Austin Cooper wrote:The prices these parts are now selling for are really annoying me, I think part of the problem is the quality of the reproduction stuff. If I had any idea of where to start I would look into reproducing parts to original quality, but unfortunately I don't.
There are probably not enough Mini enthusiasts in the UK who are actually willing to pay higher prices for quality reproduction stuff to make reasonable volume manufacture viable, at the Mini shows the majority of buyers I see seem to be looking at price above all else. The high prices on ebay for original stuff tends to be due to overseas buyers bidding particularly Japan where even fairly common 'early' parts are much less readily available, the ebay parts also sometimes re-appear later on sale in Japanese Mini shops at an even higher price!
I have certainly found if you put in your ebay ad willing to send 'worldwide' the price acheived is often far higher than expected even on quite mundane/common/late Mini parts than if restricted to the UK only.
I still get amazed with ebay at times, even after the recent rehash of parts section those grille buttons are madness! well done to cooperbabs (she lives near me i think)
strange old world I thought this would do well it finished last night:
seems i should be looking for 70s aftermarket stuff not cooper bits!
i did meet a guy about 3 years back who had 3 garages full of nos speedwell stulff still on on the promotional racking/stands - he cleared a accessory shop out in the 70s
Nuts mine got stollen along with my grille. I still have the bolts hanging out the front panel.
A stupid thing to fit to anything other than a racer, but they came with car.
Talking of Ebay, I've just sold a few items on there which is new for me and have been paid by Payal on a couple. It does warn that the Paypal payment could be reversed, how does that work ?
Pete wrote:Talking of Ebay, I've just sold a few items on there which is new for me and have been paid by Payal on a couple. It does warn that the Paypal payment could be reversed, how does that work ?
If the item gets lost in the post or the seller wants a refund due to damage in transit then Paypal will refund them. Also removing the funds from your account will nt stop a refund, they will do a charge back on your credit card. To prevent loss due to postage then send the items by recorded/signed for delivery and declare the value of the item when posting.
The paypal system is biased towards the buyer and has helped me on 4 or 5 occasions. But and theres always a but I sold an 1100 special 110 mph clock set the other week complete with mount and binacle for £65.After 3 weeks the buyer filed a grievance with ebay saying it didn't work and they found in his favour and gave him a refund once the item was returned using their tracking slip.Said item arrived back with the binacle and mount only the clocks were dirtier different mileage and the pcb was a different colour so a counter claim was put in and I got my money back.Apparently this is rare especially as said ebayer has been on the system for a long time
With prices like £400 for a set of grille buttons is it surprising I am really struggling to keep the faith
When I started playing with Mini's it was a relativley cheap hobby, you could even pick up really interesting stuff for "reasonable" money. I feel sure that as prices continue to increase, as they inevitably will do fewer & fewer people will be able to justify involvement in this hobby.
Very sad indeed. . . . .That is unless you are the lucky seller who sold A SET OF GRILLE BUTTONS FOR £400+
surfblue63 wrote: If the item gets lost in the post or the seller wants a refund due to damage in transit then Paypal will refund them. Also removing the funds from your account will nt stop a refund, they will do a charge back on your credit card. To prevent loss due to postage then send the items by recorded/signed for delivery and declare the value of the item when posting.
I always post recorded the few times I've actally sold anything but that does sound a system that could be open to abuse if a buyer just doesn't like what he's bought when he recieves it, particularly if they didn't read the auction description properly ??!! So is this the same with E cheques ? (never bleedin heard of an E cheaque til yesterday !) in that money can be reversed ?
I sold a speedo a couple of months ago to a chap i'd had trouble with before. (I bought something off him that was inaccurately described and he tried to fleece me then as I had naively sent the item back without a tracking number).
He complained the speedo wasn't up to scratch and wanted £50 off. (It needed a no cost 2 minute repair). I knew he was trying it on, but as ever I offered a full refund on return of the goods. He moaned and whinged and eventually did a paypal complaint, despite me offering the refund. When I got the item back he had clearly damaged it further himself and now it's useless. He clearly knew how to work the system. I have over 600 feedback, all positive, and one t**t has really put me off.
mk1 wrote:With prices like £400 for a set of grille buttons is it surprising I am really struggling to keep the faith
When I started playing with Mini's it was a relativley cheap hobby, you could even pick up really interesting stuff for "reasonable" money. I feel sure that as prices continue to increase, as they inevitably will do fewer & fewer people will be able to justify involvement in this hobby.
Very sad indeed. . . . .That is unless you are the lucky seller who sold A SET OF GRILLE BUTTONS FOR £400+
Mark, This is exactly how I feel. I only bought my first Mini in 2005 which wasn't really a long time ago and I remember buying a NOS master cylinder off eBay for £12 as well as many other parts at quite sensible prices. I now have 2 Minis I'm restoring and the cost is just unbelievable, and that's using quite a high proportion of repro parts. The cost of the original parts I have had to source has been massive.
A friend of mine has just bought a 1963 Volvo Amazon which I have been doing quite a bit of work on, the cost of parts has been quite refreshing, also quite a few bits can still be bought from Volvo. If only it was the same with BMC.
A friend of mine has just bought a 1963 Volvo Amazon which I have been doing quite a bit of work on, the cost of parts has been quite refreshing, also quite a few bits can still be bought from Volvo. If only it was the same with BMC.
I hope its got the original front & grill parts ?? if not he will be in for SOME surprice, when he wants to buy these parts
Enterior parts (especially the floor mats) are also very expensive, as they too are unique to the 1962 - 64 model.
Pete wrote:
So is this the same with E cheques ? (never bleedin heard of an E cheaque til yesterday !) in that money can be reversed ?
You need to wait for the E cheque to "clear" before posting. You should get another email notification from Paypal in the next 5 to 10 days to notify you when it has cleared. This system is used when a buyer has only registered a bank account and does not have cleared funds in their Paypal account.
On the subject of high prices gained for parts I sometimes think my '63 Austin would be worth a lot more broken up for parts and sold on Ebay
A friend of mine has just bought a 1963 Volvo Amazon which I have been doing quite a bit of work on, the cost of parts has been quite refreshing, also quite a few bits can still be bought from Volvo. If only it was the same with BMC.
I hope its got the original front & grill parts ?? if not he will be in for SOME surprice, when he wants to buy these parts
Enterior parts (especially the floor mats) are also very expensive, as they too are unique to the 1962 - 64 model.
Jens Christian
It's interesting you should say that as it has a later front grille, there was a correct one on eBay the other week which sold for about £50 but it did need to be restored. I think I'm more bothered about it than he is though, it should have the close spaced crossbar grille with the deep chrome surround I believe (it's a p130 121). We actually went to Sweden to buy it and drove it all the way back, it has a huge amount of history with it and seems to have done about 335000km. Also it does need some interior trim, I have noticed it is more difficult to get than the later style. Do you mean the rubber floor mats? They are not in great condition but it has genuine Volvo over mats which are made out of a really thick woven carpet and cover most of the floor so it isn't really an issue.
He does want an overdrive gearbox but they sell for a lot of money in this country, also disc brakes would be nice but I haven't seen any for sale and new discs are a lot of money.
I'm not about to sell my Mini and buy an Amazon though, I like to go round corners too much.
