So I kinda know pb*bikes, we talked once, and I've seen his postings on various forums. I'm familiar with his operation and the ill-will he seems to generate. He hasn't appointed me as his defender, and I'm not volunteering for that roll, but I will present another side of the coin.
If you search his completed auctions and check his feedback, you will find there are indeed quite a lot of buyers happy to pay his prices, and happy with the value they receive. If one sleeps better thinking these happy buyers are suckers or fools, so be it. Some of them may be. But the reality is there are quite a few well-heeled collectors who place a premium on their time, and would rather pay $500 for an NOS derailleur to finish off their $15k Herse/Cinelli/whatever than spend hours on ebay trying to find a clean-but-not-NOS one for less. I have customers with $50k monthly budgets for their hobbies, and they don't blink plunking down their Amex Centurion card for $40k worth of Leica, if Leica is what they want that month. You need to charge at least $250k/yr to get an Amex Centurion card, so we're talking big spenders. One guy bought a new Corvette last year with his Centurion card---he wanted one, and he also wanted to see if the charge would go through. It did. As for sourcing, pb*bikes spends a lot of time sourcing this stuff from all over the world. Working the phones, traveling to check forgotten warehouse lots. He's got to grade, sort and photograph his inventory, handle all the auctions and fulfillment. I think he might have an employee now, so he's got a salary to meet as well. It's an interesting business model, he does it well and seems to enjoy it, but it doesn't look to me like an easy way to make a buck. And yes, he is either directly or indirectly contributing to increasing prices for vintage bicycle stuff. There is a finite amount of vintage equipment on the planet, and as the deep pockets get the bug, prices go up. Doesn't matter whether you blame the sellers or the buyers, it happens. You either belly up to the bar and pay a premium, or you live without. Vintage guitars, vintage audio, vintage Zippo lighters, vintage Levi's jeans, vintage watches, vintage fly rods, vintage tons o' stuff---if people like it and collect it, usually prices rise. I've never bought a single item from him, don't reckon I ever will. I don't care about NOS, and even if I did, I don't have that kind of budget. But I don't think the majority of his customers are ignorant or idiots, and his business model doesn't upset me. As for filtering him out of your ebay search results, that's not hard to do indirectly. You can input a price range on a search. Whatever part you're looking for, set the high end of the range to whatever you think is unreasonable. Then you won't see anything that'll upset you. On Tuesday, November 11, 2014 2:08:27 PM UTC-5, Anton Tutter wrote: > > It really is truly amazing what he gets for his stuff when you look at his > sold items. $75 for NOS Simplex pulleys??!! They're not even the fancy > bearing version. > > > http://www.ebay.com/itm/Simplex-Vintage-bicycle-Derailleur-Pulleys-/281326407472?pt=US_Derailleurs_Rear&hash=item41805c4f30&nma=true&si=w76z2dQWkZ8tR3W%252BVQ8Whd01vzA%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 > > I think I had box of these at some point. Dang, I could have retired!!! > > Anton > > > On Tuesday, November 11, 2014 12:45:10 PM UTC-5, cyclot...@gmail.com > wrote: >> >> Go through his ebay storefront, s/he has a LOT of vintage parts for sale, >> and what seem to be highly inflated prices. But when you look at the >> feedback, 9,999 happy customers that seem content to pay those prices. So I >> guess s/he has figured out a pretty lucrative business model. >> >> On Tue, Nov 11, 2014 at 9:19 AM, hsmitham <hughs...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Really? Is there a sucker born every minute. In an age where we can do a >>> search and find the reasonable price for an item. I realize that his tactic >>> must work otherwise he wouldn't list such absurd prices but It's hard to >>> conceive anyone, especially someone who's purchased a purchased a Riv to be >>> so gullible. Perhaps there's a blog or consumer watch dog site devoted to >>> Ebay BS? >>> >>> ~Hugh >>> >>> >>> On Tuesday, November 11, 2014 6:31:10 AM UTC-8, cyclot...@gmail.com >>> wrote: >>>> >>>> Act fast, and you can own a $450 Nitto stem to match your $100 >>>> Rivendell water bottle! >>>> http://www.ebay.com/itm/281339963578 >>>> >>>> And this one is a deal with handlebars thrown in the mix: >>>> http://www.ebay.com/itm/271624744767 >>>> Who can say no to such a once in a lifetime opportunity!?!?! >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Cheers, >>>> David >>>> >>>> Member, Supreme Council of Cyberspace >>>> >>>> "it isn't a contest. Just enjoy the ride." - Seth Vidal >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com. >>> To post to this group, send email to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com. >>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Cheers, >> David >> >> Member, Supreme Council of Cyberspace >> >> "it isn't a contest. Just enjoy the ride." - Seth Vidal >> >> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
