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Yet another example of eBay going nuts!

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Posted by richhotrain on Friday, July 10, 2015 6:47 AM

BRAKIE

I still don't get the mind set of bidders on e-Bay or at estate auctions they must win regardless of cost.

There may be some bidders out there who want to win at any cost because they are overly competitive.   But, more likely, someone is willing to win at any cost because he simply wants the item............badly.

Rich

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Posted by BRAKIE on Friday, July 10, 2015 6:30 AM

Rich,That sounds like they kept upping their automatic bids..I set mine at the price I'm willing to pay and then I wait and see if I win if not,all well.

I have found some items that had cheaper  BIN prices then some of the going current (at that time) bids.

I still don't get the mind set of bidders on e-Bay or at estate auctions they must win regardless of cost.

 

Larry

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Posted by richhotrain on Friday, July 10, 2015 6:11 AM

BRAKIE

 

 
richhotrain
The auction ended with 11 bids, and the winning bid was for $65. No bids occurred on the final day of the auction, so hardly a bidding war.

 

I suspect it was a bidding war that died out before the auction ended-set your highest bid and walk away or the lowest bidder got cold feet? At any rate $65.00 is a high price for a truck that can still be found if one looks around at train shows.

 

Yeah, Larry, you may be right.

Here is an analysis of the later bids after the initial opening of the auction.

c**6 bid $18.00 to take the lead but was willing to go $24.00

s**d was willing to go $29.99 but only needed $25.00 to take the lead

d**5 was willing to go $41.50 but only needed $30.99 to take the lead

s**d was now willing to go $56.99 but only needed $42.50 to take the lead

d**5 was now willing to go $63.00 but only needed $57.99 to take the lead

s**d was finally willing to go $64.00 to take the lead

who knows how high d**5 was finally willing to go but only needed $65.00 to win

Alton Junction

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Posted by BRAKIE on Friday, July 10, 2015 5:22 AM

richhotrain
The auction ended with 11 bids, and the winning bid was for $65. No bids occurred on the final day of the auction, so hardly a bidding war.

I suspect it was a bidding war that died out before the auction ended-set your highest bid and walk away or the lowest bidder got cold feet? At any rate $65.00 is a high price for a truck that can still be found if one looks around at train shows.

Larry

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Posted by richhotrain on Friday, July 10, 2015 4:39 AM

tedtedderson

 

 
richhotrain

 How often have I seen auctions or won auctions where the competition gives up when another bid will only cost him 50 cents or one dollar?

Rich

 

 

 

I thought it was possible to set your bidding up where the eBay machine will outbid the highest bid for you by a set amount until the price reaches a certain level. 

All the winning price tells you is that the loser had his certain level under the winning bid by the amount of the winner's set outbid amount. 

I've entered bids and immediately get a message that I was outbid. 

Get up from a slot machine, next person sits down and wins the jackpot. Shoulda put in just one more dollar! 

Well, there you have it.  The auction ended with 11 bids, and the winning bid was for $65.  No bids occurred on the final day of the auction, so hardly a bidding war.  Absent was the last minute flurry of bids.  The second place bidder fell $1.00 short.

Now I am not suggesting that the second place bidder could have won by bidding another two dollars before the end of the auction.  For all we know, the winning bidder may have had a silent reserve up to $75 or even $100 to prevent last second bids from winning the auction.

Rich

 

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Posted by vsmith on Thursday, July 9, 2015 8:21 PM
Well this is why I NEVER use the proxy automatic bidder service. It will continue to bid away until the auction ends or it reaches the max bid. Looks like one guys max was just a tad higher than the others ;-)

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by tedtedderson on Thursday, July 9, 2015 6:00 PM

richhotrain

 How often have I seen auctions or won auctions where the competition gives up when another bid will only cost him 50 cents or one dollar?

Rich

 

I thought it was possible to set your bidding up where the eBay machine will outbid the highest bid for you by a set amount until the price reaches a certain level. 

All the winning price tells you is that the loser had his certain level under the winning bid by the amount of the winner's set outbid amount. 

I've entered bids and immediately get a message that I was outbid. 

Get up from a slot machine, next person sits down and wins the jackpot.  Shoulda put in just one more dollar! 

Now,  the penny auctions are where it's at! That'll toss you around and upside down till all the pennies fall out of your pocket. 

But I digress-

It seems like vehicles are few and far between in ho. Almost like you gotta snatch em up when available. 

Maybe I'm wrong. This may all be proven to be conjecture. WhisperHuh?

T e d

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Posted by DAVID FORTNEY on Thursday, July 9, 2015 10:53 AM

I have bought and sold on eBay since 1998 and I have seen sellers post items for sale that I could not believe. I have also seen crazy bidders. 

What it comes down to is that you can price an item anything you want, it's up to the buyer to buy it because it is reasonable or he just wants it. 

