E-Bay Madness

[brucek]

Sad person that I am, have been sat at the PC trawling through the Morris pages on E bay and I came across this - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMC-mk1-mini- ... 1c2f157048

Surely I've missed something haven't I? It is amazing that (a) it has reached the price it has and (b) that there have been 16 people bidding for it!! How rare can they be? Why would you even do that?

From now on I'm not going to ever throw any parts away - EVER - cos if this is to be believed, by this time next year, I'm going to be a millionnaire (Rodney!) - cushtie

[samuria]

[les]

Oh wow, thanks for bringing this to my attention, 17 bids now.

[M25VAN]

Looks like only 2 main bidders with one nibbling away at the other. Would have gone for alot less if the winner had bid "at the last minute". Always the cheapest option but yes, a silly price.

[moggiethouable]

So how does it work then because it looks like 2***5 (386) bid against himself on more than 6 occasions ?
Forgive my dunderhead ignorance I have only used the site once years ago.

[brucek]

I think this is an example of where you set your max price and then every time a rival bidder bids more than the stated maximum, the auto bid ups the bid to the highest bid.

Lets say the bid currently stands at £5.00 you see the item and think OK I'll make a bid - say £5.50. What you probably won't know is that I saw the item too and made a maximum bid of £10. So when you bid £5.50, the auto bid, bids straight back with a new bid from me - say £6.00 so that, up until it reaches my ceiling of £10, I will always put in the highest bid.

Bidding at last minute is not always a guarantee of success, it's all down to how much you are prepared to pay. So in the example above, if the highest bid is say £8 from me, although I was prepared to pay £10, I will only pay £8 as that was the highest bid in the auction.

At least I think that's how it works

Oh wow, thanks for bringing this to my attention, 17 bids now.

Hope you managed to get it Les!!

[les]

Yes, had to pay 27 quid but should make quite a profit with folk like this around!!

[moggiethouable]

Thanks for the info.
Paying that amount does confirm the insult utilised when calling someone stupid............. "wingnut"

[simmitc]

From what I can see in the photo, it's not even a Minor part - certainly not for the later cars. On the real item, the wing "nut" is only the very top of a threaded tube, which is what connects to the post of the carb. As the post does not protrude form the air filter case, how is the nut meant to make contact?

[les]

The item is listed as bmc mk1 mini.

[brucek]

Aah so the secret is to prefix everything you sell with the words "Mk 1 Mini" and all of a sudden folks go into some sort of zen-like, dewy-eyed trance and reach for the purple drinking vouchers then! Now that I know, I have a set of genuine Mk 1 Mini radiator mounting bolts which I'm gonna put up for auction. Given the rarity of these I don't think it's to much to ask £250 for is it? Let's face it you won't be able to say you have really completed that restoration if you use newer bolts now would you

[bmcecosse]

Mk I Minis (and everything connected to them) are now worth huge money... I was looking at an extremely original early Mk I Mini in Edinburgh Chamber St. Museum last weekend - and I estimate it is worth ~£50,000.

[IaininTenbury]

Looks the same as a 948Minor filter nut, the saucepan shaped filter version. I'm gonna list one and see what happens!

[ian.mcdougall]

It does list Minor as well as a few others

[IaininTenbury]

But then again with only two bidders, now that one already has one there will only be one bidder so no one to push the price up so it'd probably go for the start price.....

[kennatt]

I'm going to tom roys scrap yard and take off all the ones he has in there,probably about 20 laid about ,cottage industry,house in the maldives. Just shows lack of knowledge some people have in believing that such an item is rare.But once on E bay I saw u bolts advertised as genuine bmc, very rare, with an opening price of £50,and they went to someone in USA for £55 I think.I asked the guy a quetion........are they made of titanium replied yes gold plated as well. £2.50 each at tom roys at the time ,

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Crikey! I have a few of them for the Allegro air filter (the wings are prone to snap) but now I see they're Mk.1 Mini they appear to have suddenly risen in value tenfold.

[IaininTenbury]

I was in the local hardware shop this morning (bit of a Two Ronnies 'Four Candles' type emporium) and while the screws I was buying were being counted out, I noticed a box of virtually identical wing nuts on a shelf behind the counter....
I didn't ask how much they were, but the boxes of screws, a box of nails and the bolts (no not bolts, bolts for the door - sliding bolts!) only cam to just over £5