Thanks for posting the auction statistics Ed. A lot of stuff I didn't know.
I have seen what you're talking about many times DSchmidt. I have quit bidding at times finding an item cheaper in the buy-it-now category.
I've seen what you're talking about too Styx. Items seem to go for less the second or third time around after the bidding frenzy cools off a bit. I even noticed they have a "sell one like this" button. I hope that depressed center flat car comes back round again.
The make an offer button is fun sometimes Kevin. I have even actually received an email from a seller, polite wording but I could see they may have been somewhat offended. I don't know, ...They are the one that provided the make an offer button, It doesn't say make a high offer only I have had some sellers accept a lowball. It seems to happen when the item had been listed for too long.
Here is my Best Buy on eBay, three brand new bi-color great Northerns for $19
TF
Track fiddlerThe make an offer button is fun sometimes Kevin.
I have been receiving those in my email. Sometimes I bite. I have about 86 items in my save for later bay. That's where mine are coming from.
What fascinates me is some of the items in my bay have increased in price after they have been sitting there for quite a while. I delete those.
I have always been a bottom feeder. Most things on e-bay I don't need but want some of them. I always buy way ahead of need to get the best price and one time got a whole dealers case of MDC boxcars for the price of one as others misread the ad. I put in a watch and just keep an eye on things, sometimes I win and sometimes I lose. A few times I got an item for free as it came with other junk that I resold.
Track fiddlerI have even actually received an email from a seller, polite wording but I could see they may have been somewhat offended. I don't know, ...They are the one that provided the make an offer button, It doesn't say make a high offer only
I had that happen only once. The guy wrote a very nasty note about what a jerk I was with my offer.
I wish I would have printed it out.
OvermodSomething comparatively new eBay is doing: sellers will send you discount offers on items they see you are watching.
This would be nice if I was watching train stuff.
We have about 150 items in our watch list, but it is all things we already own that my wife has bought in antique stores. She watches these things to see what they sell for. When these offers come in, she gets sad about the discount prices on her stuff.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
rrebell I have always been a bottom feeder. Most things on e-bay I don't need but want some of them. I always buy way ahead of need to get the best price and one time got a whole dealers case of MDC boxcars for the price of one as others misread the ad. I put in a watch and just keep an eye on things, sometimes I win and sometimes I lose. A few times I got an item for free as it came with other junk that I resold.
"Bottom Feeder" I like that one rrebell
I thought I was the only one that kept a daily watch with a fine-tooth comb in case opportunity arises to jump on.
And Kevin, I bet you did not give that seller a good review
Speaking of watch, it didn't take me long to find another heavy duty depressed center flat car that I missed out on a couple of nights ago.
The one I lost
A crappy picture but this is the one I got last night. It doesn't have the Load but the thing that it does have is M/T Body mount couplers that the other one didn't have. Things worked out as I came out better. Unfortunately it was a seller in Canada and the shipping was almost as much as the car. I didn't care at that point I just wanted it.
Thanks for everyone's participation on the thread
danno54The Alps printer can print with white ink making it great for making decals on a clear sheet.
https://www.ghost-white-toner.com/
Surely worth some experimentation... the Altoona model railroaders' club has some positive experience with this in an otherwise-ordinary HP four-cartridge color laser ...
Bummer, they don't have it for my Canon. Also, OUCH, the price. $250 for a toner cartridge.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
At one time, there was quite an 'underground' in modifying and refilling laser cartridges, including where to 'open' a refilling port on them using a Unibit to keep any plastic drilling fragments from falling inside and where to source the right kind of plug to seal the hole afterward. I would suspect that such modifications might still be practical for a given Canon cartridge that has not reached its expiration, perhaps for a yellow cartridge if a first pass in white is desired before registering full color in a subsequent pass, carefully vacuuming out prior toner before 'reloading' with white. Remember that some of this likely still needs to be done in the dark to avoid light damage to photosensitive components...
That of course preassumes the manufacturer will sell you bulk toner at a meaningful enough cost.
