Large Scale Central

Wow, eBay prices all over the place

General Discussion
#1

Being out of G scale for some 35 years I’m sure glad I purchased a lot of engines, rolling stock, and track back then and thought I paid a lot for it back in the day. As you may or may not know I repaint and detail all my stuff and re-letter it to my railroad, the Ft. Worth & South-Western. I always purchased LGB and USA Trains that were slow sellers and at good prices as all became re-dues and the value will not have any collector value, which it looks like that is pretty true today, with exception of very few items. All being said, I’m really finding it hard to find such items today at good prices for re-dues, but I have found a few and there out there, you just have to keep looking for them. I only buy LGB and USA Trains rolling stock, I prefer their quality and durability for an outdoor layout and they are the better ones to upgrade for me. I have to laugh at what some people are asking for their trains on eBay, do some really pay that much for their trains, I don’t.

trainman

#2

Hiya, John…I look at completed listing not asking prices. For instance, that LGB golden spike set that was talked about here in LSC asking $10,000 didn’t sell for that, but it did get $6,300.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LGB-29000-Golden-Spike-Locomotive-Set/254621065031?epid=25035567733&hash=item3b48991f47:g:DOsAAOSw-jxevWDi

#3

eBay is always good for a laugh. Lately I bought a bunch of HO Tyco 10 wheelers to rebuild. The final price on one that needs work will range from $15 to $85 or more. And the “NIB” ones can fetch from $20 to $125. The most I spent on one was $25, and that’s because it was pristine, and only needed a DCC decoder, KaDee couplers and a few other minor upgrades.

The prices for large scale stuff are just as incredible. I got an Aristo boxcar for $20 plus shipping, but the same boxcar could be had for over $100 plus shipping. And on eBay, you have to watch out for the shipping. I think some sellers make most of their money by charging way too much for shipping.

#4

Well shipping is expensive if your not setup as a business and have an account with one of the shippers, FedEx, or UPS, I don’t know about the US Post Office. I sold all my Lionel a couple of years ago and the average to ship one Lionel car was around $25.00, so prices look in line, but there still too high. Makes a big difference on purchasing G scale on eBay, shipping can be all over the place, and I work the sellers in every way I can, just part of the hobby as far as I’m concerned.

trainman

#5

John,

I set up a search on Craigslist that pulls in all (which is not much here) large scale trains offered in the area. It’s the same thing. People equate “large” with “rare” and ask for collector prices! That being said, I have had a few strikes that were reasonable although not workable and one that was nothing short of incredible and quite workable! I find it interesting that the more the seller knows about the product, the more realistic their beginning price point was. The deal worked or fell apart based on how much the seller had put into the item in the first place.

You might also try a local railroad museum, where, again, you are likely to find knowledgeable sellers. At ours, they take in donations each year and sell them as a source of funds. I have an established relationship with them, and they call when they get large scale stuff to see if I am interested. They sell at a slight discount to me, as they make more money overall by avoiding shipping and / or consignment fees. It’s frequent, and it’s not always what I want, but I have scored a couple nice items from them

Happy Hunting!

Aloha,

Eric

#6

I sold a bunch of my remaining smaller scale stuff and a few large scale items on eBay a few months ago. Shipping cost is a big issue, but I was not out to make a profit on it. I certainly was not going to absorb it. all my shipping was done using the eBay shipping App and USPS. there are many out there trying to profit off inflated prices. all I wanted to do was find some good homes for my unwanted stuff. there is an Accucraft Flanger out there that until recently had a $850.00 starting price, has been recently dropped to $750.00 but still no bites.

I hear from some manufactures in the smaller scales are having a hard time keeping up with demand for kits right now, unfortunately that demand doesn’t exist in large scale.

Al P.

#7

I now prefer to buy in my club and local shows, plus local craigslist. You get to see what you are buying and can get great deals.

#8

Dan, sometimes. I have nabbed good deals at the local shows, and I have walked away from some “deals” that were extremely overpriced.

The term “rare” is so overused on eBay. Just because the product is no longer in production doesn’t necessarily mean that its rare, or worth a high price. And I don’t understand a seller who has an item way overpriced, and ends up relisting it over and over again at the same price. Don’t sellers also troll eBay to see what the going price is for the item? My thought is that they can keep the item, when they are asking way too much for it.

