Ebay......

[FatMax]

So where the hell do some of these people get their pricing for pipes they have listed??

Have things changed that much....or do we have lots of people who know nada about pipes selling them??

Ridiculous!

[JtN©]

We have allot of people who know nada. Compare E-bay to a pipe
show ... a pipester of some sort goes to a show and see's a bunch of
pipes for big money and talks to a bunch of pipe makers and then goes
home thinking he can make a pipe cause he smokes them and he can do
just as good or better and get 100's and I mean 100's of dollars for
his creations and works of art. Well over the next year or so he
begins to make pipes and post pictures and such on the interwebz and
people begin to rant and rave how great they look and how great they
must smoke. Well the new pipe maker gets a swollen head bigger then
the swollen head of a vrginal teenager about to get laid for the very
first time by the biggest slut of the schoolyard when in reality it's
all total crap but what the hell does he know ... he thinks its the
best damn thing in the world next his can of shaving cream and his
baby wipe towels. Well now is the time to really compare E-bay to a
pipe show cause this new maker will bring his works of art to a pipe
show and set them out on the table with prices that he thinks his work
is worth and what he thinks they should sell for just like those
sellers on E-bay want for there crappy junk. Well by the end of the
show when only one or two of the persons 12 or 18 or so pipes he
brought sells and he firesaled them in the last few hours to at least
try and pay for his table and possibly his room as well he begins to
wonder if he really knows anything about pipes. He thought they were
worth far far far more then what they are just like the people trying
to sell pipes on E-Bay. He doesn't understand why they didn't sell
just like those people trying to sell pipes on E-Bay. He didn't get a
chance to really look around the show and realize the same pipes he
saw the last couple of shows sitting in front of those people who he
thought he could do better than are still sitting in front of them
because ... well just like E-Bay the buying market knows where the
pricing should be and the buying market aint gonna buy from people who
know nada about pipes and what they are doing.

E-Bay is comical at best for most pipes. There are some steals to be
found just like a few new pipemakers trying there best to to make a
name for themselves but overall ... E-Bay like allot of pipemakers are
a joke and most of them know even less than nada about what they have
and what they are doing.

E-Bay at times is full of fools and idiots both buying and selling but
them some of the idiots and fools both selling and buying just don't
know the difference.

JtN ©2013

[John Fury]

On Tuesday, May 14, 2013 12:58:04 PM UTC-4, JtN© wrote:
> On May 14, 12:09 pm, FatMax <dgullclem...@yahoo.com> wrote: > So where the hell do some of these people get their pricing for pipes they have listed?? > > Have things changed that much....or do we have lots of people who know nada about pipes selling them?? > > Ridiculous! We have allot of people who know nada. Compare E-bay to a pipe show ... a pipester of some sort goes to a show and see's a bunch of pipes for big money and talks to a bunch of pipe makers and then goes home thinking he can make a pipe cause he smokes them and he can do just as good or better and get 100's and I mean 100's of dollars for his creations and works of art. Well over the next year or so he begins to make pipes and post pictures and such on the interwebz and people begin to rant and rave how great they look and how great they must smoke. Well the new pipe maker gets a swollen head bigger then the swollen head of a vrginal teenager about to get laid for the very first time by the biggest slut of the schoolyard when in reality it's all total crap but what the hell does he know ... he thinks its the best damn thing in the world next his can of shaving cream and his baby wipe towels. Well now is the time to really compare E-bay to a pipe show cause this new maker will bring his works of art to a pipe show and set them out on the table with prices that he thinks his work is worth and what he thinks they should sell for just like those sellers on E-bay want for there crappy junk. Well by the end of the show when only one or two of the persons 12 or 18 or so pipes he brought sells and he firesaled them in the last few hours to at least try and pay for his table and possibly his room as well he begins to wonder if he really knows anything about pipes. He thought they were worth far far far more then what they are just like the people trying to sell pipes on E-Bay. He doesn't understand why they didn't sell just like those people trying to sell pipes on E-Bay. He didn't get a chance to really look around the show and realize the same pipes he saw the last couple of shows sitting in front of those people who he thought he could do better than are still sitting in front of them because ... well just like E-Bay the buying market knows where the pricing should be and the buying market aint gonna buy from people who know nada about pipes and what they are doing. E-Bay is comical at best for most pipes. There are some steals to be found just like a few new pipemakers trying there best to to make a name for themselves but overall ... E-Bay like allot of pipemakers are a joke and most of them know even less than nada about what they have and what they are doing. E-Bay at times is full of fools and idiots both buying and selling but them some of the idiots and fools both selling and buying just don't know the difference. JtN ©2013

