EBay madness

[298]

2 hours ago, Bucoops said:

£120 for 3 completely incorrect coaches

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LNER-Silver-Jubilee-Coaches-Mint/303911823284

 

And the box and loco available separately. 

 

As place-setters I can see the point of them until something better comes along. I can also see a use for the equivalent LMS coaches at an easy £10 each and a can of Silver spraypaint.

[SteveyDee68]

19 minutes ago, Dieselbob said:

Hi

It isn't always the case that selling things at an inflated price is taking advantage or profiteering.

I sell a lot on Ebay, I am not a trader but I get bored with the same old stock so I sell and buy new loco's etc and i am constantly surprised at what people are willing to pay. I recently bought a Hornby Class 50 with a tatty body for £65 because I wanted the wheels without traction tyres for one of my own. I didn't want the rest of it so I stripped it and sold the bits on Ebay, priced very reasinably and I don't profit from postage. All of the parts were snapped up quickly, the whole lot sold for £125.66. The thing with it is people need spares and Hornby are useless in that department, it can't be helped if people are willing to over bid and pay stupid money.

Bob

 

I can see the point in that, totally. What I really find objectionable are those who strip down complete models and then sell the "parts" at inflated BUY IT NOW prices which mean they are selling the loco for more than the full retail value...

 

Lot 1 - loco body

Lot 2 - loco chassis

Lot 3 - tender (if applicable)

Lot 4 - tender chassis (if they can get away with splitting from the body!)

Lot 5 - detailing pack

Lot 6 - the f%#*%$g packaging 

 

My "lockdown therapy" has been to politely correct incorrect eBay listings, but I must admit to sending the occasional "Why don't you put your loco back together and sell it complete and at a sensible price?" message...

 

I mean, I know they won't (and those type of seller never reply anyway!) and I'm not going to change their Del Boy trading practices, but it does make me feel better to vent occasionally!

 

HOURS OF FUN!

 

 

[PhilJ W]

3 hours ago, Paul H Vigor said:

I fear it's another symptom of a year of extended Covid lockdowns, spending more time than is healthy stooging about on model railway ebay? The more times I go there, the more cynical I seem to become? Back in the days of physical model railway shows, I never bought a loco from a trader without seeing it run - before I handed over the folding stuff! Given the 'Wild West' nature of the darker corners of ebay, my 'trust muscle' has been sorely strained of late!

There are still a few decent honest traders out in e-bay land, Groovychick80 for example who has some very good stuff at very good prices, and a 100% rating.

[Hal Nail]

1 hour ago, SteveyDee68 said:

 

What I really find objectionable are those who strip down complete models and then sell the "parts" at inflated BUY IT NOW prices which mean they are selling the loco for more than the full retail value...

Why does this annoy people so much?

 

If, say, masks are desperately needed and the price goes up ridiculously that's exploiting a situation.

 

But surely selling model parts people might want at prices they are prepared to pay is just called capitalism? Nobody forces anyone to buy them.

Edited March 14, 2021 by Hal Nail

[Paul H Vigor]

1 minute ago, PhilJ W said:

There are still a few decent honest traders out in e-bay land, Groovychick80 for example who has some very good stuff at very good prices, and a 100% rating.

I have to agree, there are some honest traders out there. It's just that a load of 'freebooters' appear to have jumped on the bandwagon of late, whose ethics are more questionable?

[Hal Nail]

4 minutes ago, Paul H Vigor said:

I have to agree, there are some honest traders out there. It's just that a load of 'freebooters' appear to have jumped on the bandwagon of late, whose ethics are more questionable?

Your point that there are no alternatives at the moment is interesting although ironically exhibition prices, certainly in 7mm, have tended to be much higher than Ebay, so will be interesting to see how it all pans out in the long run.

 

I certainly feel prices have crept up.

[Northmoor]

1 hour ago, SteveyDee68 said:

 

I can see the point in that, totally. What I really find objectionable are those who strip down complete models and then sell the "parts" at inflated BUY IT NOW prices which mean they are selling the loco for more than the full retail value...

 

Lot 1 - loco body

Lot 2 - loco chassis

Lot 3 - tender (if applicable)

Lot 4 - tender chassis (if they can get away with splitting from the body!)

Lot 5 - detailing pack

Lot 6 - the f%#*%$g packaging 

 

My "lockdown therapy" has been to politely correct incorrect eBay listings, but I must admit to sending the occasional "Why don't you put your loco back together and sell it complete and at a sensible price?" message...

 

I mean, I know they won't (and those type of seller never reply anyway!) and I'm not going to change their Del Boy trading practices, but it does make me feel better to vent occasionally!