Something else I played around with doing back in the age of LaserWriters was some means of effectively adjusting registration of the image on the paper as fed, and any image size or effective magnification, so that work printed on one machine (for example as 'letterhead' background stock) could be correctly overprinted on another, perhaps from a different manufacturer hooked up to a system running a different OS. Some of this involved calibrated test prints subsequently carefully compared... this if developed might allow a club running a printer with a white cartridge to preprint areas on a given sheet of MicroScale for a nominal charge, and then effectively arrange CMYK overprint on the same sheet.
Tuh - tuh - tuh hundred and fifty bucks! and I remember when I thought magnetic toner for check overprinting was expensive!
The Ghost White Toner has been mentioned in several threads in the past, but no one has responded saying they have tried it.
SeeYou190The Ghost White Toner has been mentioned in several threads in the past, but no one has responded saying they have tried it.
EDIT: I went back to get references and they have three, including reference to a how-to talk in 2019 (which I have not yet read, but should prove at least valuable to those considering the approach). Hopefully this link will work in pulling up the references directly:
https://jbritton.pennsyrr.com/index.php/component/search/?searchword=White%20toner&searchphrase=all&Itemid=1156
So there is someone who has tried the Ghost White Toner, and was happy with the results?
That is good news. I must have missed that discussion.
Thanks.
Hello Track fiddler,
I have bought almost all my HO locos and freight cars on auction because I don't have easy access to a hobby shop that sells HO stuff and locos and freight cars are usually more inexpensive on auction. You can often buy new old stock and sometimes even brand new HO locos for about $35 ~ $95 (with shipping). The cheapest loco I found on auction was a new old stock bachmann spectrum F40PH ($35), and The most expensive was a brand new Athearn Genesis SD75M ($95). I think auctions are very useful, especially if you want to collect locos and frieght cars on a budget.
Hello UP8444
Agreed. Although I'm spending less these days on eBay because I have so much stock I really don't need anymore but I still want.
I still skim through the site over coffee every morning to see if there's something newly listed I want. Even the stuff I really don't want that much but interests me I put a watch tag on it to email me when the auction is almost over.
I set my highest bid conservatively most times even though I'm willing to spend more. Sometimes I skate in to see where the auctions at in the last minutes and have gotten some really good buys that way because there's not always a lot of other bidders.
Other times that conservative bid surprises me and I win and get something good for pennies on the dollar.
Even though I've slowed down considerably I always have something come in the mail every month. Ain't nothing better than a selfie present with No Holiday
me im the guy that bid bigggg then a couple days go by & i pray i get outbid lol
but since im a HO big boy addict im up to 30 so im done but yes i still have it under saved search lol
Dat-a-boy
I say go for 31 Thomas and give me one
Just won one by $0.22, despite a flurry of activity of 5 bids by one bidder in the last minute. I'd put in my one, max bid and left it at that I presume they would have bid again, but ran ot of time.
I had forgotten to add the tax in deciding on my max bid or they might have gotten it. I recommend putting in your max bid, then let others try to find it. If they bid timidly they may not bid in time.
Win some lose some.
Have fun,
Richard
Well, I'm learning to shop "smarter".
On relatively recent locos, maybe only 6 months old since they entered the U.S., I can find some on Ebay, but then I went out and found almost all the roadnames in stock at a couple larger dealers--AND some roadnames for lower than any price on Ebay even allowing for shipping.
John
PRR8259 Well, I'm learning to shop "smarter". On relatively recent locos, maybe only 6 months old since they entered the U.S., I can find some on Ebay, but then I went out and found almost all the roadnames in stock at a couple larger dealers--AND some roadnames for lower than any price on Ebay even allowing for shipping. John
In general I don't find any good deals on recently released items. They are usually listed at MSRP or higher. Ebay is more designed for people to sell off discontinued/items that they no longer need.
