EBay madness

[DK123GWR]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363564858053?epid=1671151757&hash=item54a6277ac5:g:V1AAAOSw9gRhWZz1

Am I missing something?

[John Besley]

9 hours ago, Andy WD said:

 

I suspect it could be used in all of the scales listed if you were creative.

 

If it was Z then it could be a childs garden toy tractor in 00, or a small 'ride on' type tractor in N, and just a normal tractor in Z. If it was N then it could be the 'ride on' type in 00 and a normal tractor in N, and if it was 00 then its just a smallish tractor.....

.

 

A 4mm model is the equivalent of a 3" model in 7/8ths.  So if it N that would make it a 1/12 or there abouts and if its Z then it becomes a Brittans model 

 

Edited October 30, 2021 by John Besley
Spelling

[John Besley]

13 minutes ago, DK123GWR said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363564858053?epid=1671151757&hash=item54a6277ac5:g:V1AAAOSw9gRhWZz1

Am I missing something?

Yes if it over takes you on the M5 in the dead of night on the 31st

[ikcdab]

Here's an odd experience. I ordered a packet of 10 widgets from a seller. I paid it all ok. When I later looked again at my order, it said that the item was just now a packet of 2. I contacted the seller who was excellent and refunded my money. He then contacted eBay who blamed it on a glitch in the system.  I really can't imagine how that can happen. 

Just something to look out for. Make sure that what you are paying for is what was advertised.

Ian C

[tubs01]

6 hours ago, DK123GWR said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363564858053?epid=1671151757&hash=item54a6277ac5:g:V1AAAOSw9gRhWZz1

Am I missing something?

The Eddie stobart stuff seems to always go for ridiculous prices, try finding the Eddie stobart 37 for less that 150 quid, it's funny because I just got about half the rolling stock from the set for a tenner today!

[Michael Hodgson]

7 hours ago, DK123GWR said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363564858053?epid=1671151757&hash=item54a6277ac5:g:V1AAAOSw9gRhWZz1

Am I missing something?

You're missing £245 if you're mug enough to buy it.

But he might strike lucky - there's one born every minute.

[ianmacc]

We often forget that hobbies aren’t mutually exclusive. There is a parallel hobby of model railway collectors that value on rarity etc rather than modelling merit. That’s also why Thomas the tank engine and themed stuff sells way more than the bog standard issues. We just see a generic Bagnall Shunter with a plastic face or a railroad 37 in a fictitious livery. 

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, ianmacc said:

We often forget that hobbies aren’t mutually exclusive. There is a parallel hobby of model railway collectors that value on rarity etc rather than modelling merit. That’s also why Thomas the tank engine and themed stuff sells way more than the bog standard issues. We just see a generic Bagnall Shunter with a plastic face or a railroad 37 in a fictitious livery. 

I hope I'm not being too sweeping and cynical in suggesting that these are the people who obsess about the box it comes in.

Any user alteration (no matter how good a job you might have done in weathering it or whatever) is seen as detracting from the object's originality and thus devalues it to a collector. 

[Paul H Vigor]

With regard to 00 locomotives, eBay has very strange ideas about what I might find 'interesting'! Just saying!

[Paul H Vigor]

5 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

I hope I'm not being too sweeping and cynical in suggesting that these are the people who obsess about the box it comes in.

Any user alteration (no matter how good a job you might have done in weathering it or whatever) is seen as detracting from the object's originality and thus devalues it to a collector. 

I am SO glad I'm not a 'collector'! Life really is too short!

[MrWolf]

50 minutes ago, Paul H Vigor said:

I am SO glad I'm not a 'collector'! Life really is too short!

 

Each to their own, but it's just the same in other hobbies, people buying things as an "investment", the problem is that ever since collectors started paying silly money for 1930s Dinky toys that were old shop stock and still in their boxes, people have been buying and laying away new models. Add to this the instant collectibles that have been churned out over the last forty years and the prospect of a big return is a serious gamble.

Edited October 30, 2021 by MrWolf
General illiteracy

[Northmoor]

9 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

Each to their own, but it's just the same in other hobbies, people buying things as an "investment", the problem is that ever since collectors started paying silly money for 1930s Dinky toys that were old shop stock and still in their boxes, people have been buying and laying away new models. Add to this the instant collectibles that have been churned out over the last forty years and the prospect of a big return is a serious gamble.

"It depends"; there are people who collect every Hornby wagon ever made, by trawling the swapmeets, collecting all the fictitious liveries at a few quid each and running them on one huge trainset.  That I can understand; it is the people who put everything away in a cupboard so that no UV light possibly comes into contact with the boxes, who I actually feel sorry for.   They cannot enjoy anything for its own sake, only that is worth money and however much of that they have, it will never be enough.  Ironically, they'd probably have a lot more if they didn't spend so much money on "investments".

