Please----I need REEL help.

[Guest]

I have a reel up for auction at ebay. I really don't know anything about it, but I've had offers ranging from $300 to $1350. I don't know the the worth of this reel, and I would really love some help on this. Here's the link to my auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 3655028695

My email address is

Thanks for your help.

[Reelsptsmn]

Well, Guest, I would say since you have already listed the reel, you will soon find out what the value of the reel, really is. One fact of life is that nothing is worth a penny more than someone is willing to pay for it. Good Luck with your auction, Bruce
PS: might I suggest that next time you are curious about a reels value, that you ask first and list it later.

[john elder]

and considering how "rare" it is, you must have thought it was worth a bucket when you put it on. If folks are crawling all over you to sell it early, you needn't worry about getting top $ for it...they'll all take their best shots in the last 20 secs.

[cws/carl schultz]

also just a little high with your shipping charges[about 3 times priority not including insurance]

[SWIM JIG]

Well I can tell you that the serial # range is proper, thanks Brian from ALHA LAND and Joe from texas, advising me what mine is, and also the book on garcias, yup its a good one and I was about to use mine for fishing on lake EIRE untill the two experts advised me not to! Ok on the top end as my knowledge goes anything over the $500.00 mark would be a sale in my book, however as you state you have had it a while do ypu have the box, and all paperwork and hopefuly the price tag as it was when purchased? and if it has any nicks scratches , rubs or other signs of ware , the valuel goes down like eneron stock! DONT GET GREEDY! and your freight rates are way off base , unles your secondary business is handling charges! also there are some that prefer to write a check as we are leary about the cash or money order way as we dont know the seller either, heck in 10 days you know if a personal ck, is giid , there has to be trust on both sides on ebays FLEA MARKET! Brian are YOU looking at this reel? hope so! Col. Milton Lorens aka SWIM JIG ohio

[john elder]

Interesting...our mystery guest pulled the auction! No cahones or else one of us had a suggested retail price for private consumption

[Reelsptsmn]

I fail to understand why people pull an item from auction, after listing it. If you are contacted to sell, offboard, wouldnt it make more sense to allow the auction to continue ? I mean, if someone is willing to pay big bucks for an item, wouldnt he also bid that much ? What would be the motivation to pull it ? Please explain Bruce

[SWIM JIG]

I wonder one thing, Did all these 5500 gold anodized reels cary the same serial # mine too is 770200 on the foot, hmmmm! posible ? on page 85, in the (Ambassadeur and 1 book by Simon Shimomura and page 86 with a pic its called the 5500 Champagne Gold, mine gas some fade not wear on the finish and looks as if it was not to well anodized or colored well. on page 85 shows 5500 was introduced in 1976, why then the 77 # it also states the 5500 was one of the most colorful reels in all the Ambassadeur models . it was first introduced in brown and then a small number of pale anodized gold models were added a year later. a value for the pale gold 5500 model at a extremly high level. this imfo taken from contex of the Ambassadeur and I book. Question is why a duplication of sn, or is it a model # or serial # the book does not state that imformation. Belive i will just keep mine for a while longer. Col. M. lorens akak SWIM JIG

[FSREPAIR]

Milt,

You must really read the entire book to get all the info. Starting on page 27 Simon has a chapter explaining the serial & lot numbering systems Abu used throught their history. Simply put Abu channged from a serial numbering system to a lot numbering system starting in 1971. All reels produced in each lot would have the same reel foot number. For instance the reel foot number on your 5500 (770200) means it was made in 1977, in Feburary and the two 00s on the end designate which version it was. Hope this helped. Randy

[joe klaus]

I fail to understand why people pull an item from auction, after listing it. If you are contacted to sell, offboard, wouldnt it make more sense to allow the auction to continue ? I mean, if someone is willing to pay big bucks for an item, wouldnt he also bid that much ? What would be the motivation to pull it ? Please explain Bruce

Bruce:

Reason it gets pulled early is that a savvy EBay seller is well aware that it takes two to tango (so to speak). And if he has a current bid of 500 on his item and someone emails him and offers 2,000 to end the auction and sell, he's got to consider whether to take the 2,000 "in hand", or alternatively, "hope" that more than one bidder thinks it's worth 2,000. If there ain't but one guy out there that thinks in terms of 2,000, the high bid on the item might just be 525, with the guy that previously offered the 2,000 walking away with the item for 525. Bottom line (the way I look at it) is that the seller needs to know what his item is worth before
he puts it on ebay. But I suppose there's nothing wrong with doing what our "guest" did, and that was to make a few inquiries "after the fact" in order to decide if he should accept the off-line bid or not. If you are fortunate enough to own an item that is "hot" in Japan, it is VERY common to receive off-line bids from Japanese bidders that can blow your socks off.

[GeigerNY]

Prehaps the solution to the "Guests" problem would be to simply add a reserve price to the auction once he has recieved such an offer for an off line purchase. I believe this can be done under the current rules of E-Bay.
This behind the scene acvtivites tend to make me very nervious and I tend to stay away from it. I recieve a few inquries from sellers offering me a reel in better condition then the one I bid on and for less money,and who said there was no Santa Claus. Then again a fool and his money is soon parted.
George

[Harvey]

This whole deal smelled like a fish from the start. Anybody with any smarts at all would do a little research first before putting it up for sale. Then again maybe he dove in head first withing checking the depth of the water as a kid.