Author Topic: Searching for trains on eBay  (Read 27223 times)

early0electric

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 409
    • View Profile
Re: Searching for trains on eBay
« Reply #15 on: October 03, 2020, 06:01:34 PM »
I have a NYNH&H caboose, had it for years. Looking for an clipped corner orange roof WABASH or PENN RR.
 

Terry

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 902
    • View Profile
    • eBay Auctions
Re: Searching for trains on eBay
« Reply #16 on: October 03, 2020, 07:21:29 PM »
That makes three. Those are much more common that I thought!

I checked and I have 3 800 Wabash with clipped corners. One orange roof with No. 800 on right, LL on left on both ends. One brown roof and one maroon with LL on right, No. 800 on left on both ends.

I have a brown roof PENN RR with tall Penn rr, but it does not have clipped corners.

 

 


You want that one with the clipped corners?

In my inventory which is based on your listing in Greenberg book this car is the forth and the next car I have is the green one which does not have clipped corners.

So the tall Penn RR with brown roof is the car that comes with or without clipped corners?
 

Terry

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 902
    • View Profile
    • eBay Auctions
Re: Searching for trains on eBay
« Reply #17 on: October 03, 2020, 08:26:24 PM »
Jim shows the Wabash car with orange roof and clipped corners with the type 2 end lettering with number on right in this post:

https://www.train99.com/forum/index.php?topic=27.msg280#msg280

early0electric

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 409
    • View Profile
Re: Searching for trains on eBay
« Reply #18 on: October 04, 2020, 09:05:57 AM »
I don't know if I'd call the NYNH&H common. As far as I know the brown roof Tall PENN RR and the green 800 did not come with clipped corners. This is based on the ones that I have and the ones I have seen. I have found the orange roof clipped corner 800 to be aloof. The closest I came to one was at YORK a couple of years ago. As I walked up to a table with a number of 800 boxcars I spotted one. But as I was lifting my hand to grab it the guy next to me picked it up. A split second and it was gone.

romiin

  • Guest
Re: Searching for trains on eBay
« Reply #19 on: November 03, 2020, 06:40:30 PM »
Try buying on ebay when your from Canada.  Not only do you lose about 30 cents on the dollar, then add 30 cents to the dollar of shipping. That's bad enough,  Then half the adds do not international ship. The field starts to get real slim. I search by laptop. It would be great if someone could post some of their search titles. Just to give some other ideas. I have been just searching lionel prewar, usually just under 1000 ads.  Loco

starfire700

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 759
    • View Profile
    • ebay auctions
Re: Searching for trains on eBay
« Reply #20 on: November 05, 2020, 03:56:24 AM »
Being a seller, I feel your pain. It is shocking to us, as well as you, when we see the price of postage on items we sell. At least the items we send to Canada seem to get through. Lately, some items sent to Germany and Italy have been snagged-up in customs for at least a month, and sometimes come back to us as "undeliverable". The address was right and the buyer confirmed that delivery was never attempted, just sent back for no good reason.

Terry

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 902
    • View Profile
    • eBay Auctions
Re: Searching for trains on eBay
« Reply #21 on: November 05, 2020, 11:26:22 AM »
If you live close enough to the border, get a PO box on the US side. I don't ship internationally, but do have buyers in Canada and Mexico who have mailing addresses in the US. I also have a repeat buyer in South America who has a family member in Miami bring the trains down in suitcases.

I found out last week when I wrote an article on Managed Payments that I was paying eBay extra charges based on the buyers residence, even when I ship to US address.

From the eBay site:

Quote
"This fee is calculated as 1.65% of the total amount of the sale and is automatically deducted from your sales” when “the buyer's registered address is outside the US (regardless of the delivery address for the item)”

Only game in town.

romiin

  • Guest
Re: Searching for trains on eBay
« Reply #22 on: November 05, 2020, 07:38:50 PM »
Appreciate that some ship to Canada,  Ya that shipping is what puts it over the top, I find the price for cars are not that unreasonable, at least the ones I'm after.  I realize some sellers probably had a few bad experiences shipping internationally,  so only ship US.  I could get a mailbox in Orville Washington, Its about 1hr and 45 minutes from my place .  Loco

starfire700

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 759
    • View Profile
    • ebay auctions
Re: Searching for trains on eBay
« Reply #23 on: November 08, 2020, 05:16:42 AM »
The US mail box would save you a lot on future purchases.

Terry

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 902
    • View Profile
    • eBay Auctions
Re: Searching for trains on eBay
« Reply #24 on: November 10, 2020, 10:09:09 PM »
I just had a first on eBay.

Last night I had 40 auctions end. None - NOT ONE - got a single bid. I've never had that happen before.  Depending on what I list I usually sell 75-100 percent of my listings.

Wednesday night my other eBy account has 47 auctions ending with 18 having bids.

I've never seen it like this. Buyers must be terrified.

I went to the local Fry's Electronics store last Tuesday. Fry's is the size of 4 BIG grocery stores. HUGE. They only had ONE PERSON working the whole sales floor. Which was fine because it was only me and a pair of old men shopping.  They had two cash register attendants and a manager at the front of the store.

This store has 26 cash registers and usually it takes 15-20 minutes of waiting to get to an open register.  The whole back off the store was computers and big screen tvs. Now it's just empty.

