E-bay rant

[BooG]

No-one bids on the speedo all week! I e-mail the seller to check its the right one, so he knows I'm interested. Then after I bid up to £5.50p, it jumps up past my max bid to £41!! This is why I hate e-bay. A used one is £80 from Motorworks. What do you think I should go up to on e-bay B4 pulling the plug? Unregulated morons!!

[larstorders]

 Before you dismiss the rare chance to buy a functioning  R65 speedo, there maybe a couple of things worth knowing here Boog. A new one'll cost you over £180 and neither Motoworks nor any other UK parts specialist or breaker has had one in stock for ages. (ok someone prove me wrong then, I don't mind  ), even if they do show them at £80 on the website.
 If you really need a (1276 ratio) speedo, £80 from Motoworks would be a reasonable price for a used one, but being in short supply makes me wonder if they're prone to failure and how long would a second hand one last?
Having been recently forced to buy a brand new one myself I discovered there are no new ones remaining in UK dealerships and there's now only three left at BMW Germany.
 At least, if you do buy a new one at £180+ it does have a good guarantee.

[BooG]

I hear that, Lastorders, and thanks for the wisdom. My current one is inaccurate, so the plan is to replace one temporarily, repair the inaccurate one, and then either keep or sell on the other. I will see what happens with the bidding war...other than that, might get a decent bicycle computer!

[Landlubber]

Just have the old one repaired, you still have the tacho to read speed from, so why go to all that trouble?

[Yikes]

Ebay certainly is an unpredictable means of aquiring parts.  Sometimes you can find great buys, other times you will see people pay more for used parts than they could get new from the dealer!  Go figure.

Be patient and just about anything you want will show up sooner or later.  Just decide what you want to pay and don't let yourself get caught up in a bidding war and go over that.  In general, I won't let myself pay more than 50% than the cost of a new part.  If it's not a vital part to keeping the bike running, it's a luxury item.  I've been looking to replace my vinyl insrtument console for over a year now and just haven't found one worth the prices people are getting on ebay.  Maybe sometime in the golden future when I've got a little cash I'll shell out the $120 that Motobins wants for a new one.  It's a lot to pay, but at least it'll be new.  But if I can find a decent used one for $50, maybe.  But take heart, I did find a used speedo with 15,000 miles on ebay for $70.  So hang in there!

John M

[montmil]

I'm posting an order to Motobins today. Included is a pair of the End Cap Dust Covers for the swingarm pivot. A brand new pair costs less than the used pair currently on eBay. Also, I have quit knocking down the passenger pegs with my boot while rolling down the highway. I'm sure my Hailwood-wannabe-look caused the loss of one.

Yeah, yeah, I know... Royal Air Mail adds a bit but if I purchased all my items at different sources, I'd actually pay more. I've checked. Plus the USD is strong against the British Pound.

Back to eBay... The auction site can be a two-edged sword no doubt. I have purchased many items via this site and have learned when to bail out without winning. It's like buses, there'll be another along in a little while.

On the really positive side, when I decided I wanted an R65, I sold a collectible knife for $2400 and bought the BMW. Got my 1981 and kept some of the money. My investment in the R65 is what I've spent on resto, repairs and trinkets.

BTW, I never add up my motorcycle receipts nor keep them where my bride might trip across them [smiley=deal2.gif]

Monte

[Bob_Roller]

I think that knowing what the cost of the item you are bidding on is, and knowing when to stop is key to doing business on eBay.

 Also be sure to get shipping costs before bidding, there are a lot of sellers charging excessive shipping costs.

Also check out the feedback of the seller, that can tell a lot about them .

[BooG]

£57 in the end, so I guess that just about is a bargin! Also I can pick it up by hand so no shipping costs.
Hey Yikes....I was given a spare instrument console when I got my R65 years ago. It sits on the shelf. I'll get a photo of it and if you like the look of it, it would be my pleasure to ship it out to you!

[larstorders]

So you did you win the speedo then, well done.
Only £57, that's a pretty fair price.
What about the rubber instrument surround though? it sold for £72.99 !!!! Aye caramba. Almost the cost of a new one! Could it be this is another component that appears on suppliers websites but is no longer available? I have one in my shed too.

[steve hawkins]

Oops.

Not been around for a while....I have a speedo and a tacho kicking around somewhere.

Speedo has 95000 miles on it though - so it is well run in.  But working when I took it off.

And I am in the UK.   Doh!

[Yikes]

Glad to see you snagged the speedo at a decent price, BooG.  And ditto on that console, Larst.  You might as well throw in that additional £9, and get a new one.  BooG, I sent you a pm about that spare console on your shelf.