Could be the deal of the week on eBay (no - not mine).
VCP Aquanaut, new in May 2003 - current bid - $810! No reserve!
My appologies to the current bidder, who’s sweet deal I may have just blown!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7108638489&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT
Man, I wish I had the cash right now!
The Aquanaut’s at the top of my short list. My wife would keel haul me anyway though. I’ve bought two boats this year and built a third. She said we need a bigger place with a garage or barn before I can get any more boats. >:-(
I’ve been watching it
Very tempting, and only a few miles away.
hmmm…
Question here…
Is there a minimum bid on these? I mean is there a reserve that must be met before it becomes a legit sale? Seems to me the seller is cutting his (or her) own throat by selling something without a reserve.
Watched one boat auction twice.
It was an old Savage Gravity. The first time, the seller opened the bidding too high and got no bids at all. The second time, he opened at zero, but had a reserve. He got quite a few hits, but never met the reserve. I watched another boat (slightly used CFS) start at zero with no reserve and end up in the $500 range. I suspect that if it’s a good boat, it will sell for a reasonable price regardless. If you start low, you will get more bidders emotionally “invested” in bidding earlier. The more they bid, the more determined to win they are likely to become.
Timing
Sometimes, timing’s off and there are no serious buyers for a particular boat. Even good deals on good boats.
If more than one is interested and bidding, a fair sale price usually results. It can take a while. I’ve sold two, both on first auction listing. I know what I need to get to let it go, and set minimums/reserves there. One sold at that, one over. I have one there now with no interest yet (33lb glass sot - starting at $450).
On any big ticket item, either a minimum opening bid or reserve price is smart. Set that at your pain threshold, as lower does encourage bids - assuming you’ll have any bidders. Many kayaks go not bid on. Sometimes there’s just no match out there for it, but mostly due to high reserves - or dealers with very high opening bids only $50 - $100 below their buy now price on items costing $1500 and up - not much of a bidding window - better to go local type items.
I like eBay for the occasional hard to find item, like my Tsunami X-1, and the Heritage Shearwater I both bought and sold there.
In fact, I am
I am looking for a nice sea kayak, and the location of this one is not too far from me either.
But if this auction item is like some of the others on ebay, watch the price as the auction closes. There are a ton of last-minute bidders and electronic bidders (forgot what they call them) that make the price go up. You have no idea how high some of the proxy bidders are for this. But I will be keeping a watch on it to see what it finally goes for.
VCP Aquanaut
The kayak winning bid on ebay was $1930.00