You guys still convinced Mecum practices are good for the market?

[RC45]

This from IconicMotorbikes via Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8f12U9H_SO ... _copy_link

This my friends is the REAL story behind Mecum you think is there helping investment grade bike sales.

Not to flog the dead horse, but when I'm right I am right - otherwise I would just sit down and keep quiet.


From IconicMotorbikes : We don’t believe in growing a business with slandering a competitor but enough is enough.
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Want to know the main motivation for Iconic Motorbike Auctions LIVE?
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Last year we purchased 12 bikes from Mecum. It took 10 months to get “some of the titles”...the rest never showed. Not to mention a few bikes that were POORLY represented, numerous didn’t show miles because they couldn’t be bothered to connect a battery. They never even followed up again and just send me a large refund to keep us quiet.
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This year we had a bunch of clients ask us to purchase bikes on their behalf. Now they are asking for 2 bikes back because the assured the sellers they would do better then they did on “No Reserve bikes” and can’t locate the signed sales contracts.
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They promised us keys, we had to have 4 sets made yesterday. They made us use their in-house carrier for some of the bikes as we only had 24 hours to move them...we used their carrier, bikes are still not here (Vegas is 4.5 hours away). 24 hours. Really?
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We can’t promise perfection and we’re still learning but I wrote them a check for $380,000 so telling me they need bikes sent back is not something I’m willing to do. Mecum promised a client a fantastic sale on a 7 mile 1098r, he netted 7500 because he was talked into a Tuesday auction as it was “a main attraction”. We sold the same bike 2 weeks prior for $25,000. I tried to bid online as I was on the East Coast...they wouldn’t let me because i only paid for live bidding and they wanted $200 more to bid online. Bad deal for Seller.
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There are 3 bikes that I personally bid on that your fake “open hand” chandelier bidders outbid me on and I saw them instantly moved to the March auction in Arizona even though they sold.
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Don’t fly through “submitted” bikes and "work the audience" on MECUM owned bikes that you claim you don’t own. Enough is enough.
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Our Live Auction debuting in 2021 will be an event you will not want to miss with Guests you’ll want to meet, Great food, great times, amazing bikes and an Auction based on ethics and honesty. Imagine that!
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More details coming soon. You’re gonna love it. I promise!
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#iconicmotorbikes #iconicmotorbikeauctions

[RZtuner]

[From IconicMotorbikes : We don’t believe in growing a business with slandering a competitor but enough is enough.]

Perhaps it should read " We don't believe in growing a business with slandering a competitor...... but we will anyway"!....Just not cool in my book!
You grow a solid business by building your own reputation not flaming your major competition. Has a bad smell about it!

This being said, I have a couple of friends who have sold bikes at Mecum, both with no problems. One sent two bikes in 2017, one sold, the other did not make reserve. All good. Last year another friend sold two bikes. Mecum stepped over backwards to help get the bikes to the auction from Canada. Nothing but good things to say about dealing with Mecum. Came home happy with a big cheque in his pocket.

The 57,000 Gamma sale is what it is. Someone wanted it and had a wad of cash to spend. End of. I don't think anyone on here said it was a good deal.

The two Broughs that were the top sale of the meet that sold for 308k and 239k were bought by a local guy, He bought both of these bikes for $547,250 as he thought they were being sold way to cheap! $547 thousand dollars is a fortune for a lot of people... for others just a smart investment. Be aware a lot of investors will buy a car or bike at one auction if they think it is a deal and then sell it at another auction down the road which is why you see sold lots appearing at other auctions later on.Such is the world of the collector/investor.

[RC45]

No.

Obvious shill bids and after sales manipulation and lack of transparency is the Mecum norm.

Iconic are not the first dealers to say this, just the first to say it as publicly.

That $57,000 price was not a market reflection, it was a MECUM sales process reflection.

The same is true for many of the final prices reached - schill bids.

Whether the final price is $7800 because of shill bids or $10,000,000 because fo shill bids, the end result is the same - artificial price point. Being able to afford the amount does not change the fact it is an artificial price.

That is the point.

[RZtuner]

What's artificial about getting a big fat cheque for $57,000 for your Gamma. The fact is RG500's are one of the most rapidly appreciating modern classics on the planet and are attracting collector investors. It is what it is.

[RC45]

What's artificial about getting a big fat check from a stock sale based on an insider trading tip?

It is an artificial market manipulation if the higher selling price is due to shill bidding on behalf of the auction house who has a vested interest in the commission based on the SELLING price rather than a real organic buying competition between ACTUAL interested buying parties.

If you are too obtuse to either accept or understand this then just come clean and say you are being obtuse.

