10/21/2026
💫A viewpoint on Value💫
When people ask 🙋🏼♂️"Hey John you been around in the IH Community for decades dealing in new and used parts to help people with their projects, can i ask you what my XYZ is worth?"🤔
My answer is usualy along the lines of well depends on where you live in the country, the condition, the populariy (DEMAND), the usefulness, and how many were made and still around today (SUPPLY). Obviously these main things (and some otners not mentioned) are subjective to so many factors.
LETS USE A sliding rear top side window as an example A Scout owner may place a higher value on the slider window if family members or pets ride in back and need a window to open on hot days, while another owner without pets doesn't value them at all as he has no need for them. Every condition or factor can be broken down and still in the end it boils down to who wants the item, how bad, and how much disposable income do they have in the budget for such an item.
One seller somewhere on the planet at one time may have advertised the same part for a shocking big dollar amount and sold it immediately for various reasons only thebuyer knows. We can speculate it was only because there was a rich guy looking to buy at that same time who could not find a single one for sale in the places he looked. Maybe he didn't look in the right place, or perhaps he looked in every possible place and couldn't find one for sale. Perhaps money didn't matter to this rich buyer do they paid the price to keep their resto going and wanted the windows. At the same time 4 other guys lurking saw this and didnt buy because it was out of their range.
Also a few guys following the sale adverts saw this crazy sale and said holy crap they never knew the windows they had in the shed could sell for that kind of money. So next thing you know there are 3 more sets for sale around the world for the same number because thoes sellers now think that's what the partssell for. But the people looking to buy all pass and or offer say half. Maybe the ssles happen, may be they dont. The outcome does not matter. Also if it doesn't sell it doesn't ever mean that there is not someone out there that will pay the sellers price, just means that there is no one right now that will and thus there are now 3 unsold sets for sale. Either the seller negotiates to sell soon or just waits till he finds the right buyer later down the road. Now if 3 other people offerup sets for less and sell to those 3 guys looking... guess what the guy that wouldn't negotiate at that time now suffers the oppertunity cost of his decision and must wait for the next set to pop up. Will he ever find another rich guy that dont care? Lots of things determine that separatley and so many variables and combinations of conditions we cant set hard fixed values but only guesstimate range. Sales are a great thing, can be fun or a pain in the ass.
The lesson here is mind the details and let your budget and time goals guide you. Whats right to you may not be for others but its okay.
An auction will determine true value but only for thoes aware of the auction that are wanting to bid. If the buyer that will pay any price for xyz didnt know one was up for sale publicly then we may only say the value was what it sold for to thoes bidding meaning its value could be more or less elsewhere. Supply and demand are the kings of collector value.
Well hope you enjoyed this viewpoint. Thats all I got for yall right now.
Happy Harvesting and as Bob Robertson said "Always Be good, and be good all ways"
John💪🏼😎
Back Country Binders 4x4
