Browsing through ebay at some different postwar Lionel trains and accessories, I have noticed that some prices of things have gone down considerably since last spring. I bought a pair of nice 022s last year for about $60, and now I see pairs just as good going for $40 or even $30. Some cars, like the milk cars, have gone down about $10 or $20 on average.
Is anybody noticing the same thing or am I forgetting the prices that trains used to be?
Do you think the economy is having an affect on it?
Oh definately. Prices of everything are down but Ebay fees are up! I have been selling off a big collection of HO slot cars. Unless its something rare you have to give it away to sell it now. Nobody wants to pay much anymore. Great for buyers, bad for sellers.
Roger
IMO, the economy has turned ebay into a giant yard sale ! Those with money will find great bargains!
Give it about 2 weeks and see if prices aren’t up again and of coarse ebays fees will kill the seller there real close to 10% now by time you pay insert fee and final value fee and then they want you to just use electronic payment lets see what might that be oh yeah they prefer pay-pal its starting to be more and more of a dictatorship or monopoly if you ask me but what can you do there about the only one that you get decent hits from the others just don’t get the traffic. I still say that people need not to list anything just for one week on there and see how fast they listen they keep doing things for the buyers ( don’t get me wrong its great if your a buyer) and hurting the one that actually supports them. Every year they been raising there fees by time you sell something now and pay with paypal you’ve ended up paying right about 13% of selling cost. so now that great deal you got and proffit you though you would have just went to somebodys elses wallet not yours just like a guy I just bought off of I made the mistake of leaving a feedback of excellant item shipping a little high $12.50 for 2lbs . I guess to you it also sounds a little high and this is what ebays says there going to end well by the time you pay pay-pal and ebay fees he ended up with a big $1.77 profit I ended up paying in the end but it wasn’t even worth his time really to list it as he makes his living off of selling on ebay. So as a buyer in this instance my high shipping was to help pay ebay fees which isn’t supose to be passed down by there rules but if he didn’t he would of ended up losing money on the deal. how many items could you do that with? I kinda feel bad about the feed back now but what can you do.
I have noticed that. i used to buy on ebay quite often,but that has changed. i have only bought one thing on ebay since june. i am more worried about the economy right now. the largest employer in my town just laid of about 600 employees.
I have noticed prices going down, and totally believe they will fall more in the future when all these northern boys with walls full of trains start having to pay $800 for a month’s supple of fuel oil in the winter when oil starts rising again. Also this business of people charging out of site fees for their shipping costs in order to keep from paying ebay fees might slow down. If someone over charges for shipping I just do not bid. I was going to bid on two tin plate rolling stock junker cars and shipping was $26 and I passed him by.
EBay prices going down, well yes and no. The mint vintage stuff seems to be going at or above current pricing guidelines. Operator quality and items to refurbish are lower it appears. I do believe the down economy is a factor. My observation is that those in the higher income brackets are not feeling the pinch as much and are still willing and eager to pay at or above book value, whereas the operator who may be more of a middle class income is feeling the pinch and being a more cautious buyer. I have noticed the number of people bidding on a piece has gone down. My observations are based on American Flyer items.
Jim
I notice also ebay is forcing one to only have paypal.[:(]
Let’s face it new buyers drive up prices. The low number is scary because they are willing to buy high. Anyone who has been on for a while knows the supply is always there. I am not talking about collector items just the average items. (but rare items seem to be always listed too). Supply and demand.
I have noticed that up front bids are lower and the price jumps to a standard level in the last minutes.
Also who wants to buy just one piece of rolling stock with those shipping cost.
Most auctions end in the evenings, especially weekends.I work evenings!!
Then you don’t know who you are bidding against.