Wow, I can't say that my stream of consciousness can begin to rival JtN's, but let me simply add that the open market is a very fickle thing and P.T. Barnum's famous line about suckers appears to be correct judging by recent Ebay auctions that I have seen.

furious

P.S. Thanks for the post, JtN! I rather enjoyed reading it.

[random]

I don't follow eBay so I'm not familiar with your reference. Would
someone please post a link or two showing these ridiculous pipes/prices?

Sometime since I came back to ASP there was a posting about some other
selling-place and in looking around there, I found a photo of a bent
pipe that had the stem on upside down. I thought it was pretty funny
and posted a link here to that pic but don't know where it is now.

[random]

On 05/14/2013 10:58 AM, JtN� wrote:
> On May 14, 12:09 pm, FatMax <dgullclem...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> So where the hell do some of these people get their pricing for pipes they have listed??
>>
>> Have things changed that much....or do we have lots of people who know nada about pipes selling them??
>>
>> Ridiculous!
>
> We have allot of people who know nada.

No matter who "we" is, I'd agree with that; most humans are lazy and
superficial (well, you know, present company excepted).

> Compare E-bay to a pipe
> show ... a pipester of some sort goes to a show and see's a bunch of
> pipes for big money and talks to a bunch of pipe makers and then goes
> home thinking he can make a pipe cause he smokes them and he can do
> just as good or better and get 100's and I mean 100's of dollars for
> his creations and works of art.

Wasn't it you that said he didn't belong to the Cheap Pipe Club? So if
the Cheap Pipe Club wants pipes for $50 or less, and $100s is too much,
you're saying that pipes should be priced between $50-$100?

There is lots of comedy on the eBay channel.

> There are some steals to be
> found just like a few new pipemakers trying there best to to make a
> name for themselves but overall ... E-Bay like allot of pipemakers are
> a joke and most of them know even less than nada about what they have
> and what they are doing.

Economics is an ugly master, and cronyism sleeps in the same bed. When
somebody who is well established praises a relative unknown because they
are drinking buddies, well, move along, nothing to see there.

> E-Bay at times is full of fools and idiots both buying and selling but
> them some of the idiots and fools both selling and buying just don't
> know the difference.
>
> JtN �2013
>

I haven't made a pipe since... I think it was 2006. I once posted that
I'd never sell another pipe for less than $500. A decent pipe block was
selling for $35-40 in those days and I don't know what they cost today.
Stem material is less costly, but because you can buy a hard rubber or
plastic stem that's machine cast for a couple bucks, that's not the same
as a hand-cut stem made from rod stock unless you know nada. After a
while I got to where I could make a pipe, the way I thought one should
be made, in about 4 days. What's minimum wage now, about $8/hour? So 4
days work at minimum wage is around $250 plus maybe $50 in materials, so
break-even for me to make a pipe would be about $300, any less and I'd
be doing better working at a 7-11. Sure, you can turn a stummel on a
lathe in half an hour, and then you have a lathe-turned pipe, and I'd
*prefer* working in a 7-11 to making lathe-turned pipes. Not everyone
has the same view of things.

Whatever, as you said, there are lots of people who know nada. Most
people know nada, if you really look at it, and the worst of them are
the ones who are convinced they're great experts.

Economics is some fugly shit, it drives people to various places; once
upon a time it drove me to making pipes, and another time it drove me
away from it. Nowadays it doesn't much drive me anywhere, but I
remember the day.

