Date:         Thu, 5 Jun 2003 19:52:26 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Side Tent on EBay
In-Reply-To:  <OF092CC399.79501C23-ON85256D3C.00571650@hewitt.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

> There's a "brand new" side tent up on E-bay, no bids yet and
> the buy it now price is $350
> it looks identical to this one: http://199.217.241.240/tent.JPG that
Ron sells at
> the Bus Depot for $199.99 --- presumably also "Brand New".
> No wonder there are no bids ---- (and no wonder I don't think much of
ebay).


Pretty funny. Yes, it's the same tent I sell, but for almost twice my
price. Lots of questionable stuff in his listing, too. For example, he
claims to have bought two but only needed one, so it's "brand new -
except that he assembled it to take the pictures." Why, if he already
has another one just like it that he is using, did he have to open up
and assemble this "brand new" one to take pictures of it?  Also he
claims it fit Eurovans, which it does not without a drip rail adapter.

You're right about ebay. Buyer beware. There are good deals there
sometimes, but also plenty of ripoffs. I often see parts there selling
for more (sometimes much more) there than I and other retailers sell
them for everyday (and without the safety net of dealing with an
established business) . Used parts are a mixed bag - sometimes cheap,
other times more than a new one would have cost!  The problem is, of
course, that some people go nuts bidding. I once put a CD burner on Ebay
privately and mentioned right in the description that it sold for $100
brand new.  Would you believe it bid up to $125?  Good thing there's no
IQ test required to get an Ebay user account. :-)

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

_____________________________________________
Toll-Free for Orders by PART # :  1-866-BUS-DEPOT