 

I suppose there are collectors and collectors but I think everyone on here knows that ANYTHING being sold new as a collectable (i.e. an investment) will be anything but.  Hamilton Bland have, though, been very successful at persuading enough people otherwise.

[tubs01]

1 hour ago, Michael Hodgson said:

I hope I'm not being too sweeping and cynical in suggesting that these are the people who obsess about the box it comes in.

Any user alteration (no matter how good a job you might have done in weathering it or whatever) is seen as detracting from the object's originality and thus devalues it to a collector. 

There can be a bit of joy in collecting but for me that is completely separate from models. I can't be bothered fussing about whether or not to paint some buffer grease on a loco incase I decrease it's value if I happen to sell it in 10 years time

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

 

Each to their own, but it's just the same in other hobbies, people buying things as an "investment", the problem is that ever since collectors started paying silly money for 1930s Dinky toys that were old shop stock and still in their boxes, people have been buying and laying away new models. Add to this the instant collectibles that have been churned out over the last forty years and the prospect of a big return is a serious gamble.

It all began with the Matchbox Models-of-Yesteryear Talbot van in Liptons Tea livery. Matchbox produced it with the royal crest which was prototypical. But what they didn't do was ask permission to use the crest so they had to change it PDQ. That caused the ones with the royal crest  to be much sought after with a consequent rise in value. Ironically the same models today are practically worthless.

[ianmacc]

Even within collecting there’s two camps like has been alluded to.

 

Collecting to hoard away or collecting to enjoy. 
 

I liken it to a prior hobby of mine collecting vinyl singles. Some folk collected everything on a particular label or by a particular artist etc. including the inevitable duff cuts.  I collected what I liked and I actually played them regularly for pleasure. 

[PhilJ W]

I have a collection of old Dublo Dinky toys. Most of them bought with my pocket money over sixty years ago.

[Paul H Vigor]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

It all began with the Matchbox Models-of-Yesteryear Talbot van in Liptons Tea livery. Matchbox produced it with the royal crest which was prototypical. But what they didn't do was ask permission to use the crest so they had to change it PDQ. That caused the ones with the royal crest  to be much sought after with a consequent rise in value. Ironically the same models today are practically worthless.

Recalling the 1630s Tulip Mania?

[leopardml2341]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

It all began with the Matchbox Models-of-Yesteryear Talbot van in Liptons Tea livery. Matchbox produced it with the royal crest which was prototypical. But what they didn't do was ask permission to use the crest so they had to change it PDQ. That caused the ones with the royal crest  to be much sought after with a consequent rise in value. Ironically the same models today are practically worthless.

A similar thing happened with the EFE Ribble Atlantean, about 1/2 of the production were lost at sea in a shipping container overboard IIRC.  For a time they were zs rare as rocking horse poo and commanded prices which reflected that. Now, though still fetching prices better than others in the range, they're barely realising 20% of the high price. 

[John M Upton]

EFE and other manufacturers diecast buses were going for extraordinary sums at one point, particularly certain operators like Southdown.  I bought the first issue EFE Harrington Cavalier in Southdown colours for the issue price of £12.50.  A few years later the same model was going for hundreds of pounds despite it actually not really being that good or accurate a model.  A few years ago I sold it, for ten quid INCLUDING the postage!!

 

Today nearly all diecast from that era, well you are lucky if you can shift it for the cost of the postage.  A lot of people got well and truly burnt and in the case of all those promotional Lledo vans and assorted rubbish, practically incinerated.

 

Edited October 30, 2021 by John M Upton

[PhilJ W]

Models from partworks are generally at high prices when the models are current but soon drop too ridiculous amounts.

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, Paul H Vigor said:

Recalling the 1630s Tulip Mania?

... the 1720s South Sea Bubble and the 2020s Bitcoin mania

 

Plus ça change 

[Paul H Vigor]

1 minute ago, PhilJ W said:

Models from partworks are generally at high prices when the models are current but soon drop too ridiculous amounts.

 

22 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

EFE and other manufacturers diecast buses were going for extraordinary sums at one point, particularly certain operators like Southdown.  I bought the first issue EFE Harrington Cavalier in Southdown colours for the issue price of £12.50.  A few years later the same model was going for hundreds of pounds despite it actually not really being that good or accurate a model.  A few years ago I sold it, for ten quid INCLUDING the postage!!

