Auction of P4 fitted RTR modern image items

[hayfield]

9 hours ago, Damo666 said:

 

I was curious to see what the difference was between the Auction hammer price (plus all fees) and the price on ebay. I should have done this a few days ago as the hammer price has now been removed from the auction website (goes after 10 days), but there were 2 locos that I had saved in my wishlist (which shows the hammer price) that are now on ebay.

 

As the bidder seems to have won several locos (3 out of the first 6 lots) then his/her postage costs would have been £2+VAT on the subsequent winning bids. Using the same excel calculator I used to calculate the limit of my bids before joining the auction I’ve worked out the final cost of these 2 locos plus postage to see what sort of mark-up is been  applied on ebay.

 

Interesting to see that with 1 day and 9 hours to go, only one item has attracted a bid.

 

Damo

 

In the first tranche of locos from memory only 3 of the locos went cheaply, and was it you that got one ? That left 2 which went well under £100.  I can see only one of his locos with a bid.

 

On the face of it there is little or no profit

 

But the next question is given his past 8 red feedbacks and 3 grey all for not sending the items, will he honour the winning bid ?

[Damo666]

12 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

Damo

 

In the first tranche of locos from memory only 3 of the locos went cheaply, and was it you that got one ? That left 2 which went well under £100.  I can see only one of his locos with a bid.

 

On the face of it there is little or no profit

 

But the next question is given his past 8 red feedbacks and 3 grey all for not sending the items, will he honour the winning bid ?

 

Morning John,

 

No, it wasn't me. I felt the first lot (712) Heljan EWS 33030 would need to be low as their new version is out soon, so why get a second-hand model at a price within 20% of the new tooling. My calculation was if I could get it for £50 hammer price that would have cost me £88 if I won no other bids (due to the high postage for the 1st item).

 

The 2nd lot (714) Heljan EWS 47787 I found it difficult to get a value before the auction, so gave myself a budget of £45 hammer (£81.70) if I only got one loco in the auction and £60 hammer (£82.50) if it was my second winning bid. Of course, being so early into the auction this is nearly impossible to know.

 

The 3rd lot (716) Freightliner 47193, again difficult in researching a value before the auction. Here I again gave myself a budget of £45 (£81.70) and £60 (82.50). At the time the auction went live this was in fact the first loco I bid on but didn't win. I made the cardinal mistake of going above my pre-set £45 limit and bid £50. It sold for £65 hammer (89.20).

 

The locos I won were far later in the auction.

 

I agree, there does seem to be little profit in the eBay asking prices if this is being done as a business.

[Damo666]

On 11/05/2020 at 21:18, sjp23480 said:

I came across the following auction by Warrington & Northwich which includes a large number of modern image RTR items fitted with P4 wheel sets.  Not much good to me but thought it might interest others: https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/warrington/catalogue-id-warrin10487. I suspect there might be some bargains to be had.  Auction starts at 4pm on Wednesday 13tht

 

Steve

 

When I should be working, there are too many distractions around......

Came across this. About 300 model railway items. First page starts with Fleischmann and N Gauge, but further down it's Hornby / Lima. Seems to be about 1970 / 1980s product range.

 

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/special-auction-services/catalogue-id-srspe10376?archivesearch=False&page=1

 

Some strange Lot grouping by the auction house, can't help believing that this will only attract the eBay bidders who will split up the lot for onward sales, as otherwise you and I would end up with stuff which is the wrong era to what we need we'd like. eg

Lot 225 has Lima BR Green, BR Maroon & EWS.

Lot 245 has BR Green, BR & Sectorisation class locos (not even adjacent eras)

Lot 154 has a BR Blue Class 47 and some birdcage (?) carriages

Lot 158 has a SWT 170/4, Railfreight Class 20 and a Chuggington female underground unit! What if I really wanted that Chuggington unit and had to buy all that other rubbish!

 

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, Damo666 said:

 

Morning John,

 

No, it wasn't me. I felt the first lot (712) Heljan EWS 33030 would need to be low as their new version is out soon, so why get a second-hand model at a price within 20% of the new tooling. My calculation was if I could get it for £50 hammer price that would have cost me £88 if I won no other bids (due to the high postage for the 1st item).

 

The 2nd lot (714) Heljan EWS 47787 I found it difficult to get a value before the auction, so gave myself a budget of £45 hammer (£81.70) if I only got one loco in the auction and £60 hammer (£82.50) if it was my second winning bid. Of course, being so early into the auction this is nearly impossible to know.