Not all of anything is the same as anything else, except maybe to people
who know nada. There's plenty of things I know nada about.

http://www.pipesetbouffardes.com/bureau/random.jpg

[JtN©]

Your 7/11 referencing on pricing shows why some never make it as a
pipemaker plus the taking of 4 days to complete 1 single pipe.

JtN ©2013

[random]

You're showing me nothing but mouth, Jim. What is it, Hendricks or
Hendrix, I've forgotten. Probably have that old email exchange around
somewhere. Showed yourself in one message, you did; didn't need you
then, don't need you now.

[JtN©]

Showing your true way of being yet again Random.

If ya don't agree with somebody and they don't fall at your feet to
your way of thinking you begin attacking ... yep showing your true way
of being yet again for sure Random.

JtN ©2013

[Bob Landry]

Somebody on SF posted a link to a Dunhill that was listed as "mint condition" with a starting
price of over $1K. The photo showed a pipe that was so damaged, used and abused that the only
thing mint about it was the white dot.

I think there are a number of sellers on eB that get lucky at garage sales and thrift shops, do
a little research, but have no idea of the actual value of an item. And it's not restricted to
pipes, either. I used to collect fountain pens, and some of the stuff offered was laughable.

Bob

[random]

Sure, I have no problem with being what I am. You said that I "didn't
make it" as a pipemaker. You probably didn't click that link and look
at the picture. It shows 11 of my pipes that are in one collector's
hands, I think I might have sold him three of them new, maybe four; the
rest he went out and found. Poke around his website, you'll see some
well-known names. Try and figure out why he bought the ones he didn't
buy new from me.

He's actually the reason that I stopped making pipes. The last pipe he
bought from me was sold for $550 as I recall. He was buying them about
as fast as I was making them. I decided that only selling to one guy
was probably a bad idea. Other factors were also involved, but after 7
years I don't remember what they were.

As for "taking of 4 days to complete 1 single pipe" that tells me that
you really are a member of the Cheap Pipe Club. People make pipes for
different reasons. Those you consider to have "made it" are mostly
running a business. There's a difference between making pipes as a
business, and making pipes for the making of them.

I suppose you can't see the difference between a machine-turned stummel
and one that's carved. Not to worry, Jim. Your machine-made pipes
(even if they are said to be handmade, pipes made from lathe-turned
stummels and factory-made stem blanks are basically the same as
machine-made pipes), those will probably smoke just fine as far as
you're concerned.

[random]

On 05/15/2013 08:05 AM, Bob Landry wrote:
> On Wed, 15 May 2013 04:21:24 -0600, random <ran...@nomail.invalid> wrote:
>
>> On 05/14/2013 10:09 AM, FatMax wrote:
>>> So where the hell do some of these people get their pricing for pipes they have listed??
>>>
>>> Have things changed that much....or do we have lots of people who know nada about pipes selling them??
>>>
>>> Ridiculous!
>>>
>>
>> I don't follow eBay so I'm not familiar with your reference. Would
>> someone please post a link or two showing these ridiculous pipes/prices?
>>
>> Sometime since I came back to ASP there was a posting about some other
>> selling-place and in looking around there, I found a photo of a bent
>> pipe that had the stem on upside down. I thought it was pretty funny
>> and posted a link here to that pic but don't know where it is now.
>
> Somebody on SF posted a link to a Dunhill that was listed as "mint condition" with a starting
> price of over $1K. The photo showed a pipe that was so damaged, used and abused that the only
> thing mint about it was the white dot.

Well, Dunhill has made some pricey pipes, some with gold inlays as I
recall, but unless it's one of those, or maybe "the very first Dunhill
eve made", that price sounds a tad on the high side. <g>

And if you can see abuse on a photo, that pretty much tells the story.