 

Today nearly all diecast from that era, well you are lucky if you can shift it for the cost of the postage.  A lot of people got well and truly burnt and in the case of all those promotional Lledo vans and assorted rubbish, practically incinerated.

 

Any investment is a gamble. You win win if you buy and sell at just the right moment. Selling at just the right moment means that someone else pays top money for a failing turkey. I guess its always been said that the most reliable long-term investment is in property? 

[The Johnster]

I work to the principle that any model I buy is immediately worthless to anyone else as soon as I've bought it, in other words written off.  I do not buy models with any other intention than to use them on my railway and I feel completely unfettered in my ability to paint, alter, chop, or destroy them (in the interests of creating new models that I cannot obtain by any other means).  If anyone buys models with a view to their investment potential, as a hedge against inflation or as a retirement fund, well, good luck to them but my view is that any potential profit to be made is very likely to be illusory.  If making money was that easy we'd all be doing it, wouldn't we?

 

I am occasionally accosted in the pub by people who have been referred to me by the regulars, who know I am 'into model railways'.  These referrals will engage me in conversation and reveal that they have an original Hornby Dublo in the loft, an 0-6-2T and a couple of wagons with a circuit of 3-rail, and ask me what I think it's worth because they saw one like on Going For A Song that went for hundreds, they are really rare you know.  When I mention that it is probably best kept as an interesting heirloom and that it is only worth bladders unless it's mint, and not much more if it is mint, the reaction is that I am trying to blag a bargain to sell on; I have absolutely no interest whatsoever and resent that these deluded idiots don't believe me.  I proceed to show them the range of such items available on the 'Bay on the phone, and they go off muttering.

 

I sort of 'get' collecting, though it doesn't float my particular boat, even if the items collected are locked away from the light in the interests of preservation; it's the knowledge that you own something or a complete set of something that took time and effort to compile.  To each his own.

[MrWolf]

3 minutes ago, Paul H Vigor said:

 

Any investment is a gamble. You win win if you buy and sell at just the right moment. Selling at just the right moment means that someone else pays top money for a failing turkey. I guess its always been said that the most reliable long-term investment is in property? 

 

Only really works if you can afford more than one property. You might have bought a house to live in yourself in 1993  for £45000 that's now worth £200000, but if you sell, all of the similar properties will be in need of work, be in an undesirable area, an area where there's few employment opportunities, or be more expensive than your current property. 

Whenever someone says to me that money isn't the answer, I have to resist the urge to kick them in the bag. 

[MrWolf]

3 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

I work to the principle that any model I buy is immediately worthless to anyone else as soon as I've bought it, in other words written off.  I do not buy models with any other intention than to use them on my railway and I feel completely unfettered in my ability to paint, alter, chop, or destroy them (in the interests of creating new models that I cannot obtain by any other means).  If anyone buys models with a view to their investment potential, as a hedge against inflation or as a retirement fund, well, good luck to them but my view is that any potential profit to be made is very likely to be illusory.  If making money was that easy we'd all be doing it, wouldn't we?

 

I am occasionally accosted in the pub by people who have been referred to me by the regulars, who know I am 'into model railways'.  These referrals will engage me in conversation and reveal that they have an original Hornby Dublo in the loft, an 0-6-2T and a couple of wagons with a circuit of 3-rail, and ask me what I think it's worth because they saw one like on Going For A Song that went for hundreds, they are really rare you know.  When I mention that it is probably best kept as an interesting heirloom and that it is only worth bladders unless it's mint, and not much more if it is mint, the reaction is that I am trying to blag a bargain to sell on; I have absolutely no interest whatsoever and resent that these deluded idiots don't believe me.  I proceed to show them the range of such items available on the 'Bay on the phone, and they go off muttering.

 

I sort of 'get' collecting, though it doesn't float my particular boat, even if the items collected are locked away from the light in the interests of preservation; it's the knowledge that you own something or a complete set of something that took time and effort to compile.  To each his own.

 

It's exactly the same with my other interest, vintage motorcycles. A man who lives near me keeps hinting that he might sell a BSA C11 he's had in the shed for years. Missing its proper mudguards (£300), non running and rusty. It's not a particularly rare or desirable machine and a very late, even less valued example. Probably worth £2600 in good condition, it would cost that to restore properly. He got a bit huffy at the offer of £500. But keeps coming back every so often. Of course "somebody down the pub says it's worth at least two grand...." 

We get, aside to the usual Wots it worth mate? Such things as "That should be in a museum" "Why are you riding it in the rain?" The list goes on.

I stand by a statement I have made on here before. 

You wouldn't marry a beautiful Hollywood actress and then sleep on the couch would you?