Good buy from Ebay

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, PMW said:

 

That's not the true ebay spirit!

 

Rule 1 - Separate the tat, put it back on ebay at an inflated price so we can have a laugh about it here

 

 

 

One mans tat is another's gold !!

[big jim]

Done a @hayfield today and picked up a load of assorted bits and bobs from a market stall, was labelled £20 the lot, all 7mm stuff, white metal, brass, resin etc 

 

seems to be lots of MSE bits to make up signals, there’s posts, ladders, lamps, signal arms, scale link clock etches and canopy boards, DM white metal fencing panels, SD models buffer stops, a few Langley items such as an etched phone box, Southwark bridge models LSWR platform seats x4 and other bits from 10 commandments and slaters to name but a few!

 

cant decide whether to sell it on as job lot or try and split it to smaller lots such as the seats and signalling stuff on its own etc 

[Bucoops]

Bargain!

[hayfield]

11 hours ago, big jim said:

Done a @hayfield today and picked up a load of assorted bits and bobs from a market stall, was labelled £20 the lot, all 7mm stuff, white metal, brass, resin etc 

 

seems to be lots of MSE bits to make up signals, there’s posts, ladders, lamps, signal arms, scale link clock etches and canopy boards, DM white metal fencing panels, SD models buffer stops, a few Langley items such as an etched phone box, Southwark bridge models LSWR platform seats x4 and other bits from 10 commandments and slaters to name but a few!

 

cant decide whether to sell it on as job lot or try and split it to smaller lots such as the seats and signalling stuff on its own etc 

 

 

Certainly looks a bargain at £20

 

Rule 1  Is there anything there you want ? Virtually all of my lot purchases have item(s) I want and this is the biggest personal cash benefit

 

Rule 2 separate into either individual lots or groups of similar items, the latter divides postage  between several items

 

Rule 3 don't be greedy 

 

In my view reselling in a single lot will not realize the full value of the items, even if you only split it into 4 or 5 related lots, but either way will result in more work

 

Well done and good luck and keep looking a great find

[big jim]

9 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

 

Certainly looks a bargain at £20

 

Rule 1  Is there anything there you want ? Virtually all of my lot purchases have item(s) I want and this is the biggest personal cash benefit

 

Rule 2 separate into either individual lots or groups of similar items, the latter divides postage  between several items

 

Rule 3 don't be greedy 

 

In my view reselling in a single lot will not realize the full value of the items, even if you only split it into 4 or 5 related lots, but either way will result in more work

 

Well done and good luck and keep looking a great find

there’s nothing I want in there as it’s all 7mm, although I did find a single 4mm ratio security fencing pack and some useable fox hazchem decals 

 

im going to split it into lots, seats, signals, doors and windows, scenic items etc, probable list them on the next 80% off fees day as I won’t have time to do it before my current offer ends tomorrow 

[PhilJ W]

I have a lot of similar pieces* in various drawers and boxes, problem is which drawers and boxes are they in? As I'm unlikely to use them it might be a good idea to sell them on. 

* Things such as Scale Link etches which have only been partly used and spare 'alternative' bits from plastic building kits etc. All are in 4mm (00) scale.

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

I have a lot of similar pieces* in various drawers and boxes, problem is which drawers and boxes are they in? As I'm unlikely to use them it might be a good idea to sell them on. 

* Things such as Scale Link etches which have only been partly used and spare 'alternative' bits from plastic building kits etc. All are in 4mm (00) scale.

 

I have found that both me and others like it when others share their unwanted items, especially parts. I have collected so many I will never use the bulk of them and perhaps like you I should sort out those I will and those I will not use and like big Jim sell them in lots which reduces the effects of postage

[DCB]

By the time you sort out the bits, photograph them, list them, pack them and take them to the post office it's about 20/30 minutes per item,  Economic madness based on minimum wage  but when you get that magic £10 inc postage job lot and get £50  plus postage for some of the items  it's a nice warm feeling.  But you won't get rich any time soon.

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, DCB said:

By the time you sort out the bits, photograph them, list them, pack them and take them to the post office it's about 20/30 minutes per item,  Economic madness based on minimum wage  but when you get that magic £10 inc postage job lot and get £50  plus postage for some of the items  it's a nice warm feeling.  But you won't get rich any time soon.

 

DCB

 

Your missing the point in general though your point on making money is accurate. Rarely by buying anything for £20 will make you rich reselling it

 

For me its putting back into circulation and more importantly use items which are clearly useful to others. In fact quite a few times I have brought the odd cheap item that is been out of production for some time but just right for either what I want at that moment of time or replacing a missing part of a kit

 

A recent example is I have a NuCast GWR steam railcar missing its etch, the other day I saw and won said etch. The kit is no longer incomplete, either I can build it or sell it for far more than a kit without that part.

