I'm considering ebaying my VX II (3-9 Matte) and was wondering what I should expect as a "fair price" so I can set my reserve accordingly. When I look out there I see new ones currently at $150 with a couple days left, but I paid about $300 from cabela's only a couple of years ago. Any input is appreciated.

I'm not sure on the VX-IIs, but I've given up buying optics on ebay. A year or two ago you could get a good deal on older scopes, but the last time or two I've tried to bid on scopes they were bidded up past the going Cabela's/Basspro price for a new scope on used scopes. Especially for Leupolds. Put it this way I've seen a damaged Simmons Aetec (bent scope tube) sell for $80 and the new ones only run alittle over $100...

I recently got a VX-II from my local Cabelas store from the Bargain cave for arround $200. Its worked great. If you have some gun/sporting good stores arround you can find good deals on optics there. I got a perfext Var-III 1.5-5 for only $210 once at a gun store.

Just my thoughts.

The VXII 3X9 sells for anywhere from $250 to $320 or so on the web. So for a used one, you should expect anywhere from $150 to $225 at most. Then again, you never know. As someone else mentioned, the prices often exceed the MSRP.



Also, don't put much stock is the bids with a couple days left; most eBay auctions are decided in the last five minutes. The better way to see the prices they sell for is to do a search on the auctions that have already CLOSED by using the advanced search function. -TONY

Give gunbroker.com a try. Take a look at some of the prices there and see how they compare to ebay. I have purchased a few things from there over the past few years.

Doug

I sell quite a few scopes on ebay and here are a few of my observations FWIW. Leupold scopes sell very well on ebay. If your scope is a couple of years old it must be a vari x ii and not the newer VX ii. The bids on the older vari x models seems to have come down by maybe 10% or so since the new VX models have become available. However a nice matte vari x ii will still bring about $175.00 on ebay. As far as reserve prices on Leupolds, I've found it is better to start the bid at .99 and list it as no reserve. You pay less ebay fees that way and your scope will still sell for more if you get several people bidding on it. Don't worry about it closing at a really low price. Too many people track the leupold scopes on ebay for there to be any real bargains. If you want to know what it will sell for, simply track several several similar scopes or search the closed auction section. There aren't many suprises on leupolds on ebay. Also make sure to post a picture. People don't want to bid on what they can't see.



Also if your scope is the newer VX ii it will sell pretty close to retail. Again, track some similar scopes.

Good shooting,

Weagle

weagle, excellent advice.

Weagle: I couldn't have given a better description of eBaying Leupolds myself. You've got it pretty well pegged. In my experience, a used-but-mint Leupold will bring about 80% of the typical store price on eBay. Occasionally, I'm surprised at a Bushnell or Nikon selling well, but they run more like 50% of store price. An "economy" Asian-made brand that sells for $50 or $75 at Walmart may not even get a bid.

Ebay is a very efficient market discovery mechanism, since there is so much depth to it. As you say, a lot of people closely track Leupolds on eBay, so there are very few "steals" to be had there. Curiously, the lack of a picture, even on a BRAND NEW item, will dock the final sales price. Who is it that would buy a new Leupold that doesn't already know what it looks like? Go figure.

My pet peeve with eBay descriptions of Leupolds is that the sellers often confuse the Vari-X and the various VX- series scopes, and often use the wrong designation. I think this is largely accidental and comes from unfamiliarity, but I cuss the Leupold marketing people for making the designations so similar and potentially confusing. I also find that a lot of scopes like a Vari-X II-c are listed as "compacts", with the seller (more than likely honestly) believing that the "-c" means compact. Blame Leupold's marketing geniuses once again for obfuscating things.

I find a lot of folks on this forum knocking Leupolds and championing various other brands. This is fine, and I have no problem with their preferences. But the market is the ultimate arbiter of value, and the market clearly makes Leupold scopes by far the best value available. In other words, I'm not telling you that Leupold represents the best value, a million or so buyers and sellers worldwide are telling you that.

Incidentally, I've never been burned on a scope or hunting-related purchase on eBay (I even recently bought a gun through ebay which the eBay police didn't realize was a gun because it didn't have a picture and didn't need a concise description). Perhaps I've just been lucky, but I think it has more to do with the general honesty of the shooting fraternaty. The same goes for items advertised here on AR's classified section.

weagle nailed it perfectly, i think!

Thanks for the input guys. Actually, I posted it before I read Weagle's post, so I did have a reserve. Here it is: My scope on ebay