EBay madness

[Paul H Vigor]

2 hours ago, ruggedpeak said:

Indeed, that and government pouring large quantities of quantitative easing into the system that simply transfers through into asset prices, be that dubious model trains on Ebay or other things that the middle classes think they can "invest" like wine or Lego. Come the inevitable correction it will be a game of musical chairs as to who is holding genuinely valuable assets and who is holding overpriced tat.

 

Negative equity?

[Paul H Vigor]

2 hours ago, Northmoor said:

By Jove Missus! It's a Doddidor Brake Third, cheap at half the price!

"I will tell you when it has been posted. Do not pay attention to eBay delivery dates.

 

I don't care what eBay may try to tell you, but I will not post outside of the UK!"

 

He sounds quite scary!

[Martin S-C]

3 hours ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

About the same price as you would pay Dave at LMS for a pack of five LNWR buffer stops, including postage. You would think the seller would research what an currently available item costs, but then this is eBay with no apparent shortage of misguided buyers.

The thing is plenty of idiot buyers don't research what items retail for. See it on e-Bay ... and Add To Cart. Its a therapy for some people. Or perhaps some of them don't know about the dozens of small manufacturers that are out there producing little ranges of quality items of less well known prototypes.

[Rowsley17D]

8 minutes ago, Martin S-C said:

The thing is plenty of idiot buyers don't research what items retail for. See it on e-Bay ... and Add To Cart. Its a therapy for some people. Or perhaps some of them don't know about the dozens of small manufacturers that are out there producing little ranges of quality items of less well known prototypes.

 

Well in for a penny... while looking at other items the seller had for sale I bought a coach kit which was far cheaper than on another retailer site. So thanks to @Jol Wilkinson for flagging up the over-priced buffer stops.

[The Johnster]

 

31 minutes ago, Martin S-C said:

thing is plenty of idiot buyers don't research what items retail for. See it on e-Bay ... and Add To Cart. Its a therapy for some people.

 

                                                ____________________

 

There are certainly people out there with eBay and Amazon buying addictions, and while we tend to think of them as drunk or coked up loners justifiying their bleak existence in lonely bedsits in the wee hours, or fashion-addicted and entitled millenials with a lack of self control, they encompass all sorts of folk and cover all sorts of markets and hobbies. 

 

eBay can be quite time consuming and hard work if you have to do the basic research to find out what things are going for in order to not get ripped off as a buyer or have to rely on snaring an unwary buyer as a seller, especially, and parodoxically, if you aim to limit the time you spend on what can be a serious timesucker by avoiding auctions and restricting yourself to BIN.  There are bargains to be had; I bagged a BIN Bachmann 45xx last week for £45 with minor faults, but they take a bit of digging out and of course, because they are bargains, tend not to be there for long.  Temptation is to click the buy it now button.

 

eBay sells itself as a place where bargains can be had, and an unwary buyer may assume that an item's mere presence on the site is proof of it's bargainicity, but at the same time eBay sells itself as a place where money can be made out of selling your unwanted tat to these same unwary buyers, so unwary sellers have unrealistic expectations.  Sometimes the two come together and the unrealistic expectations of the sellers are met.

 

Retail addiction on line has not even the basic preventitive filter of the bother of going to the high street shops to protect the addict.  My upstairs neighbour has 2 or 3 deliveries a day from Amazon, which is fine; she works long hours online from home, earns good money, and has little opportunity for high street shopping, but one hears of cases where people run up serious debts buying things they do not need because they are vulnerable to the sales pitch and perhaps using 'retail therapy' as a diversion from other emotional issues.  We live in an enterprise capitalist economy where economic activity is encouraged for it's own sake, and internal markets created where none is necessary generate activity that someone can cream a profit from, all of which is ultimately dependent on two things; sales and disposable income. 

 

The oldest advice is still the best; caveat  emptor!

Edited October 16, 2021 by The Johnster

[cessna152towser]

Over optimistic or delusional?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124956622647?epid=4049023906&hash=item1d17febf37:g:UiQAAOSwJUFhapxZ

[The Johnster]

Available brand new from Island Models for £269, so both over-optimistic and delusional.  It is even more unfathomable to my view that there are currently 13 people watching this item.  To be fair some of the other stuff from this seller seems less irrational, and the price could simply be a typo, but one wonders if he will refund the difference if anyone offers what he's asking!

