OK I know this is HO, but I had to share it: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HO-Scale-Cu...559208?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item257807ae28 I just want to meet the person who will spend a dime on this. I don't know what else to say.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321028162913?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 Worried a bit that I might post someone's listing that sees it here... unlikely, but you never know. But I thought someone would get a kick out of this "winterized" BNSF loco - or should I say FSNB... -Steve
The prices I recall for the Oath of Office car on eBay have been more in the $200 range. If someone really has 12, that person has been accumulating them from other winners who don't want them-- and would probably have loved to see you get $600 for yours. The Illinois car going for $16 including shipping... now that buyer got lucky! Seller, not so much. They've been as high as $500 but $100 is more like it these days.
This is just a case of the seller not knowing what he had. The Illinois car is fairly rare. It didn't sell at auction but as a "Buy It Now". The listing was only active for a couple hours before it sold. I have no desire in the state cars but if I saw that for $15.99 BIN, I would have not thought twice about snapping it up just as the person did there. As mentioned, they have gone over $500 in the hey day of the State car series. I always wondered what the Oath of Office cars would go for. I have one plus the whole set. It's the first MT series that I acctually made an effort to complete. My other rare MT car is a misprint, a UP centerbeam that is only printed on one side.
I found an Illinois car at an estate sale, and bought it for about $5. Had heard the $300 - $500 value. Recently, I heard the craze was over, and tried to get $0- at a train show with no takers. Just not sure what it might go for, and that EBay auction gives hope. We know that the seller at $15 didn't know what he had.
I wish I had seen the Illinois car. I can guarantee it would have gone for more than $16. I hadn't seen any Oath cars listed for awhile and besides, I figured I would throw a "Hail Mary" and see if anyone would bite. I relisted at $450. I don't need to sell so if it doesn't go, no loss to me. Andy Tetsu Uma
Okay, so I have to admit. One mans trash is another mans treasure right? Well I was cleaning out the train room recently and had a TON of these in my tool box, well just for $h!t$ and grin$ I packaged oh about 15-20 pairs of these up in a grab bag and sold them on Ebay. I dont remember how much they ended up selling for but I want to say around $20! I laughed every time I saw the bid go higher. Here is the best part though. They sold the first time around so I posted again. I think I did this 3 times with the bolster pins and shims. I even did the same thing with some old Rapido couplers. I think all in all I made about $60-70 on something that I normally would have thrown in the trash.
On the Illinois State Car my price guide shows it as $200 for the all time high NSC sanctioned sale and last trade was in August 2004 for $160. That is for a pristine in the box everything intact car. The market currently is all over the place and if you are a long term collector it is a great time to buy with many cars selling on ebay and elsewhere for 10% of their all time highs even for rare pieces. You just have to resist the urge to run them all.... Nick
In a related story... there is a seller on eBay right now (I will not name except to say, not I!) who is pulling down some outrageously high prices for special run items. By outrageous I mean probable all-time highs, IF the guide compilers actually counted eBay sales. (Which they don't, which is a can of worms for another day.) One small detail... there is a bidder on many of these items who has 76 percent of his/her bids with this one seller. George suspects.
Counting ebay sales in collector guides would be a real problem. I have seen run of the mill engines available cheaper from many advertisers here on this site get bid into the stratosphere by multiple deep thinking geniuses. Why do that when you can buy the same piece cheaper? Many ebay sellers have no clue when posting whether what they have is worth $9 or $900 (and God bless them for that). Both for the bargains and the laughs.... Nick
Nick- There are also genius buyers out there as well that "buy into" the advertisement of lucrative sellers adds of making something sound like it is "RARE". Watching a "clueless" buyer bid items into the Stratosphere is just as comical as well. Ryan
Very True!...That was my point of watching multiple people now actually take an item from normal to ridiculous in no time flat. In any market and in any hobby knowing how to gauge the quality of the product (condition) and understanding the market to know what is rare and what is the creation of a future Pulitzer prize winning fiction writer is the difference to winning (for real) on ebay.
I watched a set of Intermountain Northern Pacific F7s decorated in the Loewy scheme go for over $400 for a A and B unit last week. The seller advertised them as custom painted and "RARE". Go figure! The seller was laughing all the way to the bank that is for sure.
I actually think it's the other way. If we were required to use collector guides and paper-based auctions exclusively the first GN Circus Car would still be a $150 item and the Illinois Car would be $400 to $500. Besides the admittedly large logistics issues involved, and the fact that eBay's User Agreement doesn't permit harvesting of auction results, the prices would be way down, not up, on average and that's why guide authors wouldn't touch them. Yes, there is always the random "highly motivated buyer"-- two if you're lucky, and you're the seller.
I know Walthers discontinued this kit a little while back... but come on... its hardly a collector's piece! http://www.ebay.com/itm/WALTHERS-Co...885333?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item5aebd86a15 I have wanted a kit like this for a year now, and finally bought one for the right price. No where near the bloated price listed above...
All of this sellers items are bloated, he thinks they're gold and that we can't live without them. He was asking over a $160.00 for a Medusa kit before they got re-released recently.
This one proves my above statement perfectly! Unless there is something about this loco that I am missing. I would go no more than $50 and it is already up over $120! http://www.ebay.com/itm/LotN-94-Lif...052329?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item3f1f5bd7a9 Ryan
It is definitely the buyers (mostly one) on that on along with another one the same seller has. Life-Like CNW 4103A & B (dummy) FA2 and FB2 Diesel Locomotive N Nine (9) bids took it from $0.99 to $32.01
