Wonky prices for 914 parts/cars, driven by greed, What can we do about it? Options

[JeffBowlsby]

I know its all about supply and demand and what some are willing to pay, but sometimes we see pricing on 914s and 914 parts that are completely beyond reason. Some are taken by these scams. Most will recognize these ploys, but a greedy seller needs only one sucker and the whole hobby for our cars suffers.

Would it be useful if we as a club developed pricing guideline for parts/cars, based on recent sales of similar, condition, rarity, and listing other options, like available repro sources for those that are not aware?

Post your horror stories! Lets out these low-lifes.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smash.gif)

[shoguneagle]

I think Jeff has a very valid point. We should have some type of guidance in this area. Just too many greedy people using ploys to get to our members. I also see this happening somewhat within the Alfa Romeo and Lotus communities. I am for pricing items fairly and honestly. We do need some discussion regarding this manner.

Excellent point, Jeff.

Steve Hurt

[J P Stein]

Back in the day when I went to a swap meat....meet, I'd bring along AA's catalog.
When asked how much I wanted for a part I just looked up AA's used part price...show it to the fella and said 50% of that. Sold stuff right & left.

Is your brush wide enuff for that?

[r_towle]

Interesting suggestion, what spawned this?

In an area that had alot of part cars...I suspect it would be alot cheaper to buy the whole car and part it out.

Up here...we have less and less parts cars...so the price for a whole car goes up.
I found a few 1k parts cars....really junk.
I did not even look at them..the seller thinks they are worth that much, I do not.

Rich

[thelogo]

Yeh i've noticed this tooo .


I mean how do you live with yourself posting a pair of tail lenses ,


for 600 bucks , http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/pts/2663896396.html
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chair.gif)


yeh they looked great but come on man . I consider this price gougeing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chair.gif)





Hell half these engineers never even been off the ground " chuck yeager"

[bandjoey]

If we really care (and we do (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) ) then the best thing we can do is make sure 914 World always comes up on Google when someone searches for Porsche 914. To develop a price list could be price fixing at the worst and making buyers/sellers mad at the least.

Perhaps ? A big bold splat arrow at the top of the page directing people to our vendors list.

[JStroud]

This is a great idea and needed service to the world members. A list vendors with a description of the type of items they sell would be helpful, especially for new members, then set it up so members could add reviews of their experiences regarding pricing, service, and quality(separate from the vendor section now, more like a list than postings). This would help the good pruducts, service and pricing known to all members, not just the vendors who spend the most on advertising. I have my own philosophy on advertising, usually the companies that spend the most need it the most, those who hardly advertise let their product, service, and pricing do their advertising, I like to deal with the second group.

The second issue, car/used parts pricing, this is another excellent idea a list with the reasonable price or price range would be another great addition to the site, with these things in place on our site it would surely discourage price gougers and crooks from advertising here, or maybe elsewhere if they know they will be exposed here!

Great idea hope it becomes reality, that's my quick thoughts.

Jeff

[rick 918-S]

I think part of the issue is what guys want for parts cars. If your paying $ 400-800.00 for a rusty bone pile with ragged interior varnish in the gas tank, fuel lines and F.I. system and you need to get as much as you can for the rest of the car. That's one issue.

The second issue is when you post a WTB: looking for a used part. You get a response from Joe ACME to your inqury in the open classified forum, Then Joe ACME gets a pm from a couple of guys that post here all the time telling him how much he should be getting for a part. Then you get two or three more PM's from the others with the same price as they told Joe Acme to charge you.

A couple of these sellers doing this have "0" post count.

I have pm's in my history to back what I'm taking about. If your in the parts business and in the market to either make a living off your parts at least be up front about it.

If your doing this be warned I'm onto you. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

My suggestion: If you place a WTB: be sure to have a seller PM you and not post in the open classified forum. That way you can pick the best price and figure out who is working the fix.

[mikea100]

This is a great idea and will be especially helpful to people who are just starting with 914.

[JRust]

That is a huge can of worms. It is pretty tough to do a standard price for parts. That is pretty subjective. I am not into price gouging. I've always tried to be very fair with pricing. I have had a few post negatively saying this is to much in an add. I paid more for said part than I listed it for. So who sets this real price? While this is a rare occurance it is bogus to have people doing that. I think it is worse to say I have that same part in a thread & sell it for less in that same thread. Start you own for sale add. Anyone who actually makes money on parts is a better man than me. I've been going in the hole with 914's for years (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Loved almost every minute of it too (IMG:style_emoticons/default/evilgrin.gif)

[AndyB]

I have to agree. Some members are good and easy to deal with. On the other hand some are priced high. Nothing like buying X part from a member only to see another member 4 days later post the exact same item at 1/4 the price (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

[tod914]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OE-Genuine-Porsche...=item3a6ba2efb9

lenses only! lol?

[matthepcat]

That's disgraceful pricing.
Although with my experience High Performance House is not affordable in person either. (They are just down the road from my office)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OE-Genuine-Porsche...=item3a6ba2efb9

lenses only! lol?

[914rat]

If you read between the lines what JP said makes sense.AA is usually double the worth of a used part and a used car. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

[eric9144]

There are some vendors out there who, like the HPH ebay ad noted above, just dont give a F and figure sooner or later someone is going to get real desperate and pony up the $

A certain vendor recently quoted me $1250 for a NLA Left side tail light assembly complete...just because he could...and HELL NO I wouldn't pay that.

I'd say who that was (you can all probably guess) but that's another can of worms that's been (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dead horse.gif)

Some sort of pricing guide would be great but in the end people are going to do whatever they want, charge what they want and desperate or naive people will pay.

[siverson]

What's the problem? People can [try to] sell their parts at whatever price they want.

-Steve

[TheCabinetmaker]

1250? Wow. I have about 20 of them. Some even have lenses. I'd feel guilty selling them at a quarter of that price.

[rick 918-S]

What's the problem? People can [try to] sell their parts at whatever price they want.

-Steve

Sure no objection there, but when a group is working in the background attempting to fix a price that is bad for all of us.

[rjames]

What's the problem? People can [try to] sell their parts at whatever price they want.

-Steve

I agree with the spirit of wanting to keep people from paying way too much for cars or individual items. Many times I've seen postings from people hoping a 914 sells for a rediculous amount of money so it might drive the value up on their own car. I'd rather they stay somewhat affordable. And we've all seen parts that are worth ten times less than the asking price.

But that being said, I agree with Steve. If you're not wise enough to do some shopping around before spending your hard earned $ then you've got no one to blame but yourself. I think that the fact that most of us have sold things for a fair price negates a real need to 'police' pricing.

[BKLA]

the HPH ad for taillights is not a good example. Those are NOS and NLA. So you could buy a set of repro's for AA for about $500 (approx. $250 each) or pony up for the original set from HPH for $799. If I were doing a concourse car, the HPH might be worth the points. For my street car, not so much...

We'll pay $500 for a Rennshifter, but won't pay $500 for the rennshift linkage. (The linkage, now NLA, was a far better improvement but took a little more effort to install.)

Our cars are now 35+ years old. There was only about 120K made world wide and I'll bet there are only 60k left for parts and that are running. I, for one, am glad that there are parts available - used and otherwise.

If you need a part, shop around. JP's advise is a great place to begin.

As always, caveat emptor!