eBay when the parts are worth more than the loco

[hayfield]

For several weeks I have been trying to sell a Wills Finecast Collet Goods for what I thought was a reasonable price of £35 + post. Well on the downside its a very common loco, on the plus side the Triang Hornby chassis had been upgraded with Romford wheels and a MV 005/Airfix 1001 5 pole motor, plus it had a Wills Finecast box. I thought £35 was a fair price

 

I do look to buy lots as they offer great value, especially when the items not required sell well, or buy a kit which includes wheels and motor, I keep the latter and resell the kit which usually ends up having a set of wheels motor and gears at a knock down price

 

My thought process was I pay £3.50 for a loco stock box, and when Markit wheels are over £6 each I decided to keep the box and wheels and sell the motor and loco at a starting price of £10 each, at worst the box and set of wheels would have cost me £15 in lost sale value

 

Well the motor fetched £16 and the loco £13.05, as its a promotion week I will net about £27. The box and Romford 18mm drivers *** will have cost me under £9 in lost sale value. I think I have done much better than selling all for £35

 

When struggling to sell an item, it may pay to think out of the box, rather than reduce the price

 

***  I know they should be 20mm but they weren't, plus 18 mm are a lot more useful as I have plenty of 20mm ones

[RFS]

Yes I understand where you're coming from. I had a Hornby N15 loco 30453 whose valve gear had failed - just the eccentric road on one side had become detached. Removing it completely meant the loco ran just fine. 

 

As replacement valve gear sets were out of stock everywhere, decided I wasn't really up to the job of fixing it so put it on Ebay as spares and repair. Bit disappointed to only get £41 for it and wished I had broken it up and sold the parts separately. After all, a bogie tender just like mine went for £34.50 a week or earlier, then there's the motor, chassis and body and let's not forget what some empty boxes go for! Perhaps it would have been a lot of work though.

 

I also had two other N15s - 30800 with 6-wheel tender that no longer ran quite as smoothly as I would like, and 30452 - the Pete Waterman edition with watercart tender. Never warmed to this tender as it seemed a bit naff behind a big N15. At the SAS Auction in April I found the solution, namely a single lot of 3 brand-new N15s consisting of 30453, 30800 and 30778 Sir Pelleas with normal bogie tender. Seemed too good to miss. Auctioneers said that in their opinion the locos had never been out of their boxes. I won the lot for only slightly more than I expected.  All 3 locos were indeed brand-new and run perfectly.  Sold my 3 existing N15s on Ebay for just £30 less than the cost of the new locos. Dead chuffed in the end!  

 

 

 

[hayfield]

There are a few of us who "farm" lots, first and foremost quite often its the only way of either obtaining a model or part(s), or obtaining one of the items at a decent price.

 

It does mean spending out first and taking a risk. Its always been the case with eBay that well presented listings are not only more likely to sell but also obtain higher prices.

 

I think most of us have items we will never use, in many cases we just cannot be bothered to sell them. Or have some mistaken theory we will make time to repair/restore/find missing items which will make them more valuable. But in the end they just take up space and if I do nothing with them they will end up being sold for not very much or go into the bin.

 

I started off collecting loco kits/kit built locos from the proceeds of my old RTR collection, initially by buying cheap items. For at least 10 years I have been trying to improve the quality of my collection, however I have not been very good of selling off the items I have replaced

 

I now try and make my collecting cost neutral, more or a challenge rather than anything else. And the bug now if I am honest is to make something out of someone else's discarded items. One of my latest projects is a part built incomplete Springside 45xx loco I bought last year. It was missing a few parts, but the big ticket item was a motor and gears. It cost me £152, given a new kit is just under £450 and some time previously picked up a Mashima 1833 plus gearbox cheaply, and previously had dealings with Springside who sold me over 100 small castings for a 14xx at a very comparative price. I thought it was well worth a punt.

 

The parts arrived on Friday, not certain of the price yet but it will be lower than the 14xx.  I now have a part built complete kit at hopefully under half price. I don't know if its doing the deals or making the kit which is the most satisfying. Just want to find a Springside Hall going cheap, or have a bit of a sell up to amass the funds and make space for it

[Sjcm]

Spares are the bane of everyone's life in terms of cost so it does make sense to split things down. When I have spares to sell I just make sure they are well described so people can find them and then let them find their 'level ' in the market. When you have so many people taking the mick and even "reputable" spares sellers doing the postage scam its not hard to get a very good price. If we do ever get a new worldwide recession, I'm not bothering with gold, but buying XO4 carbon brushes and Hornby pannier tank chimney caps😉

Edited August 7, 2023 by Sjcm

[hayfield]

Sjcm

 

Postage is a old chestnut and is quite often undervalued probably down to the Amazon Prime free next day offers, where I quite often get cheap items delivered within 24 hours at less than the Royal Mails or even Evri postage charges

 

As a buyer I work out how much an item is worth to me then deduct the postage charge for my maximum bid, as a seller I think I offer a 1st class service and charge for the service

 

