too right. i'd like to claim it if gentlemans agreement stands.

regards.

Vart I hope it helps you out. I should think the agreement still stands - it does in my book

Aye, agreed, I don't outbid other guys I know from here either, although I know a few don't follow it (which is fine, as long as I know who I can outbid )

not wanting to pick holes or anything, but am I confused in thinking the weber from a 1.4 should have square top bits?

In the 2 sentances the guy manages to write about it mate, one says that it's a stock photo

I'm not quite sure if I understand the "gentleman's agreement". Does it mean if someone from V3M gets an early bid in, no-one else is allowed to bid?

Tom

thats right Tom, it stops us bidding against each other and pushing the price up unneccessarily ,

first one in from the forum with a bid gets it .and the rest of us get to sit there with jealous looks on our faces lol,

its always worked pretty well in the past except for a couple of members who wouldent keep to the agreement

I've always been quite happy, as long as we know whos in and out of the agreement tbh. Usually (well, most people I've spoken too) have friends who usually look for the same stuff, and there was always a "mates agreement" so that two friends didn't outbid each other, kind of in the same way if your mate has the screws in the right size (or whatever) you need to finish the job, he'll let you have them, and you'll do the same back one day.

V3M has got a lot bigger since we first did this, but there is a sticky at the top of the offers thread with the ebay usernames of those who wish to take part in "friends" rule. Those who don't want to go with the agreement of course it's fine, as long as I know I can outbid them

Well, I'd certainly agree it's an honourable idea, but it seems flawed in practice. As you say, the number of V3M members is growing fast, as surely are the number of Ebay account holders who aren't V3M members, or even V3M members (like me) who had never heard of this agreement.

Look at the following example:
V3M member 1 offers something for sale.
V3M member 2 puts an early bid in because its a useful spare to have.
V3M member 3 holds back, holding to the agreement even though he really could do with the part.

In the last few seconds of the auction, several bids are put in, and member 2 is outbid. So now we have 3 unhappy V3m people, member1 because he was hoping for a better price, members 2 & 3 because they didn't get the part (member 3 even more so because he would have quite happily paid the extra just to get his car going again).

I suppose this situation could be defused by a few PMs flying about, but TBH I think the most practicable and fair way is everyone interested to put in a last-minute bid at the price which it's worth to them.

Tom

best i guess would be to post it up, then u can see who is bidding and if u really need it pm like tom said.

i'd mostly just like it as a good spare as mine has been rebuilt from 3 different webers now, if you need it to keep a car on the road its better you take it.

most V3mers I know would rather advertise it here first than on ebay as here there are no listing or final value fees ,

it seems logical to advertise to a captive interested market first.

most of us have an idea what we want for any item we are selling

so why wait a week waiting for an auction to end ?
advertise it here first for the price you want and then If theres no interest within a couple of days stick it on the bay ,

obviously just as we cant do anything about non v3mers selling stuff , we cant do anything about non v3mers bidding ,but generally it seems to help stop items getting bid up to silly prices

Hey no Vart, go for it, I was just speaking generally!

On the more popular articles I don't think it works, putting your foot in the door early, because the chances of being outbid are just too high. You could also argue that that system favours those with regular internet access throughout the day (which also includes me I suppose even though Ebay at work is an absolute no-no).

If I needed an article and recognised the people bidding I'd probably send a couple of PMs, or post a "please, please leave it to me" thread ...

Tom

Not that I bid for much on ebay, but I stick to the agreement, and I think Chris summed it up well.

Also, I don't think the agreement really counts if a V3M member is selling. They may well post here rather than e-bay or not, but most people will pay a fair price.

If a third party is selling, then I think the agreement kicks in. And I think most people here are good enough to let someone else in if they desperately need a part, so don't necessarily worry if some one beats you to a bid.

The main point of the agreement is that if two members feel like getting a part as a reserve, but no one else is interested, there's no point sending the price rocketing for no reason.

What's annoying are the private listings on ebay so you can't tell if it's a V3Mer bidding or not