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BrunneCustoms

BrunneCustoms

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I don't know if anyone has seen the show Auction Hunters but I just watched these guys sell a Schwinn Autocycle from '36/'37 with all it's original parts and such for $3400. They're "expert" valued the thing at $8000 :shock:

I've read before on the site that American Pickers and other such shows were driving the antique/vintage bike sale prices up. I can honestly say these guys will be making matters worse as well.

Schwinn Autocycle though... very, very awesome looking bike... 8)
 
Yeah why can't they make a show that shows the REAL value of things? I mean it's a great score but seriously it's not worth 8 grand.
 
No it just goes to show anyone can make a buck these days. Does that mean someone who buys a foreclosed house is a bottom feeder? The person who doesn't stay on their mortgage payment or on their storage unit rent loses. Next time pay up. I realize things come up but I never figured out storage units in the first place. You pay someone to hold stuff your not using. Why not just get rid of the stuff? Sorry for the rant but bottom feeder comment I don't get.
 
I swear these guys hype up what they find and label outrageous prices on national television so that when stuff comes up on an auction they can make more money at it.
Correct me if I'm wrong but to me "bottom feeders" means that these guys who find the items are making big money off of people that don't really know what they have. They are offered a price and they think it's a good deal. The guys then turn around and sell it for twice maybe three times what they paid for it. Benefiting from what others leave behind. Like a catfish.
 
Its the same thing what most bike shops do to, anything schwinn is primo gold. Its the buyer that is to be blamed not the seller. They are the ones that set the price but the people that buy them at those outrageous are really the ones who set the standards. The reason why they can buy em at those prices is because they got the money, maybe thats who the guys on craigslist are waiting for, the high rollers haha :roll: :roll:
 
I don't see anything wrong with doing what they are doing, it's life, you didn't pay your storage fees so they sell your stuff to the highest bidder, THAT'S LIFE. So the "bottom feeder" comment I don't agree with, I mean I pull bikes out of the trash, out of scrapyards, out of junker trucks, and sell them for profit. Does that make me a bottom feeder?

The only thing I have a problem with is don't say it's worth 8 grand when it's not and show a few episodes where they spent a grand on a room and didn't make squat, That's the real world and something we all can relate to. Some days you make a buck, some days you don't. Like they said briefly in the show 80% of their revenue comes from 20% of their investments.

That's all I ask from these shows is BE REAL!!!
 
I agree. Make it real. Show a bad buy or two. I also agree that the way these guys do things is better than American Pickers. Those guys I don't care for how they do business. Yes if someone doesn't pay up on a storage unit and it goes for auction and they lose their stuff, well that's too bad.
My issue only lies with getting someone to sell something to you for next to nothing when you know it's worth more. A lot more. And then you go and broadcast it on national television making them look like schmucks for selling something so valuable for so little. Although when they brought the one old guy a vintage store sign with his name on it the second time they saw him that was quite nice of them.

One thing for sure is that if these shows keep claiming these old bikes are worth "8 grand" then this hobby of ours just got harder.
 
Yeah, well after they took the old guy for a few grand worth of stuff I think they can afford to throw him a $50 sign with his name so they can come again and rob him blind. I mean making a profit is one thing but a profit should be like 30% tops, not buy for $50 and sell for thousands. On the other hand they have come across some things that I think they have under valued, like that Harley Panhead they bought for I think $22,000. In that shape I know a group of guys who'd pay almost double that much.
 
Really!? Huh... The old guy did invite them back... I think for him it was not about the money anymore really...more getting some of his "stuff" out to someone who can enjoy it more than he can now. Except some stuff he wasn't willing to part with.
 
Yeah, I get that too, I build bikes for the fun of building, most times I give them away. It's not about the money, it's the joy of doing what brings you joy.
 
Amen to that. Once I practice my "chops" I'll build for anyone that wants one. Hopefully get more people in my area interested in rat rods. Even just interested in riding as a group would be cool too.
 
I haven't seen the show in question just a commercial for it, I'd rather watch antiques roadshow TBH. I think pawn stars and there is another newish antique store one are totally crazy, I don't understand how someone can have an expert stand in front of them saying "this would sell for $5k at a auction" and then sell it to them for $2K because "they have to make a profit". As far as the thinking being that these shows will drive up the cost of vintage bikes it's probably a bit true but having a garage full of them I don't really see that as a bad thing...there will always be crazy people out there who want 5X the value of whatever they have. I honestly love it when I sell a bike on kijiji only to have it show up double the price in someone else's listing, why? Any of the other bikes I'm selling all of a sudden look like that much better of a deal.
 
What the heck is wrong with making a profit? Communist Russia went down the tubes, and the Chinese are becoming more capitalist all the time.

Look, you need to nearly double your money on the purchase price to cover the cost of the hotels, gas, the girl they have handling the phones when they're out... Reality TV doesn't pay squat - the only real money that they're seeing from this series is the extra business on their shop's sales and auctions. Do the math. To make a standard 35-40% mark-up after expenses, they pretty much HAVE to get close to double on the big-ticket items.
 
Nothings wrong with making a profit, the problem I have is with saying that your making a profit is the reason why your going to gouge someone. They're not using the standard 30-40% markup they're (as in the example I gave) using 100-150%. I just don't understand why someone would have an expert tell them what an item would bring at auction and then accept less than half that amount and not actually take it to auction instead.
 
