Ebay annoyances

[John M Upton]

A lot of the low offer clowns are dealers and resellers, I got stung by that some years back, let a load of repainted Hornby Mk2's go for about a tenner each only to see them relisted with my pictures still being used for three times the prices a few days later.

 

The communications from the buyer said poor impoverished young modeller, delving deeper into their feedback and sales history revealed it to be a dealer, and a mendacious one at that.

[NHY 581]

I've had offers made below the starting price on an auction which have been replied to accordingly. 

 

Rob

 

 

[hayfield]

31 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

I've had offers made below the starting price on an auction which have been replied to accordingly. 

 

Rob

 

 

 

 

Just because someone offers an amount below the starting price does not mean its a bad or unrealistic offer.

 

On eBay there are plenty of items which are well over what many feel the item is worth!!

 

I only list items at the minimum I feel they are worth to me, others may have a different view usually ending in bids above my minimum value

 

Recently I have had to relist an item 3 times with a starting price of £9.99, on the fourth listing it sold for £19.00. On the first 3 listings those who looked at the item felt it was too expensive (or not cheap enough) On the 4th listing 2 bidders clearly felt it was worth far more.

 

I can understand your feelings when traders try and buy on the cheap, but there are far more sellers trying to obtain far more than many feel the item(s) are worth

 

For the past few weeks I have been trying to sell a Wills Finecast Collet kit built loco with Romford drivers and an Airfix 1001 5 pole motor for £35.  Well I don't want the loco so I am breaking it down for spares, the body and motor will be put on eBay for £10 each, I will keep the box & instructions as I pay £3.50 for a stock box, SEF would charge me £5, I then have 3 pairs of Romford 18mm wheels (I know they should be 20mm) New Markit wheels cost £15 a pair, they are worth far more to me than what I could sell them for

 

Clearly the market has decided the amount I require is too high, I cannot argue with this. But in my opinion I will easily get £10 each for the 2 lots. Keeping the wheels and box in my opinion is nearly what I was asking for the initial listing.  Selling the two items will be a bonus. In the markets view I was asking too much !!  Who is right?

[Edge]

In defence of people who make low initial offers, I usually do chance my hand to see what discount can be obtained (assuming - not unreasonably I think that the button wouldn’t be there if the seller wasn’t willing to negotiate) but most sellers seem to have a hard time avoiding the rudeness when they respond. I’ve had plenty of answers along the lines of ‘get real’, ‘don’t waste my time’ etc. (but usually with more swear words).

 

I have however made some genuinely good purchases. A Flying Scotsman in black this week for £187, a brand new Shakespeare express train set for £125, classic computer games and books for pennies and so on. clearly these items were selling at prices acceptable to their sellers otherwise they wouldn’t be selling at all, and I’m happy to get them at less than the going rate. 

[hayfield]

Edge

 

I think there are two schools of thought here, where someone who lists items cheaply to move them on probably rightly get annoyed at folk trying to take advantage for financial gain

 

What you describe is something totally different. I am sorry but not being a RTR collector I cannot understand anyone paying a lot of money for a second hand train set, let alone £187 for a second hand RTR loco. I would not even pay these figures for then new. But its not my area of the hobby.

 

More worryingly is receiving a rude reply, if you cannot be polite then just don't reply. Absolutely nothing to either be proud of or brag about, simply shows a total lack of personal values. I simply thank the person for the offer but decline it. Twice I have done this and increased the starting price by £5, on both occasions the item sold. what I failed to do was to send a thank you message to those who made the offers !!   

[mezzoman253]

If the seller has an offer button on the listing I'll try a bid at what I'd like to get it for. A bit lower than the price shown, but not insultingly low.  Mostly the seller will come back with a counter offer that's acceptable to us both and we make a deal. I've not had any adverse or rude comments though. I get it at under the price advertised and the seller, presmably, is happy too. Of course this doesn't work every time but mostly it does.

 

What does amaze me is that sometimes a brand new item will sell for well over the price you could buy one new from a retailer for. Bidding fever or just plain bonkers.🙄

 

[Bucoops]

I regularly offer below starting price - usually with a message saying that I hope they don't mind the cheeky offer. Sometimes I win, sometimes I get a counter-offer which I consider, sometimes it's ignored or declined. 

