Nice looking car..................................but really???????? $50???????? http://www.ebay.com/itm/N-Scale-Cus...877153?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item19e68856a1
I know the seller is from mother Russia, but come on! $54.95 for nothing more than a weathered car? http://www.ebay.com/itm/N-scale-Cus...758536?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item3388ff3448
Well, they usually sell, and higher than that. I've seen some of his work top $100 each. Here's another one that looks to be on the way; http://www.ebay.com/itm/121239025558?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
With Fox Valley cars around $20. I've not weathered any cars yet, but let's figure 1 to 2 hours total time actually applying the different layers of washes, etc. Time and materials are money. So lets say $20 worth of labor and materials involved. Multiple layers of dullcoat has to be about $2 these days. Oh, and shipping is free. Not that I am in the market for weathered cars, but it does seem priced within reason to start to me. I stand corrected. Looks like on line Fox Valley cars can be had for around $15 at some places with a top end of $20.
Anytime I sell a weathered car on Ebay, I get regular price for them. It seems to me that people are not willing to pay more than retail for a car, REGARDLESS of whether or not is is weathered.
I would think the market for weathered cars is a smaller one and very finicky at best. Probably a select few who have a modeling budget to buy these in numbers. I do agree with you though that for an un-weathered car, folks don't wish to pay retail as when you add shipping for 1 or 2 cars, your paying over retail. And those same cars can usually be found at on line retailers, unless long out of stock or production. And with runs being what they are today, that's becoming more the norm. That trend might be on the verge of changing, who knows?
Mike Fifer (TrainBoard advertiser) sells some nicely weathered cars from his store. A featured one usually monthly, as I recall, but much less than fifty dollars.
Thanks, I didn't know Fifer's Hobby sold those. I've spoken with the one individual whose work he is selling at our club's weekend event. I was very tempted to buy a few cars from him as his prices are very good. I thought he only sold at model railroad shows or online through his website. Shows you how much I know these days.
Buyer beware..Check out the cost of"shipping" on a Mini Metals set of trucks that weigh 8 ounces on a bad day... http://www.ebay.com/itm/290353438239?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
Yeah, but that was born of a time when people made profit off of the shipping that Ebay was left out of. Now that they take the same percentage as they do of the auction price, do you really think they still care?
I'd bet that reporting it would be followed by waiting a few centuries to see nothing done in the end.
I clicked the link and expected to see something like $25 or more. A Priority Mail flat rate box from the USPS for something of this size is $5.80 i believe. So at $6.70 he's 90 cents above that. Unless it was changed after everyone posted. Maybe a little on the high side since it's only a $13 item, but certainly a lot less than some of the shenanigans I've seen pulled for shipping and handling on the 'bay. And if he combines shipping, then that's all the better. I doubt the USPS would let you put that in an envelope and not use first class shipping rates due to the nature of the packaging. I've worked in trucking with small package and LTL companies, so I probably know enough to be dangerous at best.
Brian- Nothing has changed on that auction. It still says $57.40 to ship it from Pennsylvania to my part of the USA. I grabbed a screen shot, just in case of disbelief. Whether or not an problem with software on that site, or who knows what, even if that seller was contacted I could not bid and run the risk.
Ahhh okay. I see where I was mislead. When I clicked the link, the listing gave me the $6.70 in shipping. After reading your reply, I clicked on the calculate shipping on the listing page, it's very nicely tossed a zip close to mine in the box. So when I changed that to a zip for Billings, MT, I got $50. Here I am thinking it's not a bad rate to my door, cheaper than UPS or FedEx, while you folks who are farther away from PA half to take out a loan to pay for shipping. More shenanigans for sure. Thanks for showing me the light.
For $57.40 "Expedited Shipping"...as soon as I click on the "Buy it Now" button...I expect to immediately hear a knock at my front door...and the guy better be standing there presenting the package to me personally !!!!!! :closedmouth:
