What type of people use ebay? I needed a couple of horn-hook couplers( I can hear the screams already) so on to ebay, some guy was selling 14 couplers and there were 8 bids and the price was up to $25.00, below was another seller with a pack of 350 for $5.00. with the amount of hatred for horn hook couplers what gives with the prices, there must be a horn-hook graveyard out there somewhere with billions and billions of them, now that the “law” is Kaydee.
I use Ebay. This week I notice that something I had bid on sold for more than the buy it now price of an identical item sold by the same seller. Shipping was the same on the two listings. [^o)]
And here I am, throwing horn hook couplers into the trash by the hundreds instead of hawking them on e-Bay.
What really irritates me are the sellers who want outlandish shipping charges to make up for their low initial starting prices, like $12.95 for a $0.99 item, or the maroon who was asking nearly $10 for a metric screw that you could get at any good hardware store for less than 25 cents. But it was a ‘genuine’ original made in West Germany!
how many you need email I will send them.
You can buy brandy-spanking new ones here:
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?ID=200450357
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?ID=200445672
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?ID=200414373
ALl for cheap and available for next day shipping.
Simple answer. You cannot fix stupid.
But, a useful by product from this. Gives people here something to talk about.
Rich
I was bidding on a older model Digtrax Empire Builder “new in the box” last week. The idem sold for more than I can buy the newer model Empire Builder online. Some people must not do there home work or they don’t care. But to pay more for used than new is crazy.
Did you happen to see the Spiderman HO set that started at 1000.00 on e bay ,wonder why they didnt get any bids LOL.
I use Ebay all the time and have come to the realization that many who bid on items get ‘caught up in the bidding excitment’ and don’t care as much about what they paid but more about “I won the bidding war!”. I sold my three old Rivarossi articulated locos and bought the same three with the newer drives (RP25 profile wheels, can motors wiith flywheels) and paid less than what I sold the old ones for. What a country! I don’t think people know the value of items and don’t research them before buying.
Another point, many charge high shipping and low starting bid because you are paying a fee to Ebay based on the selling and listing value and not the shipping cost. list at $.99 and charge $12.95 shipping, you pay the fee on the $.99, not the $12.95.
- Bob
I have also been outbid in the last few seconds always by exactly one dollar. My theory is some sellers have phantom “buyers” that are their friends and they bump the bids up without any attention to buy the item. Either that or they “out bid” the next highest bidder and the seller keeps the item and sells it elsewhere if they don’t receive as much as they want. It is also pretty funny that anyone can ship a car in a flat rate box for $4.95 to anywhere in the lower 48 but others want$10 or more to ship one car.
I’ve been a buyer and a seller on E-bay for a number of years now and have been able to seriously add to my rolling stock, equipment, & dioramas for super cheap. Yes. I’ve found myself caught in bidding frenzy but after a while you can learn to keep your wits about you. I often don’t bid until practically the last moment to prevent the seller’s ‘friends’ from upping the price automatically. But I’ve managed to get an entire Hogwarts Express for under $50, a President’s Choice Bullet-Nosed Betty for $75, half a dozen flatcars with circus wagons on them for $10…and the list goes on.
The main trick is to remember: unless you made it & so know there’s only one, NOTHING is ‘rare’ on E-bay. If the asking price is too much, or the shipping looks ‘hinky’, relax - there will be another one along someday. And at your price. And maybe even your color.
I would like to know, though, why some sellers refuse to ship to Canada; we’re just next door!
Happy bidding!
What gets me is the stupidity of people that bid on a item DAYS before the auction is due to end, thus jacking up the price. With the amount of legal and low-cost software out there to automatically place last second bids, the idiocy of early bidders is mind-boggling.
I guess they get some sort of satisfaction of being the current “high-bidder”
Call me stupid, and an idiot as well.
But then my goal is not to win an auction, or to get any item at the absolute lowest price. Rather my goal is to find out-of-production stuff that fits well on my layout for a reasonable price - current street price or less.
