The impossibly priced Cycle Garden Ebay bikes thread - It's all about marketing, you know.

[Cam3512]

Rodekyll nailed it directly on the head with his last post in this thread.  That's the way the scam works.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have it on good info that's EXACTLY what happens.  Sells it to the highest legit bidder.  I'd rather buy one from Charlie, Jim or Joe.

[guzzipete]

World Motorcycles restores/rebuilds sandcast Honda CB750s.

This is their price, no bidding involved:

The price for one of these motorcycles is $39,500.00 (SUMMER/2015 Special) FOB San Francisco

The CB750 is a 40+ year old bike that was not fast or rare.

Thought about getting one many years ago when the price was about 25K.

[Chuck in Indiana]

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have it on good info that's EXACTLY what happens.  Sells it to the highest legit bidder. I'd rather buy one from Charlie, Jim or Joe.

Any day. They'll be done right on the inside, too. 

[oldbike54]

  There were something like 7,000 sandcast CB 750s built , and many of them were crashed , blown up and scrapped , or turned into choppers . They are considered by many to be the first affordable superbike , and changed the MC world .

  Dusty

[oldbike54]

Any day. They'll be done right on the inside, too. 
[/quote

 Been waiting for someone to mention that salient point  Better you than me Chuckie 

  Dusty

 

[Lannis]

World Motorcycles restores/rebuilds sandcast Honda CB750s.

This is their price, no bidding involved:

The price for one of these motorcycles is $39,500.00 (SUMMER/2015 Special) FOB San Francisco

The CB750 is a 40+ year old bike that was not fast or rare.

Thought about getting one many years ago when the price was about 25K.

Nothing in the world wrong with pricing them like that .... Honest and upfront.   People have got lots of money these days (regardless of talk of "The Economy"), and if they want to spend it on the bike of their teenage dreams, so be it.

First road ride I ever took with anyone else was me on my new Yamaha 200 twin, and a guy on a sandcast CB750.   In the day, it was a magnificent bike, smooth, fast, disk brakes - there wasn't anything like it.    We rode through the country, and we both smelled castor oil and stopped and traced it to a local flat-track with Triumphs and BSAs zooming around it ... a really great day.   Might be worth $40,000 to the right guy to bring back the memories ....

Lannis

[canuguzzi]

If that is how it is working, he gets to tell Ebay he got deadbeat bidders once, maybe twice. Shortsighted to go through all that to sell one bike; he also risks being taken to the cleaners for fraud.

People paid hundreds of thousands for a computer built by Steve Jobs. It isn't worth spit but it is to someone. Others paid more than that for fake art. Then there are people who pay big money for baseball cards that came in a gum wrapper that cost a nickle. Play the game accept the risk.

[oldbike54]

 Fraud is hard to prove , and I don't think E bay has a police dept .

  Dusty

[canuguzzi]

Fraud is hard to prove , and I don't think E bay has a police dept .

  Dusty

If Ebay wants you, money talks and they have plenty. Besides, all it takes is a disgruntled buyer and things move along pretty quickly to find those involved. Since he will have violated their TOS, they can effectively keep him from listing other bikes, there is personal and financial information he must provide to list the bike.

But all this talk is already putting some nails into someone's reputation and so far, no one has any proof. There is talk about knowledge but then get it out in the open, that would be the right thing to do.

I do not know the seller but he has an Ebay store going and seems to sell stuff. Why trash him with innuendo, he isn't hurting anyone and if someone has proof, why not deal with that?

So far, it doesn't look like people dealing with him are unhappy.

[rodekyll]

If that is how it is working, he gets to tell Ebay he got deadbeat bidders once, maybe twice. Shortsighted to go through all that to sell one bike; he also risks being taken to the cleaners for fraud.

People paid hundreds of thousands for a computer built by Steve Jobs. It isn't worth spit but it is to someone. Others paid more than that for fake art. Then there are people who pay big money for baseball cards that came in a gum wrapper that cost a nickle. Play the game accept the risk.

He can claim deadbeat bidders infinitely.  It would be true and he could prove it.  The rest of the comment has no bearing on the topic.  How does any of that justify this seller employing shills to inflate the bids in his auctions?  How many shills in the apple computer sale?  is selling counterfeits not fraud?  Only if you're caught, you say?  How do collectable baseball cards compare to a police model guzzi?

The way you can prove to yourself that you are wrong is to contact ebay and ask them how many shills you're allowed to bid up your auctions.  I say it's none, and that ebay will tell you it's a criminal act.  you of course won't take the challenge.

[canuguzzi]

He can claim deadbeat bidders infinitely.  It would be true and he could prove it.  The rest of the comment has no bearing on the topic.  How does any of that justify this seller employing shills to inflate the bids in his auctions?  How many shills in the apple computer sale?  is selling counterfeits not fraud?  Only if you're caught, you say?  How do collectable baseball cards compare to a police model guzzi?

The way you can prove to yourself that you are wrong is to contact ebay and ask them how many shills you're allowed to bid up your auctions.  I say it's none, and that ebay will tell you it's a criminal act.  you of course won't take the challenge.

