EBay madness

[MrWolf]

I only bid the amount that I am prepared to pay. If someone else beats my bid, I look out for another opportunity to buy the item, it's not the end of the world. We're not trying to secure the last gallon of petrol or the last can of tuna on earth in order to survive. It's just a hobby.

If someone else bids more than me then he has paid more than I thought the item is worth and not in my view, scored a bargain. If nobody else bids or puts in a maximum bid far lower than I would, then I get a bargain in my view.

[Re6/6]

18 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

I only bid the amount that I am prepared to pay. If someone else beats my bid, I look out for another opportunity to buy the item, it's not the end of the world. We're not trying to secure the last gallon of petrol or the last can of tuna on earth in order to survive. It's just a hobby.

If someone else bids more than me then he has paid more than I thought the item is worth and not in my view, scored a bargain. If nobody else bids or puts in a maximum bid far lower than I would, then I get a bargain in my view.

A good approach.

 

I recently bid 'high' at the last minute only to fail in securing what was an excellent item and thinking that I'd have to get it with this bid. But no, the first bidder was the one that outbid me so goodness knows what his determined bid might have been!  Hum ho!

[Enterprisingwestern]

32 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

I only bid the amount that I am prepared to pay. If someone else beats my bid, I look out for another opportunity to buy the item, it's not the end of the world. We're not trying to secure the last gallon of petrol or the last can of tuna on earth in order to survive. It's just a hobby.

If someone else bids more than me then he has paid more than I thought the item is worth and not in my view, scored a bargain. If nobody else bids or puts in a maximum bid far lower than I would, then I get a bargain in my view.

 

Well said that man!

 

Mike.

[Re6/6]

On 05/09/2020 at 09:48, Re6/6 said:

 

This one (and several more) from a knick-knack dealer up for at least the fourth time..... Nobody but nobody is going to start bidding at this price for this 'old school' stuff good as they were in their day.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PHOENIX-KIT-SR-MAUNSELL-59-PUSH-PULL-OPEN-2nd-DIA-D1068-BR-CONV-SRG-PAIR-BOGIES/143713649991?hash=item2176004547%3Ag%3ANEoAAOSwvbZegf-D&LH_Auction=1 

This half-wit still doesn't get it. They're all unsold and back again, this time with a fiver reduction. Wow!

[MrWolf]

Exactly, if the got to have it no matter how much it is brigade are also bidding, you won't win. Let them throw their money around, I wouldn't want to be looking at something that I paid way over the odds for and trying to justify it to myself.

[298]

17 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I always find it pays to have a look around the internet for the item you are thinking of bidding on, just in case it is available elsewhere. 

 

EBay is quick and convenient. Something that has now happened to me twice now is I've brought an item (usually with free postage), and the item has been sent from Amazon. Yes I could have brought it directly from them, but for multiple reasons I choose not to have anything to do with them so was slightly miffed this time, and doubt so because the second part of the order had been cancelled- probably because the "fence" couldn't make enough of a profit. Nothing in the auction listing to say this was going to happen and the few minutes I'd spent on eBay was done so looking for both books from the same seller, instead of checking all of their recent negative feedback from buyers who had had the same done to them.

Edited September 20, 2020 by 298
Spelling

[009 micro modeller]

22 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Exactly, if the got to have it no matter how much it is brigade are also bidding, you won't win. Let them throw their money around, I wouldn't want to be looking at something that I paid way over the odds for and trying to justify it to myself.

 

I can understand their approach in situations where the item is genuinely rare (or even unique) and is almost essential for the modelling project they are doing (certain obscure out of production kits, for example, which often command apparently silly prices and might actually be one of the last few remaining). Whether I could afford to take this approach myself is another matter. What I find really ridiculous is the people buying commonplace RTR items on eBay and getting sucked into a bidding war when they could have just looked elsewhere on eBay (or at major online retailers) and found another one going for a quarter of the price.

[petethemole]

39 minutes ago, 298 said:

 

EBay is quick and convenient. Something that has now happened to me twice now is I've brought an item (usually with free postage), and the item has been sent from Amazon. Yes I could have brought it directly from them, but for multiple reasons I choose not to have anything to do with them so was slightly miffed this time, and doubt so because the second part of the order had been cancelled- probably because the "fence" couldn't make enough of a profit. Nothing in the auction listing to say this wax going to happen and the few minutes I'd spent on eBay was done so looking for both books from the same seller, instead of checking all of their recent negative feedback from buyers who had had the same done to them.

Several book sellers on Amazon also sell on Ebay and you can often find the same actual copy for sale on both.  I'm slowly selling parts of my library so I check both to find prices.  I suspect that Amazon shipping for high volume users is a lot cheaper than Postage*, so I'm not surprised that they use that option for Ebay sales as well. 