[Northmoor]

31 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

Available brand new from Island Models for £269, so both over-optimistic and delusional.  It is even more unfathomable to my view that there are currently 13 people watching this item.  To be fair some of the other stuff from this seller seems less irrational, and the price could simply be a typo, but one wonders if he will refund the difference if anyone offers what he's asking!

It is somehow very sad that some people seem to buy these limited editions with no intention of doing anything other than selling them on at a profit.  It's not as if they're a shop, or at least that's presumably what they tell HMRC.

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, The Johnster said:

.  It is even more unfathomable to my view that there are currently 13 people watching this item.

 

I suspect its to see if any deluded loon actually buys it.  A fairly harmless spectator sport! 

[John M Upton]

Isn't that just the bog standard Hornby model in a posh Dublo replica box with some cheap cellophane wrapped around it?

[MrWolf]

1 hour ago, The Johnster said:

Available brand new from Island Models for £269, so both over-optimistic and delusional.  It is even more unfathomable to my view that there are currently 13 people watching this item. 

 

Perhaps the watchers also bought this model as an "investment"? 

In which case, if it sells, watch out for others appearing on eBay at £100 more than this one.

[MrWolf]

12 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

Isn't that just the bog standard Hornby model in a posh Dublo replica box with some cheap cellophane wrapped around it?

 

IIRC it is a 21st century upgrade all bells and whistles model. But as a homage to the original models the body is a (far superior) heavy monkey metal mazak casting.

It's a good bit more special than the old Hornby model. 

Still wouldn't pay what this greedy **** is asking though!

 

[NJC92]

53 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

IIRC it is a 21st century upgrade all bells and whistles model. But as a homage to the original models the body is a (far superior) heavy monkey metal mazak casting.

It's a good bit more special than the old Hornby model. 

Still wouldn't pay what this greedy **** is asking though!

 

It is indeed, the design process and making of this very model just featured on the new Hornby show on the Yesterday channel, potentially another thing to make people ask for a hell of a lot of money.

[The Johnster]

1 hour ago, John M Upton said:

Isn't that just the bog standard Hornby model in a posh Dublo replica box with some cheap cellophane wrapped around it?

It’s a die cast version, sort of in the old Hornby Dublo style, though much better detailed and more to scale than any of those models.  There is a ‘Hornby Dublo’ Coronation/Duchess to match.  
 

I am not qualified to comment on the superiority or otherwise of these models compared to the ‘standard’ Hornby red box versions, which are a mix of plastic and diecast components as are most recent RTR steam locos, but traction weight should not be a problem!  
 

It is, of course, a marketing gimmick; Hornby have correctly identified a market for such models, capitalising on Hornby Dublo nostalgia and the collectors.  The identity number is R for Rovex, though.  Nowt wrong with this, they own the Hornby Dublo brand name and can do what they like with it, having bought it when Meccano went under,  and initially incorporating it into a new brand name for themselves, Triang Hornby, which later became the current Hornby brand.  The resurrection of Hornby Dublo as a brand identity is, I would respectfully contend, interesting but largely irrelevant to most modellers, though there may be some interest among those who need to haul 14 coach expresses up gradients at scale speeds with RTR locos…

 

 

[John Besley]

21 hours ago, NJC92 said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313712090473?hash=item490ab29d69:g:TN4AAOSw8N9haVqk

Sure these are a tired cliché by now but at least the description states these ex Gresley. 

 

Do these exist in a parallel universe where steam still holds sway in BR blue....

Edited October 16, 2021 by John Besley
Spelling

[John M Upton]

Ah, the paint it yellow and stick a Network Rail transfer on it brigade are back in business!!!! 

[TinTracks]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265363676133?hash=item3dc8e85be5:g:NR8AAOSw8P9hWIwM

 

Here's a nice job lot for all us old  '' Hornby  Boys''  I suppose the Dublo level  crossing would be useful in those space restricted areas of your layout.

 

Regards Rich.

[TinTracks]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353727525912?hash=item525bcdb418:g:rwMAAOSw2HBg9yHJ

 

It goes from bad to bonkers. Described as '' Hornby Doblo- Vintage Good Condition (Erm not really though is it?)