 

HOURS OF FUN!

 

 

Was it you who contacted me on a recent eBay listing me why I was incorrect to describe some wagons as Rare?  Actually it couldn't have been you as you can clearly spell properly.  It was a job lot of 6-7 wagons (starting price, about a tenner!) and a couple of them I couldn't find for sale on eBay at the time, unlike the "Rare and Collectible" Tri-ang Princess who can normally found in about 50 listings.

 

The ramping up of model prices over the last year is just another symptom of lockdown; others are increases in share speculating (the Reddit scenario is still rumbling on), huge growth in prices achieved for "project" cars and motorbikes, while the price of roadworthy ones remains steady.

 

People are stuck at home with lots of time and money they'd normally spend on commuting and have even more time if they've been furloughed.  Idle hands, etc......  When this is all over, there will be a lot of people who are out of work as the government money has only delayed the inevitable for many employers.  Most people won't earn enough from their redundancy payout to keep them going for more than a couple of months at most, so I predict there will be a marked increase in unfinished projects being off-loaded to raise some much needed cash.  Alternatively, the comfortably-off will return to full-time work and soon, their partners will be reminding them that their unfinished project has now been idle for the last year, so either finish it or get it out of the house, which was looking so much tidier after the massive clear-out they had during the first lockdown.

[33C]

10 hours ago, Dieselbob said:

Hi

It isn't always the case that selling things at an inflated price is taking advantage or profiteering.

I sell a lot on Ebay, I am not a trader but I get bored with the same old stock so I sell and buy new loco's etc and i am constantly surprised at what people are willing to pay. I recently bought a Hornby Class 50 with a tatty body for £65 because I wanted the wheels without traction tyres for one of my own. I didn't want the rest of it so I stripped it and sold the bits on Ebay, priced very reasinably and I don't profit from postage. All of the parts were snapped up quickly, the whole lot sold for £125.66. The thing with it is people need spares and Hornby are useless in that department, it can't be helped if people are willing to over bid and pay stupid money.

Bob

As we live in a capitalist society, i'm fine with ebay prices. If i think it's too expensive, i go elsewhere or go without. Take petrol for instance. It's gone up but bottled water is 3 times the price. Trouble is, you can't drink petrol. Pays your money, takes your choice. As my mum said, "Do you want it or need it? If you WANT it,  you don't NEED it!" 

Edited March 14, 2021 by 33C
added detail

[Dieselbob]

1 hour ago, 33C said:

As we live in a capitalist society, i'm fine with ebay prices. If i think it's too expensive, i go elsewhere or go without. Take petrol for instance. It's gone up but bottled water is 3 times the price. Trouble is, you can't drink petrol. Pays your money, takes your choice. As my mum said "Do you want it or need it? If you WANT it you don't NEED it!

She's wise your Mum.

[Paul H Vigor]

45 minutes ago, Dieselbob said:

She's wise your Mum.

I guess most Mum's - especially Mum's pre-1995 - would have 'issues' with ebay and what goes on there!?

[Enterprisingwestern]

6 hours ago, Northmoor said:

Was it you who contacted me on a recent eBay listing me why I was incorrect to describe some wagons as Rare?  Actually it couldn't have been you as you can clearly spell properly.  It was a job lot of 6-7 wagons (starting price, about a tenner!) and a couple of them I couldn't find for sale on eBay at the time, unlike the "Rare and Collectible" Tri-ang Princess who can normally found in about 50 listings.

 

The ramping up of model prices over the last year is just another symptom of lockdown; others are increases in share speculating (the Reddit scenario is still rumbling on), huge growth in prices achieved for "project" cars and motorbikes, while the price of roadworthy ones remains steady.

 

People are stuck at home with lots of time and money they'd normally spend on commuting and have even more time if they've been furloughed.  Idle hands, etc......  When this is all over, there will be a lot of people who are out of work as the government money has only delayed the inevitable for many employers.  Most people won't earn enough from their redundancy payout to keep them going for more than a couple of months at most, so I predict there will be a marked increase in unfinished projects being off-loaded to raise some much needed cash.  Alternatively, the comfortably-off will return to full-time work and soon, their partners will be reminding them that their unfinished project has now been idle for the last year, so either finish it or get it out of the house, which was looking so much tidier after the massive clear-out they had during the first lockdown.

 

Shush, you're giving my game plan away!

 

Mike.

[Paul H Vigor]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mainly-Train-LNER-BR-J52-Kit-Built-Chassis-00-Finescale-Alan-Gibson-Wheels/233930471847?hash=item367757b9a7:g:2VoAAOSwgvdgTmm9

 

Why go to the trouble of building such a chassis, to such a high standard - and not fit a gear to drive it? Just asking!