 

[Sjcm]

After about 4 years searching I finally struck lucky this weekend. I have a spare dismantled Triang double ended electric diesel. It's  main problem was the pantograpth roof insert had been accosted by a maniac with a soldering iron who had put about 3 holes in it. - I'm not the world's best solderer but even I know you can't solder to plastic. In 4 plus years I've only seen a spare on eBay once and that went for 25 pounds. Anyway a job lot of smashed bodies came up with this piece intact and I got it for a tenner. Seeing the pantographs alone go for 30 pounds each, a complete but playworn working one should get me the investment back.  The other bodies will go into a special " 99p pile of tat" lot I'm planning😎

[Sjcm]

I keep saying this but made my last buy for a few months until I can offload a bit.  A load of  track and spare parts that was not attracting any interest for some reason. went for it mainly because I wanted a well hidden Triang pantograph and gambled on it not being broke so got lucky. what I wasn't prepared for was the amount of  new old stock spare parts in there in tins and I spent a happy 3 hours yesterday sorting them out. Some of it will be kept for personal use but suffice to say for 22 pounds I have now overtaken Peter's Spares as the UK major stockist for princess valve brackets, Nellie wheel pick-ups and Hornby Dublo brush springs 😂

[PMW]

On 10/03/2024 at 18:54, hayfield said:

Rarely by buying anything for £20 will make you rich reselling it

 

If you buy something for £20 and it's worth £40, and you do it often enough then you might not get rich but you can make a decent little profit. The problem with that in this industry is that rather than people undervaluing model railway stock they tend to do quite the opposite, often dramatically so. They seem to think that their late father's Triang Flying Scotsman is worth £300 despite the missing buffer and bent valve gear. As a reseller I have lost count of the times I have been invited to "come and have a look and see what you think" about some dearly departed relatives model railway collection only to arrive and find a few tatty pieces laid out on the dining room table and the seller envisaging a price tag with at least one nought too many. Not everyone takes kindly to being told their nearest and dearest's pride and joy is worth eighty quid when they were thinking five hundred. So much so, that I have stopped doing it now. If someone asks if I am interested in buying something then I always ask for photos and a price first and if I get the answer "come and see what you think" then I do something more constructive with my time, such as watching Skill Builder's excellent video on youtube about paint drying. 

[hayfield]

I am afraid to say I have no idea about either the RTR or collecting (RTR) side of our hobby. But kits and kit building is another story, my knowledge mainly lies in 4mm scale and now learning about 7mm.

 

I would not know a good buy in the RTR/collecting area and thankfully no one has asked me to assist in disposing of their stock. I buy to improve my own collection or find parts to assist in building kits I have. However I am getting much better at letting things go that I don't need, in fact selling these unwanted items actually is much appreciated by like minded modeler's who actually want/need the items I don't require and reduces the cost of my modelling activities

 

My last job lot allowed me to sell off unwanted items at starting prices far below what I would list my own items I want to dispose of, in fact made the items I wanted very cheap (for once). The bulk of which has now gone bar a few items, which hopefully will have totally gone in a month, probably with the exception of 1 item I don't need but is so rare I will not sell it off cheap

 

  These are 32mm 0 gauge track gages, the top two are very similar to the Brook Smith P4 track gauges, which in

 

themselves are not too common, but I have never seen them in 7 mm scale. With the inception of Templot plug track the need for gauges is very limited, but to a track builder like myself I would only want to let them (the two black ones) go to someone who would treasure them as I do. I seem to value them far more than anyone else.

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Not from E-bay but I visited the Rayleigh toy fair this morning where I purchased what looked like a plastic bag of coach parts (sides, roofs, floors etc.) for the princely sum of £3. There was also some folded sheets of A4 paper so when I got home I unfolded the papers to find out that they were the instructions for a Southern Pride class 411 EMU kit. So I took a closer look at the parts in the bag and it appears to be the actual kit. I still need to check if its still all there but most of it, including the fret of etched parts seems to be so.

[Bucoops]

If I've understood the listing correctly, then I think I just got 120 sheets of Plastikard for 29p each delivered.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/315245693683

 

edit: Oh. the thicker sheets have 5 per pack not 10, so 85 sheets for 41p each. I'll still take it as a bargain.

Edited April 7 by Bucoops

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, Bucoops said:

If I've understood the listing correctly, then I think I just got 120 sheets of Plastikard for 29p each delivered.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/315245693683

 

edit: Oh. the thicker sheets have 5 per pack not 10, so 85 sheets for 41p each. I'll still take it as a bargain.

