I relisted some items that didn’t get sold for months during last summer break. Literally within a few hours, 5 items were puchased by buyers!
I’v also purchased more than usual, there’s been lots more deals on “restoration required” engines these days… [;)]
Seems like many people now have free time to sell off some stuff, and others finally have time to enjoy the hobby. Have you felt the increased activity?
Although its putting a strain on USPS and others, if you were planning to one day sell something, I recommend selling it now…there’s lots more buyers now than before.
Charles
PS I do apologize if this should go under the coronavirus post, but I think this relates to the hobby enough to have its own forum.
Does not surprise me, since the LHS are mostly closed, so it’s the few that are open for mail order, or eBay. And many people have more time on their hands for hobby activities. Unfortunately I long ago thinned my herd so I have little or anything to sell off right now - usually Summer is a hard time to move model railroad equipment.
Reminds me, I need to order some roadbed, I’m almost to the point where I can put some track down. Only available on eBay.
Regarding the strain on the USPS: Considering the thousands of hardworking people that lost their jobs, due to the pandemic, imho many post office workers are likely grateful for the additional mail and packages! I hope that they all remain employed.
On another note, I’m still purchasing items on ebay and am finding good bargains, in spite of the increased activity! Just takes patience.
The older run Walthers passenger cars are, generally, still selling for what they were 2 to 3 years ago. Since I’m paint stripping them anyway (for metalizing), I target the least popular road names, which often works out well (Yes, one of my shopping strategies but I’m always glad to help fellow modelers). But of course, if you’re looking for specific, factory painted units then you’ll find that some of the more popular road names might start at higher bidding prices.
For some Santa Fe modelers, you may find good deals since ebay is saturated with HO Santa Fe equipment. This may contribute to the prices being reasonable since sellers, with identical equipment, are competing against each other.
Overall, for passenger rail modelers, this seems to be a good time for finding wanted, out of production models.
Heh - It’s been sort of a two month version of what I tend to do during blizzards in winter when I feel antsy and house-bound. I suspect the confinement/safer at home situation resulted in a fair number of us rummaging through boxes and shelves of model railroad stuff taking stock of what we have while looking for projects. That always results in “discoveries” that are either swap meet or Ebay (for those who do Ebay, I don’t) material. Or trash can material.
I can see that several of my neighbors must have taken the opportunity to clean out garages or attics based on the junk I see set out for the garbage/recycling people.
I know my wife has done some sorting and cleaning and re arranging and we have boxes of stuff for Goodwill. But her sock drawer and cookbook collection are now both totally organized. And I now have all of my 2-56 screws together in one container.
The advent of nicer weather outdoors will slow this phenomenon down a bit. I am spending less time at the workbench not just because it is finally nice outside and there is garlic mustard to pull, but our basement this time of year is the coolest/coldest/dampest part of the house and I almost need a sweater down there while I am in shorts and T shirts upstairs. But I do need to get down there and finish the last two cars of my “cushion underframe extended coupler pocket” project before I forget all the little techniques I learned for using the aftermarket parts. Plus I need to prepare for the clinics I have agreed to give this fall.
My best friend runs an online store for RC model sailboats and his sales have been off the charts since the health crissis started. I think this goes for most hobbies in general. We had a very chilly and damp spring, so most outdoor stuff at home was on hold much longer, so model trains kept selling locally. The local shop said they were quite busy with phone in and online orders that the buyer would either have shipped or stop by and pick up in person as this shop is based out of the owners house in a seperate building. Keeping cabin fever at bay is best done with a good hobby! Mikie
Accually the number of lisying never got above x-mas listings and is still running a bit higher but not by that much, yeah I follow this stuff. As far as price it depends on what it is. Craftsman kits can be had cheap along with alot of brass, othere items are going for a premium.
I search for “ho brass” in auction format every day. Listing of brass auctions have easily quadrupled since the stay at home orders began.
There are a lot of models that show up very rarely getting listed.
The starting bids are all over the place. Many as low as 99 cents, and some three times what the value of the model is.
Brasstrains Dot Com of Ocala, Florida is also listing a lot more models than normal recently. Sometimes two or three pages in a single day. Many at very low prices.
It is a circus right now in the brass model world.
I’m not sure whether the total number of listings through all categories is up, but I am not seeing it in the model railroad searches that I do on a regular basis.
The number of certain brass locos listed has dropped in recent weeks rather than gone up. I kept expecting to see an uptick but it doesn’t look much different to me than it usually does. The items that are overpriced still sit there like they always do.
One thing to consider is that many people stopped all discretionary spending when the pandemic hit due to finacial uncertainty - whether it be loss of job, loss of hours on the job or stock market uncertainty. This may be offsetting those who are buying more to keep themselves busy…
I have tried to keep my brass buys to what Dan gets in at Brasstrains. To many non train people selling estates that have no idea how to properly ship brass. Like Kevin, I watch the cheaper side of diesels on Brasstrains like a hawk and grab a deal when I can. Being able to do my own repair work, repowering and so forth helps. Even parts engines get my money once and awhile to keep my stash of spare parts stocked up as I do rework for others on older brass engines. Most new stuff has little to no interest for me. Older kits, older brass and estates tables once shows start up again are where I shop. I give Dan and his crew down there in Florida 5 out of 5 stars for accurate descriptions of models, excellent and fair pricing along with steller packing for a safe journey to me. While my wife and I havent gone hog wild on spending. We have saved back enough that with the extra boost from the Fed, we have been able to do some work/upgrades to our Jeeps and I have been able to get a few train items. If we do not spend some $$, the economy will stall out even more. We have to buy to keep things moving, even if its in small ways. For those that love vintage brass and can buy, its a buyers market right now and will be for some time to come IMHO. Mikie
Oh boy yes indeed. Lets see here I have made about 20 purchases on ebay since March. I think its fun just researching what equipment I want and more than likely its on ebay.
And I just received my stimulus money, so I will keep buying right now.
I have been keeping busy with my new layout, but dang Im sure getting cabin fever and need to get out and see people. They just now started opening retail shops so Im gonna visit my LHS.
That is probably true for some, but apparently it doesn’t explain the additional online buying spree. Perhaps that is a boost which offset those who are spending less.
I will agree with you whole-heartedly on that point.
Every purchase I have made from Brasstrains Dot Com has been packaged carefully and securely.
I bought a Key light USRA 4-8-2 on eBay once that was just tossed into a bigger box. The locomotive came out of the original Key box in transit. Miraculously it arrived undamaged.
Ebay used to have a long tutorial on their community pages that explained the proper syntax to use in the search fields to make better searches.
I have saved searches with all kinds of special commands in them.
It was a sad day when eBay did away with the wildcard character “*”. Many of my searches used this character to filter out much of the chaff and clutter from my searches. They say it’s no longer necessary, but my searches have been much less specific and concentrated.
And don’t forget the “-” in searches to filter out what you don’t want to see, e.g. “-(cups,plates,spoons)” if you don’t want to see ATSF cups, plates or spoons.