Ebay brass volume.

[Anonymous]

I was just there and there were 497 items of HO Brass listed and this included people who were trying to sell brass track. If brass is just entered you will get door knockers and other weird stuff. I picked up some items at a good price and others will be a little pricey depending on the model. For some reason geared loco's usually go for what the used dealers sell them for. I watch the dealers and keep my bids under what they want for a similar item.


Rick

[CNJ831]

Brass, purchased in volume, is/was indeed a characteristic shared mainly by hobbyists from the 1960's-1980's. Today's runs of brass locomotives are miniscule compared to thirty years ago so the current consumer base and collection size is drastically smaller, with collectors arguably quite a bit younger. As the older crowd bails out of the hobby or passes on (their collections being sold by their survivers) the listings of brass are growing ever larger. So in short, yes, what you see reflected on eBay is a result of demographics.

And remember, just as with Lionel tin-plate, many see the value of brass locomotives dwindling in the future when the affluent will be from a generation almost totally unfamiliar with model trains.

CNJ831

[orsonroy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tatans

Just flipped to ebay brass for a few laughs, and to my surprise there were 22 pages of brass items, mostly engines and a lot of very rare types, whats going on ? is this demographics coming into play? Can all the owners (or widows) of masses of brass selling their stockpile of stored brass locos? never saw so much stuff all at once, anyone have an answer???

Simple: Ebay has become the best way to buy brass. You've got three options when selling brass:

1) sell it for less money than it's "worth" to a brass seller, or consign it with him and wait years for a payout.

2) advertise yourself, and wait years to sell off a midsized collection.

3) go to Ebay and tap into a gigantic pool of ready buyers, who will fight amongst themselves, giving you a higher dollar amount. And you only have to wait 7-9 days to make a sale.

[orsonroy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by HighIron2003ar

Anything brass is minimum of 200 dollars. Usually 1000- or more. Too rich for me.

DEFINITELY not true! I've got a fleet of Oriental POwerhouse Mikes ("mostly" brass), and they've cost me less than $150 apiece. I've picked up older brass steamers like United Berkshires for less than $200, and cabooses run about $100.

It seems that the "usual" Ebay price for brass is in the $100-$350 range, which is very good for brass steam especially.

[Anonymous]

Anything brass is minimum of 200 dollars. Usually 1000- or more. Too rich for me.

[tatans]

Just flipped to ebay brass for a few laughs, and to my surprise there were 22 pages of brass items, mostly engines and a lot of very rare types, whats going on ? is this demographics coming into play? Can all the owners (or widows) of masses of brass selling their stockpile of stored brass locos? never saw so much stuff all at once, anyone have an answer???