Scarcity of Second Hand N at Shows

[Ensign Elliott]

I agree that 2nd Hand N Gauge is rather scarce at shows.

Having said that, I recently attended Toy & Train Fairs at Hereford and at Stafford and was impressed with the amount and quality of N Gauge on sale - not just overpriced 1990s locos with pizza cutters but recent releases, some DCC fitted, at very reasonable prices. Managed to pick up two maroon Gresleys at £11 each and several newer Farish 16t minerals at £5 each!

[Woodenhead]

Only 1 carries a Blue Riband label but, I agree, a decent rake for a decent price which would save a month of Sundays searching for otherwise.

Look at the catalogue numbers and the boxes, Bachmann have just stopped using the Blue Riband logo as it's no longer needed.

[SGregory]

Just on the subject of 'used N' at shows etc.  In my view, there has always been a lack of second hand N stuff at shows in my opinion, but eBay really is your friend here and there are (as others have said) real bargains to be had if you persist.  I picked up a new tooling Farish Class 20 last week (in LUL livery) for £73.....

Whilst that in itself could be considered a great deal (the RRP is something approaching £140 isn't it?), when I opened it up I found an unexpected Zimo MX622N, so if you take off £25 for that, I actually got the loco for £48.  Handy it was that cheap given i've already butchered it in preparation for sound chipping 

[bridgiesimon]

whilst in most cases I can heartily agree with you, we attended the Weston Super Mare show yesterday and there were at least 3 traders with a good selection of second hand there all selling at excellent prices.

I picked up a built/painted and decalled diesel brake tender for £7.50! Barigain of the year so far!!

Best wishes
Simon

[Greygreaser]

Think eBay has removed a chunk of stock from shows as its possibly less hassle to post a picture for a fee than hump the items into and out of a show - and still pay a fee!
Not sure there's less N-gaugers about as eBay items that are decent and properly described sell at highish prices and have 10s of 'watchers'. However there are some sellers offering items at close to new prices and very high postage rates (£9.95!) with repeated re-listing so 'we' are savvy if they try to sell on those terms.
One local club had a show with predominantly N layouts and members and there was virtually no N stock for sale! So maybe the trick is to visit predominantly 00 shows to see if they are disposing of N gauge items? - food for thought, cheers Chris

[joe cassidy]

Presumably covid discouraged customers and traders from attending shows and accelerated the shift to ebay ?

[Woodenhead]

Think eBay has removed a chunk of stock from shows as its possibly less hassle to post a picture for a fee than hump the items into and out of a show - and still pay a fee!
Not sure there's less N-gaugers about as eBay items that are decent and properly described sell at highish prices and have 10s of 'watchers'. However there are some sellers offering items at close to new prices and very high postage rates (£9.95!) with repeated re-listing so 'we' are savvy if they try to sell on those terms.
One local club had a show with predominantly N layouts and members and there was virtually no N stock for sale! So maybe the trick is to visit predominantly 00 shows to see if they are disposing of N gauge items? - food for thought, cheers Chris

Those watchers annoy me, when selling they quickly add you but have no intention of buying, they just want to know what to sell theirs for.

Also the number of 'brand new' old style Farish coaches, do me a favour, unless you have a time machine or have found the stock from the Bradford Model Railway Centre untouched, then you don't have a brand new printed side Mk1 coach.

[Hiawatha]

Those watchers annoy me, when selling they quickly add you but have no intention of buying, they just want to know what to sell theirs for.

No, if you have lots of watchers then your items are simply priced too high.
ebay gives the option to send the watchers an offer with a reduced price, and that's why many have items in their watchlist. The items are too expensive but with an offer of 5 or 10% off some watchers would accept that.

[Southerngooner]

How do you figure that? I watch stuff I'm interested in, but if it goes too high then I don't buy. Most still sell. I don't think everyone watching is waiting to see how much it sells for. People seem to put a lot of mysticism into eBay when all it is is a selling site. Everyone will use it differently...,...

Dave

[Hiawatha]

The post Woodenhead was answering to was about repeated re-listed items, so those don't "go" to high but "are" priced too high in the first place – or the would sell and not get re-listed.
You are talking about an item that was listed at a low price and will sell anyway but that's not the kind of listings Greygreaser wrote about.

[GrahamB]

I watch stuff. Sometimes out of morbid curiosity to see if anyone is daft enough to buy, sometimes to put a bid in if it seems reasonable.

I also have a watch list of stuff I buy regularly although, to be fair, that's mainly motorcycle consumables on "buy it now" and I get notified of offers.

[ntpntpntp]

Those watchers annoy me, when selling they quickly add you but have no intention of buying, they just want to know what to sell theirs for.

No, if you have lots of watchers then your items are simply priced too high.
ebay gives the option to send the watchers an offer with a reduced price, and that's why many have items in their watchlist. The items are too expensive but with an offer of 5 or 10% off some watchers would accept that.

Yes exactly, that's my main reason for adding a watch.  The item is priced a bit too high in my opinion, there's no "make an offer" option enabled for the listing,  it's not something I'm desperate for but might be interested if a decent private offer came through

[Woodenhead]

Interesting perspective, I didn't think I was starting too high - I went off sold prices for the same item on other's listings i.e. I priced at what people were purchasing at recently.

Anyway I sold everything I was selling so it's not a massive issue.

[Hiawatha]

But then why did the watchers annoy you? In your case they were probably watching so that they didn't miss the end of the auction.

[Portpatrick]

So fat nearly all my sales have been at club shows.  The odd one direct to members and one resulting from a comment on the Forums Facebook page.