is it my imagination, or has ebay changed a lot? seems like once upon a time there were a lot of good deals from other hobbyists disposing of unwanted items and it was a good place to get rid of surplus and things i no longer wanted.
they were selling at reasonable prices and i never tried to snow anybody by pushing off junk and claiming it was good.
now the llistings i look at seem to be mostly hucksters playing dumb and trying to sell at full list price or above. i never knew i had so many “rare” items on my layout.
in truth, i really don’t need to buy much of anything but it is fun to look at what is out there from time to time.
I’m an eBay buyer and seller and I think it’s about the same as ever. It has always been up to buyers to separate the wheat from the chaff - with regard to both listed items and sellers. It is up to buyers to know what they are looking at and know a reasonable price. Sellers will only see long term success by being honest and fair, otherwise their sales won’t make it worth continuing.
I’ve taken notice as well. I believe part of this is due to new ebay rules (well, maybe not so new anymore). There also seems to be many people getting into the home retail buisness, selling anything they can get their hands on, and the hobby shop who puts every item they have on the shelves on, one after the other, at MSRP. Once in a while though…
I agree with Phil. If I’m not sure of a price I go to the manufacturer’s web site and try to verify the prices But if I really want something then I’m happy to pay a little extra.
I’ve also found that often the sellers have lower shipping charges than a web merchant. In some cases shipping is even free.
Seems like this is not a good time of year for good Ebay deals. If last year’s trend is a valid precedent, then in about a month there should be a rash of bargains to be had, as buyers thin out as “modeling season” melts into Spring but before sellers back off with the good items due to lack of volume. Last year about that time I was snatching up DPM kits for $6-8 apiece including shipping.
I still buy and sell a lot on Ebay. Most of the time I wont buy a lot if it’s just a single item, unless I want/need it. I usually purchase the bulk lots where theres tons of stuff in them. Yeah you end up with some junk but it can either be used for kit bashing or resale.
If PT Barnum were still alive he would have been amazed at eBay never thinking there were really that many gullible people. For the most part maybe a fair percentage of private sellers are fair and honest but when ever I’m searching for a particular item and the search leads me to eBay it’s nothing more then a brick & mortar store using eBay instead of operating a website of their own. One of the club mmebers calls eBay a fools paradise.
i dont sell much now too many hassles and there is allways someone who is not happy
this week i bought two kato locos a cp dash9/44 and a bnsf sd70mac in the green and cream special color scheme i will allways give ebay a look and i like kato locos so i know what is a good price and a bad price
what annoys me is the type of seller who makes a profit on postage… there was a seller with some of the atlas trainman gp 38 locos he said they were worth $280 … his starting price was $45 not too bad however his postage was $28 the bidding went as high as the high $60’s so they ended up being to high… his feedback had lots of complaints because he didnot give discounts for multiple purchases… ebay… buyer beware
What really grinds my gears, as I live in Europe, is the US-sellers who sells “worldwide” and charges shipping that is so overpriced that it is almost criminal, and when contacted they only reply with; thats what it costs!?! Don´t they know that we in Europe have Internet too? A quick search on the USPS website tells the truth very fast.
BTW I can´t really understand why some sellers are so reluctant to sell international either, I mean they still have to post it, so why should it be harder to write a international postage form? More than one time have I mailed the sellers to ask if they would sell to Europe only to get a negative response, and seen the item in question being sold to a really low price that I would gladly have trippled! Their loss of course…
I’m surprised WeaselBay still has on a rare occassion something that is even useful…
Now mind you—some of the stories about the landsharks on the dang site—I’m really surprised that the site hasn’t gone PTOOF!! yet. So SOMETIMES SOMETHING must be working-----I’m only saying[:-^]
A interesting side note and slight correction, which was brought to my attention a few years ago by someone here on the forum. The real originator of the phrase “There’s a sucker born every minute” was actually a gentleman and rival of P.T. Barnum, by the name of David Hannum. Here’s the background and link to that story:
A Athearn SD38 for a tad less then half the MRSP and 12.00 less then the going discount price…A 3 pack of Athearn slurry tank cars for $44.00.
N Scale…
A Atlas Southern GP38-this was a excellent find for a excellent price.
5 MT boxcars for $40.00 from the same dealer.
4 Roundhouse 57’ reefers for $18.00.
I agree…I never knew there was so many “rare” locomotives and cars.
I also use HO and N Scale yardsale and found good deals.
Be Warned…
If you don’t like a looking through a lot of e-mail(average 60-70 a day) and the chance you may have to use money orders for the desired items then these sites may not be for you.
If you don’t like a looking through a lot of e-mail(average 60-70 a day) and the chance you may have to use money orders for the desired items then these sites may not be for you. "
Larry if your referring to all the email your getting from those Yahoo groups go to the edit membership tab and in the second step click web only and your in box will return to normal.
I joined a bunch of the yahoo train groups and neglected to check the right box and got almost 500 email the next day…lol
Well a simple solution is to just go to what ever company the sell uses for shipping IE: USPS, FedEx, UPS etc. and use their shipping calculator and check and see if the fee being charged is with in reason or not. The key word is handling, when a shippers charges you for shipping they can only charge you the actual shipping cost but when the term shipping and handling come into play they can charge you what ever they want. I can’t say for certain or not if this is the same for private individuals but I would imagine so. A person can charge you what ever he or she wants to as long as your willing to pay it.
One of my departments where I used to work was S&R and when ever we shipped anything over seas there was an extreme difference in price mainly due to all the extra paper work and customs restrictions Not saying that this is the same reason why people in general don’t like to deal with customers outside of the US but I’m sure it has something to do with it.
I’ve been an Ebay buyer & seller since 2002, and have 670 plus 100% positive feedback. In all my transactions, I got ripped off once for about $25, and frankly didn’t use good sense in making an offer.
By and large, buyers & sellers tend to be reasonable folks, and looking back at their past feedback deals & comments will tell you a lot. Also, as a buyer you must assume NOTHING! Ask questions before bidding!
Regarding model train stuff, I have had a “sale” every Christmas time for the last 5 years. Typically, a seller will do better during that time frame (for obvious reasons). As a buyer, you will typically do better in the summer or in “hard times” - something most of us are familiar with.
For me personally, I’ve already acquired pretty much all the HO stuff I want, and postwar Lionel stuff too - thanks to Ebay. So my buying of train stuff has diminished quite a bit over the last few years.
As a seller, Ebay has allowed me to dispose of a lot of cars and locos and other MR items that no longer fit my needs - providing me the funds to upgrade locos and to pay for the transition to DCC.