Baffled !

[landro]

I bid on this and lost and I`m baffled as to how this accordion from the mid -late 30`s sold for what it did. That said, I`m quite happy for the seller and certainly not crying sour grapes . Cosmetically , it looks to be nearly pristine but most assuredly this accordion will need new wax , valves, and possibly tuning since it is 85+ years old. The keys no doubt have yellowed some and have deep travel and the pallet surfaces could well be hardened and noisy. I do see 7 rows of bass buttons which indicate 2 rows of counterbass but this has not previously been a major influence factor in accordion values .Obviously it makes for a great museum piece but I remain baffled.
What am I missing here.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/EXCELSIOR-A...HBB7ldkk5GGJtuai%2FFQ%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

 

[pentaprism]

Wow! More than $2K for that. It must have some historical value that I'm not aware of.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, I haven't made that decision yet), I don't have that kind of money.

 

[landro]

OK, Looking closely at the bid history there were 82 bids made by 4 bidders and in small increments that look rather unusual and suspicious . Also , my bid was not correct as posted .
I`d not be surprised if I see the accordion re-posted for lack of payment received. Ahhh, such is Ebay.

 

[fjsys]

I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't get a "2nd chance offer" on it. To me it looks like a little bit of shilling is going on with that auction. I would make him re-list and then avoid this one and go for one of the other 4 rockers on ebay.

 

[maugein96]

You may know this already, but you can check all the bidders' activity with the seller on eBay. I was bidding for an instrument (not an accordion) a while ago, when all of a sudden the bids started creeping up. Turns out one of the bidders had only ever bid when the particular seller had listed, and it was so obvious that the bidder and seller knew each other. The bidder had "won" several instruments from the seller, although no doubt they left each other positive feedback and the item(s) concerned was/were re-listed. One other "bidder" had 70% of his bidding activity with the seller concerned, and it all got very suspicious. I stopped bidding a few days before the auction ended and lost the instrument to Mr. 100% who placed the winning bid in the last 30 minutes of the auction.

eBay reckon they will detect shill bidding and take action against them, but when the seller and shill bidders are all based and registered in different countries I don't think that is very easy to prove.

The site was eBay.de, and I suspect the shillers were based in Turkey and Belgium.

Just my 2 cents worth, and apologies if you had it all worked out already.

 

[JIM D.]

A nice "00" 4 rocker - old - but in great shape for it's age. Late 30's early 40's.
I wouldn't bid more than $600.00. and then If I rebuilt it, would ask $1250. And with pickups installed $1500.

 

[JerryPH]

100% a scam. Seriously... who bids 8-10 times in a row BEFORE someone else bids??
Look at other legit bids, you will see a back and forth between 2 or more people, not like 8 bids in a row from one person and then "4***k" bid 13 times in a row! before "o***o" gets one bid in and "4***k" kicks in the final "winning" bid... LOL

This auction screams "you are all considered stupid, so please over-pay on this $500 accordion as we try to scam you". :hb

 

[landro]

100% a scam. Seriously... who bids 8-10 times in a row BEFORE someone else bids??
Look at other legit bids, you will see a back and forth between 2 or more people, not like 8 bids in a row from one person and then 4***k bid 13 times in a row! before o***o gets one bid in and 4***k kicks in the final winning bid... LOL

This auction screams you are all considered stupid, so please over-pay on this $500 accordion as we try to scam you. :hb

That O***O bid was mine and it was placed second after the initial bid of $200. My bid was just slightly more than the opening bid of $200 and nothing seemed unusual at that time , but for a short time later all hell broke loose on the bidding, Heh,heh,heh.
I presently own and have had other vintage Excelsior 4 rocker 00`s (a favorite of mine) that were cosmetically pristine but none that ever had pristine wax and leather valves , hence my usual bids never exceeding $300 for one regardless of how nice it looks.

 

[JerryPH]

Definitely a wise move, because you knew your stuff. Unfortunately, it seems someone got a little greedy.

Like someone said, I bet you will see this accordion relisted in a short while. I think it was a nigerian prince selling this one... lol

 

[landro]

Definitely a wise move, because you knew your stuff. Unfortunately, it seems someone got a little greedy.

Like someone said, I bet you will see this accordion relisted in a short while. I think it was a nigerian prince selling this one... lol

I wonder if the seller might have thought the bids were too low and decided to end it this way.

 

[JerryPH]

It is entirely possible, but most people know what the value of what they are selling is before they post it on eBay, so finding the big deals are getting harder to spot, however, anytime there is a situation where money can be made, this is a guarantee that the "less than honest" will show their face.

I tend to not buy off of eBay often, too many scams and in my experience, one can find better prices elsewhere, if you look. I do use it to sometimes get an idea of what the value of something is. For example, the equalizer on my Bose setup recently developed a hiss. To get it repaired locally is a $500-$550 thing. On eBay, I found a guy that does the repairs for $275US. I later found another guy off eBay that can do the same and more for arounf $200US, so after the holidays, he is going to do my repairs for me.