What's it worth threads

ninety15.0 said:

I understand the rationale and intent.

Now I'm just playing the devils advocate...

I could have posted something on the talk forum saying... "Hey guys I'm looking to purchase this longblock from a friend of mine. Here are the specs...could you give me an idea of what it's worth?"

So that's accepted within the rules of the forum....but i would have gotten the answers i needed. Just interesting.

Click to expand...

If I saw that it was being kept vague and the person posting said thread wasn't blatant or pushy about it, I probably wouldn't even give it a second look. But if things start smelling like someone is trying to drop a feeler add (having intricate details about the item, becoming defensive over “low ball” suggestions, or posting up contact information), I would probably forgo the warning altogether and issue them an infraction for their troubles.

...because going that route tells me that you know you're not supposed to be fishing, but you're doing it anyway....which also tells me that this isn’t a matter of someone not reading, or understanding the rules, it’s a matter of someone who just chooses to ignore them.

In any case.....you should be able to use your common sense to figure out what an item is worth. You know your parts are going to depreciate by at least 30-50% the moment they leave the supplier and any wear or mileage said item has incurred during the period you’ve owned it is going to reduce their worth further. And you of course know that you’ll never recoup labour costs. So use that as your starting point. If its too high, then people will ignore the ad…at which point you start reducing the price until it gets noticed or until you’ve reached your rock bottom.

Its not rocket science. Car parts aren’t an investment. You’re always going to end up taking a loss on them. What you need to do is decide how much of a loss is acceptable to you, and use it as your starting point.