Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

i paid $800 for my walnut almost two years ago...

I'm still skeptical as to the degree to which random sellers on eBay watch this forum like hawks to find reason to raise their prices. The reason prices are going up is because people are still buying at higher prices. If Rics suddenly stopped selling when they went over $1000, sellers would either a)lower the price, or b)not sell their Rickenbackers. At least, that's how economics is supposed to work.

I think it is the going rate. How many Rics do you see selling under $1300? Not to mention this one is very clean...Most people's BIN is $1500 or so. Why, when you can get a new one for less?

It's not the sellers who watch this forum, nor the advertised selling prices(Buy It Now) that drive economics, it's the actual sold prices, which are driven by buyers. These are the people who dictate what an item is worth*, and we, the forum, represent a large proportion of these people. For this reason, I keep my mouth shut whenever I see something that I like, or know that someone else likes on eBay. I don't expect others to do the same, but forumites should realise that they may be costing other forumites money, on an item that they themselves have no interest in. Rather than making statements like "If you're already bidding, I'll let you have it...", or "I'm not interested, but thought you guys might be...", it would be better not the advertise to the world in the first place that there is interest in a particular item.

If the seller is from this forum, then that's a whole different story, and I believe they should advertise as much as they want, and get as much interest as they can in their item. If, on the other hand, forumites are bidding only, and not selling, then we are hurting each other financially every time we create one of these topics.

*Note: Guitar Centre may think they can dictate what an item is worth with ridiculous opening bids, but it's the buyers who decide that the price is too high, and that they don't want to "rock out like Motorhead" for such a high cost.)

The auctions that get mentioned here are the more unusual/desireable instruments that would sell for higher than average prices with our without the forum's influence.

I do not believe that those on the forum mentioning an interesting ricky two on e-bay ultimitly dictate the final cost of it . I believe it is just a sign of the times and nothing more . Skyrocketing prices for vintage basses the result of the crazy vintage supply and demand world wide . There is no excuse really . its stupid . Why a person would pay 10,000 for a beat up fender jazz bass just because it has whats left of an odd color . when you can get a refin that looks mint for 3,500.00 that looks mint is beyond my comprehension . The fact that ten years ago i walked into a pawn shop and left with a clean 72 jazz bass for 350.00 is on my mind constantly really upsets me. The whole thing is out of hand and uncalled for .The market is already screwed ! By us talking about a few ricks on the forum you think that has any behring on the prices on e-bay ? Think again .

I believe us talking about anything has a huge let me say that again HUGE impact on the market here,I have Dealt with this first hand a # of times my 88 v63 perfect example first auction it went all the way up to $2800.then the shill bidder jumped in,when it re listed and no one here paid it any attention I picked it up for $1580.DO YOU GUYS HAVE EVEN A CLUE OF HOW MANY PEOPLE LURK HERE??Ive spoken to a # of people who use this page as reference to know what to bid on on ebay,SO what do you call that?

I don't think we need to worry. The whole point of the forum is we can talk freely and openly about a subject we all feel passionately about. If others use it as an economic reference, that's fine. And let's not forget - as well as indicating the true value of the good ones, we let people know about the rip=offs/dogs too. So I think it probably balances out.

Ive spoken to a # of people who use this page as reference to know what to bid on on ebay,SO what do you call that?

Sheep.

Although many may lurk here, there is no doubt they all know how to search ebay, and do so regularly. Ebay has made it possible for owners of vintage gear to sell to a very broad market. It's not just Rickenbackers that have rising prices.

I think we do provide a good service to one another and others who choose to use are wisdom but to say we have no impact on the market is crazy.

rule #1, if you don't want to pay the price, don't bid on it. it's as simple as that. does this forum drive prices? probably only to the extent that we have some competetive bidding amongst ourselves. if a seller is lurking here and using shill bidding/false IDs to jack the prices up, well, it goes back to rule #1 above.

Good points Philip and Sean. Most forum discussions would have to be curbed if we were to strive for zero impact on the Rickenbacker market. It would be pretty dull around here if we were to suppress our enthusiasm for the sake of pricing.

Unless your on the wrong end of this [which I have been before]where your bidding on a bass and its being discussed on the forum and the bid goes through the roof, you wouldn't understand ones frustration or understand the topic of this discussion.

The Masthead of the site says:

Five Years of "All Things Rickenbacker" and More

Do you propose that we have it changed to:

Five Years of "All Things Rickenbacker Except For Stuff That Will Cost Ken Money On Ebay" and More

but ken, if it's something you want badly enough, does the price really matter?