Ebay - Good or bad?

[Searchguru]

What is your opinion of Ebay?
Do you consider it a good thing or a bad thing?
Has it bumped up the prices of motorcycles and parts to an unprecendated level, or is it reasonable?
Is it the first or only place you would go for purchases?
Are there still bargains to be had?
I have sold a couple of bikes on ebay and was pleasanlty surprised at the price paid for a Kawasaki ER5 but very disheartened at the end of my Honda CBR1000F auction. Both went for £800. Both new owners were very pleased with their purchases but has anyone been left thinking 'Why on earth did I do that'?
Your thoughts, please.

[Goldy]

I have had the same, selling two bikes one at a good price the other not so good. You have to remember Ebay is an auction, so if there is only one bidder it will go cheap, if two or more are bidding the price will keep going up. I think E bay is good for bike parts because you are buying in autojumble condition so you tend to know what you are getting, but again the price varies considerably.

[Searchguru]

I realise there's got to be at least two people to make an auction out of it so there is always a risk in selling.
I looked on ebay just after writing my original post and there were two Yamaha Fizzies for sale, both apparently very good but with a day to go they were on about £1700 each! I never found out what they finished on but that sort of money is ridiculous in my opinion.
I have read about and had experience of parts and other things for sale on ebay, which are going for far more than they could be picked up for from other sources, at a fraction of the price.
I think a lot of people look to ebay as their only option (laziness?). If you are looking for something like original Conti exhausts for a Ducati 900SS and you find them on ebay, at a price you can afford, then that's brilliant. If you pay twice the going rate on ebay for something your local dealer might have collecting dust on a shelf then you need your head read.

[davecullen]

as a pretty serious ebayer, i think it is brilliant for finding scarce parts at (occasionally) really low prices, eg NOS heat shields for my Z1000, totally NLA from kawasaki and sourced at 20 quid for pair from US, result!

you have to know whats available and what isnt though, and market is very fickle, i only got ten quid for a pair of original Z1 instrument covers, people pay 30 quid for chrome replacements all the time, that flabbergasted me.

re bikes i'd say unless you have something really collectible like a mint Z1, the bids are really poor much of the time and having had good results here, if you arent in a hurry, use this site first with some back up ads in free mags such as motorcycle mechanics.

finally, if your bike is truly mint, wherever you advertise it, dont sell it short, there is a serious amount of old nails out there!

[fidobsa]

I've picked up good bargains on Ebay. You have to be prepared to be outbid on most of the items you go for and stick strictly to what YOU think is a fair price.  With vehicles you find their location has a big influence on price. For a long time I resisted selling bikes on Ebay because I live in a remote part of scotland. When I did try selling my Triumph Trident 900 on there I only got £750 for it. If I decide to sell my 1948 BSA A7 I might try Ebay again though as people are willing to travel further if they are after something rare.
If you are willing to travel it is well worth looking at bikes in Scotland as you might get a bargain. My Royal Enfield 535  was near Glasgow and  I got it for less than £700, with about 250 miles on the clock.

[Grizzly]

I never use e bay.

I know of too many occaisions where people have been stung! I also know a couple of back street wheeler dealers who sell on e bay and I wouldn't buy a split pin off em, whatever their rating. To be fair though I also know of lots of people who have done really well on e bay.

Maybe my attitude is not the right one to have but I will always remember the Honda Varadero owner who bought a used set off crash bars off e bay for more money than new.

Grizzly

[OzyOldy]

AS said before E-Pay CAN be expensive. Parts often go for far more than they're worth, while others are far less than they're worth.
More often than not these days I buy very good used parts from shops/dealers cheaper than E-bay.