[Sjcm]

End of the day you can set the thing to automatically refuse silly offers, so no need to respond if you find low offers insulting. The stuff I list with best offer is cheap and it's usually stuff that came with items I did want and is being sold to offset the cost of my purchase. I know quite a lot of people use this method and 9 times out of 10 I break even and  quite often I make a 10-30 pound profit. All those 5-10 pound sales add up over time and allows me to purchase more tat😉

[cessna152towser]

23 hours ago, hornbyandbf3fan said:

I've been selling off a  bunch of stuff recently, some model railway and some other stuff like Lego technic and diecast models, and the silly offers you receive are all too common. Always way under the price the item eventually goes for. 

Whether to accept or decline an offer can be a gamble.   Usually, as you say, the items will eventually sell for a lot more, but I have been caught once when I declined an offer which I considered on the low side and then the item sold at auction for around half what I had been offered.   It all depends on how many people want your item and how much they are willing to bid.

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, Sjcm said:

End of the day you can set the thing to automatically refuse silly offers, so no need to respond if you find low offers insulting. The stuff I list with best offer is cheap and it's usually stuff that came with items I did want and is being sold to offset the cost of my purchase. I know quite a lot of people use this method and 9 times out of 10 I break even and  quite often I make a 10-30 pound profit. All those 5-10 pound sales add up over time and allows me to purchase more tat😉

 

Quite a few of us on here do this and I think its called farming. Recently I saw a lot with 3 unmade kits (GEM IOM 2-4-0 T +GWR 55xx and Wills 61xx) two being body only. In short I wanted the Isle of Man 2-4-0T, all 3 cost me £60 I sold the other two for £45 after commission the loco cost me about £17, it is a complete kit except motor and I would under normal circumstances would have paid £40ish.

 

I also look for complete (where wheels, motor and gears are included) kits. Often the RRP of the wheels, motor and gearbox will cost as much as the kit. I am happy to buy a complete kit, keep the wheels motor and gears and resell the loco kit, you will get a bit less for the kit only, but usually not much less.

 

As it happens I have bought a Branchlines etched chassis and motorising kit so may sell on the old cast chassis and wheels.  As you say a good way of keeping costs down

[Sjcm]

25 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

Quite a few of us on here do this and I think its called farming. Recently I saw a lot with 3 unmade kits (GEM IOM 2-4-0 T +GWR 55xx and Wills 61xx) two being body only. In short I wanted the Isle of Man 2-4-0T, all 3 cost me £60 I sold the other two for £45 after commission the loco cost me about £17, it is a complete kit except motor and I would under normal circumstances would have paid £40ish.

 

I also look for complete (where wheels, motor and gears are included) kits. Often the RRP of the wheels, motor and gearbox will cost as much as the kit. I am happy to buy a complete kit, keep the wheels motor and gears and resell the loco kit, you will get a bit less for the kit only, but usually not much less.

 

As it happens I have bought a Branchlines etched chassis and motorising kit so may sell on the old cast chassis and wheels.  As you say a good way of keeping costs down

Yep, I've been following your purchases on the good buy thread😉. It's the best way to do it unless money is no object. Recently bought some  spare parts that cost 16 pounds including postage. Sold some TT Brushes from it for 17 pounds and the other stuff I don't want I estimate will go for another 20 pounds. Likewise bought a massive job lot of transfers and accessories for a bargain 8 pounds with postage. There's a stack of bits I won't use and just 2 of those items go for 15-20 pounds on eBay individually so will easily be in profit.👍

[hayfield]

2 hours ago, Sjcm said:

Yep, I've been following your purchases on the good buy thread😉. It's the best way to do it unless money is no object. Recently bought some  spare parts that cost 16 pounds including postage. Sold some TT Brushes from it for 17 pounds and the other stuff I don't want I estimate will go for another 20 pounds. Likewise bought a massive job lot of transfers and accessories for a bargain 8 pounds with postage. There's a stack of bits I won't use and just 2 of those items go for 15-20 pounds on eBay individually so will easily be in profit.👍

 

 

Sounds like I need some tips from you !!!