I had an O scale plastic reefer from AtlasO listed for $75.00, it went for $800.00. I know the prices of items before I post them but maybe I missed something on this car. No matter what I was very happy with the sale. You just never know. 

 

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Posted by BRAKIE on Thursday, July 9, 2015 6:41 AM

richhotrain
But you know who will have the last laugh? The seller who will pocket a relatively handsome sum and the eventual winner of the auction who will get the item that he wants so badly

I picked up a medium size tote full of Athearn,Roundhouse and Walthers cars at a estate auction around 4-5 years ago..Suffice it to say I turned a pretty nice return on my investment when I sold these cars to a train show dealer and he seem happy at the price I quoted for the cars..I even threw the tote in on the deal.

 

Larry

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Posted by richhotrain on Thursday, July 9, 2015 5:46 AM

The thing that amuses me most about this thread is the degree of concern shown for the pricing of the item.

But you know who will have the last laugh?  The seller who will pocket a relatively handsome sum and the eventual winner of the auction who will get the item that he wants so badly.  The buyer will not look back and regret paying the final amount.  

And you know who will be second guessing himself?  The guy who loses the auction by $1.00 or thereabouts.  How often have I seen auctions or won auctions where the competition gives up when another bid will only cost him 50 cents or one dollar?

Rich

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Posted by richhotrain on Thursday, July 9, 2015 5:40 AM

BRAKIE

That old e-Bay "Gotta have it! Bid! Bid! And bid more! Its a bidding war not supply and demand.

I wouldn't call it a bidding war, at least not yet.
 
11 bids does not necessarily constitute a bidding war.  
 
The first two bidders made 4 bids between them and have now dropped out. Those four bids still kept the price well below the original MSRP.  The next 7 bids have been made between two different bidders, both of whom obviously want the item.  But the bidding has remained static since Dave started this thread 24 hours ago.  Lets' see what happens in another 14 1/2 hours as the auction comes to a close.
 
Rich

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Posted by Santa Fe all the way! on Thursday, July 9, 2015 12:56 AM
The Athearn Mack B fire Engine has gone for as much as $125. And then there's the Athearn Telesquirts. They were going for insane prices and then.... Athearn re-released them. How do you think someone who just paid $170 felt when you could buy a new on for less than $30.
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Posted by hon30critter on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 11:56 PM

Rich:

$65 doesn't look so bad, but as Bob Boudreau mentioned, when that gets converted into Canadian dollars and you add in shipping, then the numbers are a little scarier.Laugh

It seems that the 3 axle Mac trucks do command a higher price but this is almost double what they normally go for.

Dave

Edit:

In fairness to the seller, they do offer an alternate lower shipping rate to Canada. I wish all the US sellers would do that.

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

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Posted by superbe on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 9:30 PM
This talk about bidding wars brings back old memories. Years ago I was an avid collector of local postcards. At that time eBay used your personal IDs instead of the computer generated ones. There were 4 or 5 other major collectors as well as casual ones bidding on the cards. It didn’t take very long to recognized the ID’s of the bidders. The bidding became personal and I’ll have to admit on more than one occasion I let my emotions get the best of me.
In addition there was no programed bidding so I had a clock with a big second hand and I would time my last bid to the last couple of seconds. As the time ran down I could feel my heart beat speeding up. It was like being on a big game hunt and like hunting I didn't always get my prey. Either my bid was too late or not big enough.
Ah, those were the days Big Smile
Bob
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Posted by stuckinthe50s on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 8:41 PM

Looks like two egos in a bidding war. A sellers dream.

Cheers, Don
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Posted by BRAKIE on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 7:41 PM

Doughless

Two crazy ol' coots bidding up an item says nothing about market value.  I wouldn't rely on it when buying my next vehicle.

 

Exactly..Like some of those BB and Roundhouse kits going for $20-25.00..

That old e-Bay "Gotta have it! Bid! Bid! And bid more! Its a bidding war not supply and demand.

Larry

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nw2
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Posted by nw2 on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 6:12 PM

Tooling is too expensive to sit around for long. 

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Posted by Darth Santa Fe on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 6:04 PM

andrechapelon
Naw, that's nowhere near as outrageous as the dimwit who was asking $5K for a genyoowine 1966 original issue SD45.

Andre

And here I thought everyone had forgotten that by now! That had to be the most infamous topic I've ever posted on this forum.

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Posted by Doughless on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 4:32 PM

Two crazy ol' coots bidding up an item says nothing about market value.  I wouldn't rely on it when buying my next vehicle.

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Posted by AntonioFP45 on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 12:44 PM

Rich brings up a very good point.  It is the law of supply and demand guys.

When certain items are discontiued by a manufacturer, they can potentially command high bids on ebay.

With that said, HOWEVER, something else to keep in mind (which I've witnessed). A number of us tend to forget that eventually a manufacturer may will be willing to produce a popular item again, sometimes in an improved form!

