[Rhodes22-list] eBay Boat - Now what?

[Rob Lowe]

Bill,
Thanks for your comments.  I agree, someone (me) buying a large-ticket
non-standard item sight unseen (well, except for the photos and text) will
not pay a fair market price for it.  But I will take a chance if I think I
can get it for a steal.  Now if the boat is anything like advertised and the
seller would take what I offered, I'll be very happy.  But as you suggested,
the seller had a price in mind but he's not going to get that through
eBay. - Rob


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Effros" <bill at effros.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 10:46 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] eBay Boat - Now what?


> Robert, Rob, Brad, Others,
>
> Probably not.
>
> As previously mentioned, I'm working on the third edition of my book,
> How to Sell Your Home in 5-Days.  The book predates eBay, and I
> routinely use the 5-Day Method to sell many large ticket items including
> cars and boats.
>
> To sell a home, car or boat you price it in the ad at 50% of what you
> think you will get, and let the market drive the price up to the fair
> market value.  This always works with homes and cars because there are
> always enough local buyers for these items to make a market.  It's
> tougher with boats because there are rarely enough local real buyers to
> make a market.
>
> Using this method nationally doesn't work well because most buyers of
> non-standard large-ticket items want to inspect the item before bidding
> the top dollar.  This makes sense to me.
>
> So sellers of boats on eBay seem to fall into 2 categories -- people in
> trouble who can't sell in the local market, and crooks trying to put
> something over on people who can't see what they are buying until after
> having paid for it.
>
> When the 5-Day Method is properly used, both the buyer and the seller
> get a fair deal.  Boats on eBay seem to have "winners" and "losers".
> None of us, probably including the seller, has the slightest idea of the
> fair market value of that boat.  Stan knows because he makes the market
> for Rhodes-22s.
>
> I have been trying to decide whether to include a section in the third
> edition on selling boats.  I know how to do it, but it is not as
> foolproof as homes and cars.  Having watched this saga unfold, I have
> decided to omit the section on boats.  Thanks to all for publicly
> sharing your thoughts on this process, it has been very helpful.
>
> Bill Effros
>
>
>
>
> > Rob Lowe wrote:
> >
> >> Well, I ended up being the high bidder on the boat
> >> at $7K, but it was still below the reserve price.
> >>  Guess I'll wait a day or two to see if the seller
> >> contacts me at all.  Such an odd system, you figure
> >> if he really wanted to sell it he would start the
> >> bidding close to what he wanted out of it.  We'll see.
> >>