eBay Rant

Not knocking EBay, but this is one reason as well as several others that I don't buy or sell there. For me It's just not worth the effort I have to put into it. Others may feel differently and that's OK with me.
See ya
ron

 

Benny, admittedly that is a different story. The originating post by Charlie refers to an individual item listing where the potential buyer is looking for a particular item. In Charlie's case it would be a Frisco item.
Where there are multiple items in a lot listing then the interest of those wanting a particular item is generally not there. Usually, there is too high an upfront cost in buying a job lot in order to obtain that one item and then have the hassle of on-selling the unwanted items. Most would not be bothered.

Still, if you have single (or 2-3) item/s listed it is helpful to have the incremental information listed. There may well be more interest generated by adding this information and potentially increasing the end sale value.
Where the seller has multiple items then the importance of listing all details is reduced as the target market is different.

 

I'll chime in here with my opinion.

I model transition-era in N scale. I buy a lot on e-Bay. I'm less concerned about road numbers since they are easy enough to change or modify. I'm more concerned about BUILD date! It's a transition-era layout; I don't need equipment built after a certain date (usually 1955 or so).

I could get the road number off an auction, go to Google and try to find information on that particular road number. That's a LOT of work! Especially when I learn the item is too new for my layout. The build date, on the other hand, insures that the equipment BELONGS in my era! Unfortunately, not many sellers list the build dates in their auctions.

More unfortunately, many sellers post pictures that are poorly done, badly lit or out of focus! It always irks me when a seller posts a picture of a blue or brown car sitting on a blue or brown background! Or the background has flowers on it! Sometimes it's hard to see the item at all!

I also sell on e-Bay. I take good pictures of the item, making sure they are well-lit and FOCUSED!! I crop the pictures to make the image as large as possible and eliminate background clutter. Then I let the picture do the talking for me. I rarely list road numbers and dimensional data separately. Setting up an auction is time-consuming. I use Turbo Lister 2 and have templates pre-filled, but there is still a LOT of information that must be entered manually for EACH auction. It takes time to list the item details, determine the packaging, pre-weigh the package and calculate postage. I spend a lot of time as it is, so adding MORE information just consumes MORE of my time.

Do I get good prices? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. Almost everything I list is unwanted, unneeded or extra equipment. I list it for 99 cents. I don't really care what it sells for. If I knew someone who wanted the item, I'd probably GIVE it to them! If it sells for 99 cents, I'm happy. If it sells for more, I'm happier!

I try to answer questions form buyers as quickly as possible, giving as much or more information than requested. I always include the question and answer on the listing so others won't have to ask the same question.

Seems like everyone has different ideas of what's important. I'm a small-time seller, a HOBBY seller, if you will. I understand why some information is important to collectors. I'm not selling collectibles, I'm selling runners. I think most buyers will ask a question if the information is important to their purchase. I'm more than happy to answer specific questions. I just don't want to spend more time setting up the auction than I already spend.

But, hey! Everybody has an opinion. Mine just may be different from yours.

Darrell, quiet...for now

 

ebay most of the things i look at are just the same price as the store there are not alot of bargains out there the bid and the shipping are really not worth it

 

I do agree that the bargains are getting really hard to find out there. One thing I always do when I find something I want to bid on is go to other web sites to see if it is cheaper. Sometimes you can get it cheaper elsewhere, sometimes not. I do like the convenience of being able to look at SO MUCH stuff in my scale on EBay...rather than hunting the net for the same items.

 

Numbers are important

I have sold alot of items on ebay and find that numbers are important to N scalers . I listed allot of coal cars and grain cars as sets of 12 and with out numbers did not get good responces.I have not listed much due to not having allot of time but when I do again numbers and photos are a must or you will not get any value for your items.
On a personal note, I live along way from hobbies shops and only get to Edmonton and Calgary some times. I have found ordering direct with suppliers is best for me for parts decals paints as far as equipment its ebay . Here are some resent items all new and there price payed.
SP passenger train 158.00 Loco SP steam 124.00 , Kato locos new never run all under 60.00 three at 49.99 CP AC4400s maybe 8 last year never payed more than 60 and most where under 55.00 so ebay works for me. Oh the best was 30 PWRS custom run coal cars for 275.00 list would have been 500.00 plus from PWRS
This is just one mans story
Happy new year Dave

 

Like Dave, I too live a long way from the nearest LHS...four hours in fact. So, EBay IS my LHS

 

I live at least... 8 hours .... by plane from an US LHS, so I normally buy my dreams on "some" e-shop in the net.
Just occasionally you will find an ebay shop that have lower prices in respect to "some" selected "standard" e-shop. And be sure service will be at best option ... the same.
But ebay is one of the few places where you can find out-of-production stuffs, collectible rolling stocks, used or just preowned brass loco and cars, collectibles , railroadiana, etc.
And, in fact, I use ebay for this opportunity.
Anyway , just my opinion.
Cheers
Enzo Fortuna

 

Charlie, it's only due to limited title length I'm sure, or paying extra for that 2nd line.

I'd love to put the decal set number in my title, but I don't want to shell out the extra $$$ - especially in my quantity of selling

That's what I figure the search feature is for... use the "in titles and descriptions" option when searching. I even say that in each description.

 

My main gripe is shipping, not really an ebay thing, but shipping costs excalated like crazy during the fuel price run up, now where's the drop?
I also do alot of buying and some selling on ebay, our LHS doesn't have anything except flex track cork and a few bachman roundy round train-sets in stock.
Some items I have paid too much for, like a Athearn BB D&RGW Sd40T-2, but when it showed up I found it was regeared remotored and had upgraded wheels installed(gold color ones?), and it runs beautifully. None of these upgrades were noted in the auction, but it was worth every penny.
I also scored a set of SP maxi III's with 6 containers and metal wheels for $33ish shipped! The seller had mispelled the title and I don't think they were appearing in peoples searches.
The train market on ebay seems to be mostly good honest people to deal with, which is a nice change. Coming from the import tuner car scene several years ago, there were always scammers trying to make a buck and you had to be uber careful what you bought.
I will continue searching and buying as deals present themselves, I'm currently trying to collect a fleet of T2's and have been detailing them as they arrive.
Road #'s don't bother me too much. I used to try to get different ones and some kits are everywhere and others are impossible to find. I finally just bought 3 packs of microscale number jumbles and spent an hour mixing paints until I got the perfect match to paint over the old numbers and apply the new ones.