* How else do you explain how a book that costs £3.00 to post can be sold for £2.80 with free postage?

[298]

10 minutes ago, petethemole said:

Several book sellers on Amazon also sell on Ebay and you can often find the same actual copy for sale on both.  I'm slowly selling parts of my library so I check both to find prices.  I suspect that Amazon shipping for high volume users is a lot cheaper than Postage*, so I'm not surprised that they use that option for Ebay sales as well. 

* How else do you explain how a book that costs £3.00 to post can be sold for £2.80 with free postage?

 

I'll look into it still think this is someone using their Prime account to buy from Amazon, which is against eBay rules as you physically have to hold the item in stock.

[Damo666]

I've a £10 voucher from eBay if I spend £10 using their online app, expires midnight tonight, so went looking to see what I can find.

 

At £80 / coach, this look OTT. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Murphy-Models-CIE-MK2D-Rake-7-Coaches-Orange-Black-Irish-Railways-including-EGV/353207991179?hash=item523cd63b8b:g:~ewAAOSwArNfZfh6

 

(BTW, haven't found anything yet. Not going to waste £10 just to get something for £10 off)

 

[big jim]

There was an offer on last week where you got a voucher for 10% of your sale back to spend back in the site, I had a load of Robert harrop ornaments that I no longer wanted so I shoved those up starting at various prices around the £25 mark

 

one Individual item (Ivor the engine) went for £300 and another 5 went to one buyer for £290 so I ended up with 2 vouchers for £30 and £29 respectively, along with about 10 other vouchers ranging between £1 and £10 from other sales, I’ve got a month to use them 

 

The smaller value vouchers are handy to take a few quid off low value items but I’m waiting to find something I really want to spend the £29 voucher on, the £30 one went toward a model rail USA tank (longmoor military railway livery) that was £105 buy it now, thus taking it down to £75 

 

 

 

 

[jonny777]

3 hours ago, Re6/6 said:

A good approach.

 

I recently bid 'high' at the last minute only to fail in securing what was an excellent item and thinking that I'd have to get it with this bid. But no, the first bidder was the one that outbid me so goodness knows what his determined bid might have been!  Hum ho!

 

I was recently outbid on an item which I had initially bid the starting amount (£10 IIRC). The price remained there for a few days until I was outbid, so in an effort to gauge how much higher the other bidder had gone, I bid £15 (I decided £18-£20 was about maximum) and became the high bidder at £14.50, but was soon outbid again. and the item remained at £15.50 right up until with 50 seconds to go I decided to give the other bidder a shock and bid £100. I was quite aware that I might end up looking stupid and having to pay a ridiculous price if he/she had entered a high maximum, but I doubted that would be the case. The high bid was now £18 until the end of the auction and I thought I might have won, only to refresh the page and discovered it was won by a bid of £101. 

[Matt C]

20 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I always find it pays to have a look around the internet for the item you are thinking of bidding on, just in case it is available elsewhere. I find that an awful lot of motorcycle parts are available from small manufacturers or spares dealers and it is obvious that a lot of people are buying them and putting them on eBay for more than twice the price, or if an auction, starting at the regular price plus inflated postage.

It's the same way with model railway items. 

I wanted an etched brass kit for one of those old fashioned tin windmill pumps and there was one with a start bid of £10.

The bidding went silly because they are apparently unavailable new. It ended up fetching over £40. 

I did my homework and found that Scale Link is now partly under Fretcetera. Got a new one for £18. 

I know some will say that they don't have time to trawl through the internet, but I looked at it as getting paid around £25 for half an hour's work, that basically involved sitting on the couch after I had dinner and scrolling through the phone. 

 

 

Buy two new then list one on Ebay, you would end up being  quids in lol

[Metr0Land]

The David Bailey School Of Modelling is only doing distance learning classes at the moment

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bachmann-Oo-Gauge-Mobil-Tanker-Weathered/353208907016?hash=item523ce43508:g:wlkAAOSwiZpfZ1V3

[Damo666]

2 hours ago, Metr0Land said:

The David Bailey School Of Modelling is only doing distance learning classes at the moment

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bachmann-Oo-Gauge-Mobil-Tanker-Weathered/353208907016?hash=item523ce43508:g:wlkAAOSwiZpfZ1V3

What is going on with the track work in that auction? Is it a model plonked on a picture of track?

 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Damo666
Silly typo error

[Dan Griffin]

2 hours ago, Damo666 said:

What is going on with the track work in that auction? Is it a model plonked on a picture of track?

