I would just like to say how much I have seen 749 Bips going for on ebay 4500 BIN and even less on auctions thats a 2yr old bike with 6000miles on the clock, a completely straight bike. Thats the best part of 2k of the parker guide prices! Ohh and the cheapest one on autotrader is 4999 and that was a cat d write off.
This seems very cheap to me for what is an incredable bike.
Anyway am I the only one that has noticed that the price that bikes go for on ebay are dramaticly less than autotrader and any dealer.
I reckon £4500 is not far off the trade in price you'd get at a dealer. In fact, a DSCer asked about trading a 2003 749 for a "perviously enjoyed" MV Brutale just a couple of days ago and was offered £4,800 I think.
Having said all that (as you said 'bikes' not just Ducatis), my lad wanted to go from 50cc to 125cc and was offered £850 trade in on his Supermotard against a 125 (chinese) Supermotard. We sold it on eBay last week for £1200 so he is smiling.
Sounds like typical depreciation on all vehicles to me, look at cars, some loose between 30-50% of their value in 12 months, then it slows right down until it levels out, you won't find many 748's below 3K I reckon