In each of these instances observed and described, both the buyer and seller are benefiting. The buyer and seller have each found a sale price that both parties are comfortable with. Otherwise the sale would have never been made. Each party benefits from said transaction. Our perceptions of what an item is worth are unique based on a number of variables. Preference, locality, hype, popularity, supply, and demand are just a few that come to mind. As for the "bottom feeder" comment, I find that statement offensive. If you're referring to a person as a bottom feeder as if it were a negative aspect I completely disagree. Would you also consider such an individual a scavenger? Both descriptions are relatively the same. I find neither description to be unfavorable. Any person who benefits from a discarded or unwanted item has the perception to notice the value of that item. How is this a bad quality? I would like to address one more issue. Some have complained about the inflated asking price for the bicycles we all adore. I believe we can control this to an extent. Refusal to pony up is our best defense. In my case it's just a reality as I cannot afford most of what is offered to me, new or used. That's why I find this site so appealing. I feel welcome here because many of the members share the same ideals that I do! Sorry for the rant, but I just couldn't stand idly by while the principles of my hobby are being misrepresented.
 
i watch pawn stars,auction hunters etc etc.
i love the history behind the items that are found (end of story)

i have to agree though, thier all bottom feeders.
i don't know how many times i've seen the guys on pawn stars say something to the effect of.

"oh i gotta make money on this, its gonna cost me $1000 to have it restored."
$100 to buy the item, $300 to restore it and all of a sudden he's got a $4000 item for sale.

And lets not forget, these have been edited for t.v. so thier on thier best behavior.
i'd hate to see what go's off behind the camera's when thier not selling thier nice guy image.

the prices are crazy inflated beyond ridiculous. i've seen many an item on these show's that i've purchased for my basement at a fraction of the cost.

since the shows have started, i've run into so many experts on antiques, its getting very difficult to find good deals.

i think these shows will single handedly turn our wonderful hobby of collecting old bicycles (items) into a sport of kings. the $8000 schwinn is a classic example.

yesterday i was at our local goodwill and saw an old beat up schwinn colleigate.
price tag $140.
i asked about the price and why it was so high(usually there priced much cheaper)
the response i got was this.
"well its a schwinn. did ya see the schwinn on auction hunters?"

yup, really starting to hate these shows.
 
I wasn't looking to get a big debate going on this when I started the thread. I simply wanted to bring light to the fact that these auction shows and the like are making this hobby we love difficult. There was another thread on the forum about American Pickers saying a similar thing.
As for the bottom feeders comment I feel that it's misunderstood and can be offensive. My thought is simply this... The guys on American Pickers buy stuff from people and make them look really stupid by putting this outrageous price on it after they bought it. Not everyone is aware at the value of their stuff. But the true value is not what these guys are claiming it is on T.V. Auction Hunters is what originally set me off but all these shows (despite the fact I find them interesting) are making it harder already to acquire decent bikes at a fair price. Granted we can control it a little by not paying what they ask and leaving them stuck with it. However, there is always someone else with deeper pockets that will pay it because they saw a bike on T.V. sell for a lot higher price. icyuod2 has already seen a result at a Goodwill store. A store that gets their items from donations.
I collect Coca-Cola stuff. I cannot find an original vintage piece at a fair price anywhere simply because their are collectors out there that have paid huge amounts of money to have these items in their collection. I see the same thing happening to many of the items they find on these shows. And that really sucks for the average Joe collector.
 
That's just how life goes, there's always someone out there that thinks they got gold and they really don't. Do these shows make it worse? ..........Unfortunately yes. But they are not the cause of the problem, the cause of the problem is people who don't know what an item is worth and lack of research, and lack of readily available information on an item many times because it's rare or people just don't care enough about that item to post anything about it.

Not to mention a lot of these "experts" are quoting Auction prices, many people at auction pay too much because they fall in love with an item and pay way too much. I saw a fairly decent 70's VW bug go at a local auction that I tried to buy but when it sold for $5,000 and not being restored and worth about $2,000. I just put my hand over my through and said I'm done. Ended up seeing it on C-list later that day for $4,500 with the quote "Wife said it goes or I do"..... :lol:
 
As often as I rail against American Pickers I have to defend them just a bit in this scenario. I believe that they pay people a fair (picker's) price for items, and the subsequent sold-for, or "worth" price is fair and reasonable as well, or, what a person might pay at an antique shop here in the midwest, especially as it applies to the old metal signage that they're into.

The issue that I'm REALLY struggling with is exactly the one that icyuod2 described just above:
"Yesterday i was at our local goodwill and saw an old beat up schwinn colleigate.
price tag $140.
i asked about the price and why it was so high(usually there priced much cheaper)
the response i got was this.
"well its a schwinn. did ya see the schwinn on auction hunters?"

yup, really starting to hate these shows."

Many of you have seen the episode of AP that re-ran the other night, Mike finds that +/- 1940 Schwinn-built Excelsior in original, dirty, but remarkably complete and frankly lust-worthy condition. How much did he pay????? $150. And that's what he SHOULD have paid. The public gets that wealth-lust hazy thinking.
Yet suddenly everybody on Craigslist with a 1974 POS Miyata wants $400. That part I'm really struggling with.

Back to topic, my opinion, both the guys from Pawn Stars and the guys from Auction Hunters..... Total bottom feeders.
 

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