 

t me it looks like the moel is plonked on top of a Hornby track mat, with a real set track curve behind it.

[MrWolf]

6 hours ago, 009 micro modeller said:

 

I can understand their approach in situations where the item is genuinely rare (or even unique) and is almost essential for the modelling project they are doing (certain obscure out of production kits, for example, which often command apparently silly prices and might actually be one of the last few remaining). Whether I could afford to take this approach myself is another matter. What I find really ridiculous is the people buying commonplace RTR items on eBay and getting sucked into a bidding war when they could have just looked elsewhere on eBay (or at major online retailers) and found another one going for a quarter of the price.

 

Agree with you completely there. I have on occasion had to get into a bidding war, but it was for parts to keep one of my vintage vehicles running. It still annoys me slightly that I paid £46 for what looks to most people like a bed spring. It was actually the correct centre stand spring for one of my bikes. You can get a reproduction item for £15, but they aren't very good. (A lot of repro vintage motorcycle parts are fine for those who polish their bikes and take them to shows on a trailer, unreliable for anything used in anger.) I didn't want a safety critical item six inches above the tarmac that was made in a third world sweatshop out of processed cheese, so I had to dig deep. 

Occasionally I will bid more than I would normally for something railway related, such as a missing part for a model or kit I have picked up cheaply, so it (usually and don't tell my other half!) works out well.

Obsolete stuff is generally a case of bidding what you feel comfortable and hope for the best.

From how I have seen prices go lately, someone ought to start producing the old Mike's Models range of cranes again, particularly the GWR ones and the Scotch Derrick.

[MrWolf]

6 hours ago, 009 micro modeller said:

 

I can understand their approach in situations where the item is genuinely rare (or even unique) and is almost essential for the modelling project they are doing (certain obscure out of production kits, for example, which often command apparently silly prices and might actually be one of the last few remaining). Whether I could afford to take this approach myself is another matter. What I find really ridiculous is the people buying commonplace RTR items on eBay and getting sucked into a bidding war when they could have just looked elsewhere on eBay (or at major online retailers) and found another one going for a quarter of the price.

 

Agree with you completely there. I have on occasion had to get into a bidding war, but it was for parts to keep one of my vintage vehicles running. It still annoys me slightly that I paid £46 for what looks to most people like a bed spring. It was actually the correct centre stand spring for one of my bikes. You can get a reproduction item for £15, but they aren't very good. (A lot of repro vintage motorcycle parts are fine for those who polish their bikes and take them to shows on a trailer, unreliable for anything used in anger.) I didn't want a safety critical item six inches above the tarmac that was made in a third world sweatshop out of processed cheese, so I had to dig deep. 

Occasionally I will bid more than I would normally for something railway related, such as a missing part for a model or kit I have picked up cheaply, so it (usually and don't tell my other half!) works out well.

Obsolete stuff is generally a case of bidding what you feel comfortable and hope for the best.

From how I have seen prices go lately, someone ought to start producing the old Mike's Models range of cranes again, particularly the GWR ones and the Scotch Derrick.

[MyRule1]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRI-ANG-LOT-TWO-ROYAL-MAIL-OPERATING-COACH-SET-MODEL-R323/124340556130?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225076%26meid%3Dffc6d4b7ea4446a4b78d72647bedca11%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D392943647784%26itm%3D124340556130%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DDefaultOrganic%26brand%3DTri-ang&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1

 

Quote "BRAND NEW EX-SHOP STOCK UN-OPENED ROLLING STOCK DIRECT FROM THE RETAILERS"

 

when was Triang standard track last in production?

[Bill Radford]

60 years ago.

 

And where's the coach?

[73c]

3 hours ago, Bill Radford said:

60 years ago.

 

And where's the coach?

Off making exchanges somewhere?  

[jcredfer]

4 hours ago, Bill Radford said:

60 years ago.

 

And where's the coach?

Sitting on the track, awaiting someone to buy it, then it can take the parcel and drop it off at the right post office collection station.

 

Julian

 

[MrWolf]

Love that description that tells you nothing and the warning about opening the packaging. 

It reminds me of a fake solicitors letter I once received!

[Hroth]

5 hours ago, Bill Radford said:

60 years ago.

 

And where's the coach?

In Lot One?

 

Its a Schrodingers Cat Auction, you collapse the probability matrix when you open the box...

 

 

 

Edited September 21, 2020 by Hroth

[leopardml2341]

More disappointment looming........

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hornby-2005-to-2020-Christmas-Open-Wagons-Most-Boxed-00-Gauge-includes-2005/124337864256?hash=item1cf31d3e40:g:PRMAAOSwZmVfTS6m