#9

John et al - Some good points about buying large scale on eBay…in my case I’m only an LGB buyer and seller and doing so for 20 years now. This year for some reason there are a lot of eBay sellers that are setting their asking price way out of reason, most I assume because they don’t know how to price them. I informed one seller, for example, that the used MTS I Starter Set she posted for $700 was way off mark…you can buy a new set at Nickolas Smith Trains for $495. She thanked me and dropped her starting price to $300. Anyway, I’ve found some good deals on like-new LGB locomotives on eBay being sold by folks who bought large collections and were willing to accept my $400 offers. The sellers who over price their locos will find they don’t sell and will eventually realize they need to drop their prices especially if they view the selling or sold prices for similar locos. I don’t like eBay’s 9% seller’s fee and recently told them in a survey…but I do like eBay world-wide buyers market and the buyer’s protection guarantee that if you don’t receive the item as described in the seller’s posting, eBay will force, if necessary, the seller to refund your purchase price and shipping paid, and the seller will also have to paid for the return shipping…hard to beat that policy.

#10

I thought E-bay was 10 percent, plus paypal at approx. 3.3 percent and then there is the state tax, followed by a palpal 1099 for taxes on the seller. Plus optional?? insurance. This is why a club or craigslist purchase can be better and no shipping damage and you can see the real goods.

#11

Double post

#12

Shipping can be expensive. But people try to get around epay fees by jacking up the shipping price. I think epay started charging fees on shipping too a few years back to deal with this? I don’t sell much on epay but I do buy from there a lot. Sometimes you can get good deals. Sometimes, its the only place to find old items I want or need.

#13

Foks - For the hobby trains category, the eBay seller’s value fee is 9%; PayPal Seller’s Fee is 2.9%. The fees are applied to the item plus the shipping. If you sell to an international buyer, PayPal also charges a money conversion fee. So yes, selling on eBay isn’t cheap. I’ve sold a lot of new or like-new LGB locomotives, most I’ve upgraded with DC/DCC Power/Sound Decoders, during the last 20 years. So you have to price the items for a reasonable price then add in the seller fees to finalize your price. I’ve also bought lots of excellent condition locos on eBay for reasonable prices, and if you don’t receive what’s described, the eBay Buyer’s Guarantee can be used to get all your money back. There’s no protection like that from buying on Craigslist, so you “takes your chances.” I’m not a big advocate of eBay but you can’t beat the world-wide visibility of your postings. I’ve asked eBay to change their messaging system to allow sending prospective buyers sample videos and/or sound files of the locomotives I sell…currently they only allow photos.

#14

TOM, high volume sellers get the rates you quoted, but my costs are different as I was a low volume seller. For the seller it is Paypal that generates the 1099, buyer pays the sales tax.

So, a 100 dollar sale for me is 10 to e-bay, 3.30 or so to paypal, 1099 gets 100 added to it, shipping gets e-bay and paypal fees. Selling in a club/craigslist and even when buying avoids these fees and eliminates shipping damage and elaborate necessary packing.

#15

Being a modeler I always look for the good buys on eBay or other sources as my purchases are most likely going to get repainted and re-built. I wanted an LGB Drovers Caboose, road name makes no difference as it will be re-painted. I shopped eBay for a week and an LGB 4075 came up for sale for $55.19 and $16.00 shipping so I purchased it, best buy I have found and it’s NEW. This was from a online dealer and from what I could see of his pricing he was just clearing out some stock, I do feel model train sales are probably down and we all know model trains are not the up coming hobby for the younger generation. I don’t buy model trains for collector ability, so I look for the good deals.

trainman

#16

Dan Pierce said:

TOM, high volume sellers get the rates you quoted, but my costs are different as I was a low volume seller. For the seller it is Paypal that generates the 1099, buyer pays the sales tax.

So, a 100 dollar sale for me is 10 to e-bay, 3.30 or so to paypal, 1099 gets 100 added to it, shipping gets e-bay and paypal fees. Selling in a club/craigslist and even when buying avoids these fees and eliminates shipping damage and elaborate necessary packing.

But if you are a long way from a club, or major market then ebay is about it. Guess 9nline classified here might work.

Speaking of prices I was stunded that a used no box Accucraft electric mason bogie went for almost 3k. Maybe because it was electric and not live steam?