... As far as the price goes I have only this to say: I buy snowcats to resale at a profit just like many of you on this forum. I wouldn't publish the price you pay for your machines, nor would I criticize your sale price. I understand trying to protect potential buyers from a cat that may have hidden damage. I don't fault those comments for that. At this point some of those comments appear to be unfounded. At any rate, this is a good snowcat that will give many years of service to a buyer. It's not perfect. I haven't found a perfect snowcat yet. (I read that some of you have) If you don't like my price please don't buy my cat. I will adjust my price if I'm too high and it does not sell.
Sometimes flippant comments and accusations drive people away from forums that are designed to bring us together.
David
To your point, these forums bring folks together to share ideas, knowledge, goods, services, etc... the composition of the members ranges from the eccentric and odd (uhum...), to the extremely knowledgeable commercial owners and many permutations of those in between.
People look out for one another and part of that is knowing the history of a machine and also providing guidance. Part of guidance is knowing if a cat has been submerged, engulfed in flames, etc... and part of guidance is providing feedback on pricing.
Pricing goes another level here.
Level 1: General guidance on fair market value + or - some reasonable amount based on various parameters.
Level 2: Historical guidance based on what people paid and/or what a cat probably sold for...private, auction, etc...
Level 3: Sheer hysteria ... when a price is so insanely GOOD no one comments, there is sudden quiet and everyone reaches for the phone to dial and buy before one of us other miserable gits gets it ... rumor has it that folks have even gone as far to do things like call 'dibs' and so on...
But let's not stray too far...
The commentary provided here on the cat in question goes to Levels 1 and 2. Level 1 guidance has been provided... and sounds like people are sniffing into things..so that may be verified shortly.
Level 2 is obvious: The cat sold for $25K and it's since been increased by an unexplainable $20K. Hence, guidance to forum members that they are potentially paying an additional $20K for no good reason. Basically, someone else snapped something up.... and we like to look out for our fellow forum members. Hence, this is the wrong place to peddle goods that have been through this type of acquisition process.
So, folks will generally take their goods elsewhere...often simply selling through local papers, eBay, Craigslist, etc... and then an unsuspecting non-forum member may pass by and then the sky-high price may be paid... he/she will be relieved of $20,000 hard-earned dollars that go no where other than paying someone else's overhead.
I would very much appreciate fellow forum members providing me with such guidance and I (and others) try to provide such guidance to other members. Particularly in these economic times when $20,000 is far harder to come by than the past...so an easy 'find' getting $20,000 on this forum? It is highly unlikely. So, yes, I am certain you will have to drop your price to sell to a forum member...supply/demand/etc... but probably not 'outside'... and you'll most likely post a response to this ins 2-4 months time when some poor unsuspecting victim buys it for the asking price.
To contrast this scenario... there are commercial forum members building solid businesses and selling many machines to forum members...Boggie and Snotrans just to name a couple... I really don't think you would EVER find a machine posted for sale on their sites or in this forum where it's clearly $20,000 of profit in the ol' pocket. I'd say they tack on maybe 10% to civilian/consumers, if that...except for some rare situations. At less than $1 profit per pallet... I gotta peddle alot o' pallets... far too many pallets to make it so someone can just pull $20,000 out of my pocket for a few days of 'auction buying/flipping' time!
Now, let's reflect on a recent similar experience we all had on the forum. A new member sold his Thiokol 602 on eBay. The final buyer had found our forum and obtained guidance on the 602... at the time we all wanted the seller to get as much as he could because he put his blood and sweat into his machine...years of restoration work... detail, craftsmanship...and bad back, bruises, weld burns, nasty fumes, carcinogenic solvents, etc... and plenty of excellence in bringing a vintage machine back to her glory. He deserved top dollar...and members (yours truly included) provided guidance that it was a steal at $19K...which it was... who knows if the buyer would have picked her up because he was not an enthusiast and really didn't know squat...of course we thought it was going to go to a forum member. Turns out the Canadian vulture picked it up and took in North where it now sits with a for sale sign on her for $33K... and he didn't lift a finger...oh no...sorry...he towed it North from Utah...sorry, forgot about that, my bad. Now, if he sells it for even $30K he will probably make more profit than the original builder/seller... simply wrong. No, I'm not crying a river about 'fair'... but where we can, we like to do the right thing on the forum...that was not right. In similar manner, doubling a price for no build/involvement? Rest my case.
I do not believe anything I have written would/should offend anyone. Simply stating some basic facts in an objective manner and explaining why some commentary is coming forward when a machine that sold for $25K now appears for resale for $47K.