 

I think its less about saving money but more about finding things others have missed

 

I brought what I thought was an etched kit built 0-16.5 Hunslet loco, which turns out to be one of a group of specially commissioned locos from 50 years ago £30 secured it as no one else bid for it. For me its worth its weight in gold. I plan to repaint it, then add a few details mainly in the cab and add a couple of Modelu figures 

[rab]

PK, I accept this is probably just me but:

 

I get annoyed when Rails list a load of stuff I have to scroll through because it doesn't interest me.

I get even more annoyed when Jadlam list a load which interests me even less.

Today they've both done it at the same time. GRRRRR!!

 

 

[NHY 581]

22 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

 

Just because someone offers an amount below the starting price does not mean its a bad or unrealistic offer.

 

 

I treat such offers as an opportunity to open a dialogue with a potential buyer. Communication is key but a lot of buyers snd sellers don't seem to understand this.

 

Staying on track though, I like to think I set the starting price at a realistic level but I've had offers made at half the start price for items which have sold for considerably more. 

 

Having declined an offer received, I've so far not failed to better that offer with a higher price at the end of an auction. 

 

Rob

 

Edited July 27, 2023 by NHY 581

[Sjcm]

14 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

 

Sounds like I need some tips from you !!!

 

I think its less about saving money but more about finding things others have missed

 

I brought what I thought was an etched kit built 0-16.5 Hunslet loco, which turns out to be one of a group of specially commissioned locos from 50 years ago £30 secured it as no one else bid for it. For me its worth its weight in gold. I plan to repaint it, then add a few details mainly in the cab and add a couple of Modelu figures 

Oh I've make some mistakes as well but thankfully the more you do it the better you get.

 

I think I enjoy the aspect of researching and identifying stuff that isn't my gauge or area of interest which is probably what the original sellers should have done. And it's  always nice to get one over the EBay parts scam where tiny items go for 10 pounds+  I calculated the transfers I wanted would have cost me 130+ pounds to buy new from fox/modelmaster and that money will now go on purchasing actual rolling stock😊 

 

[Mark]

I have been finding an increase in the number of people recently who bid on items at the last minute and then never pay or never communicate. The only sanction available is to prevent them bidding on future items. The other issue seems to be people bidding high early on in an auction, driving down interest and then cancelling their bid a few hours before the final countdown to either allow them or their friends to come back with a lower bid, knowing there will be less people watching to compete with increasing their chances of success. If somebody cancels a bid within 24 hours I think that is reasonable but after a week it is taking the p*** so I have threatened to kill the auction if that happens again.

 

Rant over! If anyone wants to know who on EBay to avoid PM me!

 

Mark

[John M Upton]

The one I had the other week eventually paid up after I sent a politely but firmly worded reminder that my absolute deadline for coughing up was looming at 5pm whereupon, weirdly he then asked how much was it.  Wasn't it on the listing right in front of him?

 

Anyway, he finally (and I suspect extremely reluctantly) paid up and I duly posted the item, sent it signed for and took photos of the parcel to make sure he didn't try anything else at the other end.

 

According to the Royal Mail, it did get there, and was signed for.  Since then, silence, no feedback, nothing.  The only sound was that of my keyboard as I added the buyer to my banned bidders list...

Edited July 31, 2023 by John M Upton

[hayfield]

7 hours ago, John M Upton said:

The one I had the other week eventually paid up after I sent a politely but firmly worded reminder that my absolute deadline for coughing up was looming at 5pm whereupon, weirdly he then asked how much was it.  Wasn't it on the listing right in front of him?

 

Anyway, he finally (and I suspect extremely reluctantly) paid up and I duly posted the item, sent it signed for and took photos of the parcel to make sure he didn't try anything else at the other end.

 

According to the Royal Mail, it did get there, and was signed for.  Since then, silence, no feedback, nothing.  The only sound was that of my keyboard as I added the buyer to my banned bidders list...

 

 

John

 

I really think you have been very unlucky, I don't sell tens of items but been a bit busy over the last 8 or so weeks, A large percentage pay on the day, all but one by the next morning, worst offender took 2 and a half days to pay.

 

About 25% send me a note, 50 % ish leave feedback, to which I reciprocate. Half don't bother so I don't anyway.  Do I mind or ban anyone, not really and no

 

I did get a bit fed up with someone taking a week to post the item, but it was very worth waiting for and rubbed it in by letting him know what a great buy it was.