 

The 3rd lot (716) Freightliner 47193, again difficult in researching a value before the auction. Here I again gave myself a budget of £45 (£81.70) and £60 (82.50). At the time the auction went live this was in fact the first loco I bid on but didn't win. I made the cardinal mistake of going above my pre-set £45 limit and bid £50. It sold for £65 hammer (89.20).

 

The locos I won were far later in the auction.

 

I agree, there does seem to be little profit in the eBay asking prices if this is being done as a business.

 

Dammo

 

I am not in to the ready to run market, I gave up buying them in the late 70's. I am absolutely astounded at the price some of them go for, then add P4 into the equation which could either make or break the sale. You would certainly loose the collectors, who actually want mint items. There are those who pay handsomely for P4 models, but they are few in number and with so many conversion kits available, some may prefer to do the conversion themselves 

 

Now I would rather bide my own time and wait for a bargain.  Last night on eBay I bought a lot comprising of a plastic body of a 57xx pannier tank, a comet chassis missing the coupling rods and brake gear, 5 pairs of Markits drivers and axles . All for just under £23. I have a spare set of panier coupling rods, I may have to but a set of brake blocks and hangers. The Comet chassis are £20, each pair of Markit wheels and axle would set me back £15, spare Mainline pannier bodies must go for at least a fiver + a similar amount for postage. I think this is an auction price.

 

Back in the 70's I worked in a camera shop we bought them for up to 1/3 the new retail price, depending on condition. Sold them for twice the price (we had to offer a three month guarantee

 

Looking at various selling programs you are usually looking at between 33% & 50% profit on each sale .  As you say if the price is near the RRP why not buy a new updated model

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, Damo666 said:

 

When I should be working, there are too many distractions around......

Came across this. About 300 model railway items. First page starts with Fleischmann and N Gauge, but further down it's Hornby / Lima. Seems to be about 1970 / 1980s product range.

 

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/special-auction-services/catalogue-id-srspe10376?archivesearch=False&page=1

 

Some strange Lot grouping by the auction house, can't help believing that this will only attract the eBay bidders who will split up the lot for onward sales, as otherwise you and I would end up with stuff which is the wrong era to what we need we'd like. eg

Lot 225 has Lima BR Green, BR Maroon & EWS.

Lot 245 has BR Green, BR & Sectorisation class locos (not even adjacent eras)

Lot 154 has a BR Blue Class 47 and some birdcage (?) carriages

Lot 158 has a SWT 170/4, Railfreight Class 20 and a Chuggington female underground unit! What if I really wanted that Chuggington unit and had to buy all that other rubbish!

 

 

I have trolled through the listings and I guess they pad out the lots with both desirable and less desirable items, plus I have no idea how they arrived at their estimates and these estimates having quite a wide range. Also a whopping 30% commission on top. To be quite honest these are hardly wholesale or come and buy me prices 

[hayfield]

Having kept an eye on 5 of the locos only one sold at the opening bid, also given the postage quoted was £3.50, paying the balance for the appropriate service will further eat into the profits. Lets hope it safely arrives.  

 

Having said this I do feel sorry for the chap in not selling the items. A lesson to us all in the perils of buying and selling.

[johndon]

6 minutes ago, hayfield said:

Lets hope it safely arrives.  

 

Me too as I am the buyer...

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, johndon said:

 

Me too as I am the buyer...

 

 

His feedback is very mixed, many have given positive feedback, a few have not. I guess with a large investment he needs to recoup cash.  

[hayfield]

Just out of interest how does the price you paid compare with buying the items new ?

[johndon]

24 minutes ago, hayfield said:

Just out of interest how does the price you paid compare with buying the items new ?

 

Rails of Sheffield have a standard DCC Ready OO gauge one currently on sale for £118.96 (RRP is £139.95) so, based on that price, allowing for a couple of pounds, I'm getting the DCC decoder and the P4 wheels for free...

 

At least with getting it off eBay and paying with PayPal, I'm covered if it is either not as described or doesn't arrive.

 

eBay is showing a tracking number so it has been posted...

 

John

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by johndon

[johndon]

1 hour ago, hayfield said:

Having said this I do feel sorry for the chap in not selling the items. A lesson to us all in the perils of buying and selling.

 

The other items have been relisted already.  I was a little surprised to be the only bidder although, to be fair P4 locos and P4 diesels in particular, don't usually attract many bids.

