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Sometimes ebay pricing makes no sense

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Posted by NorthBrit on Monday, February 7, 2022 5:15 AM

I must be 'sitting on a goldmine'  according to one EBay seller.   

He is selling a signed copy of a book for £500   (nearly $700).

The author is a friend of the family and I have 14 of his books  all signed.

Though I have been given the books by him, the books can be bought  (by anyone)  at regular selling price,  signed.

 

Needless to say the EBayer is still trying to sell the book.

 

David

To the world you are someone.    To someone you are the world

I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought

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Posted by rrebell on Monday, February 7, 2022 10:14 AM

Yeah, I remember a person trying to sell an Athearn engine for $10,000. A forum buddy even e-mailed him as did others and i guess to him it was very valuable. Also one person was trying to sell dryer lint.

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Posted by NVSRR on Monday, February 7, 2022 10:56 AM

Somebody on the is trying to sell stuff for something called a sand table.   I guess mr stuff could be used on one.  Not sure what that is though.

The Tyco pulpwood car.  Saw one for the awesome low price 200 because it was so hard to find and rare.  And he was giving it away at that price.   According to him.   There is what 20 pages of them on there at any given time.  

remember the guy that would come beat you up for a price 

A pessimist sees a dark tunnel

An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel

A realist sees a frieght train

An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space

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Posted by maxman on Monday, February 7, 2022 10:58 AM

Navel lint is much more valuable.

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Posted by maxman on Monday, February 7, 2022 11:01 AM

NVSRR
Somebody on the is trying to sell stuff for something called a sand table.   I guess mr stuff could be used on one.  Not sure what that is though.

Google it and you'll see.  It's for kids to play with indoors.

Wouldn't want to put any trains in it, unless you are modeling a train attack scene from Lawrence of Arabia.

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Posted by Mister Mikado on Monday, February 7, 2022 12:22 PM

Ah memories.  Back in 2005 or so I was buying (used) Proto 2000 and 1000 locos for giveaway prices on ebay, nobody wanted them, so I built up a large roster for cheap.  They're high now.

The biggest curiousity I see these days is HO turntables at sky-high prices, I mean even the manual ones with no motor or DCC.  Won't mention the brands but some of these don't even work very well.  I am going to construct a homemade one using that 1/4" phone jack method.

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Posted by dti406 on Monday, February 7, 2022 1:33 PM

My favorite one on EBay was 10 Tyco Couplers that started out at $1 and ended up selling for $39.95

 

Rick Jesionowski 

Rule 1: This is my railroad.

Rule 2: I make the rules.

Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!

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Posted by n012944 on Monday, February 7, 2022 1:37 PM

FRRYKid

 

 
rrebell

Add another wrinkle, if you put a watch on something and it dosn't sell the seller will start sending out e-mails to buyers with a lower price on buy it now, got a few things that way. Sometimes they offer 5% off and other times it is like 30%.

 

 

Very true. I've gotten a few things that way myself.

As to supporting your LHS, I would if I had one.

 

 

Yep.  I live in an area large enough for a NFL team, yet there is not a hobby shop around that carries model railroad stuff around. The closes one is over 100 miles away.  So my money goes to the cheapest one on the internet.  If it is a brick and mortar store selling on the internet, great.  If not, oh well.

An "expensive model collector"

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Posted by Billwiz on Monday, February 7, 2022 1:53 PM

John-NYBW
It's amazing how many sellers will mark an item down but then charge an exorbitant shipping cost.

I would not assume the seller is trying to gouge people on shipping.  I've sold some items and in the end lost money because I miscalculated shipping costs, including the shipping materials.  The cost of shipping has gone up.  

 

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Posted by wjstix on Monday, February 7, 2022 2:05 PM

John-NYBW
I'm upgrading a number of vintage Rivarossi passenger cars with interiors, body mounted KD couplers, diaphragms, weights and metal wheels. I needed to get some interiors for a couple of 1930 lightweight coaches. I went out to ebay and there were a number of listings for the old IHC interiors, all in mid twenty price range. Then I came across two different listings for 1930 lightweight coaches with interiors, both selling for $15.99 plus shipping including one which is a duplicate of a car I am upgrading.

The old Rivarossi car interiors were one-piece tan plastic. IHC interiors had a more detailed / complicated interior, with the floor cast in one color and different colored add-on parts for like dining car tables, wall dividers, lounge seats etc. so it's not surprising they'd cost more.

If you search ebay, you can find recent 3D printed interiors for Rivarossi, Athearn, and other cars at reasonable prices.

BTW AHM/Rivarossi cars are not the same as IHC cars. An IHC interior's seats, walls etc. normally aren't going to line up correctly with an AHM/Rivarossi car.

Stix
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Posted by ATSFGuy on Monday, February 7, 2022 2:37 PM

Regarding older stock like Walthers Goldline Autoracks, BLI California Zephyr Cars, yes prices can range anywhere from $50-100. Or $100-$300. It makes me cringe to this day.

Other auctions are in the $50-$100 range I usually go for.

Sometimes ebay will have HO Scale custom items listed. They could be trailers, trucks, cars, and locomotives. I one bought a customized Athearn 53' trailer that started out as an Xtra Lease, but had been repainted/decaled for Amazon.

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Posted by riogrande5761 on Monday, February 7, 2022 4:19 PM

ATSFGuy
Regarding older stock like Walthers Goldline Autoracks, BLI California Zephyr Cars, yes prices can range anywhere from $50-100. Or $100-$300. It makes me cringe to this day. Other auctions are in the $50-$100 range I usually go for.

Yep, and Walthers Superliner cars that used to go for $25 or $30 are now priced at $100 - $150 on the bay. Example:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=Walthers+superliner&_sacat=0

 

They are not selling btw, nor should they.  I guess these idiot's don't want to sell stuff or think maybe, just maybe some one stupid enough will buy one.  So far no buyers after many months.  Some sellers are idiots.

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

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Posted by BNSF UP and others modeler on Monday, February 7, 2022 4:42 PM

rrebell

Yeah, I remember a person trying to sell an Athearn engine for $10,000. A forum buddy even e-mailed him as did others and i guess to him it was very valuable. Also one person was trying to sell dryer lint.

 

 

As a former ebay seller before they required an SSN (a thousand curses, I had quite a lucrative pocket money gig going, and thats information I refuse to supply them) all I could think in response to that last sentence was "what in the actual..."LaughLaugh

Something like the OP's post recently happened to me. I somewhat fouled my laptop motherboard using Alienware's special eGPU and replacements for said MB were going for $475 on ebay. I made an offer to a seller for $375, he never even counteroffered (which by ebay seller standards not responding to an offer in any way shape or form is quite rude) so I made the same offer to another seller and he accepted without even a counteroffer. This, in the present nasty market that is computer parts (where one is buying a part for an expensive alienware laptop) is like being handed one of willy wonka's golden tickets or winning a lotto. Needless to say I was quite proud of myself

The riculous part was that seller #1 had the audacity to come back to me later and make a special personal offer of $425, which I declined, proudly adding a message in the refusal letting him know I already got what I wanted for the price I'd origionally offered HIM. He would have probably gotten my $425 too if he hadn't ignored my offer completely.

Ya can't fix stupidLaugh

I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.

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