Buying on Ebay (again)

I know that this one comes up from time to time and it is one of my pet subjects but please be aware of buying items off Ebay. I am not referring secondhand or Far Eastern parts as they are a subject all of their own but this time it is about buying genuine Honda parts but paying through the nose for them.
I have been monitoring a brand-new (NOS) front brake arm which is being sold by a dealer. Even with 13-hours to go this item already has a top bid of £13 and I expect it to go for more yet you can buy it from David Silver for £9.16 inc VAT.
Likewise there are genuine footrest rubbers for sale from another dealer for £10 EACH plus P&P, not cheap when you consider I just paid £8.40 for a PAIR from DS.

Do your homework and check out prices properly instead of assuming that as it is on Ebay it must be cheap (how wrong can you be).

I think most of us do the same. We check part numbers using the CMSNL website and then check prices between DS or the likes of Monkey Bike UK and then place our order with the one doing the best price (taking into account VAT and P&P).
I placed another couple of reasonable sized orders this week but it was split between DS and MBUK as even after P&P had been taken into account it was cheaper buying from the two different suppliers and pay two lots of postage rather than buying it all from one place.

The brake-arm went for £14.16 in the end, £5 more than buying direct from David Silver.
It might not sound like a lot of money but that is on one cheap part, imagine rebuilding a bike using the same method!

HI
I am going to the VJMC show at Stafford on Sunday hoping to bag a few bargains and I will be taking my trusty Blackberry so that I can compare parts prices.
I think the use of the word RARE on Fleebay makes people bid over the top.
Regards Tufty

Stafford is a good show.
I haven't been for a few years but if you are on the lookout for parts then it is a good place to have a look around but you are spot on about checking prices before buying and modern mobile comms make that possible (shame i'm still in the dark ages!).

i know exactly why many parts sell for top doller on ebay because people like me buy their first st70 ready to restore more often than not from ebay,not knowing anything about were to buy parts , other than ebay......... it wasnt until halfway through the rebuid (6months later)that i was told there was a st club !! Somewhat late as i had spent £100s on parts from ebay, the usa and the middle east waiting weeks and weeks to arrive and then be disappointed by the quality if only i had known about this club !! shame we cannot shout out to them as i,m sure they are like i was 6 months ago....

I am lucky in as much as I have known about David Silver almost since he began back in the 1980's, even then he made the bike press with stories of him buying up old stock and being THE place to go for items which Honda UK had already deleted.
What anoyed me was a couple of years ago I went to my local Honda dealer to order a couple of parts (I had the part numbers) and they said they no-longer order parts for bikes over 10-years old whereas a few years ago that attitude would have been unheard of. I can completely understand them not holding parts in stock (I wouldn't expect a dealer to hold anything more than fast moving & service parts on the shelf) but to refuse to even order them really surprised me.
The real boon has been the CMSNL website as you can now get the correct part number in minutes.

Tufty, Pity I did not know you were going, I was there for both days.
Perhaps next year we could have a club stand ??? Vmax

Hi
I was really disappointed that there were no Dax's or should that be Dax'i present I am not sure how club stands get into these show's and what sort of cost's are involved.My friend who I shared fuel costs with, was looking for Suzuki 500 GT parts which are astronomical in price but again Flebay throws up the occasional bargain.
I was certainly impressed with the show bikes which were superbly presented and the friendlyness of the people running the club stands.
Anyway the bad weather will be with us very soon and this afternoon I picked up my frame from the powder coaters oh yes spot on what I ordered. I will post some pictures of the frame before and after powder coating, now comes the difficult part of going through the shed looking for parts that I know are there somewhere.
Yes it would be good to have a club stand ?????????????????????????