Klaus Heyne wrote on Sat, 23 February 2008 10:07 |
I bid an amount which I thought was reasonable, knowing what I know about the market for VF14. (Though I must admit, I tapped into about every bit of knowledge and experience I had about the matter, to exclude as much as possible being defrauded.)
If the supply and demand-derived price for VF14s seems outrageous, an attitude adjustment on the side of the buyer may be in order.
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A big part of the problem is that eBay "Completed Listing" prices are often used as a barometer for the market value of vintage mics (and rare tubes).
It would be extremely hard for an individual seller to impact the perceived market value of a "pre-A" U87, for example, because they are bought and sold regularly. Likewise, if someone tried to drive up the price by shill bidding, it's probable that other people with "vintage" U87s would start listing them, in the hope of making a big profit. The scam would soon be apparent, because those mics would not fetch such prices.
In the case of rarer items, it would be fairly easy to "own" the Completed Listing history, and use shill bidding to increase the perceived value. Obviously, things like serial numbers are a giveaway - but do people notice?
There are some people on this forum (especially our moderator) who know more about the value of vintage mics and tubes, partially because they have more information about the prices actually being paid for them - in private sales - and really know just how rare certain items are.
The average person who wants to buy (or sell) a vintage mic is going to use eBay to determine value. They may also use dealers (like Vintage King, Sonic Circus), realizing they are paying a premium since the dealers are "middle-men", and that a pre-sale servicing and warranty are usually part of the deal.
This is why there are so many requests for a "database" of mic value. I understand all the reasons why it's a difficult, potentially misleading, perhaps bad, idea - but a well-conceived database, taking condition, original parts, etc, into account, could be a valuable resource.