As for retailers postage has nothing to do with the value of the item, they charge for P&P and its the same price for 1 item as it is for 10

[Sjcm]

50 minutes ago, hayfield said:

Sjcm

 

Postage is a old chestnut and is quite often undervalued probably down to the Amazon Prime free next day offers, where I quite often get cheap items delivered within 24 hours at less than the Royal Mails or even Evri postage charges

 

As a buyer I work out how much an item is worth to me then deduct the postage charge for my maximum bid, as a seller I think I offer a 1st class service and charge for the service

 

As for retailers postage has nothing to do with the value of the item, they charge for P&P and its the same price for 1 item as it is for 10

Yeah  I just find the disingenuous listings annoying. A well known spares suppliers is asking 6 pounds for a single pair of small wheels, 5 pounds of that is postage. If you think it's worth 5 pounds then list it at 5 pounds and charge a pound for postage instead.

[hayfield]

7 minutes ago, Sjcm said:

Yeah  I just find the disingenuous listings annoying. A well known spares suppliers is asking 6 pounds for a single pair of small wheels, 5 pounds of that is postage. If you think it's worth 5 pounds then list it at 5 pounds and charge a pound for postage instead.

 

On the face of it its expensive, until you look at what size the package has to be to protect the wheels which could be easily damaged and would have to be sent small packet. That is why if I need wheels I buy in bulk, unless they are flat packed as per Gibson's/ Markit

 

Then of course they are a business not someone who is selling excess items, so need to make a profit, if they don't they go bust !!!

 

For items like these I try and make up a bundle to make it worthwhile for the buyer

 

There are plenty of wheels sold in lots on eBay, worthwhile buying a couple of mixed lots for these occasions when you just want one pair

Edited August 7, 2023 by hayfield

[Sjcm]

10 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

On the face of it its expensive, until you look at what size the package has to be to protect the wheels which could be easily damaged and would have to be sent small packet. That is why if I need wheels I buy in bulk, unless they are flat packed as per Gibson's/ Markit

 

Then of course they are a business not someone who is selling excess items, so need to make a profit, if they don't they go bust !!!

 

For items like these I try and make up a bundle to make it worthwhile for the buyer

 

There are plenty of wheels sold in lots on eBay, worthwhile buying a couple of mixed lots for these occasions when you just want one pair

Well they're small metal wheels. Easily get in a large envelope so 1.15? I can get 5 padded envelopes for a pound, so 20p? I'm sure they do it cheaper with postage discounts and buying bulk and they don't even bother with padded envelopes.They can charge what they like at the end of the day, but I wonder how many people have purchased seeing 1 pound BIN and missing the 5 pound postage. By that time you're halfway through the purchase and probably will carry on whereas 5 pounds BIN, and you may move on😉

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, Sjcm said:

Well they're small metal wheels. Easily get in a large envelope so 1.15? I can get 5 padded envelopes for a pound, so 20p? I'm sure they do it cheaper with postage discounts and buying bulk and they don't even bother with padded envelopes.They can charge what they like at the end of the day, but I wonder how many people have purchased seeing 1 pound BIN and missing the 5 pound postage. By that time you're halfway through the purchase and probably will carry on whereas 5 pounds BIN, and you may move on😉

 

I wrongly assumed the wheels were on axles, I have just posted 2 items large letter both costing £1.60, and I usually spend a bit more on padded envelopes. my usual charge is usually between £2 & £3, then add up commission and other costs and it soon adds up. I am not a commercial entity, so do not have to think of adding in the cost of time etc but I accept your reasoning

 

I like to attend shows, I look at the entrance fee being subsidised by not spending on P&P often it saves me money going to a show every now and then

[Hal Nail]

9 hours ago, hayfield said:

I now try and make my collecting cost neutral,

Pretty easy in 7mm*, I don't know about OO.

 

I sold off a lot of my surplus stock just pre covid. Going rate for Parkside wagons then was about £28 including postage. Since then Peco/Parkside, Slaters and Dapol have all hiked prices numerous times and 2nd hand asking prices invariably follow - you can expect to pay nearer 40 for the same thing today.

 

Same applies to Dapol 7mm Locos. c175 for a new 57xx a few years back, now they are c225. So you ought to get £175 selling one second hand.

 

Obviously this only helps if you were buying low rather than selling!

 

*if you actually sell each time you buy!

Edited August 7, 2023 by Hal Nail

[GWR-fan]

When buying an item I do not look simply at the item as a "whole" but as the sum of its parts.  Recently I have purchased several inexpensive coaches from a well known store website,  not because I wanted the coaches,  but because they were fitted with Hornby metal wheels.  Downunder,  a pack of ten Hornby 14.1mm metal wheels retails for around $50.00 plus postage.  Thus if I see a coach for under GBP10.00 (VAT still to be removed) fitted with the wheels then I will purchase the item and add it to my store "trunk".  Effectively either the wheels are "free" or the coach is "free" depending how you look at it.

[hayfield]

12 hours ago, Hal Nail said:

Pretty easy in 7mm*, I don't know about OO.

