Whether I'm searching for British or American image N Gauge/Scale items, these days buying new from shops is cheaper than 2nd-hand from Ebay.

What's happening!? 

Is there such a dearth in N? And if there is, why aren't manufacturers filling the gap?

I'm missing something.   

From speaking to retailers, I've heard that used N is going through a bit of a boom. Demand is high and the prices are going up. You can also see this in recent Dapol "NQP" sales - demand for non runners is through the roof and the prices have almost doubled since their first NQP sales. But sales of new N are declining, with stock hanging around in inventory for quite a while and having to be cleared on sale. Meanwhile TT120 sales are growing rapidly though still a much small market overall compared to N. A lot of people are downsizing to TT from OO and a lot of newbies are starting with TT because it's well supported with fairly affordable trainsets.

Now, why this is happening is an interesting question and I don't have a firm hypothesis. It could be pressures on hobby budgets, it could be demand for out of production models.

But I'm reasonably confident in suggesting that the used N market reflects a lack of brand new popular prototypes at an attractive price point. But without more detailed insight, that's not a hill I'd want to die on.

It's interesting though.

EBay is dominated by retailers selling buy now items, often at inflated prices, and away from people selling their old models cheap in auctions.

I still have a few saved searches, and always look only for auctions. You still get some people starting things at higher prices, but there are still some good deals to be had at times.

High secondhand prices is obviously just basic supply and demand economics. I refuse to ever pay more than retail for any item, my recent highlight was a sound fitted Revolution 66 for £108.

Since the change that meant I could no longer link my sales to PayPal, I have stopped selling but do continue to occasionally bid and buy.

I continue to have a number of saved searches but rarely see anything pertaining to what I am looking for delivered in the resultant e-mails. A clear dearth of 101s and 108s in BR Green (the first being addressed by Bachmann) and those that come up way beyond what I am prepared to pay for a used item (doubtless others will!). A saved search for Dapol Blue Spot fish wagons brought up similarly thin pickings but again they have announced a further run with RRP at a shade over £16 so I'll wait...

In general on eBay asking prices seem to have increased even including for some pretty dire "spares and repair". To an extent I see this as a result of batch production, where long out of stock items that are sought after can demand high prices.

Not that it will change, but I think prices swing dependent on supply, so a batch of new N products hitting the market, after the initial period of restricted discount, finds it's own level, then as supply eventually reduces people take their chance on eBay with those items that remain in demand.

TT120? Oft mentioned, but currently still a small range and growing comparatively slowly, but as one would have expected of Hornby, they are exploiting their "Brand" and social media presence to promote it fairly aggressively making it appear "bigger" than it actually is. Quality? Based on the TT120 I have purchased models are at best competent rather than anything special, in many respects N are typically better quality.

Impact on N? At this point I would say minimal, over 3 years after launch the range remains pretty small (e.g. only one brake van) and appears in some cases is exploiting heavily discounted models (loss-leaders?) to grow market share which is not sustainable indefinitely. More anecdotally I know of nobody who has entirely abandoned N in favour of TT120 and why would they? The space saving advantages of N even over TT120 are significant, any layout in TT120 requires a fifth more space than N which if we look at an 5ft x 3ft N layout (15sq ft) means 3.75ft x 6.25ft or almost 10 sq ft more space! The difference is promotion and the perception it leads to.

Where will things be in 10 years time? As with almost anything impossible to predict, but I think it safe to say British N will still be around and well supplied by manufacturers. The bigger concern will be O Gauge, where I can see the decline of the "Boomer" generation with high disposable income and larger houses having a significant impact on the scale (if it isn't starting to already).

Roy

Ebay starting / asking prices have gone daft in recent years--but then so has the bidding.  Theres only a couple of locos i still want--they do come up but i simply wont bid above my set limit.