I'm not the one claiming the seller is using shills, that would be someone else. I do say if that if someone is going to claim he is using shills, then put out the info because otherwise that would be an unjustified and rather serious allegation.

[oldbike54]

 How many bidders with zero feedback does it take to create a pattern ?

  Dusty

[canuguzzi]

If the buyer becomes upset because they overpaid for something on Ebay, they've joined the club of millions

Have a  and listen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKtlK7sn0JQ

[rodekyll]

I'm not the one claiming the seller is using shills, that would be someone else. I do say if that if someone is going to claim he is using shills, then put out the info because otherwise that would be an unjustified and rather serious allegation.

The information has been given. 

[canuck750]

Why would he care what a red-suspendered Guzzist thinks?   He's not selling to anyone here, he's selling to people with more money than sense that want to buy into some marketed "idea".

Lannis

Exactly

[donn]

The last real bid was for $20,000. The rest are new bidders with 0 feedback commonly known as Shills.

I find the real buyers a little weird, too, though.  I mean, apparently some previous experience with ebay, and here he is putting in a $20000 bid, days before the auction closes?  That's sort of foolish.  He's not the only one, either, there were some other early big bids.

If there are that many guys with poor ebay skills willing to pay that kind of big bucks, wouldn't you surmise that there were more who watched the auction spiral out of reach, but might have bid say $30K at the end if it still hadn't gotten there?  Maybe he'd do as well without the alleged shenanigans?

[leafman60]

I've bought quite a few bikes and other items off Ebay and I too have detected how some sellers game the system for their own purposes. As outlined here, there are many ways to run-up the bids on Ebay. One must be careful.

Several years ago, a friend was bidding on a late-model Guzzi. Although he entered a bid above what he really wanted to pay, he was outbid by another with a fantastically high bid. A day later, he was contacted by the seller and talked to him on the phone. The guy asked my friend if he still wanted the Guzzi and told him that he could have it at his last bid price.

My friend was surprised and said "But, somebody else outbid me by a wide margin." The guy replied, "Oh no, that was just my son doing that so it doesn't count and you can have the bike for your last bid."

My friend set him straight and hung up the phone.

[Chuck in Indiana]

This is hearsay. I know two guys that used to work there. Both told me the same story. I won't post it on an internet forum.. that could be construed as slander. I'll just say that I would much rather have a bike built by several who post here.

[jackson]

Around five weeks ago, I was looking for some PIAA or equivalent, 35watt driving lights to install on my V7 Classic.  I found several sites selling the identical lights that included a generic wiring kit.  According to the description, they were brand new (in the package) and came from a defunct Polaris dealer.  After doing some snooping around the internet, I found that each of the offerings was from the same seller;  I had no problem with this because that's just good marketing to sell as many widgets as you possibly can.
Then, I went to his Ebay site where he had them at a "buy it now" for around $165 including free shipping and another listing (also under his same username) selling the kit at auction with a beginning bid of $100.
I then checked to see how many times this same auction had been listed by him with no buyers and found that the answer was "three".  So, I bid $101.  Within a few hours, I was notified by Ebay that I had been outbid.  Since the item had been listed, three times before with no takers, I smelled a "shill bid" auction so I didn't raise my offer.  I kept watching the auction and no one else bid and when it ended, what I expected to happen, DID HAPPEN.  Within an hour of the auction ending, I received a "second chance offer" with a message from the seller that the high bidder had not performed and I could have the light kit for my bid of $101, including shipping.  I took the deal because this was a good price for genuine PIAA lights alone and it included the wiring kit which turned out to be of good quality.  (I only had to shorten several wires to make it fit better).  I also inspected the lights thoroughly to ensure that they were genuine PIAA lights, and they were.
I got a good deal but if I had taken the bait, this seller definitely had a shill account (or other accomplice) who was attempting to drive up the price.  Let the buyer beware.

[Lannis]

This is hearsay. I know two guys that used to work there. Both told me the same story. I won't post it on an internet forum.. that could be construed as slander. I'll just say that I would much rather have a bike built by several who post here.

I'd believe it.   And I'll bet Matthew 23:27 comes to mind in relation to the situation!

Lannis

[canuguzzi]

 

[Toecutter]

World Motorcycles restores/rebuilds sandcast Honda CB750s.

This is their price, no bidding involved:

The price for one of these motorcycles is $39,500.00 (SUMMER/2015 Special) FOB San Francisco

The CB750 is a 40+ year old bike that was not fast or rare.

Thought about getting one many years ago when the price was about 25K.

750SOHC nut here.... There weren't many of the Sandcast bikes made, and many of them had the cases destroyed. The legitimate, complete "sandcast" bikes are worth a ton of cash to the right buyer. Hell, some of the less available, and oft-damaged parts from the later models are worth stupid money. Want to buy a "unicorn horn" triple clamp off me?

As for fast... not by today's standards. But my '72 will crack the ton, quickly and easily.

