It is simply stunning the numbers of total suckers and stupid amongst us. These items would not be offered like we see here, unless there were fools who were actually buying. No wonder the world is a mess with such duds amongst us.
Then there are others, myself included, that list quality products and ask a reasonable price for the starting bid, and can't give items away. I just dont get it.
I got one for you all http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atlas-Train...l_RR_Trains&hash=item4d0baadcbc#ht_683wt_1328
"Comes as shown - with cases - and extras!"...what extras, lids? It looks like two cars are missing at least one bolster pin for the trucks. Three cars worth a couple of bucks for $33...perceived value strikes again
SHOULD I LIST A DEFECTIVE BUT POSSIBLY USABLE CAR ON eBay? I have been selling off surplus items from my old layout that I can’t use on what I am building now...don’t consider myself a real dealer. Just like to see things used by somebody and maybe get a little back. A friend brought me a box of what I will describe as “train set” quality N-scale stuff that someone threw out when their garage sale fizzled out. Out of 20 pieces of rolling stock, I found 4 or 5 pieces I can use, either as-is or as kitbash fodder. The rest has been too modern for my 1958 cutoff date or otherwise doesn’t fit my layout. I have been piecing it out at 99 cent minimum bid with the cheapest packaging and shipping I can figure. Probably a ridiculous amount of labor for little return. Several things sold at 99 cents, a few items bid up to almost $5. Getting down to the bottom of the box — I have a boxcar with a sharp looking body, LifeLike model #7798, a Bangor & Aroostook #9125 50-foot box with big 10 foot door, bold red, white and blue body, a car from the post-roofwalk era. But it had only one truck, with an old Rapido-style coupler. The other truck was missing. No problem, I thought. I got out my junk box of dozens of old trucks leftover from conversions to MicroTrainsLines Magnematics. I had a hard time finding trucks with wheelsets that looked exactly like the one on the car. More importantly, I couldn’t find a kingpin that would fit in the bolster to hold the truck on. LifeLike apparently used bolsters and kingpins with ever-so-slightly different dimensions than what I had. I gave up after an hour. Time enough. So should I offer it for 99 cents admitting that one truck is missing? Someone might like that sharp-looking body, or want that particular roadname and style, and be willing to mess around fixing it up. Most non-beginner N scale modelers would be converting to MTL or some other knuckle coupler and changing out trucks anyway. Might be worth 99 cents and a couple bucks shipping to somebody who knows that’s what they getting. Or should I just toss it in the trash? I have no use for this car on my own layout, and I desperately need to clear out stuff I am not going to use. I figured instead of ending up on "eBay humor," I would go ahead and START here...
Why not? The general drift of this topic is about ridiculously priced and poorly, if not deliberately incorrectly described items. Not about someone who modestly prices and honestly tells potential buyers what is being offered.
I'd pull the single truck that came with the car, and put on two matching trucks from your surplus box. The truck pins for these cars should be standard stuff. I'm surprised that you're having trouble with that. I know I notice the type of trucks under a car, and I try to be "roughly right" but I think I'm in the minority there. Certainly I noticed a steel gondola I picked up recently at an estate sale... that had Arch Bar trucks on it! Hey, at least they matched. They'll go to a more suitable car, eventually.
"New: A brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item" It was thoughtful of Atlas to sell this car New with two different types of couplers. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=171048121481&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123
It's the extremely rare transition special for those folks halfway in between crapidos and MTs. But on a more serious note, do my old eyes be deceiving me or are there two different trucks on the car also besides the coupler differences?
I thought there were two different trucks at first. I copied and saved the photo, cropped it, brightened it up, and I cannot say for absolute certainty either way.
There is nothing wrong with selling flawed/damaged goods as long as you let the potential purchasers know that it is what they are buying. I have sold a few items on FeePay that were damaged/flawed or did not operate properly. In my description, I ALWAYS stated THREE times that there was a flaw and stated at least once what the flaw was. No purchaser could state that I did not warn him. I never did get any bad feedback from selling any of the flawed merchandise. Sometimes there is a reason for buying flawed merchandise. I have used it for parts, bashing or even for its original purpose, as I knew how to repair the flaw.
I agree with Brokemoto: you are starting with a $.99 starting bid and listing an accurate description of what you are selling you won't end up here. Some times stuff that starts with a very small opening bid goes for ten or hundreds of dollars...there's nothing wrong with that (especially if you are the seller). This is just for things that START at hundreds of dollars for items that should be $.99. Go ahead and list and feel safe...
Here's an example for you: 'Postwar' (??? isn't pre and post war Lionel terms?) Arnold, Rapido, Atlas used 'set' (three different brands joined to make this a 'set'?). Looks to me to be some old engines, some freight cars, some passenger cars, some buildings, some track, a couple of scary looking transformers, and a BUNCH of little bits and pieces...nothing really wrong with that, but $635 and $80 shipping?!! http://www.ebay.com/itm/N-Scale-POS...976990?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item3f257e591e
BTW: Occasionally I do find things that are really nice and there's no place to post them. Here's a beautiful bridge (that I wish had more and bigger pictures) that is listed for $425 (with free shipping) that is (IMHO) worth the money (from what I can see). BTW, don't know this guy from Adam, just wanted to show something nice for once: http://www.ebay.com/itm/N-Scale-Mov...862707?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item19dc56dd73
This one is just funny because it's two custom painted Kato Pennsy F units for $300 but the picture shows the engines obscured by the bubble pack in the box (so you can hardly see the engines): http://www.ebay.com/itm/N-Sc-Freigh...430679?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item4aa9356cd7