I had a look at his other stuff, one or two bits interest me so I'm watching them.

[Enterprisingwestern]

20 hours ago, Bucoops said:

If I've understood the listing correctly, then I think I just got 120 sheets of Plastikard for 29p each delivered.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/315245693683

 

edit: Oh. the thicker sheets have 5 per pack not 10, so 85 sheets for 41p each. I'll still take it as a bargain.

 

Should keep you busy for a couple of weeks!!

 

Mike.

[Bucoops]

2 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Should keep you busy for a couple of weeks!!

 

Mike.

 

I may well end up wrecking the lot in an evening  - Got a cheap Cameo 4 on the way now as well. I foresee many ribs for roofs in my future, along with interior partitions etc.

[woodenhead]

This popped up on my feed this morning, gives some idea of the mark up for someone who buys and sells for profit over someone who is selling off items they no longer need.

 

If you ask me it's a lot of work when it lots of individual items in constant dribs and drabs.

 

 

Edited April 10 by woodenhead

[Sjcm]

Personally I think it's pretty easy to sell at a profit on ebay, but that's different from making a living out of it by buying and selling. If you're buying stock and not that knowledgeable like this guy possibly (solarium coach?) then you have to go for joblots of boxed stuff in good condition which would add big time to buying stock and you'd need a hefty investment in stock to start off with (5k?) to keep things ticking over. The time aspect with research, listing, wrapping and posting stuff looms large so I doubt he buys stuff like non running loco's that he has to repair or gamble on them running so again any stock he buys is gonna attract top money on ebay with other dealers in competition. His mark-up seems to be at least 50% which isn't excessive on ebay but you'd imagine he has an awful lot of unsold stock in BIN listings running for months on end. Still if you can get 20 pounds for old Hornby controllers good luck to him.👍

[spamcan61]

23 hours ago, woodenhead said:

If you ask me it's a lot of work when it lots of individual items in constant dribs and drabs.

 

Absolutely, it surprises me how much the big box shifters push their used buying and selling given the time consuming faff involved.

[DCB]

On 10/04/2024 at 10:17, woodenhead said:

This popped up on my feed this morning, gives some idea of the mark up for someone who buys and sells for profit over someone who is selling off items they no longer need.

 

If you ask me it's a lot of work when it lots of individual items in constant dribs and drabs.

 

 

How on earth is he getting the stuff so cheap.  Boxed wagons for £2 to £5   sold for £10 -£15.   A class 37  £12.50 sold for £40.  Buying well below  eBay prices.   House clearances?  The Yorkshire Auction House on TV gets derisory amount for models IMHO, so maybe that is the answer. Auctions and buy up anything cheap

[Dunsignalling]

6 minutes ago, DCB said:

How on earth is he getting the stuff so cheap.  Boxed wagons for £2 to £5   sold for £10 -£15.   A class 37  £12.50 sold for £40.  Buying well below  eBay prices.   House clearances?  The Yorkshire Auction House on TV gets derisory amount for models IMHO, so maybe that is the answer. Auctions and buy up anything cheap

Your final comment just about sums it up. Also car boot sales. 

 

The message to take from all the daytime TV game shows is that models usually bomb at general auctions.

 

Such buyers as do turn up tend to be dealers, and there's seldom much opposition.

 

Even on a good day, few items seem to make more than a quarter of what they'd fetch on ebay.

 

John

[Dunsignalling]

On 10/04/2024 at 10:17, woodenhead said:

This popped up on my feed this morning, gives some idea of the mark up for someone who buys and sells for profit over someone who is selling off items they no longer need.

 

If you ask me it's a lot of work when it lots of individual items in constant dribs and drabs.

 

 

 

Agreed. The hassle of posting off unboxed items would put me off on its own....

 

[woodenhead]

59 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

 

Agreed. The hassle of posting off unboxed items would put me off on its own....

 

Aye.

 

It's hard enough to make people happy when you carefully wrap a boxed item and they complain about the number of layers of bubblewrap you've used, but an unboxed item means either purchasing boxes (a cost) or spending time cutting up cardboard to fashion one.  If most of your items are loose like that it would be hell.

 

Like I said, the video is of interest, the chap does not appear to be a gouger and whilst his mark up is nearly 50% on many items I get the impression some stuff has gone at a loss and his 50% mark up is not megabucks but like £20-£30 selling price which given the effort he likely expends is probably not a lot of profit.

 

Mind, the tax people will be interested given the new rules Ebay has to follow, so his actual return may soon be even less for the effort put in.