[andytrains]

£39-50p, 2nd hand from Rails. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/THE-EM-GAUGE-SOCIETY-EM-GAUGE-SL-EM2-B6-LEFT-HAND-POINT/193955142292?hash=item2d28a09a94:g:p~gAAOSwLrNgTO9f

or

£27.00p new from the EM society!

 

[MrWolf]

6 hours ago, Hal Nail said:

Your point that there are no alternatives at the moment is interesting although ironically exhibition prices, certainly in 7mm, have tended to be much higher than Ebay, so will be interesting to see how it all pans out in the long run.

 

I certainly feel prices have crept up.

 

I started going to exhibitions again in the summer of 2019, it was a bit of a mixed bag to be honest. Living where we do, anything WCML was popular, which meant that anything from further afield was cheaper, by and large. I picked up a good amount of GWR items for far less than I could on eBay. But on a lot of traders stalls, locomotives seemed very expensive, even secondhand. In fact even the sort of thing that you normally see everywhere was more expensive than eBay and a hell of a lot of new modern image diesels.

I bought a Bachmann 45xx as new off eBay for £30 less than the one I saw at an exhibition.

Unboxed, dirty Tri-ang Pullmans at £20 each? I think not. But a couple of old unmade  MAJ models kits for L&Y long wheelbase open for £2 each, (£20+ on eBay) or a K's six wheel GW low Syphon for £5? ((15+ on eBay) 

There's still bargains to be had at either, at least when they let us out again! 

Price rises on eBay are inevitable with lockdown, but given the aftermath I don't think that they are sustainable.

[MrWolf]

11 minutes ago, Paul H Vigor said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mainly-Train-LNER-BR-J52-Kit-Built-Chassis-00-Finescale-Alan-Gibson-Wheels/233930471847?hash=item367757b9a7:g:2VoAAOSwgvdgTmm9

 

Why go to the trouble of building such a chassis, to such a high standard - and not fit a gear to drive it? Just asking!

 

Maybe he has used the gear drive for another project? 

 

Chances are that the buyer would decide that he wanted a different ratio anyway so the presence of gears might add nothing to the final value.

[Paul H Vigor]

4 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

I started going to exhibitions again in the summer of 2019, it was a bit of a mixed bag to be honest. Living where we do, anything WCML was popular, which meant that anything from further afield was cheaper, by and large. I picked up a good amount of GWR items for far less than I could on eBay. But on a lot of traders stalls, locomotives seemed very expensive, even secondhand. In fact even the sort of thing that you normally see everywhere was more expensive than eBay and a hell of a lot of new modern image diesels.

I bought a Bachmann 45xx as new off eBay for £30 less than the one I saw at an exhibition.

Unboxed, dirty Tri-ang Pullmans at £20 each? I think not. But a couple of old unmade  MAJ models kits for L&Y long wheelbase open for £2 each, (£20+ on eBay) or a K's six wheel GW low Syphon for £5? ((15+ on eBay) 

There's still bargains to be had at either, at least when they let us out again! 

Price rises on eBay are inevitable with lockdown, but given the aftermath I don't think that they are sustainable.

I attended a middling sized regional show before the lockdown. I was looking for specific 4mm kitbuilt locos. I spoke to a trader who told me he had brought a collection with him to the show, but before the show opened to the public another trader had come around and bought the lot. Subsequently, all the locos said trader had bought popped up on ebay - sold for silly money. I guess both traders were happy with the outcome, but I was left disappointed. Fair enough once the show was open to all, but insider deals before the doors open is not a level playing field? The experience rather put me off attending that particular show again.

[PhilJ W]

Happens all the time at swapmeets and toy fairs sadly.

[locomad2]

4 minutes ago, Paul H Vigor said:

I attended a middling sized regional show before the lockdown. I was looking for specific 4mm kitbuilt locos. I spoke to a trader who told me he had brought a collection with him to the show, but before the show opened to the public another trader had come around and bought the lot. Subsequently, all the locos said trader had bought popped up on ebay - sold for silly money. I guess both traders were happy with the outcome, but I was left disappointed. Fair enough once the show was open to all, but insider deals before the doors open is not a level playing field? The experience rather put me off attending that particular show again.

