The mystery of E Bay Purchases

[johnsom]

Having trawled the various E.Bay auctions I have found that it is often much cheaper to buy new !!! One recent example was a Union Mills loco whic sold for more than a new one from Colin Heard at Union Mills !! There are many more examples on-line now where this is apparent !! Why
Or are there enough mugs about with money who do not realise this

[hairygit]

There are plenty of mugs out there with more money then sense in e-bay land. I too have seen things sell for far more than the new price, and often with rip off postage as well, people get carried away with "auction fever", a serious illness which can seriously damage your wealth!

[Paul B]

Yes, I have often seen Union Mills loco's sell for either over or at least very close to the price that you can get them brand new for!    The other thing I have seen go for silly sums are N Gauge society stuff, especially the Stove R, which can easily fetch more than the society sells it for! 

[Sprintex]

The best one I can think of was in Car Parts section:

Anyone who remembers REAL Minis (as opposed to half-baked BMWs) they only ever came with sealed-beam tungsten headlamps. A popular conversion was to change them for units that take a halogen bulb so you can actually see further than 10 feet! 

Someone once bought a second-hand pair of these headlamps, just the lamps mind, for just over 46 quid. Had they visited Mini Spares Centre they could have bought a kit containing two BRAND NEW headlamps, two new bulbs, pre-wired conversion plugs and the new sidelights needed !! 

As Hairy stated, too many mugs out there that don't think to look elsewhere first 


Paul

[Newportnobby]

I gave up bidding long ago, and only use Fleabay for buy it now items, and even then I check it against the main box shifters first

[port perran]

You can get N gauge bargains but you have to set a limit and never be tempted above it.
However, as an example, we have a 1973 VW Camper. A few years ago we replaced the wiinscreen wiper arms (our originals were well rusted and slightly twisted).
Bought new ones and put the old ones on ebay. Sold the old ones for twice the price we paid for the brand new ones!!!  Bizarre!!

[longbridge]

I agree people certainly get carried away with eBay auctioning, I only buy my trees, cars and figures on eBay these days as I have been caught a few times with items that have been sold as new but were broken, because of this I tend to buy from swap meets instead.

[Lawrence]

Personally I think referring to people as mugs is a bit off, ok so they may not be quite as well as informed as others, and there are many reasons why people pay over the odds for things, they may not have the mobility to get out and about to find stuff, their knowledge of a subject may be limited or they are new to a particular field.

If you have something for sale on ebay and one of these "mugs" pays 25% over the top I doubt you as the seller would readily complain.  As can be seen from the ebay madness thread, there are plenty of pariahs out there ready to feast on these people who, for whatever reason, don't see the wood for the trees.

I should add, I have sold several items on ebay, unfortunately none of my items have encouraged anyone to go mad 

[longbridge]

A very good point Lawrence, I guess some folks in our hobby live in remote areas or have other reasons why the cant get out and buy what they require, no doubt about it if a person wants something bad enough they will do all they can to get it, I guess when its all said and done we to take to much for granted.

[Paul B]

I have also thought that, if the person buying the item feels that they have got a good deal, then who are we to call them mugs? Maybe they haven't done enough looking around to find that they can get stuff cheaper?  I have paid over the odds for stuff from e-bay, when I know that I can't get it elsewhere - however, I have only once got into a bidding war, over a military badge, that I had never seen around before.  I did win, and got it for just under £50, which I thought was a good price (especially as I have seen similar ones go for over that price now!)

[Alex]

I suppose it depends on how much the person wants the item. I've paid over the odds for a few things because a) I couldn't find it elswhere at the time or, more likely b) I had to have it.

None of my local hobby shops stock US outline so I have to buy from E-bay or online or direct from the States.

I try to go for the cheapest but sometimes that's not an option.

Alex

[Bikeracer]

My own way of not getting carried away bidding is to decide on a maximum I'll pay,put it in the bid box,wait until ten seconds from the end and then click on the bid button,there's not enough time left to have another bid then.

If I get the item it's great,if not there's usually another one the same later.

Allan

[Jack]

If I see something that catches my eye I'll firstly see at what price I can get it for from Hattons/Rails/KMRC, and then I'll add a note to my "Watch List". If an item gets to just over half price then its removed. Been caught a couple of times.

I've even started using my local model shops because sometimes, by the time you've added p&p from Hatton's et al you only save a couple of quid.

Jack

[johnsom]

I partially agree re mobility - but if they are looking at this forum they have access to all other on-line outlets !! regarding postage and packing - you still have to pay for it if you buy goods on E.Bay Another point regarding buying stuff on E.Bay is that you are buying an unknown quantity. I know that some of the new stuff you can buy is ofter an unknown quantity - but at least you can send it back if it came from a reliable source.
Some of the stuff I have looked at on E.Bay looks extremely dubious !!