Wow! That's some collection...

[Bill H.]

He claims to live in a 900 sf retirement apartment, but won't be around for the close of bidding because he's leaving at 4 AM to go to work??? Hmmmmm....

Seems the final words of the ad are fair warning:

QUOTE: "You pays your nickle and takes your chances".

I'll pass.

[Anonymous]

The reason he did not get a bid is no one can actually tell what is being sold. It is just older items that most of us have aready. It does not bring large money. I can only spot about five older brass boxes and the LMB brass box is forty years old at least.

By his reasoning, he probably believes it is worth $8000 starting bid, but no dealer wants this type of general used items and it might bring two or three thousand or even more if sold off individually at a train show.

[tomkat-13]

DID NOT GET A BID!!!!!!.............now lets see what happens....

[Anonymous]

I have a 99.9 rating on Ebay and over 3100+ positive feedbacks since 1999. Based on my experience with Ebay, I would advise anyone who is interested in the deal to insist on going to look at it first. If he won't let you do that, it's not real. The fact that he does not list an inventory should be enough of a clue that this deal is probably a trap.

[Anonymous]

I have a locomotive.rollingstock./building collection on a par to his. So having something to compare to. I wouldn't waste my money.

Someone wanting to give somone the slip

James

[dwRavenstar]

"It might seem highhanded to some folks but I won't give out my address or phone. The NMRA, TCA and TTOS all stress the risk involved in releasing the location of your collection. I have been burgled in the past and my house set afire to cover the theft. Sorry, it is just too risky to tell people you don't know personally where your valuables are. No deals on this lot outside of eBay."

This guy is a real piece of work!!!
[D)]

He's edited the posted ad and tries to make it sound like the collection is worth five times the asking price. Ok, he mentions escrow but wants you to use Paypal. He wants you to make sure you're getting what you've bid on but won't tell you exactly what that is and refuses to tell you where it can be seen.

If it doesn't sell on this auction he's threatening to just repair everything and sell it a bit at a time. Sounds to me like I'd be investing big cash into something that needs repaired before it will be worth owning. [V]

Think before I'd take this seriously I'd dig up that coffee can of C-notes and head to the LHS for something worth the time and bother.

dwRavenstar

[Anonymous]

8,000.00 buys a lot of cool train stuff. I don't see much of interest here. Lots of blue boxes....I would rather take the 8 grand and get stuff I want. Not some one else's idea of a model railroad. No inventory and supposed "other boxes"?? How do you know what you have won??? What is to stop him from high grading the collection and selling the goods on ebay before you get there to pick it up???? Interested to see if some one bites....

[tatans]

This is a tough call, if he had a previous layout, would all the stuff be in boxes? is nothing assembled? this stuff was shipped in 1997, he cannot even remember some very expensive items, he may be legit. as some responses to polls on this site, people have responded to the obscene amount of brass locomotives they have stashed away for some peculiar reason, and it looks like this guy had just a little too much money invested in the hobby. O.K. guys, now what happens to all your "STUFF" when you want to get rid of it (your widow will send it off to the dump) This collection would be great to find out just where it ends up.

[Anonymous]

I saw a PRR 4-4-4-4 Duplex in one of the boxes in the photo. Was it a BLI or Bowser? Or even a painted brass?

I read his wording and am somewhat confused and eyesore from reading so many different values and sentences. Reminds me faintly of some scam email like a Nigeria that was also full of such sentences.

Alot of the cars in the boxes were probably older models like state cars and other things, I could not access the photos for editing or other processing that might enable me to get a better look.

The more I think about it, 8,000 dollars is NOT the value of that stuff. He claims to have more stuff that is not in the pictures. But if you read the winding and scenic description he says there is a dremel tool and few other things near the end.

I see boxes that might hold the brass. The seller apparently visited some brass sites and researched some prices. Im tending to think they are retail prices and might not reflect the actual value or condition.

I will also have to say the initial value fee on ebay might be a monster, I recall paying some small percentage of a listing price and again on the closing value if the auction was successful.

He stated that he does not want to go thru and inventory everything for a variety of reasons. Well Im pretty sure that there might be some railroading friends who may be around to help sort and inventory the collection. I sorted and inventoried about 400 peices of my own collection at one time several years ago and it only took a few days at most.

I wi***he seller best of luck, but am inclined to say "No" because there are probably more to this story than apparent. He stated that he had "Large" layouts in his life and there are rather few of them in the hobby? Perhaps he might be able or eager to provide more information on his past large layouts.

Finally the entire tone of the auction makes me think that the man is "tired" of these items and wants em gone. The careful stacking indicates he was a dealer I have seen so many trains stacked this way in various shows... havent you?

I can go on but most of the responders have already echoed my other sentiments. So... there it is.. 8,000 dollars is too much and weighted down by the lack of motivation or desire to be very complete in detail and inventory.

And then he talks about escrow. At some length too. I dont understand escrow and think that he might have been burned in the past. Why do I get the feeling he wants his money in his hand BEFORE one item is moved out?

I think that his 90 day storage is very generous but you would think that there is some kind of much more limited time frame to complete the sale, transfer the funds and get the items OUT of there (What was it? 4 weeks?) especially if a buyer has paid a very large amount of money. (Hey the moving truck is CHEEP with that dollar figure)

Im sorry for a lengthly posting. Just dont have a good feeling about this particular sale.

[Budliner]

junk

[jsoderq]

If you look at the photos it is clear this is a train show dealer wanting out. Just the way the cardboard boxes and trays are set up is a dead giveaway

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by RoyalOaker

It's nice to dream about finding a set like this at a garage sale or flee market and getting a terrific price but it would be very hard convincing my wife that $8,000 is a good deal.

