E.bay prices - Wizard & Lucky Strike

[CraigM]

There seems to be no consistency whatsoever!

Tonight a Wizard described as in good, original condition with original bag, has gone for £216 + 9.99 postage.

2 days ago a Wizard with a similar description & original bag went for £112.55 + 4.80 postage! A whopping near £110 cheaper.

A couple of weeks ago, two LSs - both vgc & restored . One went for £190 &, a week later,the other for £285 !

What do you reckon a vgc LS & Wizard are worth [bearing in mind that on e.bay you can't see/compare the rods?].

I'm after a Wizard & like the sound of £112 quite a bit more than £216 !! Would you opt for a "restored" one or "original" & what do you think about a new, longer handle re fishability & value? Would an original bag make a significant difference to a rod?

Thanks Allcocks forum.

[The VFC]

Welcome to the crazy world of tackle prices Craig! Although E-bay has confused the issue even more you can find a wild fluctuation in prices even amongst dealers. The simple rule is that any piece of tackle is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it that day - I know that sounds trite but its a truism that we all tend to forget sometimes: I pull my hair out sometimes wondering why a reel that I think is very reasonably priced, for example, is still sitting on my shelf after 6 months but then the following week I can sell something that is a lot closer to "top whack" after only having it for 5 minutes. The answer of course is that it depends upon what people are looking for that day (oh to have back the Speedias that we were selling for £40 only a few short months ago!).

To be more helpful - I think if you get a Wizard in fine condition for anything less than £170 then you are beating the current average.
Jim

[MGs]

Not sure about Wizard prices. I think LS prices have gone mad. The £285 rod, although restored had been whipped in colours far from original. So the high prices are not being paid for originality. Some Wizards recently have been listed recently with stupidly high starting prices but seemed not to sell. I would say you could get a good user for about £100 or slightly more. It may require a bit of minor work but that is part of the fun. Keep looking is the key eventually you will find what you want.

[Beresford]

I don't think it's just LS and Wizards, I've been watching out for a few things and prices seem to be yo-yoing all over the place at the moment.

[MGs]

Not that I use ebay anymore but when I did: I would decide what I wanted, how much I was prepared to pay and put the bid in for that. If you get it your happy, if you don't another one will be along soon. Don't get panicked and rush in to paying over the odds for a quick buy

[St.John]

If the wizard was mint a mint early gold label, and I mean mint, then I'd happily pay up to 250 for it. Lucky strikes... I think that they are more 'specialized' yhan the wizard (and therefore I use it less) and any more than 150-170 would make me think again. My LS and wizard were brought to do up so I paid less, but if I was buying a straight to the bank fisher those are the budgets I'd set my self. I think the golden rule should be 'take your time'! At the end of the day you're buying something you haven't held.

[Nobby]

It's never a good idea to put a high start price on an auction. Invariably you'll get one taker in the last few seconds, whereas if you'd started it at 99p they'd have been outbidding one another all week.

It takes a bit of confidence true, but a low start is always the way to go....but you can tell some people that until you are blue in the face and they still won't listen.



As to a Wizard handle...well it's only 17 inches long. FWK designed it for his style of casting and he held the rod in front of the reel, but he must have had short arms because there is simply not enough handle to fit it under your forearm when fighting a big fish and quite frankly it spoils a nice rod.

Hence there are a number of people who elongate the handle with by re-building with cork rings from the cane up and making it longer......
Quite how these rods appear with the Wizard transfer still intact when it should have been covered over by new cork might be a matter for worrying conjecture.

[St.John]

It's never a good idea to put a high start price on an auction. Invariably you'll get one taker in the last few seconds, whereas if you'd started it at 99p they'd have been outbidding one another all week.

It takes a bit of confidence true, but a low start is always the way to go....but you can tell some people that until you are blue in the face and they still won't listen.



As to a Wizard handle...well it's only 17 inches long. FWK designed it for his style of casting and he held the rod in front of the reel, but he must have had short arms because there is simply not enough handle to fit it under your forearm when fighting a big fish and quite frankly it spoils a nice rod.

Hence there are a number of people who elongate the handle with by re-building with cork rings from the cane up and making it longer......
Quite how these rods appear with the Wizard transfer still intact when it should have been covered over by new cork might be a matter for worrying conjecture.

You've seen the one up at the mo then! Myself I get along fine with the handle length, but it didn't half take getting a while to feel comfortable.

[PDuffield]

Quite how these rods appear with the Wizard transfer still intact when it should have been covered over by new cork might be a matter for worrying conjecture.

If the butt is still the correct length then I imagine it has been lengthened at the bottom of the handle and to get it back to the correct length the ferrule has been removed, the cane cut back and re-tapered and re-ferruled. It's a technique I've used myself on short handled no-name rods of little value, but I'd never dream of doing it to a Wizard, even though I agree that the handle is far too short.

[St.John]

Most of the elongated handles I've seen have been done like that. If i was doing that for myself i think that I'd leave the length the handle original and put a screw in extension into the bottom. Or (and I have never held one....but it's a good excuse for finding out!) Buy an avocet. I can't moan about the handle length for how I use mine, It's perfect, but I can appreciate why people don't like it. St.