Dealer debate

[throttles]

10 minutes ago, Eugene said:

A friend of mine was retrenched, he put food on the table by buying and selling bike stuff, most of which came from here. 

I guess, for him, his family was more important than the sense of community

This was me about 3.5 years ago. I went into Hard lockdown unemployed.

Now i'm like Robin Hood, mostly buy the deals for family members and sell off their/my used stuff here.

[ACE Cycles]

1 hour ago, Eugene said:

Isn't this the free-market system? The fundamental basis of capitalism. The freedom to trade. 

How does one go about limiting the markups these 'dealers' are placing on the goods that they are buying for resale? Price controls? Banning them? Shutting them down? 

None of these options are legal. This is South Africa, not North Korea. 

If somebody beats you to that bargain, so be it.

Probably the most sensible comment here. I find it absurd that anyone feels like they are entitled to a point to dictate the price of someone else's goods.

If you're not happy with the price, then don't buy it and if you lost out on a deal because you were faffing about, then you only have yourself to blame.

Willing buyer, willing seller

[Shebeen]

6 hours ago, Eugene said:

Isn't this the free-market system? The fundamental basis of capitalism. The freedom to trade. 

How does one go about limiting the markups these 'dealers' are placing on the goods that they are buying for resale? Price controls? Banning them? Shutting them down? 

None of these options are legal. This is South Africa, not North Korea. 

If somebody beats you to that bargain, so be it.

4 hours ago, ACE Cycles said:

Probably the most sensible comment here. I find it absurd that anyone feels like they are entitled to a point to dictate the price of someone else's goods.

If you're not happy with the price, then don't buy it and if you lost out on a deal because you were faffing about, then you only have yourself to blame.

Willing buyer, willing seller

 

5 hours ago, NotSoBigBen said:

Yes that sense of some kind of 'community' along with many other things in life has been lost ... each man/woman for themselves I guess 🤔 

 

I'm all for the free market.

BUUUT if there is margin to be made for resellers by buying cheap here and flipping it at a higher price later then it is just a race to the bottom. You will go from a community market place with zero resellers and no middleman to two or three scanning the ads to ten/fifteen, what's the limit - thirty all spending their time lowballing each other chasing the same deal?

The resellers add no actual value, they are just a third wheel in a transaction that brings in costs with no physical upgrade to the item sold. The closer we get to the gumtree point, the more we have a less efficient system, which is not the free market/capitalism way.

I make the distinction to use @ACE Cycles terminology of resellers/dealers. I see value in good dealers who hold stock range, expertise and save customers' time. Bad dealers who misrepresent things, sell the wrong size/function item or fence stolen goods should be weeded out but that takes time.

The classifieds within the community is clearly a huge focus for bikehub, they are fully aware of it and will tweak it to what they think works best. Personally I don't buy huge amounts here, but have referred many in the past. I would be disappointed if it comes to a trading floor for resellers/sharks/thieves/dealers with private people 

 

[ACE Cycles]

5 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

 

 

I'm all for the free market.

BUUUT if there is margin to be made for resellers by buying cheap here and flipping it at a higher price later then it is just a race to the bottom. You will go from a community market place with zero resellers and no middleman to two or three scanning the ads to ten/fifteen, what's the limit - thirty all spending their time lowballing each other chasing the same deal?

The resellers add no actual value, they are just a third wheel in a transaction that brings in costs with no physical upgrade to the item sold. The closer we get to the gumtree point, the more we have a less efficient system, which is not the free market/capitalism way.

I make the distinction to use @ACE Cycles terminology of resellers/dealers. I see value in good dealers who hold stock range, expertise and save customers' time. Bad dealers who misrepresent things, sell the wrong size/function item or fence stolen goods should be weeded out but that takes time.

The classifieds within the community is clearly a huge focus for bikehub, they are fully aware of it and will tweak it to what they think works best. Personally I don't buy huge amounts here, but have referred many in the past. I would be disappointed if it comes to a trading floor for resellers/sharks/thieves/dealers with private people 

 

Reseller add value when it comes to no frills, no fuss, no time wasting, straight to the point, offer backed by fast reliable payment.

Often, thats all a seller wants, hence we will always have resellers here

[AkwA]

3 minutes ago, ACE Cycles said:

Reseller add value when it comes to no frills, no fuss, no time wasting, straight to the point, offer backed by fast reliable payment.

