It got worse.... http://cgi.ebay.com/STEAM-ENGINE-SW...photoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262 It didn't sell in stock form so he slapped some gold paint on it. LOLOL:thumbs_down:cute:
http://cgi.ebay.com/KATO-SD80MAC-PEP...3A1|240%3A1318 From the "updated" info, it seems someone got it for $68.22! :tb-ooh::tb-ooh::tb-wink:
Is that really gold paint? Certainly he could have said that it is in 'pseudo-brass' color... lmao...
Here's one I found a while back http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=250353973848
That one is more or less proof how much people want a Milwaukee caboose, be it right or wrong. That auction started at a reasonable $3.95 and went crazy between 3-4 bidders. That is just the auction system working at it's finest and the people bidding were not newbies either.
Am I alone? Who elser can't stand "reserve not met". I often bid from my phone (that I often bid, is another problem, for another day). Reserve not met doesnt show on the crackberry. I bid up to the average price particular loco seems to go for. Per my phone I had the high bid. Got home and "Reserve not met" Just tell me what you'll take and I'lll decide if I want to bid. I hope EBAy charges a ton for this type of relist.
NO YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Why can't they set the opening price at the min they want and hope for more? When I see that there is a reserve on an item it alerts me that the seller really does not want to sell it and most likely it is over priced, and then don't bid. Gary
Exactly Gary! I see "Reserve"...I click the back button and move on. Thats if and when I EEeekBay...LOL. .
Very well put!! Just this week,Karl,my partner at my shop and I made a deal with a guy for knives..The guy had a huge collection,we bought THREE PICKUP TRUCK LOADS for a buck a knife!![oh yeah,this was his EXTRA stuff..] Anyway,Karl sets up an Ebay account,right off the bat,he starts goofing around with reserves,99 cent starting prices,ETC,and right off the bat,we're losing money on 20 dollar knives we're buying for a buck...I told him,if the stupid thing is worth five bucks,put five bucks on it..AT LEAST put the minimum we need to at least make a decent profit,or just drop them outside on the sidewalk with a "free knives" sign on them...He finally listened,all of a sudden,people are actually bidding on our stuff..The more you jerk people around on auctions,the less people bid on your stuff..The ones that REALLY kill me are the ones like the guy that owned the last shop I worked for..He REFUSED to get a Paypal account,[Paranoid '60's biker...] because he didn't want to pay the fee..Couldn't get him to understand that nearly everybody won't bid on stuff if they can't pay for it online,hence,right off the bat,80+% of the people that MIGHT bid won't give his stuff a second look.....Penny wise,dollar stupid...
Have to disagree Lou... I search for sellers who take money orders. I dont like paypal either. I just got zinged a 3.82 'service charge' for a 5.00 donation to Trainboard...what a ripoff paypal is...JMO !! .
wierd i looked at my donation and dont see a svc charge. If they are charging us to donate, we should let Charlie know. I don't think TB is looking to make PayPal rich, to keep this running.
Unfortunately, eBay doesn't let you take money orders any more if you are a seller. Honestly, I don't mind taking them when I sell stuff, but now it wouldn't be worth it and take the chance of having my account suspended. I guess until someone has a better way to sell online then eBay is what we're stuck with (and their evil twin PayPal!)
George,sometimes,when I'm looking for big ticket items,say,like the RC car battery matcher I bought a few years ago,I try to find sellers that don't take Paypal,because of the aformentioned reluctance to bid by some people with non Paypal taking sellers.I've saved more than a few bucks that way....Sometimes.There's really no reason not to use Paypal as a buyer once you've won an item though,if the seller takes it.It costs the buyer nothing,money orders aren't free,plus the running around for one takes gas and time,why deliberately go that way if the seller takes PP? PP is faster,the cash is there instantly,and the post office can't lose it,LOL!! Looking for sellers that only take checks/MO's proves my point I was making..People that don't take PP lose money on sales..
Marty... I will dbl check my paypal account...and my bank account. Hopefully I just jumped the gun on the charges thing...thnxs .
Does anyone know what Visa, MasterCard, AmEx, etc charge merchants for their service? I'd venture a guess that PayPal can't be that far off otherwise there would be more out there taking straight credit cards versus using PayPal. I hate the fees too, but I'm paying for the convenience of 95% of the eBayers that do buy my stuff. Eight plus years and I've never had an issue with PP. You can still pay with a Money Order on eBay, you just can't advertise it. All you have to do is ask the seller before the auction ends. If they say no, one less potential bidder on their stuff. Checks are the only thing they truly eliminated. FWIW, Brian
Brian I see your in Okinawa and on active duty. Do you sell/ have opportunity to sell JNR Steam and Kato European (Hobbytrain) models?
The credit card companies charge a % based on the sales volume. I don't know the exact # but I somewhat recall around 4% for real low sales volume and sliding down for higher volumes + a standard fee even if there is no activity. I did look into this several years ago when I started my business but I figured with the slow summer months when sales drop of to almost nothing there was no sense in paying for ssomething I was not using. I do accept paypal and about 1/2 of my customers use it. Most pay by check though. As far as an alternative site to Ebay...there is a site called UPbid.net that is working fairly good for me. I have sold some stuff there. The N scale side is not that busy but I have found some good deals there. I don't expect to find the prices any different than Ebay pricing as the sellers on UPbid are just transplanted Ebayers. The nice thing about them though is there is no listing fees. They also have an automatic relisting feature that is nice. You can set it for hawever many times you want an unsold item to relist.
Is upbid.net still working? I can't find anything about model trains there. UPbid.net? [edit] Call off the dogs. There is an "s" in there. UPbids.net.
todays ebay chuckle:tb-confused: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...&_trkparms=algo=MW&itu=UCC&otn=18&po=LCA&ps=4