I prefer to buy things a little at a time, that way it seems like I am spending less.

My wife and I have it down pat. She doesn't ask what I spend on trains... I don't ask what she spends period. Everyone's happy.

[RoyalOaker]

It's nice to dream about finding a set like this at a garage sale or flee market and getting a terrific price but it would be very hard convincing my wife that $8,000 is a good deal.

I prefer to buy things a little at a time, that way it seems like I am spending less.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tomkat-13

If you look at his feedback , one is for a train item he bought....if he his selling all this, why is he still buying? The only way to bid this is to go look at it in person or escrow option to make sure that it is all there, and with out some more info or detailed list its still a chance that you get ripped off!

Exactly. If he had an inventory and that inventory suggested the price was good, I might do it. But I would be planning to escrow and go in person to verify before releasing the escrow.

[tomkat-13]

If you look at his feedback , one is for a train item he bought....if he his selling all this, why is he still buying? The only way to bid this is to go look at it in person or escrow option to make sure that it is all there, and with out some more info or detailed list its still a chance that you get ripped off!

[jecorbett]

A fool and his money...

[loathar]

If he's been into trains as long as says, he would know the value of brass and at least inventory and highlight that.(If it exists) Who buys THAT many kits for their layout and doesn't assemble them.I could see buying 20 or 30, building them, then buying 20 or 30 and building them. But not 700. I thought he said no shipping , pick up only. At least the guy is willing to meet the buyer face to face on the sale. Must not think it's a rip off if he's willing to do that.

[emdgp92]

If I could afford to, and had somewhere to put it :)

[CraigN]

Look at his feedback rating.

How many of you would take the chance even if he did have an inventory list?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by loathar

I only saw a few locos in the pictures and no obvious brass anywhere. If some of that stuff is as old as he says,$10/each(average) is a lot more than he paid for them.
He said NO shipping. Only pick up. Looks more like he bought out a hobby shop and trying to turn a profit.( I love the threat of "if this doesn't sell, I'm going to sell it!)
PS-I'd low ball him.($5500 or $6000) No bids yet. If he's really that eager to sell, He'll take it.

Yep. My feeling as I got through it all is there's a lot of theater going on here to cover something. Could be a 'trying to turn a profit on shop inventory' as you say. Could be stuff as simple as "what little brass there is is small stuff, in poor condition and not of high value" so he doesn't want to specify. I mean, come on already... I'd lend it more credence if he simply had a specific inventory of the brass. It's clearly the high-unit-value stuff and how hard could that be...?

The whole "no, I don't have an inventory" is just icing on the cake, really.

I've made a couple purchases of train stuff in large lots (never this big, more like the $1,000-$2,000 range) and always been very pleased with how it turned out. One was HO stuff, most of which I still have/use. One was O-gauge, which I parceled out and sold item-by-item, which paid for probably two years' worth of my HO activities... But it was always a "here's the exact list of what's included" basis.

I should have clarified about shipping... He says he won't arrange for shipping, you have to do it yourself. In my particular case, that would mean a big shipping bill (because of where I live) AND he won't help me out arranging it... Others might have a better option just to pick it up.

Even lowballing it is too risky for me without some clearer indication of exactly what the stuff is. And, to be honest, I'm about 90% window shopping anyway (though that's probably about 9.999999% more serious than most folks he'll get coming through).

Nevertheless, I owe the guy for one thing. I got five minutes of pleasant daydreaming of a huge truck FULL of train stuff pulling up in front of my house and unloading! I could still go for that idea...

[MidlandPacific]

I think you'd be crazy to agree to come to his location and take this stuff without an inventory beforehand. It's unreasonable to expect someone to plunk down $8,000 without a better idea than a couple of snapshots. Akane, eh? Maybe the winner will let us know.

[emdgp92]

Even at $5,000 ro $6,000, he's a bit overvalued. Unless, there's some brass in there that we're not seeing. I don't think he'll have an easy time of selling this lot--too many fuzzy photos. If I'm going to part with that much cash, I want to see what I'm getting. Same thing with the lack of inventory. If I don't know what it is, I'm not going to bid. Most HO stuff doesn't seem to be worth very much, no matter how old it is. There's just so much of it, and many HO models have been rereleased (or improved) multiple times since then.

[cwclark]

how do we know those are boxes filled with rolling stock?...they could be empty...$8 grand?...I should think we should see more!....chuck

[loathar]

I only saw a few locos in the pictures and no obvious brass anywhere. If some of that stuff is as old as he says,$10/each(average) is a lot more than he paid for them.
He said NO shipping. Only pick up. Looks more like he bought out a hobby shop and trying to turn a profit.( I love the threat of "if this doesn't sell, I'm going to sell it!)
PS-I'd low ball him.($5500 or $6000) No bids yet. If he's really that eager to sell, He'll take it.

[Anonymous]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6033764592

I was really intrigued by this. It just so happened that quarterly bonuses paid out today and so I was actually considering making a move on it, I just kept reading along the examples he was giving were right up my alley, to a large extent. The images hinted at lots of things I'd like... So I just keep reading and waiting for the list or link to the "list of everything included." Then I get to the last line which says "No, I don't have an inventory"...

Hold up? Let me get this straight. You want $8,000 for this huge lot of train stuff, plus pickup or (very expensive) shipping and you want that on the basis of some fuzzy photos, a few examples and "plus there's a lot more stuff here!"...

Uh... Yeah, right.... Good luck with that consignment sale, though I'm curious how that's going to work without an inventory...