A Positive ebay story for a change.

[chameleon54]

The forums can get a bit depressing with all of the ebay problems and sellers threatening to pack their bags and leave, so I thought I would share a bit of ebay fun I,ve had in the past few days. ( yes there is still some there if you look hard enough )

I was browsing through the ebay book auctions a few weeks ago when I spotted a book with very brief title for $5 starting bid. I knew I could sell it for $50 and it would be a quick flip, so I put a $5 bid on it and promptly forgot all about it. I didnt think any more about it until I logged in a week or so later to find I had won the auction and the seller had opened a non payment claim, as I hadnt paid. A quick paypal transfer solved that and the padded bag with the book eventually turned up in the mail. I didnt bother opening it and just threw it in a pile with a couple of others to attend to when I got around to it.

Well I finally got around to opening it yesterday. As soon as I opened it I realised it was a rare edition in near mint condition and worth $100.............

Feeling pretty chuffed I thumbed through the pages and noticed a small 20 page book, stapled to the back cover. I new this book series pretty well, but that was a new one to me. I had never heard of it before.  A google search showed it was ultra rare with perhaps only 50 or so printed. Wikapedia mentioned it, but the info there was all wrong, so after further research I edited the wikapedia entry.

Next I listed the little 20 page booklet on ebay for $200 and it sold within two hours to a collector in Japan. ( must have been too cheap....   )  Ive still got the $100 book which will sell fairly quickly. All up it has been a pretty interesting little game. It looks like theres still some life left in the old ebay dog after all.

[digital*ghost]

Nice. 🙂

It's good to see some people can still recognise a treasure when they see one, unlike the narrator of this story.

How'd ya feel, missing out on that!? 

[chameleon54]

Theres a little bit more to this story that I cant give away without identifying my main selling account, but the subject matter in the little book is very important to a some people and could settle a few pub arguments. It relates to motor racing and the debate over what was the fastest  @#&$%   ever built at the time ( and yes, this little book confirms it was this one ..........) Hence the reason to edit the Wikapedia page. The definative information had become lost over several decades as there has been no other copies of this little book surface during the internet era.

I love the research part of my ebay business. Its a bit like those detective shows on telly where they solve a mystey in one hour every week....... 

Its also nice to know there are still a few nuggets waiting to be discovered on the ebay wastelands.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

I love the research part of my ebay business. Its a bit like those detective shows on telly where they solve a mystey in one hour every week....... 

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me too 

[imastawka]

Me too.   But I wish a lot of it could be solved in that one hour.

Sometimes you follow a lead for weeks, and come up empty handed.

[collect247]

The torana was faster than the XY GT in my opinion lol

[davewil1964]

Unfortunately, the XY had a top end of 142mph. 0-60 and standing 1/4 were seconds quicker, too

LC XU-1 had a top speed of 112mph, but went round corners better.

Mind you, I once dragged off a 302 Falcon at the lights in a 253 LH, but that was more down to reaction time and knowing how to get off the mark without ripping the back tyres apart.

[fred_foofighter]

The LJ XU-1 was faster and a nicer car to drive on the road, it would do 126mph, but still not up to a GTHO.  I sold mine back about 1977 for I think about $3300 now they are worth $30 - 70,000.  I wonder if I could justifiy buying one for my Super Fund.  Although a better investment would be an A9X. hatchback if you have a spare $200,000.

[davewil1964]

The LC was the contemporary of the XY. My 253 pulled 185kph (115mph) on the tacho. Once. I have no idea what IAS was as I rarely looked at the speedo once I worked out the gearing.

I had a base VK Brock. That was nice to drive, but if I opened the secondaries I just chucked unburnt fuel out the exhaust pipe.

[chameleon54]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

The forums can get a bit depressing with all of the ebay problems and sellers threatening to pack their bags and leave, so I thought I would share a bit of ebay fun I,ve had in the past few days. ( yes there is still some there if you look hard enough )

I was browsing through the ebay book auctions a few weeks ago when I spotted a book with very brief title for $5 starting bid. I knew I could sell it for $50 and it would be a quick flip, so I put a $5 bid on it and promptly forgot all about it. I didnt think any more about it until I logged in a week or so later to find I had won the auction and the seller had opened a non payment claim, as I hadnt paid. A quick paypal transfer solved that and the padded bag with the book eventually turned up in the mail. I didnt bother opening it and just threw it in a pile with a couple of others to attend to when I got around to it.

Well I finally got around to opening it yesterday. As soon as I opened it I realised it was a rare edition in near mint condition and worth $100.............

Feeling pretty chuffed I thumbed through the pages and noticed a small 20 page book, stapled to the back cover. I new this book series pretty well, but that was a new one to me. I had never heard of it before.  A google search showed it was ultra rare with perhaps only 50 or so printed. Wikapedia mentioned it, but the info there was all wrong, so after further research I edited the wikapedia entry.

Next I listed the little 20 page booklet on ebay for $200 and it sold within two hours to a collector in Japan. ( must have been too cheap....   )  Ive still got the $100 book which will sell fairly quickly. All up it has been a pretty interesting little game. It looks like theres still some life left in the old ebay dog after all.

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The $100 book sold today, so all up a quick little flip from a $5 ebay purchase to $300. It makes a nice change from all of the gloom and doom we keep hearing about. I got so keen I purchased two more books today for $5 each................( tell him he,s dreaming now......... )