Greg Elmassian said:
Just like it takes patience to read this thread?
Greg
Yes!
Yes!
It is funny how many people hate sniping. It’s just part of the game. I liken it to income tax laws, you need to take full advantage of any loopholes you can. Just another game the govt. plays with us.
Regards, Greg
Greg Elmassian said:
Just like it takes patience to read this thread?
Greg
If it wasn’t for a fast scroll wheel mouse, I’d of given up a long time ago
Drat, outside on a laptop, but there is a “scroll” key on the keyboard, below the touchpad… it works, but afraid of wearing it out !!!
Regards, Greg
Well guys,
At least here we can just scroll through things. Big advantage over the Yahoo Groups and some other software.
Sorry to drag this old thread to the top, but I have to admit I was wrong.
I just picked up a new Aristo 27MHz Train Engineer for under $110 with shipping off eBay. Fortunately for me the seller listed it under O Scale so not many bidders. I made my first intentional and successful snipe by bidding my top dollar with only 10 seconds remaining. I ended up getting it for a few dollars less than my top price.
Since this item has a street price of $115 plus shipping I feel pretty good about it
BTW - Having a auto search helped me find this obscure listing.
JR
What were you wrong about?
Ric Golding said:For me, it was my first wife.
What were you wrong about?
Ric Golding said:That the deals are gone. They're not, just far and few between.
What were you wrong about?
Have to report a good purchase off of e-bay. Not really a deal, but I was just happy to make a purchase of an item and not get REEMED up the butt with shipping/handling fees.
It has been my biggest pet peeve with e-bay. Having to factor in some crazy shipping charges, and it is even more obvious when you are dealing with G guage items due to size.
I recently bid on, won, and today received a Hartland Short Tank Car. Seller had kitbashed it a little, painted it and added metal wheels. Pictures were great and figured for 10 bucks it would not be a bad bid if I got it…
Well I won, and shipping/handling was $6.05. So I PayPaled the guy and today it arrived.
Nicely packed in a new shipping box, a sticker saying fragile, handle with care, nicely wrapped in bubble wrap, and a nice little note saying he was not doing this as a business, just an old guy selling some of his trains to help make a little extra, thanking me for bidding and wishing me luck with my new little tank car… AND THE KEY POINT ------- USPS POSTAGE OF $6.05
So to “tahoe-trains”, aka Gary in Loyalton CA, THANKS! Thanks for proving there are some good guys connected to this hobby!
Pete Roy
That’s great Peter. But the poor old guy probably lost money on the transaction. From the $10 you paid for the car he had to pay eBay and PayPal fees, buy the box, bubble wrap and the stickers.
When I sell I charge a reasonable handling fee to cover my costs of selling and packing materials. I’m up front with my fees so if ya don’t want to pay them then don’t bid 
Glad you got a good deal.
JR
JR,
I totally agree that the guy might have lost something on the deal, to be honest the 10 buck bid was just a toss out there if I get it great… if not so be it… I do that every so often on items that have not had any bids yet just for the heck of it…
But I have also learned to watch the shipping costs on some of these “toss out there bids” b/c there were a couple of them that I bidded without looking at the shipping and then realizing that “great if I get it” could turn out to be “Why the heck am I paying 50 bucks for shipping/handling for postage charges around 20 bucks?!?!?”
I do not fault people for adding a little to cover expenses, but I also figure that a portion of the “Cost of doing business” is in the price earned on the bid.
Like anyplace, when shopping on ebay you have to look at the total cost of the transaction. I really worry when there is no s/h charges listed, just b/c it is impossible to compare item total costs without the s/h being quoted up front. It is the same when shopping in catalogs or websites the devil is in the details and the details of shipping and handling seem rather large when it comes to large scale item shipping.
Pete
Yeha there seems to be a spike on Ebay…especially on consumer electronic type things…ya pay $5 for an item but its $45 for shipping…I hav stuff sent by good ol USPS cause only one UPS guy seems to be able to find my house! I got no problem with good packaging, but some folks it OBVIUOUS they are making their money on the shipping charges, cause Ebay takes a bite out of the Auction fund…but they don;t get a slaice of shipping!!!
True there are many who try and build all of their profit into the shipping and handling. I wouldn’t buy from them either. The $.99 auction with the $25 shipping charge is just a scam to beat eBay.
Reasonable handling is fine with me.
Roy - It’s not your fault the guy may have lost money; if he doesn’t cover his costs that’s his problem. I was just noting that he probably didn’t even cover his costs with what you paid for the car. I’ve stopped selling low dollar items for that reason. It just isn’t worth the time and effort for a $10 transaction.
JR