 

The TPO track has been Re assigned  to a '' Water Stop Line''

I'm off for a couple of tins of Hobgoblin and three fingers of Glen Morrison's Fire Water

 

Cheers Rich

Edited October 16, 2021 by TinTracks

[Hroth]

4 hours ago, The Johnster said:

It is, of course, a marketing gimmick; Hornby have correctly identified a market for such models, capitalising on Hornby Dublo nostalgia and the collectors.

 

Of course, it should strictly be a 3-rail loco as its in a blue box. Dublo 2-rail were supplied in red boxes, though I think this little quirk of packaging has been thrashed to death.... 

[SteveyDee68]

6 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

I suspect its to see if any deluded loon actually buys it.  A fairly harmless spectator sport! 

 

Oh, I agree! After seeing some of the crazy things listed here, I often watch them just to see what happens! I wonder how many of the other watchers are doing exactly the same thing rather than out of interest in buying?

 

Meanwhile, the deluded seller is wondering why they haven't sold their item, despite so many watchers! LOL

 

I contacted the "Doddy" seller asking if they might post photos of the item for sale rather than the late Ken Dodd, sugeesting that not to do so would suggest they were just "having a laugh"! Wonder if I will get a response?

 

Tellingly, my autocorrect spelling thingymajig tries to change "Doddy" to "dodgy" 

 

Steve S

[Paul H Vigor]

2 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:

 

Oh, I agree! After seeing some of the crazy things listed here, I often watch them just to see what happens! I wonder how many of the other watchers are doing exactly the same thing rather than out of interest in buying?

 

Meanwhile, the deluded seller is wondering why they haven't sold their item, despite so many watchers! LOL

 

I contacted the "Doddy" seller asking if they might post photos of the item for sale rather than the late Ken Dodd, sugeesting that not to do so would suggest they were just "having a laugh"! Wonder if I will get a response?

 

Tellingly, my autocorrect spelling thingymajig tries to change "Doddy" to "dodgy" 

 

Steve S

Did you inquire about the condition of his box?

[John Besley]

6 hours ago, Paul H Vigor said:

Did you inquire about the condition of his box?

The picture has now been changed... to match the description, it's not the first time Mr Dodd has appeared here..

[Waverley47708]

17 hours ago, cessna152towser said:

Over optimistic or delusional?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124956622647?epid=4049023906&hash=item1d17febf37:g:UiQAAOSwJUFhapxZ

I'm going to offer a third option, learned a new word recently.

 

 Gouging. 

 

Seems to be where someone tries to resell something on ebay at an excessive price.  A bit like the £39.99 Aldi Kayaks this summer I saw at between £80 and £200 on eBay and Facebook.

 

Defined by eBay as "Increasing the price of items to a level that is much higher than is considered fair or reasonable"

 

Best of all eBay has a policy on Gouging, it is not allowed and people can report it.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/reporting-price-gouging-ebay?id=5105

 

They are taking offers, you could always have fun with that option.

Edited October 17, 2021 by Waverley47708

[Bucoops]

1 hour ago, Waverley47708 said:

I'm going to offer a third option, learned a new word recently.

 

 Gouging. 

 

Seems to be where someone tries to resell something on ebay at an excessive price.  A bit like the £39.99 Aldi Kayaks this summer I saw at between £80 and £200 on eBay and Facebook.

 

Defined by eBay as "Increasing the price of items to a level that is much higher than is considered fair or reasonable"

 

Best of all eBay has a policy on Gouging, it is not allowed and people can report it.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/reporting-price-gouging-ebay?id=5105

 

They are taking offers, you could always have fun with that option.

I've reported countless items over the years. Not sure any have ever been taken down.

[cessna152towser]

19 hours ago, cessna152towser said:

Over optimistic or delusional?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124956622647?epid=4049023906&hash=item1d17febf37:g:UiQAAOSwJUFhapxZ

Someone bought it.   Best offer was accepted.  We will never know how much.

 

This https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284472483215?hash=item423be19d8f%3Ag%3A5ngAAOSwasRhVy3q&LH_BIN=1   looks like a bog standard Triang horse box in Wrenn packaging and over priced.

Edited October 17, 2021 by cessna152towser