets might start seeing a revival if the parts start cycling around and around ebay with fewer starters.
It's early days,...... with the advent of the changes and price rise only a few days old, but keep an eye on it. It might be the trend you've been hoping for.

[grandpaul]

Boy, howdy. Is this a great country, or what?

I stopped selling parts a few years ago, when I already had 3 future project bikes gathering dust in the back of the garage. I already saw the trend in used parts prices and knew I'd better keep what i got and starrt buying when I could.

I'm a non-pigeon-hole-able kinda guy, I'm not rich, but I live relatively debt free. So, if I save up my play money, I can go shopping from time to time and buy a bit or bob that I know I'll need eventually.

Going to the 2 or 3 swap meets I go to every year has become MUCh more about visiting friends and enjoying the sights and sounds than it is about trying to find a good deal.

As far as e-bay, I find that I can still get some pretty good deals on the odd part now and then, but it's the exception rather than the rule.

[grandpaul]

Don't forget, the Dollar's value against the Pound going below 2:1 has made the u.S. market (for the Brits) a new vein in the gold mine.