Here's an excellent example of an item that I, initially, regretted not getting: The Walthers Cornerstone kit: "Miranda's Bananas".

https://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3080

Imho, it's a beautiful industrial structure. It's one of the basic types I saw near rail lines back in the day. When Walthers stopped producing this kit, I was disappointed. Whenever this kit showed up on Ebay, bidding prices in some instances passed the $100 mark!  Well guess what Walthers did a few years later!

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3760

Boy that building looks VERY familair, doesn't it? I like this version even better and it's currently in stock. I'll be getting one this time.

But this is an example as to why I no longer get upset when certain items I'd like to purchase are discontinued. If the price is too high on the bay, then I pass.  The same goes for model trains and vehicles.

Personal example: Years back Athearn produced an RTR HO FRISCO SD45 with the "L-shaped" windshields. The prototypes often ran in SCL territory, so I was interested, but procrastinated. After they were sold out, whenever one showed up on ebay, it commanded high bids.  At the risk of sounding redundant, here we are 5 or so years later and guess what Athearn is getting ready to produce?

http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH65007

Simple word to those new to ebay: Unless you can afford it or it's rare you've been searching and waiting to find for a while, don't jump the gun and clean your wallet out on an item unnecessarily. Do your research, be patient, be a smart shopper.

I was intimidated by ebay when I first started. After doing some homework it's now one of my best sources for rolling stock and out of production locomotives.

 

richhotrain

Before everybody gets overexcited and overheated, consider this.

The item originally listed for $21.98, and it is now discontinued.

With 11 bids and a day or so to go, more than one guy wants that item, perhaps badly.  It reminds me of the eBay sales of the Walthers Bascule Bridge once it had been discontinued.

So, why is this so surprising, and why is the $65 bid so outrageous?

it is the law of supply and demand at work.

Rich

 

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Posted by RideOnRoad on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 12:26 PM

The bidding history seems to indicate a bidding war between two parties.

Richard

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Posted by BRAKIE on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 10:30 AM

Hobbez
There must be a very large and active (and well funded) community of truck collectors out there.

There is..Around 7 years ago I went with a buddy of mine to a model truck and toy show..The place was packed and some of those display 'layouts" was fantastic especially the model of a Big T truck stop complete with the sound of idling 18 wheelers..

Larry

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Posted by riogrande5761 on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 9:48 AM

I see lots of Athearn Fruehauf trailers for $65 Buy It Now prices these days.  Those were around $24 to $26 MSRP when they were first on the market.  Pretty nutty but ...

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Posted by rgengineoiler on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 8:56 AM

As Marlon said, Maybe some fool will be willing to pay for it.  There was an N Scale Micro-Trains Mobil Gas car, new in box for $65.00, buy it now.  I own three of them and I can't fathom anyone spending that for the car and it was listed three times.

I do buy and sell on Ebay from time to time so I see many of these listings looking for a fool.  The key here is be an educated buyer as some listings state,"very rare" as a come on to buy.   I could state many more examples but it's not worth wasting my time.   I am sure we are all smarter than some of these listings.  Doug

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Posted by slammin on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 8:24 AM
The Athearn Mack Bs usually command outrageous bids, but I'm surprised to see an R tractor that high. As stated earlier, it takes a willing buyer and a willing seller to determine value. Few CMW vehicles generate this much interest.
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Posted by Soo Line fan on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 7:44 AM

Charter member of the club:

 

Jim

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Posted by Hobbez on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 7:42 AM

Of all the things that I have bid on through ebay, the most active bidding has always been on HO scale vehicles, especial semi trucks/trailers.  There must be a very large and active (and well funded) community of truck collectors out there.

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Posted by BRAKIE on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 7:36 AM

richhotrain
it is the law of supply and demand at work. Rich

More like I gotta have it regardless of cost at work.

You can still find these at train shows and some model truck and toy shows at or slightly below MSRP..

And how about that very common BB GP7 for $149.99? Those sell for around $30-40.00 tops new or $12-15.00 used at most train shows.

Larry

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Posted by riogrande5761 on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 7:31 AM

What may seem insane to you are me may not seem a big deal to a few others; some of us may be on tight budgets while others the same kind of money may be "chump change" really.  It's all relative really.  We can all sit back an ooh and ah. 

My wife used to work for a lady who dropped insane amounts of money all the time, every week and all she could do was just shake her head.  The sad thing was this lady grew up dirt poor and seems to have totally forgotten her past - but her husband was bringing home 6 figures and then some, plus we think she wasn't well and she was spending copious amounts of money to salve some pain or maybe get back at her husband as some sort of passive agression - no doubt they have some major debt too.  But I digress.

Anyway, thats all water under the bridge.  Ebay is just another place for people to drop money on stuff and some have way more than we can imagine so it's no big deal for them to spend more than we would on something thats "not worth it".  Move along, move along!

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