I usually go for the lesser known stuff. My most recent purchases have been items with titles such as "unknown brass HO steam loco" or "brass 0-6-0 w/ sound" or "BLI, 4447, engine"
Items that either have odd obscure titles that dont often come up from regular searches, or simply the owner doesn't know what theyre selling.
Thats how I got a PFM brass 0-6-0 with tsunami sound for $80, a Proto 2000 USRA 0-6-0 for $30, and many other steals. (not including ship/tax)
Charles
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Modeling the Santa Fe & Pennsylvania in HO
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLb3FRqukolAtnD1khrb6lQ
Instagram (where I share projects!): https://www.instagram.com/trainman440
Happened to me the other night ,I was winning up to the last few seconds.winner must have had a good sniping program!
I use Picclick (search ebay faster). A friend of mine once said that if you don't see it listed on picclick or an online hobby retailer, not only is the item extremely rare, it's something really hard to get.
Picclick is like a wheel so I keep checking back every couple hours to see what's new. I also screenshot certain autions and hit the "watch" button on my phone.
This is exactly what's happening, IMO. Ebay has become the storefront for a lot of smaller dealers....who charge higher prices than the larger retailers we are familiar with.
And these dealers run out of stock quickly, whereas Lombards, TrainWorld, Spring Creek, and Hiawatha Hobbies still has them in stock and generally cheaper.
- Douglas
Doughlesswhereas Lombards ... still has them in stock and generally cheaper.
True, the only thing about Lombards unless something changed recently is their standard shipping is $13.95 per order. If you are buying a one or two models, that is high shipping. If it matters.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
riogrande5761 Doughless whereas Lombards ... still has them in stock and generally cheaper. True, the only thing about Lombards unless something changed recently is their standard shipping is $13.95 per order. If you are buying a one or two models, that is high shipping. If it matters.
Doughless whereas Lombards ... still has them in stock and generally cheaper.
I know at least one of the retailers I mentioned never charge me sales tax....shhhh. Not sure if it was Lombard's. Others do, both the stores mentioned and ebay.
I wonder what caused Lombard Hobbies to charge $13.95 for shipping. That may discourage some modelers.
Anyone know what the shipping price used to be?
Shipping prices are skyrocketing. When I receive some packages that show the postage price on the label, it can be shocking.
On the other side... sending care packages to the girls can be very expensive.
$14.00 does not seem out of line.
SeeYou190Shipping prices are skyrocketing.
On two occasions I had to send warranty repair locomotives to Rapido in Markham, Ontario (about 275 miles from me as the chicken flies) and each time the postage was $75-80!
I really have to factor this added expense in for my future purchases from them
I don't expect postal rates to improve anytime soon
Cheers, Ed
If they are shipping Priority Mail, $14 is right in line. It's $15 for the medium box flat rate shipping. Has been in that range for a while.
That 'free' shipping when the item comes all teh way from CHina instead of just 3 states away is because it's subsidized, and that too is ending.
Sorry but a $14.95 shipping charge for a whole order, or a powered loco, is right in line.
Shipping across the border, you have to be very careful. Some carriers charge a ridiculous fewe to collect any customs duty involved - often more than the actual fee itself. Maybe that's nothing for a huge shipment (they don;t charge a percentage, they charge a flat fee - so you ship a single $200 item, or a pallet load woth $20k, you pay the same processing fee. It's ridiculous. Same thing happens in many European countries as well. On top of actual duties, the shipper can collect a ridiculously high "processing fee".
Shipping costs always figure into my buying. If I order some small parts on Ebay, I always check the free shipping to see how the prices are. In just about every case, the companies offering free shipping and the companies charging shipping are about the same price at the end.
I live about 50 miles from Spring Creek Model Train store.
They will mail, but I find that the 100 miles in my pickup will cost about the same in gas as the shipping. What's more, I get to spend enjoyable hours walking through the store looking at things.
York1 John
Also remember if you sell alot, you get discounts. One example is with USPS, 20% discount if you ship the same size and weight of package regulary, and there are a lot more. Maybe someone works in shipping and they can tell you more.