In the past, on Ebay, you could at least see the actual Ebay account names of the people bidding on public auctions by clicking on the 'Current Bids' link for that auction. You could then click on the bidders' account names and see their bidding history, feedback, etc, and that helped a lot in determining the validity of the other bids in the auction. You could even send a private message to another bidder in the auction. A seller could only hide bidder names in their auction if they specifically set the auction to 'private', and when they did that, it was a possible sign something fishy might be going on. However, now, all auctions are private. I believe they did this for privacy reasons which is understandable, but it really makes it easier for a seller to use other accounts or have his friends bid up an auction and nobody could ever tell. There have been times when I have wanted to tell a bidder on an auction that the car they just bid $8K for is actually listed on CraigsList by the same seller for $6K, just as a way to possibly save that poor sap some money, but you can't do that anymore. So there's been some functionality and important information lost due to privacy. You just have to be honest with yourself and what you're willing to pay and not care what other people are bidding because you don't know where those other bids are coming from. Bid what you think is an accurate price and if you don't win then it just wasn't meant to be. You never know, the auction might be relisted, or the seller may come back to you with a 'second chance' opportunity or something.

Thanks for the insight Chris. I had no idea it worked like that. I think your advice is good. Bid what you are willing to pay, or what you think is fair. If you get it great, if not then maybe next time.
Thanks again Chris!:cheers:

Remember the number one PROBLEM with an AUCTION -- it takes TWO or more people wanting what you have to sell - and they both/all are willing to bid to at least what you're wanting to sell for...So even at an auction like BJ... it takes two people minimum to raise the price. Without people bidding against each other - the price won't rise.

So here's the deal - you want 100K for your car - I'm willing to pay 100K maybe even 105K... I bid 50K and nobody bids against me - I get to buy the car (in a no reserve auction) even though I was quite willing to pay more...

So... since many sellers at auctions KNOW this... they'll have their buddies bid against you, bumping the bid up... Or perhaps the auctioneer knows what you "need" for the car - and they'll call out "phantom" bids - so essentially the auction house is acting as the "other bidder" against you.

Not knowing how this works - is why "newbs" get killed at auctions... and end up selling their pride and joy for way less than they wanted. A very expensive learning experience! LOL

eBay used to be a great way to gauge the value of something... lots of people - lots of exposure to the "market"... but I think so many people have been burned buying POS cars - and there are now so many "dealers" selling - that this no longer sets the market price... Of course, like anything - that is not 100% always the case.. there are millions of items bought and sold on eBay daily.. BJ used to be a "feeding frenzy" orgy on cars... I think that has cooled significantly and we will see more "normalized" prices this year - but then again - that's only my gut feeling.

It will be really interesting to see what happens at BJ this year. I really think the numbers matching restored cars are going to be outdone by the "resto mod" type of car. Including PT cars. It seems to me that people are wanting cars they can use rather than just look at. And having classic looks with modern performance where I see it going in favor of the untouchable restored cars. Just a guess, I really don't know Jack sh**. But I do know his brother.

Well, I have sold cars on E Bay for years, and NEVER have I had one die, come up short, and then have someone call and buy because they saw it there. I do not know of one single car that has been on E bay that brought more later, or sold because someone saw it. What i have had happen many times is someone sees that it died on E bay and then they remind me I must be off on my value because it didn't sell. I have even had people that seen the car other places then E bay, watched it die on E bay, and want to know if I sobered up yet!

As for advertising, I get more stupid fricken phone call from guys with $50K wanting to build a $150K car from my E bay adds.

E bay sucks for high end cars. Now $35K to $60K cars, perfect place!

I am glad I am not the only one. :lol:
I agree with Franks earlier comment.
The car is very nicely built by a reputable builder and can not be duplicated for the $125k stalled bid. Scott puts out very nice pieces.
With that said, all of you need to re-read the desciption.
This is NOT a 5 year old build. It states "This car is built and presented by Scott Whidby the Year One Cup Winner of 2005 and Top Five for Good Guy’s Street Machine of the year of 2005, with previous Camaro’s he has built."
This car is FRESHLY built. Maybe thats worth something, maybe not.
IMO its a great car for that price.

I don't. I already pointed that out. ;) :D

shoot... i was speed reading thru the thread.... LOL. Sorry.
Anyway... there is a great link to build pics that show the attention to detail in the Ebay ad.
I always tell people who call me wanting (to quote frank) a $150k car for $50k that a turnkey build yields $50k to $60k+ in parts alone. And with that I havent even turned a wrench yet. :willy:

This is a topic that always gets interesting. I used to see cars for big money like that and think the people were crazy.........that was when I built cars out of my garage on the side. Now that I own a shop that I pay a lease on, insurance, EPA regs, and have tons of money tied up in tools, spray booths, metal fab equipment that is needed to do the type of work we do I realize how the price of a legit shop built car from the ground up can add up. My shop rate is $75 dollars an hour, 1000-2000 hours into a ground up build is nothing. So do the math on just the labor cost. Now add parts and 15k interior to that and the bill gets up there. Can it be done for less.......yes, It just depends on what you want in the finished product. There is no magic way to do it, you get what you pay for.

I saw the '67 on ebay a few weeks back. Did it sell?