Often, thats all a seller wants, hence we will always have resellers here

Lower risk of scam if not using Bike Hub pay

 

[Gr3mlin131]

5 minutes ago, ACE Cycles said:

Reseller add value when it comes to no frills, no fuss, no time wasting, straight to the point, offer backed by fast reliable payment.

Often, thats all a seller wants, hence we will always have resellers here

So the reseller is taking the risk of the stock sitting for a while, and putting their markup as the premium for taking on that risk? For some of these examples that has been a bit steep to me. But people value money differently, especially around hobbies.

[ACE Cycles]

1 minute ago, Gr3mlin131 said:

So the reseller is taking the risk of the stock sitting for a while, and putting their markup as the premium for taking on that risk? For some of these examples that has been a bit steep to me. But people value money differently, especially around hobbies.

Nobody will ever agree on an advertised price. These are luxury items, not essential like fuel and food. What some find to be a bargain others find a rip off

[Gr3mlin131]

1 minute ago, ACE Cycles said:

Nobody will ever agree on an advertised price. These are luxury items, not essential like fuel and food. What some find to be a bargain others find a rip off

Agreed, different ideas on price is why resellers wil exist in some way or another on most platforms. Some people are not willing to wait, and others are willing to pay the marked up prices. 

[ACE Cycles]

These dealers and resellers are making less in percentage margin than retailers. Small businesses that provide for their families as opposed to large corporations lining investor pockets. Where's the retailer thread?

[PhilipV]

Just went through this whole story while shopping around for a road bike for my wife. 

The filters on bikehub is convenient, but the value potential is better on Facebook, and that is where we found the bike we bought. 

[Shebeen]

33 minutes ago, ACE Cycles said:

Reseller add value when it comes to no frills, no fuss, no time wasting, straight to the point, offer backed by fast reliable payment.

Often, thats all a seller wants, hence we will always have resellers here

You've basically describing a pawn shop without the buyback option.

 

I get your point, but to earn a living to add "this value" the reseller either needs to 

a)lowball the deal

b)buy from a seller who doesn't know the true value

c)sell for more than the true value.

 

b and c point to poor education of the person transacting with the reseller - the hub is here to help. a) by definition won't be adding value.

 

 

[PhilipV]

6 hours ago, Eugene said:

 

I guess, for him, his family was more important than the sense of community

As it should. 

The same for a 2nd hand car salesman. At the end of the day it's just business, but people want to make it personal. 

But, like with car sales, there are sharks in the bike dealer sphere. Like the guy in George who pretended to be a woman starting out in mtbing to get a lower price from a friend of mine, then promptly removed the dropper, bumped the price up and neglected to mention or post photos of the scratches in the fork stanchions. Dodgy AF. 

[ACE Cycles]

7 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

You've basically describing a pawn shop without the buyback option.

 

I get your point, but to earn a living to add "this value" the reseller either needs to 

a)lowball the deal

b)buy from a seller who doesn't know the true value

c)sell for more than the true value.

 

b and c point to poor education of the person transacting with the reseller - the hub is here to help. a) by definition won't be adding value.

 

 

You get low ball offers, and then you get what a pawn shop would offer you 🤣

A) Lowball the deal? What does that mean, nobody is getting forced here

B) Or they know the market value, but are happy to accept trade value and not have their time wasted

C) What is true value? Are you referring to market value?

[jcza]

7 hours ago, NotSoBigBen said:

Yes that sense of some kind of 'community' along with many other things in life has been lost ... each man/woman for themselves I guess 🤔 

Use the Rouxtjie rule... 

[The Ouzo]

I think the biggest problem is the lazy buy and resell dealers that add nothing but profit to the deals.

Nobody is saying you cannot make some money, but do a little bit of work for it.

 

On one hand a feel comments on ads would help to call out these guys, on the other hand we have seen these can get out of hand or personal.

 

Its tough, I'm not sure what the answer is because clearly teh free market system is flawed. 

 

[Phillippe Coetzee]

8 minutes ago, ACE Cycles said:

You get low ball offers, and then you get what a pawn shop would offer you 🤣

A) Lowball the deal? What does that mean, nobody is getting forced here

B) Or they know the market value, but are happy to accept trade value and not have their time wasted

C) What is true value? Are you referring to market value?

Yip agree with B, everyone's priorities are different, you dont always know what the story behind the bike is. Maybe the seller is in a massive pickle and need R5000 even though the bike is R20000, at the end of the day he is accepting it. Plus maybe someone got a bike for free from someone else and does not really mind what he is getting for it,