Spanky says:
It's the guys asking an arm and a leg for the common stuff that really irks me.Nobody
has to pay an arm and a leg, they make a choice to do so. They think they are getting sufficient value for their arms and legs.
You or I may not agree with them, but it really isn't our part to get involved in a transaction between two people who see the deal as a win-win.
So, I'm inclined to agree with Swampman.
I am not offended by people asking high prices, nor am I offended by people choosing to pay a given price for what they want. I am
pro-choice when it comes to folks making agreements and freely choosing how and what to exchange with other folks.
I have bought and sold my share of stuff here. I bought what I could afford, and sold what I could to anybody who was willing to pay what I asked. If something didn't sell at the price I asked, I lowered it until it sold; or I took it off the market. That's how this buying and selling thing works.
The catch is that an item is worth what somebody will pay for it. Truthfully, that fantasy $100 barrel from the factory
is worth $160 bucks because people line up every day to pay that. The factory could advertise barrels for $160 including fitting, delivery etc., or continue as they do at $96 + everything else they tack on - either way, $160 goes out of somebody's bank account and into theirs for a barrel. Is it the factory's fault (or any seller's fault) that someone is willing to pay the asking price?
Let's say there's a used barrel for $160 in the classifieds, and a member fires off the
"I'll take it" post, how can anyone say what is in the buyer's mind. Maybe he/she doesn't want to wait the weeks it takes for a factory barrel. Maybe he/she has plans for a re-bore, or a re-chamber, or whatever, and just wants the durn barrel. Maybe he/she wants to buy it from the classifieds rather than the factory to help out a fellow member. In any case, I'd say that it is nobody's business except the folks freely and voluntarily doing the deal.
A provocative argument could be made here: Consider that we (GBO members) take the position that nobody buys
any barrels, stocks or accessories from the classifieds. The reason; because if we buy from the classifieds and not the factory, they may shut down the production of Handis. People will lose their jobs, local economies will suffer, tax revenues will decline. (And even with all that, I doubt the feds will bail them out with injections of money. They are not
too big to fail unlike certain other industries that shall not be named.)
Okay, now I'm done. Bottom line, freely and voluntarily entering into exchanges and agreements is what (for the most part) built this country over the last couple of centuries, and like sourdough bread, some small pieces of the free market must be preserved to seed the future. GBO classifieds remain one of the few places left where there one can see a thriving free market.
