Hi,
Just a short update here.......w/o pictures.
The Ebay auctions have been going very well. In fact, 100 percent have sold so far. I'm down to the last of the rail cars, and then will start on listing structures (that can be safely mailed), trackage, and detail stuff.
The net monies brought in has exceeded my expectations by 25 percent so far. Most of the final results were higher than the opening bids. I did have some really successful ones - all being Illinois Central passenger (Walthers) and freight cars produced by the Illinois Central Historical Society (now gone).
Not unexpected, but as I continue to browse thru this forum, when I see layout construction photos I almost get that urge...........
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
mobilman44 The Ebay auctions have been going very well. In fact, 100 percent have sold so far. I'm down to the last of the rail cars, and then will start on listing structures (that can be safely mailed), trackage, and detail stuff.
Rich
Alton Junction
richhotrain mobilman44 The Ebay auctions have been going very well. In fact, 100 percent have sold so far. I'm down to the last of the rail cars, and then will start on listing structures (that can be safely mailed), trackage, and detail stuff. Has eBay forced you into its Managed Payments program yet? Rich
Has eBay forced you into its Managed Payments program yet?
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/287206/3325824.aspx#3325824
Reading thru breaking up the layout I am 'dreading a time' I shall have to dismantle my railroad.
Dawn says she can manage, yet there are times I know she is struggling.
If it gets too much (on a regular basis) we shall have to look for other property.
A case of watch and wait.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
NorthBrit Reading thru breaking up the layout I am 'dreading a time' I shall have to dismantle my railroad. Dawn says she can manage, yet there are times I know she is struggling. If it gets too much (on a regular basis) we shall have to look for other property. A case of watch and wait. David
I guess if you are 90 years old, maybe the time is now. But, then, you no longer have a layout. You cannot run trains. Where is the fun with that?
I guess if you are 80 years old, maybe the time is soon. But, then, you no longer have a layout. You cannot run trains. What if you live to 90?
I guess if you are 70 years old, maybe the time is still somewhat far off. But, then, what if you drop dead tomorrow? Now, you have left a mess for your surviving family members.
The fact of the matter is that you could die tomorrow no matter how young you are today. You could live to age 90 or longer no matter how old you are today.
I'll take my chances. I have instructed my son to sell what he can on eBay, namely locomotives, rolling stock and electronics, maybe the turnouts, and then demolish the rest.
Heck, if you are worried about surviving family members, consider your home and furnishings and other "stuff". That becomes a bigger problem for surviving family members than your layout. You might as well sell the house now and move into an apartment. Then, you can sit around and wait for the inevitable to happen.
Hi Rich. I will always have a model railroad and it will be called Leeds Sovereign Street & Clarence Dock.
We have mentioned about moving house (if we have to). The new house would (says Dawn) have to have a bigger train room.
No, we are not moving (unless things get too bad for Dawn). The thought of dismantling my layout is daunting and the thought remains.
David, I will agree with you on that issue. The thought is always there.
richhotrain David, I will agree with you on that issue. The thought is always there. Rich
Well I know I'm hard headed about his, but I am not voluntarily taking down the layout or selling the trains in advance of my departure from this earth as long as I can live in this house.
The trains are left to my son in my will, if he does not want them they can be disposed of by whatever means is practical at the time.
My wife and I have no future plan to live in a "Retirement Apartment Complex" or anything of the sort. It does not suit the personal nature of either of us. We prefer interaction with other people on a limited and controlled basis.......
So here we are in our paid for 2400 sq ft rancher, on two easy to care for flat acres, with money in the bank and money still coming in.
Yes, we are only in our 60's, in a decade or two things might change, or we could get hit by a truck tomorrow.
As for all this not leaving your spouse to sort it out, given my good health and her so-so health, that's not an assured situation.........
Why worry about it? They will get my trains when they pry them from my cold dead hands......... (not just the trains)
Sheldon
deleted
mobilman44In fact, 100 percent have sold so far.
You can't do any better than that!
NorthBritReading thru breaking up the layout I am 'dreading a time' I shall have to dismantle my railroad.
The only way my next layout is coming down while I can still draw breath is if I know something unavoidable is coming, and I will need to move into assisted care.
richhotrainHeck, if you are worried about surviving family members, consider your home and furnishings and other "stuff". That becomes a bigger problem for surviving family members than your layout. You might as well sell the house now and move into an apartment. Then, you can sit around and wait for the inevitable to happen.
The girls have clear instructions to have a huge yard sale, bulldoze the house (they actually use excavators), auction off the lot, and split the money.
They have all made it very clear they do not want any of our stuff when we go.
ATLANTIC CENTRALI am not voluntarily taking down the layout or selling the trains in advance of my departure from this earth as long as I can live in this house.
