From: MV (MV@dc9.tzo.com)
Date: Thu Mar 24 2005 - 06:49:14 PST
There are some things going on in this GL market that I really don't
understand.
First the stuff is being sold as-is - with less than "no guarantee" -
you might not even get the stuf that was advertised.
People are paying above market rates for this equipment.
Dealers also can sell as-is, but when a truck is sold it was often sold
as being reconditioned, checked, etc. Those old prices were actually
less than what GL is getting for AS-IS, less than no guarantee
equipment. Even more ironic, I see used M35's on the private market
that are apparently running and in fairly good condition, going for less
than the trucks on GL that are in worse condition.
So are people buying GL stuff, then realizing that they got screwed or
that they can't use it, fixing it up somewhat and then selling it at a
loss??
Perhaps the high cost of scrap steel is also playing a part in this.
I can't see how the dealers are getting cut out of this when they are
selling two different products. I think of a dealer as a company that
is trying to sell a product in a known condition with some assurance
that the customer gets what they paid for. IE, "the truck actually does
have a running engine". Whereas GL sells stuff and you hope the
description matches the actual item. This seems like two entirely
different situations.
At the same time, the medium duty used truck market is pretty much in
the toilet. I bought a 2 ton diesel, flatbed truck this winter for
$1700 and the guy drove it 300 miles to me to deliver it. It needs some
minor sheetmetal work, but is entirely usable as is.
So what gives? Who is paying $4000 for a M35 parts truck? Sounds like
very expensive scrap metal to me.
Can GL bid up their own auctions??? I haven't read their fine print
sufficiently to know whether that is possible or not according to their
terms. Something simply doesn't smell right.
Dave
chance wolf wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sonny Heath" <sonny@defuniak.com>
> To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>; "chance wolf"
> <chance_wolf@shaw.ca>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 7:33 PM
> Subject: Re: [MV] No bargains at auctions like G/L's
>
>
>
>>Wolf,
>>
>>Are you saying that GL should only sell to dealers who know how to use the
>>GL website and tell everyone else they aren't allowed to buy from them?
>
>
> No. I'm not. I'm explaining why the dealers can't make a living by buying
> from GL, and why prices are climbing. When GL started out I thought I'd
> personally also finally get a chance to get something for a reasonable price
> having much the same advantage the dealers traditionally had - and for
> awhile - that was the case. Now it is not. There was no "I hate this and
> this is the way it *should* be" angle in my stuff whatsoever, for I am not a
> dealer. Apologies if that did not come across.
>
>
>>When I was in the Army they did what it took to inform people on active
>
> duty
>
>>to come to property disposal sales and I have been doing it ever since.
>>What should I do, go to a dealer and pay roughly double and sometimes ten
>
> or
>
>>twenty times what I can buy it from the government for? Don't think so.
>
>
> Which is why I put part of the blame on the dealers under the old system who
> "bought by the pound and sold by the ounce". (In fact, I think I even
> called them "usurious bastards.") Now GL's Government Ebay has thrown off
> that particular yoke, and you and I and other ex-servicemen and others
> who've never seen an MRE can buy just like the dealers can. But that
> RT-1446 you know the dealer paid 35 bucks for seven years ago under DRMS now
> goes for $1356.00, and that M35A2 dropsides he got for $836.23 at the same
> time now goes for $4326.66. DRMS was a wholesaler. GL is a retailer. It
> cut out "the middle man" by *becoming* the middle-man. End user still gets
> to pay through the nose regardless. Hobbyists still nominally 'win' by
> having access to stuff which otherwise might get sold in bulk to the
> Poughkeepsie Logging and Turf Laying Corporation without anyone knowing it
> was available for sale in the first place (DRMS days), but instead of the
> $211.36 they might've paid - you get to pay $3671.41
>
> We've all come across assholes in the hobby who figure everything's worth
> $17,000.00 when you know damn well they payed $313.63 for it, but now it
> goes for $14.736.21 on GL and we're all supposed to feel all warm'n'fuzzy
> inside? Maybe if I were a shareholder, but otherwise...fat chance. I
> regularly scan through the GL listings for gear I know the value of down to
> the last cent, and it goes for more than it does on the open market or on
> Ebay. There's something very wrong with that.
>
> (And to head off the usual followups at the pass: 1) I'm not whining; 2) my
> livelihood doesn't depend on this sh*t; 3) I have nothing against honest
> dealers; 4) I don't think "the Law of Supply and Demand" is a permission
> slip for consumer rape; 5) There are sometimes deals to be had on GL if
> you're prepared to deal with an incalculable level of head-scratching
> frustration over the actions of your fellow man while engaged in the pursuit
> of those 'deals'. )
>
>
>
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat May 07 2005 - 20:41:25 PDT