A little market research re:eBay, Craigslist, et al

[morgant]

First, I mean no disrespect to our generous hosts or any of you, just doing a little market research for a Series Land Rover-related project I've been working on (initially for myself, but could be useful to many of us). If you don't mind answering a couple questions, I'd really appreciate it.


How often do you comb eBay, Craigslist, Land Rover Exchange, forums et al looking for Series parts & vehicles?
How much time would you say you spend doing this per week? Or, month?
How often do you buy from a listing on eBay, Craigslist, Land Rover Exchange, or various forums (our host's included) parts/vehicle listings?
Do you feel you like perusing these sites, dislike it, or must do it (addiction ;), financial need, or hard-to-find part?)


I'm pussying out and scratching this itch and my commuter car maintenance this winter instead of spending all night hours outdoors in the cold with my Series III. :(

[TeriAnn]

How often do you comb eBay, Craigslist, Land Rover Exchange, forums et al looking for Series parts & vehicles?



Usually once or twice a year when I'm really bored and just wanting to kill a little time. just to see what's out there and almost never to buy anything.

That said, I am starting to actively look for a Sankey trailer with a tail gate and am thinking of setting up an ebay search for one. I'm hoping to find one within a 2 state radius that is not snowed in.

[NickDawson]

I don't scour many sites since buying my Rover. Sure I'd love a new overdrive and some seats, etc... but until I actually have the time and the need, i try not to go looking.... too dangerous :D

When I was looking, I got pretty nerdy about it.
I pulled together several RSS feeds: craigslist, ebay, autotrader, etc and ran them through Yahoo Pipes for some filtering (its amazing how many people sell "a Jeep Patriot, just like Land Rover") and then fed the filtered feed into an OSX app called Vienna (not sure I really like it, just what I found).

I'd let that run like an email client and check it as new things popped up.

In terms of time, I check this forum at least 2x a day but often for no more than 10 minutes total. I visit some of the other sites about once a week.

[Jim-ME]

I routinely check, as in every day, EbayUK for bits that do not exist in the states and I've found a lot but there are many folks that won't ship overseas. I purchase items that I both sell to fund my Rover addiction and that I need to keep for my own Rover going. I do not check many other sites except EbayUS very often. I use LRSeries and PA Blanchard in the UK frequently to get new bits I need for myself simply due to cost and selection. As far a stateside I use RoverFarm and RDS for new stuff as the prices tend to be less than RN for the same bits. If I'm looking for used bits I check with Ike first simply because I really like him and trust him. I also check with friends that I've made on both this forum and the G&R forum for used items as well. In effect I do shop around quite a bit.
Jim

[73series88]

all of the above
multipule times a day
thats what happens when you work nights
lots of time between naps
i know im a sad case.
i think im getting the shakes right now.
oh no thats lack of beer.
aaron