Starting Your Vintage Bike Search Part 1 - eBay

I'm not a huge fan of eBay mostly because bidding takes you out of the person to person negotiation and into a war with bidding strangers. Seems like that drives prices above what you see in classifieds from private sellers. Here are some points of note and help:

1.    There are always vintage motorcycles on eBay, and I’d recommend against spending money on anything that’s far enough away to involve shipping costs. If you’re looking – like I was – for something that needed me (I mean needed work) it’s a cheap bike that may not run and shipping eats into the budget. I’d rather shop locally and spend the extra money on the project than whizzing it away on shipping. Obviously you can limit your eBay searches to local items – or local enough that you can go and look at them before the auction close, or close enough that you can more easily pick them up with a truck or cargo van or whatever.
2.    I don’t like that you’re sometimes bidding against phantoms on eBay. In the past I have ‘finished second’ on a couple of auctions and was contacted by the buyer since the winning bidder was a flake. Well, the winning bidder pushed up the price with no apparent intention of buying. Could that have been a co-conspirator of the seller i.e. a “shill bidder” that just bid up the price to help out a friend? Bottom line, I think that pricing of dusty old non-functional bikes is often higher on eBay for whatever reason; I prefer finding somebody selling locally. Maybe you’ll prove me wrong and find a really good deal.
3.    Search advice for eBay – If you do want to pursue the eBay route, do factor in any added costs like shipping. Beyond that, it pays to set up a standard search and have eBay mail to let you know something should be on your radar. Here’s an example of a “Saved Search” process that will get you an e-mail every time a Yamaha XS750 gets listed on eBay:
•    Got to eBay Motors at http://www.motors.ebay.com/
•    Type in which motorcycle you’re looking for in the main search box at the top, and make sure to hit the drop down box to the right and change the default from “All of ebay motors” to “Motorcycles”.
•    Here’s a good search hint to keep you from having to do repeated searches. Let’s say you’re interested in a Yamaha XS750 or XS850. You don’t get to type “I want this or this” in the search box BUT you CAN tell eBay OR like this in the search box:
•    Yamaha XS (750,850)
•    When you put the parentheses around these two items – 750 and 850 – and separate them with a comma you get an OR search. (750,850) = 750 or 850  -- (650,750,850) = 650 or 750 or 850

•    Once you get your search results page, you can add other things to your search like “no more than x miles from zip” to keep the distance manageable.
•    “Refine” search will also keep out the results that are out of your price range. So if some nut job thinks they have a 30 year old XS850 that’s worth $5k, you don’t need to hear about it.
•    After you get your search the way you like it, click the “Save this Search” link to sign up for regular e-mail letting you know that your dream bike has arrived!

Happy searching on eBay. Next time my personal favorite - craigslist - with some excellent search tips and tools.