> I think there are a number of sellers on eB that get lucky at garage sales and thrift shops, do
> a little research, but have no idea of the actual value of an item. And it's not restricted to
> pipes, either. I used to collect fountain pens, and some of the stuff offered was laughable.
>
> Bob
>

It sounds like greed has made people into followers of P.T. Barnum's
"sucker born every minute" saying. (Which I seem to have read was
really said first by somebody else but all us suckers believe it was
Barnum's saying.) There's too much of that going around these days imo,
but then I guess there always has been.

Still, if anyone runs across some of these really egregious eBay item
postings, it might be fun to click a link.

Thanks, Bob.

btw, I was wondering after our recent discussion of "valley of salt".
In the old days, "salting the fields" was a way of ruining them for the
enemy. How far out away from the Lake does the salt run, and do they
grow much in crops around there?

I was through Utah last June on the way to California, but we didn't get
close to Salt Lake and whizzed right through Utah on the way to an
air-conditioned hotel in Vegas... dang, it was h-o-t when we went
through there last year.

[Bob Landry]

>btw, I was wondering after our recent discussion of "valley of salt".
>In the old days, "salting the fields" was a way of ruining them for the
>enemy. How far out away from the Lake does the salt run, and do they
>grow much in crops around there?
>
>I was through Utah last June on the way to California, but we didn't get
>close to Salt Lake and whizzed right through Utah on the way to an
>air-conditioned hotel in Vegas... dang, it was h-o-t when we went
>through there last year.

The salt is actually what remains of an inland sea from prehistoric times. At one point the
entire valley from the Wasatch Mtns. (east of Salt Lake City) to a range clear over in Nevada
was filled with water halfway up the mountains. This was known as Lake Bonneville, thus the
Bonneville Salt Flats of land speed record fame.

The "salt" in The Great Salt Lake is actually, like seawater, a mineral soup but much more
concentrated. There's actually a company that "mines" magnesium thru evaporation ponds.
The "salt" is confined to the lake itself and the salt flats, with different degrees in the
marshlands around the lake.

Most of the farming in Utah is divided between fodder crops (hay, alfalfa) and orchards of
various kinds. At one time, Utah was the #1 producer of celery in the country, but that was
years ago. There are also some big egg and hog producers, but I guess that's ranching
(chickens) and factory (hogs).

Hmmm, that was fun!

Bob

[Jimmy Muraco]

I hear you on that! I see a plethora of jokes on EBay all the time. Old
beat up/chewed up no-name pipes being listed at over $100 as a starting bid,
unknown "pipemakers" trying to sell their "pipes" at Dunhill prices...



"FatMax" wrote in message
news:f9be7be1-e8ea-46b4...@googlegroups.com...

[FatMax]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Used-smoking-pipe-DANE-CRAFT-S-tobacco-estate-broken-stem-/271191327915?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f244344ab


heres one...."lightly used" ha!

[FatMax]

Another one

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lidded-German-Porcelain-Tobacco-Smoking-Pipe-W-Western-Scene-Metal-Lid-/200923575100?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ec7fa733c

[random]

On 05/16/2013 06:58 PM, FatMax wrote:
>
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Used-smoking-pipe-DANE-CRAFT-S-tobacco-estate-broken-stem-/271191327915?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f244344ab
>
>
> heres one...."lightly used" ha!
>

"easy fix"? If so, why isn't it already fixed?

Here's the scary part:

"Seller information
99.3% Positive feedback"

[brian]

On Fri, 17 May 2013 04:35:33 -0600, random <ran...@nomail.invalid>
wrote:

EBay is not a pipe group, just a bunch of folks selling stuff. He/she
has a good feedback because whenever there was a problem it was solved
in a satisfactory way. Virtually all used stuff on the site are sold
"as is" because no few sellers have the time to both sell and repair
things.

[random]

I don't know who the seller is. If everything he sells is beat up and
broken, like that item seems to be, I don't see how he could resolve all
the problems in a satisfactory way and keep on going. When I see that
kind of item and an eBay rating "99.3% Positive feedback" what that
tells me is not to trust the eBay rating system; if I followed eBay
maybe over time I'd see that the guy usually sells decent stuff, but on
a peek into eBay it leaves me unimpressed with the whole deal.