[2E Sub Shed]

10 hours ago, Mark said:

I have been finding an increase in the number of people recently who bid on items at the last minute and then never pay or never communicate. 

 

Best excuse for non-payment for a completed auction was "my girlfriend won't let me spend the money".

 

In slowly selling a large collection on eBay I have had several cancelled three day old bids with reason "entered wrong amount", which gets an immediate promotion to my blocked bidders list, as does non-payment. - However blocked bidders, blocked for non-payment, come back with new eBay ID's. 

 

Slow payers are another problem as they generate additional trips to the Post Office.

 

[RFS]

59 minutes ago, 2E Sub Shed said:

Slow payers are another problem as they generate additional trips to the Post Office.

 

 

I use Royal Mail's online postage and free next day collection service. I can use their Tracked 24/48 service and the postie collects it next working day. Otherwise for me it would be an 8-mile round trip to the Post Office in the car plus queueing time etc.

[MrWolf]

There's no figuring these people out. A while back I had a non railway item up for a starting bid of £695. Immediately I received a bid and a message from the bidder asking what I thought I might get for it and wanting to know if I would cancel the auction for a cash offer.

I told him I was hoping for somewhere close to £800 and he replied that he thought a fiver over his opening bid would secure it.

Before I could answer, another bidder took the price up to £770, but with bidder 1 still in the lead.

Next thing I know he's withdrawn all bids with the excuse that he accidentally typed in £8000. Obviously he didn't know that on withdrawal, eBay would automatically tell me what his top bid was - £820.

The item sold three days later for £790, I then got a message from the winning bidder asking if he could collect and pay cash at the end of the month, 13 days later. 

Either he wasn't expecting to win, or knew that he couldn't afford it until payday.

At least he turned up and paid for it when he said he would.

[2E Sub Shed]

14 hours ago, RFS said:

 

I use Royal Mail's online postage and free next day collection service. I can use their Tracked 24/48 service and the postie collects it next working day. Otherwise for me it would be an 8-mile round trip to the Post Office in the car plus queueing time etc.

Unfortunately only works if you can be in when the Postie calls, although I work from Home some days, I can still be dispatched at 0 mins notice.

[Rich_F]

Not a major bug but seems to becoming more common even on lower priced listings. One of my items listed starting at £35 auction with no offers accepted. For an excellent condition, good running Lima with box I think that's a bargain in the current times.

 

Buyer with low feedback asks; "Would you accept £24.40 + postage?".

My reply; "Thank you for your message. If you're keen please see the item & bid so you get in early".

Buyer; "Would you accept £28 + postage?"

 

I've not yet replied as buyer will inevitably come back & propose another lower offer. Just bid on the item if you desperately want it!!!!

Edited August 1, 2023 by Weeny Works

[MrWolf]

Someone has bought an item from me about four hours ago for the earth shattering sum of £3.95 and just sent me a request to cancel. 

 

No reason given.

 

I think that I'll ignore him for a while, I'm juggling the engine from a Vauxhall Velox at the moment.

[Sjcm]

On 01/08/2023 at 11:35, Weeny Works said:

Not a major bug but seems to becoming more common even on lower priced listings. One of my items listed starting at £35 auction with no offers accepted. For an excellent condition, good running Lima with box I think that's a bargain in the current times.

 

Buyer with low feedback asks; "Would you accept £24.40 + postage?".

My reply; "Thank you for your message. If you're keen please see the item & bid so you get in early".

Buyer; "Would you accept £28 + postage?"

 

I've not yet replied as buyer will inevitably come back & propose another lower offer. Just bid on the item if you desperately want it!!!!

Oh I get that occasionally which is annoying as I obviously would stick on a best offer option if I was open to it. I usually find it's dealers, what I would class as a "cheeky" offer and it doesn't matter even if it already has a bid on it. One guy offered less than the listing price and ended his begging post with "PLEASE REPLY ASAP EVEN IF  YOU REFUSE MY OFFER" 😂. I usually give them some old flannel along the lines of "lots of watchers/enquiries/wouldn't be fair to them to end auction early"...