[hayfield]

17 minutes ago, johndon said:

 

The other items have been relisted already.  I was a little surprised to be the only bidder although, to be fair P4 locos and P4 diesels in particular, don't usually attract many bids.

 

 

Its as I thought and said earlier P4 sales are a bit fickle. P4 and to a certain extent EM parts sell well and at a premium, I think because they have to do everything themselves or pay someone else to do it. As for locos ready to run is not their usual fare, having said this the standard of detail on modern items usually is very high. But you are focusing on a very small and discerning market

 

Like everyone I like a bargain and saving both on a decoder and more importantly wheels are quite expensive. so with the numbers you have offered up seem well worth it

 

I have bought a couple of kit built models recently at less than half of the kit without wheels and motor, but that's the exception as unbuilt kits seem to be nearly as expensive as new kits. I would rather pay a bit more and buy from the manufacturer 

 

Keep us informed

[johndon]

And another load of locos from the auction have appeared on eBay from a different seller.

Edited May 27, 2020 by johndon

[johndon]

On ‎27‎/‎05‎/‎2020 at 11:38, hayfield said:

Having kept an eye on 5 of the locos only one sold at the opening bid, also given the postage quoted was £3.50, paying the balance for the appropriate service will further eat into the profits. Lets hope it safely arrives.  

 

Having said this I do feel sorry for the chap in not selling the items. A lesson to us all in the perils of buying and selling.

 

So, I won the auction at 8:30 yesterday and, 30 minutes ago, 14 hours after the win, the loco arrived despite being sent second class.

 

Put it on the layout and it works perfectly.  Everything that is supposed to be in the box is, it will need a little work to hide the decoder as you can see it through the cab windows but that isn't a problem.

 

So, despite the seller's existing feedback, I'd have to give him 5 stars across the board for this one 

 

[hayfield]

So much for paying attention to feedback, well done the seller. You have done better than me. Still waiting for what I bought on Monday from a top eBay seller I have used before, not to worry though

[Damo666]

A nice little surprise when I opened my Bachmann 66.

 

It was described as having a poor body (and it did. Looked like a blind person's guide dog had tried to weather it).

 

I recall at the auction there wasn't much interest in it, and I secured it with a bid of £45.

 

Went to check it out and service it yesterday and discovered it has a Zimo sound chip and speaker inside.

 

Now I just need to figure out the sound functions.

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, Damo666 said:

A nice little surprise when I opened my Bachmann 66.

 

It was described as having a poor body (and it did. Looked like a blind person's guide dog had tried to weather it).

 

I recall at the auction there wasn't much interest in it, and I secured it with a bid of £45.

 

Went to check it out and service it yesterday and discovered it has a Zimo sound chip and speaker inside.

 

Now I just need to figure out the sound functions.

 

 

I must admit when you get unexpected little bonuses like this, and you may even be luckier and be able to remove the weathering

[johndon]

I’ve subsequently won a couple of P4 Class 60s that had been in the auction at substantially less than they would have cost at RRP... 

[Damo666]

On 13/05/2020 at 23:09, Damo666 said:

 

Out of interest, how would you convert them back to OO if the Loco doesn't come with the original OO wheels?  I thought that the original manufacturer's wheels would be needed, especially those axels with gears.

 

On 14/05/2020 at 09:28, Enterprisingwestern said:

Plan A;

 

https://howesmodels.co.uk/product/oo-general-spares/

 

When available, or from a famous auction site.

 

Plan B;

 

A nice request on RMWeb to those of us on here who have spare wheel sets from converting our locomotives.

 

Both are even easier than Paul's perfectly acceptable solution.

 

Mike.

 

And would you be such a person who might have some Bachmann wheel-sets which you'd be willing to dispose of  if a nice request was made?

[Enterprisingwestern]

6 hours ago, Damo666 said:

 

 

And would you be such a person who might have some Bachmann wheel-sets which you'd be willing to dispose of  if a nice request was made?

 

If you can hang on a bit until I'm allowed back home, I'll see what I've got in the stores!

 

Mike.

[Damo666]

2 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

If you can hang on a bit until I'm allowed back home, I'll see what I've got in the stores!

 

Mike.

 

Thank you Mike, there is no rush at my end. Gives me time to start working on my polite request technique.

 

My shopping list is for a set of wheels for a Bachmann Class 66 & Bachmann Class 57. The middle axle on the 57 bogies had the cog removed during the P4 conversion.

 

Thanks