Ebay Is Dead To Me

[scottmitchell74]

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.   

[Will_J]

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.

[njee20]

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.