First of all, I usually go 3-4 times a year depending on my work shedule. Today I bought something I was looking for for a reasonable price from some very nice folks.
Today I also noticed a lot of price gouging like I’ve never seen it before. I follow this thing close enough to know what things generally list for msrp-wise. Is this something new or do they think that we’re stupid or something? Since everyone usually sets up in the same place I know who you are to avoid buying from at future shows.
Examples: Walthers new “Mainstreet” structures=over $40, MTH SD70ACE DC version=over$200
Good thing you filled up after you bought your treasure, might not have had money to pay for it if you had.
Same comments can be said of ebay sellers, as with anything. buyer beware. If someone only wants one thing and they have it, no shipping, it may not be so bad. It is interesting though, at shows there always seem to be the “high priced spread” and folks willing to bargin. Wonder how much those high prices would have to come down for them to make up the difference in volume? A retailers perverbial question.
Enjoy your find and let them keep their stuff on their tables.
If you really want to see real price gouging, go to the annual Rockford, IL and Madison, WI shows. I stopped going to those after last year when it seemed too many people wanted near list price for new or USED equipment, sometimes just junk. These shows were also turning into non-railroad toy stores.
Lots of folks at these shows are dealers, not guys trying to unload surplus, so the prices look like dealers prices because, well, they are dealer prices. There were always rumors about the one dealer who seemed to undercut everybody that his stock was actually gray market stuff that the importer had rejected. Of course the guys who didn’t match his prices might have been the ones spreading that rumor. But there is a dealer, who charges full price, who puts up a sign that says something like this: "We test every engine before we sell it and send back about 20% to the manufacturer because they do not meet our standards. We have no idea what they do with the ones we send back."
If you are old enough to remember the Ed Sullivan show you might remember comedian Myron Cohen, who tended to tell somewhat rambling stories. Such as …
So … a lady goes to her butcher and says “Marty how much are the lamb chops?”
Marty says “$6 a pound…”
She yells “$6 a pound? That’s outrageous. Schwartz has them for $5 a pound.”
Marty shrugs and says “So, buy from Schwartz.”
She says “Well Schwartz is all out.”
Marty says “to tell you the truth if I was all out they’d be $4 a pound.”
The few train shows I have been to recently have been disappointing in prices.
Used to seem to be that you could get bargains there. BUt not anymore. They want a full retail price or MAYBE offer a “show stopping 10 or 20% OFF!”.
And used stuff? first I am alway skeptical of used stuff such as locos, but the prices seem to be equal or near to a brand new one.
I am skeptical about buying “New in box” locos at a show as I don’t know what kind IF I get a warrantee on it. Even on a two day show, if it’s a distance from my house and I pay another “get in fee” to return it to the seller, I loose, loose,loose.
I picked up a used coal car in a livery I wanted at a show in really decent shape {I thought} at $5, and when I went to pay for it, the guy asked where I picked it up from. I thought he wanted to know what price box it came from, instead he wanted to pick up the parts to the coupler, coupler box and lid that had fallen off to “snap” back together. I said I didn’t want it then. He said “well it just snaps back together”. If it fell apart just by me picking it up, and it just “snaps back together”, what’s to say it won’t keep pulling apart on me in use??? AND if I glue it, will it work right? SO I said “NO way!”
The prices to get into shows seems to be getting steep, too. $10 admission per for 3 of us to go is rather hefty now. $30 for us to get in ANd then to sometimes pay for parking too??? THEN to buy lunch there is usually another at least $5 apiece to get a burger or hot dog. and forget a bottle of water or soda.
It’s no wonder shows are shrinking and fewer vendors are buying into them and many are getting cancelled. ANd the smaller local shows seem to be filled with guys/people who want to sell off old “junk” that they don’t want anymore. “New in box” dealers seem to avoid these shows, maybe fora reason. I refuse to pay for a price for a piece of junk someone wants to get rid of unless I can get it at a GREAT price, have plans to kit-bash
Why should we expect to see new items at a largely discounted price? If it is a hobby dealer(which a lot are) why should they cut to what we would call a deal?
