Saving Old Seagulls

I thought it was a higher price than I'd expected.

But when I did a 'completed listings' browse to find out how much it had gone for I was more than a little stunned by the sale prices that other Seagulls had apparently fetched - and these were rather ordinary examples.

£ 107 for a 40 plus, and £ 94 for another. Now there's a coincidence - same vendor...

Oh and a better one for £ 51, only a few bids, different vendor. And there are 2 40 plus motors, around £ 50 for both.

One is left wondering rather what goes on with the Bay. I've been bitten too many times to really be a fan...

Ebay has grown amazingly and is a serious international marketplace now. Almost any item from a thimble to a classic tractor can be found and it is also able to price almost anything from past sales.

Many Seagulls go very well on there and the buyer's choice is huge.... thirty 40 plus models being offered over the ten days I looked when I wanted my first.

As a matter of interest I had a geeky few minutes and worked out over that period the average non-runner/needs a service price was £44... for a claimed good runner with no parts missing the average was £97. The highest was £206 and the lowest £21.

Of course there are radical variations from week to week and depending how they are offered. If looking for a bargain I seek out a poorly described one with a blurred photo. Then I ask the seller to mail me better images (which strangely many sellers will do without adding them to the listing) and I ask loads of questions.

You do have to be prepared to get a wrong one now and again and I rarely complain to the seller, I just average the "loss" over that months other buys/sells.

We do not deal on EBay but use it for things we would have otherwise never been able to find and where there is no local market to sell on things we don't need.

I'm grateful to EBay for being at least the initial source for all four of my Seagulls.... in land-locked Cambridgeshire my choice would have been minimal from any other source.

David