Opinions on this vintage leather jacket

[ton312]

Figured it's not Langlitz but I don't recognize this styling and if someone's asking a $1500, I would be inclined to think they know something that I don't. And I would be wrong.

It's getting worse and worse, Ton. If you look for the "cafe racer" for example, 75% of the hits will various motorcycle jacket styles that are all but the CR style, with the rest being either mislabeled or just keyword stuffing. Like this one, for example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Bat...Jacket-Racing-Bomber-Mens-Small-/122146164418
What possessed them to list it as Bates when the Kehoe would go for the equal amount of money?

Could be that eBay suggests what similar items sold for when you create a listing. I have to say tho, with my own auctions the eBay suggested sale price is undercut by quite a bit.

 

[Guppy]

Could be that eBay suggests what similar items sold for when you create a listing. I have to say tho, with my own auctions the eBay suggested sale price is undercut by quite a bit.

EBay suggests values based on the average sale price of items that used similar keywords. It is not an appraisal. It doesn't take into account your item, it's condition, rarity, quality, or history.

I will say too that a high end leather jacket is not an "investment". You want an investment, go buy stocks and bonds and real estate.

It's not surprising at all that a used Aero or other high end maker's gear goes for around half new on eBay. That's actually phenomenal. Go to a Goodwill and you can find clothes from last year that retailed at $60-80 for around $5.

The reality is, stuff depreciates. Buy secondhand, and you're not paying import duties, sales tax or VAT, or shipping. You're also buying the thing as is, not as a custom order to your exact specifications. You may be getting exactly what you want by coincidence, but you may also be taking a compromise on color, leather type, size/fit, and many other options. The odds of a jacket made just for you being exactly what someone else would have ordered, and for that someone else to be shopping for exactly that jacket are not all that good. And if the price wasn't considerably discounted, they'd go through the maker and get right of return and warranty and a guarantee on fit.

These jackets are made to last a lifetime plus, but it seems very often they're bought after a long period of lust, and then not worn as much as expected, often due to some terribly minor issue, and then sold off when something else shiny grabs the buyer's fickle eye. When we sell our mistakes, we're lucky to get what we can for them, and the fact that they hold their value as well as they do speaks loudly to their quality.

But the seller on eBay trying to get $1500 for a beat to hell, trashed, jacket with no label that he wants you to think is a Langlitz is dreaming, or smoking something, or a con.