Same here. I am installing a wheelchair ramp right now to make this house liveable for even longer, if necessary.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190 ATLANTIC CENTRAL I am not voluntarily taking down the layout or selling the trains in advance of my departure from this earth as long as I can live in this house. Same here. I am installing a wheelchair ramp right now to make this house liveable for even longer, if necessary.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL I am not voluntarily taking down the layout or selling the trains in advance of my departure from this earth as long as I can live in this house.
Been awhile since I posted.......
All of the locos, electronics, rolling stock and vehicles (1 exception) have sold. The turnouts went like the proverbial "hotcakes", and the flextrack auctions will hit the post office this morning.
This leaves various detail parts/items and structures to complete the sales. Not sure when I'll start that for I could use an Ebay break.
Oh, the "one exception" mentioned above is an auction for 3 CMW vehicles. "Lesser ones" (IMO) sold easily, but not this one - the only unsold auction!
Happily, I've netted about $100 less than twice my original estimate ($3k), and please know that Ebay and PayPal have worked beautifully during this huge (to me) process.
Sounds like the RR is down and the sales process has been successful.
I would guess that the pandemic and people working on layouts has probably helped in terms of sales of items, especially the track, since some things have been somewhat limited in supply.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Yes, I agree.......
I got emails from some folks indicating they were building layouts and my "stuff" was going to "a good home". I also found that a number of the railcars were very difficult to find as they had been out of production for years - actually decades in some instances.
mobilman44I got emails from some folks indicating they were building layouts and my "stuff" was going to "a good home".
It is good when your efforts live on in a new home.
Heck, I can't even get feedback when I sell model railroad equipment.
Maybe you have to tell a story in the Description.
I limit my comments to the fact that (1) I bought the item New (2) it is in Very Good to Excellent condition (3) there is no Damage, no broken or missing parts.
Having just taken down a railroad to build a new one I can totally see both sides of the equation.One thing I am very happy about is years ago I invested in modular benchwork. It assembles easily and comes apart easily and has survived several layout chjanges.I'm using 1/2" plywood for the new layout tops and designing it so that the tops come off in easy to manage sections.I'm now in my 60's and single and when I go family will have to take care of it all.Fortunately my nephew who loves trains will have it all for his use, along with a crap load of tools.
richhotrain Heck, I can't even get feedback when I sell model railroad equipment. Maybe you have to tell a story in the Description. I limit my comments to the fact that (1) I bought the item New (2) it is in Very Good to Excellent condition (3) there is no Damage, no broken or missing parts. Rich
When I was selling tractor parts I only received feedback about 60% of the time.
Only had two negative ones in 1000's of sales and 10 years. One of those later recanted his feedback. The other I just refunded his money and let him keep the part. He failed to read the listing and thought he was getting $130 worth of parts for $20, the part cost me $4
SandaValleyRRI'm using 1/2" plywood for the new layout tops and designing it so that the tops come off in easy to manage sections.
This I would like to hear more about, it is probably best if you start a new thread.
What are these removable tops? Is this so you can build scenery at the workbench, or is it a modular system?
Hi, and a Happy Mother's Day to those that qualify!
All Ebay auctions to date have sold, although the one holdout (3 CMR trucks) was practically given away. So with that, I went on a hiatus from Ebay and figured I'd take time off before I get to listing structures and detail parts.
Well, yesterday I got my "invite" to join so called managed payments. It's probably safe to hook it into my existing bank, and of course I could open a new account to handle it. But I really don't want to deal with that now.
Ebay says I have til the end of the month before its a "must do", so what that did was jump start my putting together the rest of the auctions and getting them online ASAP.
Their reasons for severing part (all?) of the PayPal ties are obvious, but dang, the existing system just worked so well (IMO).........
Hope all are well out there!
mobilman44 Well, yesterday I got my "invite" to join so called managed payments. It's probably safe to hook it into my existing bank, and of course I could open a new account to handle it. But I really don't want to deal with that now. Ebay says I have til the end of the month before its a "must do", so what that did was jump start my putting together the rest of the auctions and getting them online ASAP. Their reasons for severing part (all?) of the PayPal ties are obvious, but dang, the existing system just worked so well (IMO).........
Yes, the existing PayPal system worked well and, if given the choice, I would have stuck with it. That said, the one advantage of Managed Payments is the elimination of the 2.9% (+ $0.30) fee charged by PayPal. Now, what will be interesting will be to see if eBay eventually increases its own 10% seller's fee.
Once forced to use the Managed Payments system, I have sold a few items under this new system. I have to say, it worked pretty smoothly. I was immediately notified when the buyer made the payment, and the transfer of this payment to my bank account took place within 48 hours of sale.
Although PayPal used to record the buyer payment instantly, the 48 hour delay doesn't bother me because I never withdrew PayPal funds, choosing instead to leave the PayPal balance available for my own future purchases (from eBay or elsewhere).
When I set up the account to receive Managed Payments, I set up a zero fee checking account at a local bank. I chose not to use my current checking or savings account or to even use my main bank for this purpose. I just wanted a clean break to keep eBay at bay.