I prefer to set my maximum bid when I’m not caught up in the moment. I know what specific items I’m looking for and will not bid on anything else. I research the going price. I prefer to make my bid on the last day, but it could be considerably earlier in the cycle depending on my plans for the rest of my life. Then I walk away, and let others decide whether my offered price is good enough. Since I won’t go back and raise my bid, those who want to snipe my bids had better want the item. And be willing to pay more than I am willing to pay - even 1 cent more.
With my stupidity, I have won all I have wanted to win without paying more than I thought the item was worth. It may take me several auctions (on one locomotive it took about 6 auctions) to win the particular model I’m interested in, but I’ve always eventually gotten the item for a reasonable price. Actually, my method ends up discouraging snipers because they can’t win at the last second with an absurdly low bid (hence the complaint I’m replying to). And yes, I’ve gotten 2nd chance offers from sellers when the reserve wasn’t met or the sniper reneged.
my thoughts and experiences, your choices
Fred W
There are softwares out there (and I use one occasionaly, called ‘Snipe’) that let you set your max bid and how close to the end to place the bid, usually 5 seconds, and when several people bidding are using these the price escelates in the last minute. If I find an item I really want I will lock in my max that I am willing to pay and then sit back and don’t worry about the auction any more. When the auction ends, if my bid wins, OK and if it doesn’t that’s OK too because I didn’t overbid what I was willing to pay in a rational moment. I get about 50% of the items this way. I too have stocked my layout with decent priced HO equipment and many are no longer in production. You just have to keep your wits about it.
- Bob
I don’t buy much on Ebay, but when I do, my method is exactly the same as Fred W, and for the same reasons. And it as worked well for me also.
I am amazed at some of what goes on there, but there is no accounting for stupid.
Sheldon
If you put in you max bid and then lose the auction by $1. don;t fret. The winners max bid may have been $50. more than yours but the auction went up in $1 increments.
Dennis San Fernando Valley CA.
I’ll most likely get toilet paper in my trees and eggs tossed at my house…but so what! The hobby used to be about building and operating model trains with the emphasis on building. I’d dare to estimate how many non-productive hours and funds are spent on this venue. Most model rails have a fixed budget and an allotment of free time to be used for their hobby. I do know first hand many who spend over 20 hours per week and then some and most if not all of their model railroad budget on this worthless venue. If they seek rewards and entertainment, that is their business and God given right, but…when all of the LHS’s are finally closed, you have only yourselves to awnser to.
I have also sold and purchased on eBay and have found that most of my transactions bore fruit, but had these funds went to support the LHS and my time used in the basement I’d would have probably been much better off. I quit selling for only one reason…I no longer believe in eBay as I am sure that it is hurting a hobby I’ve been in for over 5 decades and has become an important part of my life.
When the LHS becomes part of American Folklore, do you honestly believe that you’ll find the staples needed to practice model railroading in the classical sense on eBay…you guys know, things like paint, track glue, small parts, etc. These are the things that hobby shops stock as a service and reap very little profit, but I hear so many times …“I can get it cheaper on eBay!” I have always viewed the LHS as a needed service and an integeral part of the hobby…so much so, that when they eventually go…so will the hobby. Not immediately, but the decline will be noticeable.
HZ
Ah eBay… for about 2-years I’ve sold stuff on eBay in addition to buying and it’s an experience to say the least. For one thing it always astounded me how inconsistent it could be selling trains. I listed three N-scale tank cars and only got $7 for them though all three were like new. I guess it had just been a bad time to sell. Recently, I just bought and turned around, with a tidy profit, a brass model inside a week. One I bought through a shop, not a yard-sale find. While cruising eBay today I saw someone selling Tichy water columns for 9.95 each plus shipping! The retail is 4.95 and the model is still in production!
eBay is a real useful resource I think for finding goods you are not likely to find else where and often the prices are great but the old adage buyer beware is something we should all truly take to heart.
Alvie
Exactly, Bob. Well said. I use Esnipe. Set your maximum comfortable bid a week in advance, file, forget, and wait for the winning email. But if others want to toil away at 6 auctions to win one locomotive, when they jacked up the price all the way and could have had it for less on the first try, so be it.
Seriously Fred and Sheldon: employ your same bidding strategy with a program like Esnipe and you’ll have three times the success with a fraction of the effort, and never pay more than you want.
[:)]