Again - Private parties are not buying sight unseen unverified RG500s for $57,000 from private sellers that refuse to allow inspection.

And just in case there is any confusion here - I am not interested in being a BUYER of big 2 strokes, if anything, I would be a SELLER, so artificially high prices should be in my best interest --- except I am not a dishonest cunt, I mean jerk, yeah?

Dishonest markets are dishonest markets - period.

[RZtuner]

Ah, the insults start flying when someone disagrees with you.
I'm getting tired of listening to you so goodnight!

[tacky1]

Let this go and keep it back in the original thread where it had died off. We know its not the market price for RGs or RZs or any other bike, Someone wanted the bike and overpaid, end of, Let it go............

[RC45]

Ah, the insults start flying when someone disagrees with you.
I'm getting tired of listening to you so goodnight!

Not sure where the insult is? I was genuinely asking if you are being obtuse in your belief Mecum are honest auctioneers that are not impacting the prices seen at their events with their tactics.
How are big checks that are derived from Mecum practices and probable shill bids that artificially inflate the prices something to celebrate?
Isn't honesty in the transaction important?
I only ask because I wouldn't know as I am just some schmuck on a web forum that obviously doesn't understand the intricate complexities of such transnational relationships.

Let this go and keep it back in the original thread where it had died off. We know its not the market price for RGs or RZs or any other bike, Someone wanted the bike and overpaid, end of, Let it go............

I have always agreed the price paid is the price of the day - I opened this thread (so that the other one remained dead) to share what some folks have experienced and observed with regard to Mecum manipulation of the price of the day and it is not just some conspiracy theory.

The thread title was purposefully provocative - but the subject matter is more general Mecum background than flogging a single dead transaction - and has been changed to reflect this.

[motosapien]

Iconic has sold some RG and RZ500's, almost all are under are under $25k.
Heck even I listed my ultra rare Rick's personal Pepsi for sale in their auction and it didn't even get to $25k.

+1 on what @rc45 said "I have always agreed the price paid is the price of the day" but then I wont say no to $57,000 check

[LawBrkrRcn]

I don't really have a dog in this fight, but I have to agree with RC45 about the pricing at the Mecum auctions. I've been watching these auctions for the last five years and the prices they are getting for some of these bike's just doesn't make sense.I happen to own several of the bikes in question so the price's are great for me if i were to sell, but if I were to try and sell at these prices without going through Mecum I would be laughed off the internet. Nobody selling these bikes on Ebay, Rare Sportbike or any other web site has come anywhere close to getting Mecum prices so that tells you that there's something up. The open market is the best indicator of what the market will bring. Also rich people didn't get rich buy wasting money. They don't buy a motorcycle that should go for $20k for $57k because they have the money. They didn't get the money by being stupid so don't think their going to start now.

[silverstrom]

Here's something no one has mentioned yet: it sounds like a great way to launder money. Overpay, then sell at a loss and get clean cash in return.

[RC45]

Here's something no one has mentioned yet: it sounds like a great way to launder money. Overpay, then sell at a loss and get clean cash in return.

A number of 2017. 2018 & 2019 sales went to a few Chinese nationals that has in the past been suspected of either laundering or transferring funds by way of outrageous buy s of cars and bikes.

So it is quite possible.. and if the commission was high I can see Mecum catering to this knowingly.

[lost1750GTV]

Some might say this is totally unrelated but..
This morning on yahoo news there was a Robb report article on the price of Supreme branded Oreo cookies, already at $10,000 on ebay, so I looked because, well, it's a cookie.
And although there are plenty being sold, or not being sold, at an aftermarket auction inflated price in the $100 range, there was one at $11k.
This afternoon it is at $52k.
So maybe an rg for 57k is aok, or maybe schill bids have made a red oreo look more valuable in the market than it really is.
It's enough to make me toss my cookies.

[hadjin]

Motivation and pricing are not independent... whether in "tulips" or gold or stocks or diamonds or P-51s, or any other item.

The complaint of assumed inflated prices, by either intentional means or as a result of an environment of FOMO, or even from an artificial influence potentially created in an auction setting, is no different in effect or result than the influences impacting any high dollar transaction (houses, cars, boats, planes, jewelry, etc) involving 3rd party sellers (brokers, agents, auction houses, etc) where the highest price creates commission self interest.

Since the memorial of time, even with a transparent seller, the onus is on the buyer. There are legal remedies for "fraud" or "misrepresentations", but none for paying more than another person would, be they more informed or less motivated.

Whether it's you selling it, or Mecum, it's always "caveat emptor".