Vent,…vent… vent… Relief I guess you take the good with the bad
Bob
I do like paypal
I like the convience of paypal as a buyer and seller but as a seller I don’t like there fees when I’m already paying ebay a listing fee and then a final value fee and then to accept paypal you have to pay them another 2-3% of the total including the shipping so it can easily be another 4% of the final selling cost. this is why some crank up there shipping fees which by ebay rules you are not allowed to charge the selling fees to the buyer well hello thats exactly whats happening so now Ebay says there going to restrick how much someone can charge to ship I’m really getting to the point I want to really see this I bet they can’t do it. soething going to give soon either folks are going to have a no listing week or something to wake ebay up they want all the gravy and don’t want you to be able to profit from it with all there restrictions there adding I personally would love to see where no one listed anything for a week and see how they react. they need it done.
i remember when they were like 1 to 2 % for selling and like .25 to .75 to list. there now like 8 down to 6% to sell and not sure how they caculate the listing ( can’t access ebay from here at work) as they got bigger they got more greater and wanting more from each sale.
I proxied $75 on a mint boxed MPC diesel that would typically get $75. I checked after closing with my fingers crossed only to find I won it for $48.50.
That’s good solid data. I stopped buying on ebay. With the Michgan economy going belly up the real deals are at the train shows. I purchased a few used O gauge scale cars for as low as 3 dollars a piece. Lionel O gauge scale items, Lionel JLC steam locomotives , MTH premier, and anything with the latest electronics seems to be holding their own on E bay, due to high demand. The postwar / conventional stuff seems to have taken a big hit, mostly items before 1996.
American Flyer trains seems to have really come out of the woodwork in the past year, seems items I could never even find are appearing for sale everywhere at now a reasonable price. The A/F Lionel remakes have really dropped in price. I have seen cars as low as 10 dollars in the box not even selling.
This is the time to buy!
I no longer purchase on ebay simply because money orders can’t be used. I will not put important numbers in cyberspace- I haven’t been burned yet and, Lord help me, I’m not going to take any unnecessary chances with Paypal. I do use ebay as a “reference” tool and in doing so I notice that some sellers still list money orders as an acceptable method of payment. What’s up with that?
My guess is ebay isn’t enforcing that yet as I still can list it with the check of payments accepted so like everything else the say it will start such and such a date but normally starts 3 months later also some sellers openly state that if you want to pay via Money order contact them and they will make other arrangements so you can.
Not true, Ebay is still taking money orders and checks.
I hope that prices will also be down at the train show I am waiting for. I am not shure because it is close to Christmas. I suspect they will be the same.
I use “E-Bay” and have noticed a trend, not so much as to the prices but as to the number of actual bidders on some items compared to the number of viewers for the individual items. It seems, to me, that the buyers have become more selective. Could be the economy and also the fees.
Another factor, I beleive is the “timing”. Sellers sometimes, after the first non-bid listing, reduce their asking prices drastically to attractive potential buyers. This is often when the buyer finds the bargain.
I sort-of ‘buck the trend’. Just recently, I listed some HO items. The first time, I had 65 viewers, 5 watchers and 0 bids. I relisted. The second time, same items, same price, resulted in 54 viewers, 2 watchers and 8 bids. (Timing)
Although “E-Bay” favors the ‘PayPal’, I still see that sellers are accepting Money Orders and Personal Checks. As a ‘seller’, I agree that the fees are a little “much” but PayPal does get the funds to me quicker which is a definite plus.
Lastly, I have noticed that the prices on some Postwar items have dropped but I also have noticed that the quality (listing fine print and picture) of the items has dropped.
As always, thanks for reading.
I have used ebay about five or six years ago, at that time PayPal didn’t have any fee. I tend to stay off ebay because people don’t always know what scale or gauge of trains they are selling!!
Lee F.
Regarding the number of bidders for a particular item, the last item I bidded on and won was a Marx 1666. I had watched it for several days and noted that no one had placed a bid on it. The starting price was set at $9.99 so I contacted the seller to see if he would accept a money order. He said he would so I put in my bid and won the item. I was the only bidder! I was quite surprised as this model has historically been pretty popular. When I received the engine I was very impressed with its’ condition- very few scratches, headlight worked, smoker worked, and it ran ran well. Condition was better than the seller described! If you see anything listed by mrace42, bid with confidence.
I’ve noticed the prices on ebay have gone down by about 25% on average. What can you do, bad economy. Nobody wants to buy. I’m holding a bunch of stuff for now since I don’t want to just give it away.
I ahve noticed, though, that the prices have been above what they were in early october.