I agree the used stuff is most times crap and at a high premium but I know who those guys are and walk right by. Sometimes there are deals to be had( $25.00 MTH O scale dash 8-cw with sound brand new) all it needed was a new chip which MTH sent to me for free.
Yeah the cost is going up to get in. In my case in medina ohio I am not sure why. The road is still crappy, and there are dozens and dozens of shows that draw a ton of people there. Being the fairground I think it is to be able to book that high dollar country western star for the fair.
Who knows, but I do know that my income has been drastically cut and I don’ t go as often or to as many as I used to. Heck I can’t even afford the NMRA registration fee for the year. My buddy has been trying for over a year now to get me to join. I will eventually but not just yet.
It’s not just at shows. One of my LHS’s has started this practice as well. Guess what? I’m not buying from them anymore. If I’m going to drop a few grand a year it’s going to be in a place that at least sell’s at MSRP. It won’t be long before they are out of business.
Eh, yup! That’s what the vendor guy told me when I questioned the price on a set of Champ HO PRR X29 boxcar decals a friend asked me to find for him down at the Timonium, Md., show. Price was $4.55 per set, take it or leave it. “Champ is out of business, you know, and those decal sets are rare.” Plus there was Md. sales tax he collected on top of that, plus the 9 bucks to get in the door.
Have a moment of patience while my cluttered mental hard drive gets this sorted out…You went to the train show, shopped like the dickens and still had enough to fill the gas tank?? I am very impressed with the obvious frugality of your younger days! You win a well deserved tip of the cap and quiet round of applause from the rest of us! Cheers!!
Something to keep in mind here when we are complaining about the prices of attending these shows. First, the show venue costs the show promoter money, probably a fairly substantial amount. This is recouped thru admission fees and vendor table fees. As a vendor I have to “cover” the cost of my admission (table fee) with my sales. At a recent show my table fee was $50.00 /table. I generaly sell used freight equipment from estate sales and collections I have purchased. My profit margin on say, Athearn blue box kits, is about $1.00. This means I have to sell at least 50 kits to break even on the cost to set up at the show. Now, factor in that most shows I attend are a 200 mile round trip (10 gallons of gas). This is also a cost to me to set up at these shows. If it is a two day show throw in a motel cost as well. In addition to selling used equipment I also do custom painted and assembled resin kits. These can have a somewhat higher price than most people are accustomed to but if I figure in the cost to do then I only make pennies/hr. Most people understand that these kits and paint jobs take time and are worth what I am asking. Some though don’t get it. At the last show I was at I had two F&C PRR bobber cabooses for sale on my table fully assembled for $80.00 each. I had a guy come by, reach into his bag, pull out a Tyco 4 wheel bobber, point at mine and say " you are _____ ripping people off. I bought this one for $4.00". I did not even bother with a reply.
As to collecting sales tax that was mentioned. At almost every show I have been to in the past several years, the state sales tax people are roaming around checking on sales tax ID #'s. If you are set up at a show to sell then in most cases you must file a form with the state taxing authority (they are usually very helpfull with this) and collect and remit the proper sales tax.
As to where the admission fees go that the promoter collects… The shows that I attend are put on by the national railro
I go for the entertainment value. My wife and daughter want nothing to do with shows, so it’s just one admission. (A train show was my very first senior citizen discount. Ask for them.) Our local Greenberg show is held at the Shriners’ Auditorium, so the parking is free and part of the proceeds, at least, go to support good causes like the Shriners’ burn center.
There are always lots of operating layouts, and I enjoy every one, even those that I see every fall and spring. I might buy a few sets of figures, or some detail part I didn’t know existed until I saw it on the pegboard wall, but I seldom find any real bargains. The last “big item” I bought was an IHC Mikado, which I’d actually been looking for online, but didn’t expect to find as IHC had closed its doors. It was below MSRP, and below the Walthers sale price for an item that was marked “out of stock.” The guy even took plastic, with no surcharge, so he made a sale and I went home happy.