I see all kinds of HO products listed under N-Scale but the ones I have noticed are always described as being HO.
maybe i'm just too optimistic. but if i'm not sure i just ask the seller. but obviously my expectations are simply too high. just to complete the records. after approx 1450 transactions i probably just had to have a bad one. on the other side there are quite a few trainboard members which are welcome anytime.
I'm not sure I would get so worked up about this? Treat it as a non-paying bidder and move on. Doubt he will leave negative feedback. I've done n-scale searches before that brought up HO items, (and I'm not talking about miscategorized items...they were actually in the HO category but came up in a search of the N-Scale category on eBay.) so I'm not sure this is such a "dumb mistake". If you're searching for something in an N category you get so accustomed that the searches are truly valid n-scale items. I can see how this could happen. (of course, I'm not admittiing to anything... hboy: )
I always put the scale in the heading and the listing to be safe. I can see the problem with some sellers listing many items in more than one scale - it's easy to click the wrong one. It's also easier sometimes to edit an old listing than create an all new one, but you can get in trouble if it was a different scale and you don't check and change the category.
...and then there are the sellers that advertise shipping to Canada and when asked the cost of shipping, they just do not answer. I will not bid if I don't know the shipping costs. That always annoys me. Fred
I do as well... at least it protects you as the seller. I think it was said by Mark Twain that you can make something fool proof but you can't make it "damn fool" proof so I don't expect this solves the entire problem. Going back off topic, as for sellers who don't leave feedback... I finally got frustrated enough after leaving my positive right after delivery that I left a follow up... "but DOESN'T LEAVE SELLER FEEDBACK-- what?!?!?!" And what do you know, I got a positive, finally. I have two more sellers in the queue for that treatment shortly if they don't respond. And I'll have bought my last item from them.
I don't do e-bay , and probably never will . I just don't understand the whole feedback deal . What I mean is , as long as there are no problems on either the buyer's or seller's part , can't a no feedback response be considered positive ? I would probably only leave a comment if I had a problem and couldn't resolve it with the other person . Just my opinion and not meant to offend anyone,,,,
Mike- From the early years, I believe the Feedback system may have been more intended to generate good will, and as a public relations gimmick promoting the enterprise, using that good will.
My rant is that prices there seem to have gone through the roof for a lot of N scale stuff. My buying has slowed WAY down almost to a stop because of this. Some stuff is listed at way more than MSRP. Seller's market right now, I guess.
That's kind of what I thought . Now it's become a tradition and its expected that everyone will follow . I guess some of us are just rude...:uhoh: ...LOL !
There's the asking price-- which can be anything anyone wants to put up-- and then there's what actually sells. Although MSRPs have risen substantially in the last few years ($20 is the new $10, etc.) my feeling is that it's more "sellers' fantasies" than "sellers market" in a number of these cases.
And unfortunately many fantasies are apparently realized, when the uneducated person comes along, and bids/BIN.
Yes, "A fool and his money are soon parted" rings true time and time again. I have found that while somethings are way over priced there are still some good deals to be had. I just picked up three sets (10 cars each) of Deluxe Innovations coalporters all with different car numbers and equipped with MT trucks and couplers for about $6.67 per car (includes shipping). Heck, the MT trucks and couplers if ordered on line would be over $4 per car just by themselves.
Yes. This is true. It's just the disgusting proliferation of sucker baiters or sellers who have no clue, reeling in fools constantly, which is an ongoing irritation. What they do inflicts some harm upon the hobby itself, through creating a false impression of how expensive it is to participate, for those looking in or just starting.
There's an 'ignore list' for that. (I wish "there was an app for that".) Unfortunately, there's no longer any practical way to warn participants about bad deals. It's still true that anyone can be taken at any time. There have been some very unrealistic prices being posted on other venues online which are presented as alternatives to eBay. In other words, they're no bargain either. Anyone out there recall the radio advertisement for Syms? (That's a mostly men's clothing chain that was largely in the Northeast US.) Their tag line was "An educated consumer is our best customer." That is clearly not the case on eBay.
I also sort of wish there was another system entirely for bidding. Perhaps a completely blind bidding system where everyone submits their absolute best bid price but nobody else can see it. Otherwise, unless you want to lose every auction by $1, it seems the only way you will ever win anything you really want is to participate in all the last second bidding that goes on. I won't bid on anything any more if I'm not going to be able to be at the computer when it closes because it seems there's no point (there's always that "one other guy" that wants everything I want!). Now I mostly look around for reasonably-priced "buy it now" auctions.
That's the way the "paper based" auction systems used to work... sort of. As in, there was no proxy bidding. If you bid $500 and the next highest bidder bid $1, you won... for $500.
The ones that always kill me are the ones that I either don't bid, because I assume it will skyrocket, or I do bid, but it sells for just a little bit more. One thing about ebay, especially for used and out of production stuff is that I get the impression that people use it as a form of Swap meet, but you know, at the swap meet, I can treat it as a turkish bazaar and haggle. Not so on Ebay. Plus, I tend to want to find out of production, but mass produced stuff, so I expect if not demand that it sell under retail. Something that is more likely to happen at a Swap Meet. This is an HO example, but I've often seen Blue Box locomotives with a buy it now price up above $80 as if they were current RTR product. I can't tell if it's an ignorant seller, a smart seller getting ignorant customers, or it's just ebay is filled with dummies who don't know the value of what they're buying.
fwiw IMOHO-- I find eBay much less difficult to work with than the swap meet here. just my own experience. I will sell on eBay rather than deal with the challenges here. sincerely Gary
