My latest Kampilan!

[kahnjar1]

Originally Posted by freebooter

The world has gone mad!! Amazing!!! I know the world has gone crazy with prices realised of recent years for almost anything old and unusual and I do think it is a sign of the times ahead for those wanting to collect rare and unusual items.

I tried to obtain two lovely pieces recently and my uncle was prepared to spot me $6000 to do so, but me in my infinite wisdom I said I wont need that much they will go for much less, but alas he hit the nail on the head and then upon my disappointment explained how he has seen the markets go crazy in decades past, and gave me a good many comparisons as to why i should have bid to win, not what i thought it would go for. Heck I should know I took him to IAG auction house on the Gold Coast in Australia to deliver a bank note he put away in the 60's and it is expected to reach $5000 on the day this March. Worse yet, one note they have for auction, be that it was the first ever bank note printed in Australia, WILL sell for about 1.2million dollars plus buyer premium and there are interested parties who want it and will pay it.

Although there is a hundred thousand tonne of stock being constantly circulated around this world we live in, I honestly think it will get worse so we all best keep ferreting out the bargains as there are still many bargains to be had too.

regards

Gavin

I have to agree with Gavin, that bargains are still to be had, BUT, it IS becoming harder!
For those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, and certainly from my experience, the prices realised on Ebay tend to be lower in the Northern summer. My thoughts on that are that potential Northern hemisphere buyers tend to spend more time outside doing other things when the weather is warmer, rather than sitting in front of their computer. Just a thought anyway!
Now to the exhorbitant prices sometimes realised..............
1. Do buyers really know what it is that they are bidding on?
2.Do they REALLY believe the BS that some sellers put in the description of their items, especially since at lot of the pics are of poor quality?
3.Do they really investigate what an item is actually worth before bidding? It is very easy to go to the "completed listings" search to check what stuff is fetching.
4.Since all bids on this particular item were "private", is there anything stopping the seller from "hiking" the bids, especially if he has more than one user ID.
At the end of the day, there is always the old adage:Let the Buyer Beware