[Cam3512]

There's a similar thread on the Yahoo Loopframe board.  Moe occassionally surfaces there.  Here's his response copied word for word...

Thanks Greg et al,

I received several very negative emails during the Auction from Guzzist stating I was pumping up this Auction for Publicity,... the Laughing stock of the Guzzi community,.... etc.

Yes I had 2  No feedback bidders bid up my Auction on a Consignment restored Eldorado on ebay last week. I talked with paypal yesterday, and they said that most likely this was a scam.  The high bidder stated he would only pay total amount through paypal, which is Dangerous, as most paypal accounts are tied to a credit card which could be stolen. Here is what the high bidder wrote to me:

Dear moeguzzi,

Hello, Moe Moore: head honcho
Thanks for your email, I really appreciate it. I am in love with the striking beauty of this bike. I am a Marine Biologist and at the moment I am in the Cayman Islands, I am buying the Moto Guzzi as a gift for my dad, I want to make it a surprise gift for him, so he won't know anything about the Moto Guzzi until my shipping agent delivers it to him. I hope you understand that I can only pay total amount through PayPal. So please kindly get back to me so i can proceed with the payment and after I make the payment, I will send my pick up agent to come around to pick the Moto Guzzi up immediately.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon

Thanks
Delv

The reason I did not cancel the Zero feedback high bids during the auction, is that I have sold several bikes in the last few years to Zero feedback bidders. Now I am in the process of recovering the ebay fees. That is where I am at today, cleaning up this mess. Thanks for your time, Moe.

[Denis]

I emailed him with 45 minutes left in the auction: "I notice that last 5 bidders have no feedback but have taken the auction from $20k to $38 (just past what you stated the restoration cost to be)?This bidding looks suspicious."

His response was "Yes, I hope they are real bidders! Otherwise I have to hassle with ebay to get the final value fees back.
It could be 2 14 year old kids trying to screw up the Auction, but it could be 2 Arabs from Kuwait fighting over it!
Who knows! I should know more tomorrow.
Moe."

Seems he has a problem with 0 feedback bidders running up the auction at the end.

My initial remark about shill bidding still stands.

[lorazepam]

I never get emotionally involved in bidding on fleabay. I will make a max bid, and if it is exceeded, I will not increase it. I have only been contacted once by a seller, and ended up not buying the item because I thought the price was run up on purpose.

[leafman60]

There's a similar thread on the Yahoo Loopframe board.  Moe occassionally surfaces there.  Here's his response copied word for word...

Thanks Greg et al,

I received several very negative emails during the Auction from Guzzist stating I was pumping up this Auction for Publicity,... the Laughing stock of the Guzzi community,.... etc.

Yes I had 2  No feedback bidders bid up my Auction on a Consignment restored Eldorado on ebay last week. I talked with paypal yesterday, and they said that most likely this was a scam.  The high bidder stated he would only pay total amount through paypal, which is Dangerous, as most paypal accounts are tied to a credit card which could be stolen. Here is what the high bidder wrote to me:

Dear moeguzzi,

Hello, Moe Moore: head honcho
Thanks for your email, I really appreciate it. I am in love with the striking beauty of this bike. I am a Marine Biologist and at the moment I am in the Cayman Islands, I am buying the Moto Guzzi as a gift for my dad, I want to make it a surprise gift for him, so he won't know anything about the Moto Guzzi until my shipping agent delivers it to him. I hope you understand that I can only pay total amount through PayPal. So please kindly get back to me so i can proceed with the payment and after I make the payment, I will send my pick up agent to come around to pick the Moto Guzzi up immediately.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon

Thanks
Delv

The reason I did not cancel the Zero feedback high bids during the auction, is that I have sold several bikes in the last few years to Zero feedback bidders. Now I am in the process of recovering the ebay fees. That is where I am at today, cleaning up this mess. Thanks for your time, Moe.

Yeah, well, I'm still very skeptical. This has happened fairly regulalrly with their Ebay ads for some time now.

[rbm]

I never get emotionally involved in bidding on fleabay. I will make a max bid, and if it is exceeded, I will not increase it. I have only been contacted once by a seller, and ended up not buying the item because I thought the price was run up on purpose.

Same here.  I set my maximum price and hold to it.  Ebay will auto-bid for me and if I get overbid, well there's always another opportunity later down the road.  Never been contacted by a seller with a last-chance offer.

[donn]

Same here.  I set my maximum price and hold to it.  Ebay will auto-bid for me and if I get overbid, well there's always another opportunity later down the road.

That's cool - if only everyone were like you, the auto-bid system would work fine.

[Lannis]

Same here.  I set my maximum price and hold to it.  Ebay will auto-bid for me and if I get overbid, well there's always another opportunity later down the road.  Never been contacted by a seller with a last-chance offer.

Same thing I do.   Never quite understood why people chase stuff with low bids and "sniping".    Just say what you'll give and let 'er rip.   

Lannis

[redrider90]

  Are the handlebars packed with solid gold to lesses vibration?

The siren is solid gold!! Notice he always includes a siren in these restorations.