One thing that has become obvious to me since eBay instituted the Managed Payments system is the amount of new "paperwork". eBay's online reports are several and they are complicated. Also, it has become more difficult to find prior sales that used the PayPal system. If you don't know what I mean, you will once you enter the world of Managed Payments.
One big difference is how eBay collects it money. It used to withdraw its fees and its shipping charges once per month from PayPal who initially collected the buyer payment. Now, it takes its fee immediately from the buyer payment before depositing the net payment from the buyer into the designated checking or savings account.
I am still not clear how and when eBay gets reimbursed for shipping charges. Right now, in my case, during the transition from PayPal, eBay is "owed" shipping charges. In one instance, eBay carried over a negative balance of around $10.00 or so from one month to another and then took it from a more recent buyer payment in the following month.
Now, there is another negative balance of $8.00 or so for the current month, and there are no recent buyer payments to take its $8.00 from. So, I have received a notice from eBay that it will debit my special checking account to recover its shipping charge. That is one good reason to maintain a totally separate checking or savings account for eBay transactions.
One last thing. In trying to reconcile three different notices that I received in my email from eBay, I was totally confused what they were doing with "my money". So, I spent one half hour or so on the phone with a helpful and patient Customer Service rep from eBay walking me through a series of statements. That is when I discovered that eBay had to recover a couple of hundred dollars in uncollected shipping charges attributable to my January-February sales from funds held in PayPal.
Confused? Well, so was I. In retrospect, I think the way that a newcomer to Managed Payments should act is to postpone any further eBay sales until all prior sales have cleared including eBay's recovery of its 10% sellers fees and its previously uncollected shipping charges from PayPal. The transition period can be totally confusing to the casual eBay seller.
The old saying....."if it ain't broken, don't fix it" comes to mind. But I think its obvious that it's all about "good business", which is Wall Streetese for "Greed". And of course as Mr. Gecko once said, "Greed is Good"!
I just hope I can clear out a good portion of what I have left (that's salable) before month end. I do think the idea of a separate checking account is the way to go, and I'll likely see my friendly Chase Bank rep next month......
Sad to see the RR come down but it will happen to all the railroads out there eventually. Did you work for Mobil Oil ? I'm a little bit younger than you at 72 but was in the oil business most of my adult life. We were a Mobil Distributor for many years .
Yes, I was with Mobil Oil, and then ExxonMobil (the capital "M" is correct) and retired after 33 years (plus 7 with another oil company). They were great companies to work for, and it was quite a "ride".......
Over the last two weeks I've offered up the last of the auctions (36) on Ebay - almost all being structures. As of this morning, 24 are sold and shipped, and of the remaining 12, 3 have bids. All end by Thursday, the day before the "Managed Payments" deadline.
I "bit the bullet" and got a totally separate second checking account, to be used only for Ebay. I didn't want to do that, but realized I'll likely have a lot of stuff to sell in the future.
Congratulations on all of your eBay success.
It sounds like you have adapted to the new Managed Payments system easily.
Not quite yet....... I want to wait until all my auctions close (Thur) so as to run any monies thru PayPal. After that, I'll hook into Managed Payments.
Well, its May 28th, the last day Ebay will work with PayPal from a seller's perspective. Thankfully, the last three of my auctions sold yesterday. I'll deal with "Managed Payments" down the road when I look to thinning down my train book and DVD collection.
As a recap, every loco, railcar, electronic, trackage, and vehicle and "detail" (figures, loads, signs, etc.) auction sold. That left the structures, and all but 5 sold, and I'll save them for a relist at a later time. I find it ironic that those 5 were among my favorite builds. Go figure.......
I've been working this project (converting the layout room to a treadmill/tv room) since November, and it really kept me busy and my mind off the craziness going on during that time. And, the money sure was a nice plus!
Take care, and stay safe!
mobilman44 As a recap, every loco, railcar, electronic, trackage, and vehicle and "detail" (figures, loads, signs, etc.) auction sold. That left the structures, and all but 5 sold, and I'll save them for a relist at a later time. I find it ironic that those 5 were among my favorite builds. Go figure.......
I am curious - did you list anything as a bundle or was everything done as individual pieces? I can see times when I would be interested in a bundle of cars for a unit train or locomotives for a consist, but that may not be what most buyers want. Flex track would be another.
That raises another question. You said you sold the turnouts and track. I assume when on your layout they had been painted and ballasted. How much did you clean them up?
Rick
mobilman44As a recap, every loco, railcar, electronic, trackage, and vehicle and "detail" (figures, loads, signs, etc.) auction sold. That left the structures, and all but 5 sold, and I'll save them for a relist at a later time. I find it ironic that those 5 were among my favorite builds. Go figure.......
Also out of curiosity (adding to Rick's questions)...
How did you settle on the opening bid amount? Did you start everything for $1.00 and let it ride, or did you set the minimum bid on a percentage of a fair price?
Sorry if I missed this information earlier in this thread.