Forum Classifieds
 

I was reading some of the replies to Dr. Mudd's classified ad for his Pinarello and can't believe people keep crapping all over his post. I understand he has it listed for a pretty penny which is very close to retail but if you don't have anything nice to say send him a PM instead. Potential buyers are not just active forum members. Many people could find the post by googling. Then start reading all the posts and be deterred because someone with an opinion wrote a negative post about the bikes price. If Dr. Mudd wants $11,875 then let him charge that. If he doesn't get someone to buy it then he'll eventually realize that he may need to drop the price.

I do agree with some of what Tronto Rider posted. That being Dr. Mudd may want to try parting the bike out since it might be easier to sell that way. But I don't agree with the rest of the post. Do you really need to compare it to buying a Rolce Royce???

If you have some advice send him a PM or email. If you want to be nice, post a bump to bring the post to the top. But don't crap on the guys bike or price.

Just my opinion I guess.

Jay

+1

I thought people learned something from his initial post - I guess not. Not very friendly.

What happened to private messages.

Jeff

This has always been a problem on the classifieds here. Look at how this lady was dumped on.

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showth...ight=intrusive

Thanks you, this needed to be said.

I think my replies can be classified as negative. I also did PM Dr. Mudd and gave him some advice that he expressed appreciation for.

Still, 99% of the threads (brand new member, first time post) like his are trolls or jerks trying to get a reaction and deserve the treatment they receive. Granted, probably no reply is a better practice. However that is not human nature. Once he gave some references the tone changed as the members realized he was in the 1%.

I try to be nice. Still I got referenced in the Serotta forum on Roadbikereview.com as part of a group of Serotta forum members that treated a guy badly. He was also complaining about being banned from the Serotta forum. Do you think he was banned because he was too nice? :rolleyes:

I understand he started off with the wrong foot with most forum members and he didn't know the exact guideline for selling a high end road bike. I too thought it was a scam. I'm not saying I'm above posting some of the things that were first posted about the bike. But I thought everything was smoothed out and Dr. Mudd was going to get another try at selling the bike.

I also understand that the posts commenting on the price is helping potential buyers by letting them know what the price should be. But do you get this type of opportunity to do this at your LBS or ebay? Everyone knows you can buy things on the internet for cheaper. I was in a bike shop yesterday looking at tires. I could buy two tires for what it costs for one at the bike shop. If the shop can get that price then let them. The market will bear what it can.

Many people look at me like I have three heads for paying 7k for a road bike with no motor. What one person conceives as being a good deal is completely outrageous to another. I still think it was money well spent, in fact I'm looking at buying another one in the near future.

It's a very fine line between informing the consumer and interfering with a sale. I can remember a forum member selling a Vanilla that was one of Sacha's first and probably not of the quality he is at now. Sacha commented on that fact and the forum member was irate. I kinda found Sacha's comment warranted.

Again, this is just my opinion.

Jay

While I completely agree with you, what you are seeing is the downside/risk of posting in a free classifieds that is set up as a forum. There really is no way to police it.

Dr. Mudd, if you have not already, you may want to conssider payign for an ad in the classifieds at RoadBikereview. It's very cheap and is not st up like a forum. You won't get any negitive post showing up as part of your ad.

I've always viewed this kind of scenario as a great example of a highly efficient market. This forum exists for people to share knowledge, opinions, rants, whatever. If someone has the right to ask a price for something I think anyone else should have the right to interject with information they feel is pertinent to the sale. Ultimately the buyer makes the decision and isn't forced to pay a higher/lower price because of someone's comments. If they want it bad enough they'll pay the price, but if the value is in question then additional input from others is often useful rather than detrimental.

+1 i could not have said it better. so a guy with 15 posts to this forum is obviously only here for HIS best interest. AND TO THINK THAT HE WOULD offer the bike here for more than a BIN price on ebay just shows what he uses this forum for. i feel that this forum is like a family of people that may not always agee but when push comes to shove look out for each other with their candid opinions and expertise. IMHO!!!!!! oh just saying!

+1


- comments in people's ads
- "look what I saw on ebay"
- "look what I saw on CL"
- and a ton of posts that aren't even items for sale

Doesn't happen on forums I run, but this isn't one of them... so whatever.

It's a bigger issue than just this one guy.

It's common courtesy across the internet not to criticize the price of an item in the classifieds, and it's generally fairly well enforced. There's always people without that courtesy though, and always forums without moderation.

You know it would be inappropriate to stand in a bike shop telling people they can get their tires cheaper at PBK - even if you thought you would be doing them a favor by telling them. Same thing.

+1.

No where on this forum have I seen any requirement that discussion here be objective.

What's the harm of outing something on Craigslist or eBay in the Classifieds? Should it be done in the General Discussion area, or not at all?

[QUOTE=alancw3AND TO THINK THAT HE WOULD offer the bike here for more than a BIN price on ebay just shows what he uses this forum for. [/QUOTE]

I may be wrong, but I thought the E-bay listing was made after he got some education and price criticism from Serotta forum members regarding his listing here. Also I think his later comments and postings exhibit the fact that he took our criticism to heart and applied what he had learned. At least that is the impression that I got from his postings a couple of PM's. Are you still holding a grudge? I think he learned very quickly.

Uhh no I don't think it is the same thing. As someone stated this is a forum and people for the most part are just trying to be helpful. It just strikes me as a bit ridiculous to try to sell a used bicycle for the price of a new bicycle.

I regard the forum more as a collegial atmosphere where friends sell their old and slightly used bicycle bits for very reasonable prices. I don't think it should resemble ebay where you try to maximize your profit on some unsuspecting forum member.