Customer service was great! I did get the connectors I need to put the relays under the layout so I'm OK. $10 plus 8% tax for a hundred. Amazon was $8 plus tax and 6 shipping and delivery not expected until December 10th.


early0electric

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 409
    • View Profile
Re: Searching for trains on eBay
« Reply #25 on: November 17, 2020, 03:33:23 PM »
I also sell on eBay, not to the extent that you and Jim do, but it runs hot and cold. Also, with the current conditions, there are 2 ways to look at things. Either people are keeping their money close due to economic considerations or they are looking for some comfort in making a purchase.

starfire700

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 759
    • View Profile
    • ebay auctions
Re: Searching for trains on eBay
« Reply #26 on: November 20, 2020, 04:44:11 AM »
You would think that stay-at-home mandates would make for great sales, but no so much for individual ebay sellers. Hard to know exactly when ebay hides listings, but sometimes it seems like a roulette wheel. We joke when we have a sudden string of sales, that someone at ebay accidently left our store lights on and the door open.

Terry

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 902
    • View Profile
    • eBay Auctions
State of the train marketplace.
« Reply #27 on: December 04, 2020, 09:59:07 PM »
I looked at all the ebay listings in the standard gauge category tonight. I do this once a week.

I bookmarked one item I might bid on but probably won't.

That's it.

I grabbed another early Lionel O gauge loco this week in a buy-it-now listing because I have poor impulse control.

There is nothing there.

Last week was nothing at all.

I watched about an hour of a Bertoia train auction last month. I was after a Lionel 1910 loco, but didn't get it. The trains seemed to be going cheap, but I'm not familiar with early European trains. Lots of them did not reach low estimates and sold for less. Only the American Miniature RR trains consistently met and blew past estimates.

Based on what I'm seeing the bottom has dropped out of the common just good trains to play with, but not all buyers know this so some sellers are still getting the prices from 6 months ago.

Earlier this week I scrolled through the 50 most recently ended Lionel Standard Gauge listings. Only 11 had ended with buyers. That is a 22 percent sell through rate.

Just now - Friday night - I saw 26 of 50 sold for a 52 percent rate. That might be high as someone sold a catalog collection one at a time with low opening bids.

Here's a link so you can count for yourself:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=lionel&_sacat=180508&_sop=1&rt=nc&LH_Complete=1&_ipg=50

Based on what I see, that is  a good range. 20-50 percent. Probably usually closer to 20 percent.

This week I have been selling Postwar transformers on eBay. I put cords on them and spritz them with Lemon Pledge and away they go. The Christmas trains I held all year mostly brought good money. Any G gauge track sells, but I can't give away Lionel tubular track. I just listed more tonight for a dollar a section.

I threw out all the Marklin HO track, and all the 027 track. If you put it in the big garbage can at the bottom, it cleans out the can when the truck comes by and dumps it. I never know if I should put it in the recycle can so I alternate.

Here's a transformer I sold this week. First broken train this year:

 


It's common to say that's the temp. workers, but it could just be a worker having a bad day. I'll refund the buyer's money and then file an insurance claim. Then I'll sell him another one!

Shifting gears. . .

I looked at a collection a while back, and I am scared to put out the money. This collection has two stucco 184 bungalows that I'll keep. That's it. I can buy them on eBay anytime I want for $30-50 each. More than the money, I don't want to store the trains and then have them be worth less when I go to sell them.

There will not be any shows until at least April. Denver and LA are both saying they want 60% vaccination rates before they allow large gatherings, and even then, they'll require masks and distancing.

Based on the outdoor show we had here last month, lots of people knew about it, but did not go because they were afraid to get sick.

My friends and I are going to start a monthly Parking lot swap meet in Jan. But that's more fellowship than sales.

eBay is done.

I can't rely on eBay going forward. . . The payments system is a mess, the help staff is ignorant and just doesn't care. I'm tired of it.

I call to order a pizza and the place knows who I am and what kind of pizza I buy. I think they have their phone caller ID connected to a database. I have eBay call me repeatedly about me not getting my money since November 3rd, and every time it's a new person and I have to start all over.

"Let me put you on hold so I can look into this. . . "

It's too aggravating.

That's the smaller eBay account so I just gave up and told them to mail me a check. I'm done.

Instead of listing on eBay twice a week, I'll list once a week and do something else.  I keep driving past the golf course and thinking I should play a round. I haven't played in years.

But the good news is I'm having fun with my layout. I'm going to wire the middle loop this weekend so I can run two trains with relays. I'm also going to start painting the wood for the standard gauge layout this weekend.

I think one of the important things in life is  having something to look forward to. I'm really looking forward to running the state set past the 921 scenic park.

pjdog350

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 570
    • View Profile
Re: Searching for trains on eBay
« Reply #28 on: December 05, 2020, 05:26:33 AM »
Interesting post Terry.

Trains are not money to me they are Therapy. It's how I deal with life. Running, fixing & restoring old trains helps me deal with life.

2020 been a B**ch!
Stay home with your trains and be safe
Life is better with a Dog

romiin

  • Guest
Re: Searching for trains on eBay
« Reply #29 on: June 24, 2021, 04:55:52 PM »
   I know this is an old post, but nothing has changed on ebay. I search it every day and never seen it so dried up. I usually have at least a dozen items of interest in my watch list. Some I want and some I'm just interested to see what they sell for.  But I only have one item in my watch list right now and it ends tonight.  I bid on a couple items, but the price started to get a little rich for me, so dropped out. Like I said in an earlier post, I have to consider dollar exchange rate on the item and shipping.  I hope the covid restrictions ease up soon so some train sellers can get back out to buy stock to put on ebay. Geees. Loco