Why so much for this M4-P?

I

itf

itchy trigger finger
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I'm looking around at Leica M's. Leaning towards a meterless, and considering the Canadian ones because they're cheaper users (and cheaper is better for me at the moment). Just curious if there is a reason this M4-P went for 900 and some dollars considering it shows wear: http://cgi.ebay.com/Leica-Leitz-M4-P-Black-No-Reserve_W0QQitemZ170175470714QQihZ007QQcategoryZ30030QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I'm just trying to educate myself about what I should pay for what, and this seems higher than I thought (thought I could probably get a Canadian user for 500 or 600), but might be due to something I'm ignorant to. What do others think?
 
Based on the bidding history it looks like some new ebayers got into a bidding war and bid it up too high..:eek:

I wonder if the seller will collect???:confused:
 
The serial number on this one is very close to that of my M4-p. Mine is a brass top one, so perhaps this one is as well (as opposed to zinc). That might add a small premium for some people.
 
This camera stayed at $500 with no bid until 24 hours before the end of the auction. I guess the seller was lucky enough to have a bid war on his item. It just takes two eBayers who did not do a lot of research on prices and bid, bid, and bid again against each other.

Sometimes you will see an auction with BIN of $500, starting at $400. Then someone enters a bid, the BIN button disappears, and at the end after many many bids the item sells for $600! I guess some buyers on eBay are kinda stupid.
 
I don't think it's that outrageous either ... a few have gone through our classifieds for $600.00 to $800.00 and $900.00 is not completely unreasonable. :)
 
People will often not bid on a reasonable "buy it now" because they don't trust their own judgment.

But if they see other people bidding, they think the others know better then they do, so THEN they'll start bidding, and poof, it goes way over the initial buy it now price.

Always happens. The lemming factor.
 
I recently sold an unused M4-P for $966 on the bay. This one at $923 is too high, but that's the nature of auctions sometimes. :)
 
M. Valdemar said:
People will often not bid on a reasonable "buy it now" because they don't trust their own judgment.

But if they see other people bidding, they think the others know better then they do, so THEN they'll start bidding, and poof, it goes way over the initial buy it now price.

Always happens. The lemming factor.
Click to expand...

Been there.
 
Since I was recently in the market for an M4-P, I have been watching the prices, and even at the second hand dealers (KEH, Adorama, etc.) the price has gone up a couple of hundred dollars in the past three months. Maybe these bidders did their research at those sites and figure they got a deal. Luckily, I ended up getting mine from the classifieds here for a reasonable price (thanks Obscura).
 
With the dollar value declining and evilbay being world wide, my read is that prices will creap up a bit. I do not thing they over paid, after all several great M6s just went for around $1200 here. $900 for an M4-P is a reasonable price.

B2 (;->
 
$923 for a well worn M4-P is too high in today's market even with the low dollar...just a little patience could have resulted in a much better M4-P or a much cheaper one in the same shape. A great M6 at $1200 is about right; $900+ for an M4-P only works if it is also 'great' which this one was not...just my 2 euros. ;)
 
The "winner" was also a zero feedback.

I would place the odds at about 30% that this was a "real" sale or that the winner will actually pay.

You may see this relisted soon.
 
sitemistic said:
The history also shows the winning bidder placing 5 bids for exactly the same amount in the last few minutes. Never seen that before. Didn't think the system would allow it. Odd.
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That means that the bidder increased the bid several times in the last minute to guard against sniper bidder. We don't get to see how much are the increases because in the end, the increases weren't necessary for the bidder to win.
 
shadowfox said:
the bidder increased the bid several times in the last minute
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The last bidder (profile zero) is probably the seller himself (or a friend) and this M4-P is not sold, IMHO.
BTW the price is quite high.
I'll sell mine (which looks much more better) for this price right now. :rolleyes:
 
sleepyhead said:
The serial number on this one is very close to that of my M4-p. Mine is a brass top one, so perhaps this one is as well (as opposed to zinc). That might add a small premium for some people.
Click to expand...
Actually, the zinc M4-Ps are valuable than the brass one, just because a.o. they have the same flat viewfinder window as the M6. ;)
 
Philippe D. said:
Actually, the zinc M4-Ps are valuable than the brass one, just because a.o. they have the same flat viewfinder window as the M6. ;)
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The 'zinc M6' is just a minor point of the M6.! A matter of 'cost cutting' the M Leica!

The M4-P brass version has a higher price because the quality of the 'brass version' is better and more expensive!
 
Phillipe is right, if you look at sales. Zinc M4-Ps almost always sell at a premium. I agree that I would not pay that premium - quite the contrary - but that is not the market's perspective.
 
To me that auction price is to high (according to the wearing marks in the photos). On the other hand, 6 month ago I payed ~ 1100$ for mine (brass-top) in like new condition (absolutely no signs of wear) with 6 month warranty from a shop. It seems that prices for M4-Ps and also M4-2s in "used-condition" have gone up in the recent month...
 
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