 

I sold off a lot of my surplus stock just pre covid. Going rate for Parkside wagons then was about £28 including postage. Since then Peco/Parkside, Slaters and Dapol have all hiked prices numerous times and 2nd hand asking prices invariably follow - you can expect to pay nearer 40 for the same thing today.

 

Same applies to Dapol 7mm Locos. c175 for a new 57xx a few years back, now they are c225. So you ought to get £175 selling one second hand.

 

Obviously this only helps if you were buying low rather than selling!

 

*if you actually sell each time you buy!

 

I have noticed that the second hand price of the more popular 7mm scale RTR locos are now falling, and like 4mm items the odd items slip through the net and can be obtained quite cheaply. But as you say well presented good items fetch prime prices

 

[Hal Nail]

7 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

I have noticed that the second hand price of the more popular 7mm scale RTR locos are now falling

Yes actually I have as well. Maybe I should have said making it cost neutral has historically been possible!

 

Both Heljan and Dapol have started doing re runs much more often so I suspect the market gets over saturated whereas there used to be a scarcity factor once a run sold out.

[Hal Nail]

20 hours ago, Sjcm said:

but I wonder how many people have purchased seeing 1 pound BIN and missing the 5 pound postage.

That particular retailers pricing is a bit suspiscious as there are plenty of items on £2 postage but with a random scattering of £5 - and not linked to size. So far the only pattern I've detected is anything I want is invariably at £5!

 

On the other hand as a regular raider of spares from various sources over the years, its been pretty obvious many regard selling them as a lot of hassle for low margin. So I'm just grateful that particular avenue at least exists.

[hayfield]

2 minutes ago, Hal Nail said:

Yes actually I have as well. Maybe I should have said making it cost neutral has historically been possible!

 

Both Heljan and Dapol have started doing re runs much more often so I suspect the market gets over saturated whereas there used to be a scarcity factor once a run sold out.

 

I know too little about the ready to run market to make any sense of it, whether its 4mm or 7mm scale, but then RTR is not the area of the hobby that interests me

 

As for cost neutral is concerned its not about making a profit buying and selling, but perhaps releasing funds locked up in items that will never be used ?

 

For me, I have far too much ranging from kits to kit built items to spares. Downsizing of unwanted items even at a loss is freeing up both funds and space 

 

The other area in making your money go further is finding that elusive item at a reasonable cost, is finding something with another item or items where perhaps their individual values is more that is being asked. Rather than looking at well presented single lots which attract a lot of interest, look at a broader search of items. Buying a group of items can be a cost effective way of keeping the cost of that wanted item down, if you are very lucky it could become either inexpensive or even free.

 

Or as I stated earlier in the thread, is the real reason the buzz of "finding something others have missed", especially when it ends up being inexpensive ?

[hayfield]

Last week two orders arrived, one was a complete mixed lot the other was a set of body etches for a tank loco. I won then at £15 & £14.99 both with free postage

 

The mixed lot was truly mixed, it had two 00 gauge motors and a set of track gauges, most items were 3mm scale and the only things I wanted the 12mm gauge track gauges and the Romford Bulldog motor, however it left me with 6 lots to resell

 

A scratch aid of part kit for a GWR Flying banana, best guess is an old MTK kit missing its castings, or a Worsley Works etch ?

 

 

A 3 mm scale LNER J25, needing a boiler it does have a few castings but missing a funnel, no idea of its origin, does have un-named basic instructions

 

The second lot was for a GER E22 loco, missing castings and chassis, A real unexpected bonus as I had no idea of what loco it was. I should have the castings as I have 4 LNER J69 locos which come with both GER & LNER castings, other parts will be in the spares box, I just need a chassis and I think I will try London Road models first to see if they have a spare chassis kit

 

 

It also had 2x M&L part chassis (Met 4-4-0T). The lot was described as whitemetal castings, not a whitemetal casting in sight !!

 

The 6 lots** are on eBay and 3 already have bids on so the cost of both lots are nearly covered

 

Both were a bit of a fluke, as the first lot I knew what the motors were worth, I made a guess about the gauges and I knew one of the etched kits was not 4mm, in both cases the descriptions were of no help. I got away with both lots this time and hopefully will be letting 3mm scale kits find their rightful home. These come up every now and then

 

Is the fun finding it, or building it. I will let you know

 

** I swapped the Romford Bulldog for an Airfix 1001, both are 5 pole motors and very similar as they both replace the Triang Hornby X03/X04 3 pole motors 

[12A Models]

I picked up a very nicely detailed Lima class 20 at York show last month for £15. It was sold as "no motor" but I only wanted a dummy anyway.
Took the body off when I got home, found it had a working motor but no gears. Took out the "pizza cutter" wheels, replaced them with some spare Heljan class 33 wheels I had. Sold the wheels for £10 and the motor for £8. I'm £3 up and still got a lovely model to respray to pair with my Bachmann 20.

There is definitely more money in the parts rather than the whole.......