Centaur prices

dylanwinter

dylanwinter

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www.keepturningleft.co.uk
I believe there is often a problem when items have a substantial reserve price. A lot of Ebayers take it as a bit of fun to bid in a form of Russian Roulette. They don't want the item, they just want to gamble on at what level the reserve has been set. If they get it wrong and win the item they refuse to complete the sale. I don't think the bidding on the Centaur means very much in the real world, it was just a bit of fun.
 
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mainsail1 said:
I believe there is often a problem when items have a substantial reserve price. A lot of Ebayers take it as a bit of fun to bid in a form of Russian Roulette. They don't want the item, they just want to gamble on at what level the reserve has been set. If they get it wrong and win the item they refuse to complete the sale. I don't think the bidding on the Centaur means very much in the real world, it was just a bit of fun.
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is this really true?

I am not saying it does not happen but I have never heard of such a thing before now.
 
dylanwinter said:
is this really true?

I am not saying it does not happen but I have never heard of such a thing before now.
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Ebay brings out the worst in people... Deliberately bidding up items because well why not? Getting there mates to sneak another bid in to up the price. There are all sorts of games out there. If I was you in this case I would contact the seller and explain that if it falls through your a serious buyer but only have XX amount cash. If he is interested get back in touch.

When I sold my last boat through Ebay I only got afew silly bids. Every time the auction ended I would get a mail from some one saying well I will offer you XX since it did not sell take it or leave it...
 
onesea said:
Ebay brings out the worst in people... Deliberately bidding up items because well why not? Getting there mates to sneak another bid in to up the price. There are all sorts of games out there. If I was you in this case I would contact the seller and explain that if it falls through your a serious buyer but only have XX amount cash. If he is interested get back in touch.

When I sold my last boat through Ebay I only got afew silly bids. Every time the auction ended I would get a mail from some one saying well I will offer you XX since it did not sell take it or leave it...
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his reserve is clearly above £4,700

way out of my league for this project

D
 
I have bought a boat by accident on EBay by playing around with the bidding procedure. I did buy it though.
 
I believe a German guy offered a good camper van without reserve on EBAY. It went for a song instead of its 25,000 euro value.

When the auction winner came to collect it he was told no way.

It went to law and it was judged to go to the winning bidder for very little money.

I think I read this in the Wail about 5 years ago.

Put a reserve or a starting bid!
 
Dylan,
Have you thought of telling the world what you are prepared to pay for a Centaur and see what proposals come forward?
Asking prices are often much greater than the level that a seller will accept, especially if he has had no luck selling the boat for a year or more and there may well be someone out there who has given up on advertising but would welcome an active purchaser with firm proposals money wise.
 
dylanwinter said:
his reserve is clearly above £4,700

way out of my league for this project

D
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And?
I had my boat up as classified best offer and buy it now price, it was around £2000. I had one offer at £100-00 they even chased me for an answer like I should be great full!
I had numerous chancers at around £300-600 pounds. In the end she went to a family at a good price to them, why because I liked them!

If you do not try you do not know....
 
I'd hoped you were going to take Katie L up the Beauly Firth (partially uncharted), and see if you could get her as far as Beauly itself; where in the 19th Century they used to export grain by sea [caution the powerlines at approx. 57° 29.043 N, 4° 26.787' W, not sure of the clearance]. And then (in the Cromarty Firth) into the northernmost Scottish 'canal' at Dingwall (57° 35.573 N, 4° 24.472' W) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingwall_Canal) (you won't get far up that), that means going under the Cromarty Bridge which I think has a clearance of about 3 metres.
 
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I know someone who had never sailed in his life but one evening when stuck on his own with a bottle of wine started bidding on E-Bay; he now has a 22' grp twin keel cruiser, had her for 2-3 years but still never sailed her !

Did come in handy as an alternative dog-house when his marriage went wrong though...
 
If e-bay is notified about errant behaviour they'll kick the offenders out. I've bought dozens of things in good faith on e-bay and not had a problem - you can see how the situation could arise though. You have to form your own view of what you expect from ebay. If you're hoping to take advantage of some innocent who's selling something and doesn't know its value - then you may wait a long time for your bargain. If on the other hand you see it as a marketplace like any other and have your best offer / top price for an item firmly in mind - you can pick up some good bargains.
 
Centaur asking prices have been too high for years, and the result is that all Centaur ownersseem to think their boats are worth £10K minimum, regardless of condition.

It looks like there are a few poor condition examples around with asking prices close to £3K, which might perhaps be bought for £2K?
 
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