 

 

Common for toy fairs, model railway fairs etc to offer premium prices before general public can enter say £10 per person for a hour or so, myself I don't bother as find traders just put prices up in this "premium period". Yes before lockdown a lot of "dead man's" collections for sale, whole collections, unfinished projects, layouts sold by widows or family of deceased, 

[Paul H Vigor]

11 minutes ago, locomad2 said:

 

 

Common for toy fairs, model railway fairs etc to offer premium prices before general public can enter say £10 per person for a hour or so, myself I don't bother as find traders just put prices up in this "premium period". Yes before lockdown a lot of "dead man's" collections for sale, whole collections, unfinished projects, layouts sold by widows or family of deceased, 

It would appear that the modelling public plays second fiddle to the trade, regardless of where and when model railway trading occurs?

[PhilJ W]

I am (or was before covid) a regular attendee at a few swap meets and toy fairs and many traders gave me a discount or even found some hard to get items for me.

[Northmoor]

My experience of both eBay and swapmeets is that there are a tremendous number of people pretending not to be traders (but who seem to have almost limitless "personal collections" for sale) which HMRC would probably be quite interested in.

[Paul H Vigor]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

 

I started going to exhibitions again in the summer of 2019, it was a bit of a mixed bag to be honest. Living where we do, anything WCML was popular, which meant that anything from further afield was cheaper, by and large. I picked up a good amount of GWR items for far less than I could on eBay. But on a lot of traders stalls, locomotives seemed very expensive, even secondhand. In fact even the sort of thing that you normally see everywhere was more expensive than eBay and a hell of a lot of new modern image diesels.

I bought a Bachmann 45xx as new off eBay for £30 less than the one I saw at an exhibition.

Unboxed, dirty Tri-ang Pullmans at £20 each? I think not. But a couple of old unmade  MAJ models kits for L&Y long wheelbase open for £2 each, (£20+ on eBay) or a K's six wheel GW low Syphon for £5? ((15+ on eBay) 

There's still bargains to be had at either, at least when they let us out again! 

Price rises on eBay are inevitable with lockdown, but given the aftermath I don't think that they are sustainable.

Looking to the future: the clock may in fact be ticking for older kitbuilt locos, etc; locos that appeal to mainly older modellers? Assuming that most youngsters and model railway newbies will be more interested in boxed, super-detailed, DCC-ready, RTR in plastic, avec sound; the bottom might drop out of the more eclectic, metal kit, 'steam loco' market? I'm already hearing similar concerns from antique traders with regard to an apparent decline in interest in collectible antiques. The 'last' antique-buying generation is apparently shuffling off this mortal coil! Most youngsters have no wish to clutter their modern homes with anything brown and fusty!

[Paul H Vigor]

11 hours ago, Hal Nail said:

How do you know they dont want to pay that? Since no one else knows their highest bid and therefore far from being warned off, bidders will just keep chipping away up to what they deem to be sensible (plus a bit given people are prone to getting over-excited), I think its more likely the dealers just value it higher than you do?

 

Generalising obviously but dealers usually have a decent handle. The second a dealer makes me an offer for something I'm selling - especially if early on -  I know I'm pretty much guaranteed a sale sooner or later and I can probably expect to get at least 20% more if I hold out! 

 

 

 

Buy low, sell high?

[Northmoor]

33 minutes ago, Paul H Vigor said:

Looking to the future: the clock may in fact be ticking for older kitbuilt locos, etc; locos that appeal to mainly older modellers? Assuming that most youngsters and model railway newbies will be more interested in boxed, super-detailed, DCC-ready, RTR in plastic, avec sound; the bottom might drop out of the more eclectic, metal kit, 'steam loco' market? I'm already hearing similar concerns from antique traders with regard to an apparent decline in interest in collectible antiques. The 'last' antique-buying generation is apparently shuffling off this mortal coil! Most youngsters have no wish to clutter their modern homes with anything brown and fusty!

This is well known in many industries, we are moving from a society that values acquiring "things" to one that values acquiring "experiences".  The fact that modern homes are getting smaller and smaller doesn't help, assuming young people can afford to move out of their parents' house at all.  I suspect the current surge in prices of collectibles has more to do with years of low interest rates and last year's slump in the stock market (which has almost completely recovered since); people with money to spare are looking for anything to make money out of.  The inflation of all sorts of assets is a reflection of too much money chasing too little real value.

[John M Upton]

People just don't seem to collect things anymore.  Take stamps for example, once very collectible, many were worth silly money and when I discovered my childhood collection that set me back a fair few quid in the 1980's I thought I would sell it and make a few quid.

 

What I actually got for it barely covered the postage and the Ebay fees, the bottom has completely dropped out of the market.

 

Then there is the diecast bus market, went wild at one point, people paying hundreds of pounds for actually not that accurate diecast model buses of particular operators (Southdown was a very popular one) now you are lucky to shift them for a fiver a piece including the postage, no wonder EFE (first incarnation) and Corgi went to the wall in the end.