Dumbest things on e-bay

Steve Ervin Jul 6, 2010

  1. Steve Ervin

    Steve Ervin TrainBoard Member

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    I know we have occasionally seen posts about outrageous prices paid on e-bay. How about dumbest things posted on e-bay? There are several of these being offered right now. A volcano with train tunnel...complete with flowing lava. Maybe there should be a dinosaur too. What railroad in their right mind would even imagine a tunnel through an active volcano? How about "The Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Lassen RR".
     

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  2. Stourbridge Lion

    Stourbridge Lion TrainBoard Supporter

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    I could see a kid having an imaginary RR that might enjoy that as a Mt prop on the floor or ping-pong table while running a train around a loop...

    :tb-biggrin: :tb-biggrin: :tb-biggrin: :tb-biggrin:​
     
  3. cfquinlan

    cfquinlan TrainBoard Member

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    LOL. Maybe this could be used for an amusment park scene!
     
  4. Steve Ervin

    Steve Ervin TrainBoard Member

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    I could see that too, but the kid would be missing a major concept. Perhaps it is the concept that is dumb rather than the item. Todays world could use a little less fantasy and a little more reality when it comes to scientific concepts. As a retired scientist, I would love to see a diorama with this volcano, dinosaurs, cavemen, and the Paleo-express at least questioned before the kid got to college. Unfortunately that frequently does not happen. It strikes me a little odd that people would be ok with this when so many others are trying for absolute perfect realism in N scale.
     
  5. Stourbridge Lion

    Stourbridge Lion TrainBoard Supporter

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    Perfect real world example of how it might be used even on a realist model...

    :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up:​
     
  6. Steve Ervin

    Steve Ervin TrainBoard Member

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    Stretching a bit, but I could buy that one. Not much of a market though.
     
  7. Stourbridge Lion

    Stourbridge Lion TrainBoard Supporter

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    To me, it's OK to let a kid have fun fantasy playtime as I feel parents put to much emphsis of reality when it comes to kids. Let kids be kids, they will face reality soon enough...

    :tb-wink: :tb-wink: :tb-wink: :tb-wink:​
     
  8. Steve Ervin

    Steve Ervin TrainBoard Member

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    OK...how about this one...old capacitors complete with wires and labels being sold as custom water tanks? (none on E-bay right now, but they have been)
     
  9. Tudor

    Tudor TrainBoard Member

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    I have used old caps as storage tanks. Remove the plastic covering, and paint them up with decals etc. they make good tanks. No need to buy any though, you can find those things in everything. I would bet any household has old none working electronics. I have used several different electronic components for various items on a layout. Transistors painted like electrical or control panels, amplifiers as coil loads, etc. Imagination is your limit..
     
  10. FloridaBoy

    FloridaBoy TrainBoard Member

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    I can't find it now, but there is an absolute piece of total junk trying to be sold off on "the bay". I have a pretty bad case of accumulation syndrome, but even threw these old locos out. There is a listing of an old, Atlas/Rivarossi E8A, the one with the vertical drive mechanism, which doesn't run, which is scratched, dirty, the front pilot cut off/missing, and just unsightly. Even the shell is beyond saving......

    The guy took 5 or 6 pictures which raise the listing fee, went to pretty detailed explanation and description, and started the bidding off at $6.99 + Freight, which would bring it to 11 bucks or so. Not even worth one dollar. I don't give a hoot anymore and didn't tell the guy he should throw that thing out, and if someone is dumb enough to bid on it, more power to them. lol.

    This is even worse than the old Hallmark SP GP38whatevers being sold off as model trains.

    Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
     
  11. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Too bad this is a forum on trains. Otherwise I'd speak of lunacy in stuff people try to pawn off for powerboat racing.

    :tb-wacky:

    Boxcab E50
     
  12. mogollon

    mogollon TrainBoard Member

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    Here's one not from ebay. A few years ago when I worked at a Dallas hobby shop, an excited fellow dropped in looking for some parts. He had just been to a local "train show" and bought a MINT CONDITION TYCO F-7 in Santa Fe warbonnet paint. This thing was "new in the box" with all it's papers. The salesman told him that it was a sought after piece (of what?) for "TYCO COLLECTORS" and he only paid....65 dollars for it! It was missing the traction tires which I sold him a set for 1
    $1.50. I guess that I was just so amazed at all this, I failed to tell him that the traction tires were worth more than the locomotive. Remember this when you go to "shows" and run into the Tyco collectors. I'll bet that old Chattanoga Choo Choo 2-8-0 would be worth a couple of hundred! Hmmmmm....
    Woodie
     
  13. randgust

    randgust TrainBoard Member

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    I dunno....

    A couple years back I decided to empty my parts collection for anything I still didn't own, which included all the original Atlas, Rivarossi, Trix, etc.

    I put them in lots by manufacturer. I accurately described the items, including the terms 'damaged', 'burned out', and 'cracked'. Pulled no punches.

    The bidding still went nuts. I was astounded.

    I've heard before that you can sell old dirty socks on *bay as long as you accurately describe them as 'old, dirty socks'. Anymore, I only get irritated when its clear that there's some misrepresentation going on, implied or otherwise. As far as stupidity, well... you're only stupid if you can't sell it.

    I bought a Kato C30 'mechanism' that had a ridiculously dark photo, so dark you couldn't tell that there weren't trucks under it. Got it, no trucks! Went back to the auction, lightened the photo digitally.... huh, no trucks... Didn't say there were or weren't in the description. Kato normally sells them separately. Well, call me stupid. Did I feel misled? Yeah, and really stupid. And, of course, you can't find trucks anywhere.

    That's a pretty good picture of an absurd item, and I don't think anybody will buy it and go "OMG, there's a tunnel in a volcano!'. Now, 'dumb' is if you look at this in a while, no bids, and it was never unloaded.

    A while back there was a thread on what could have been the UGLIEST N scale layout of all time; toy plastic palm trees, grass mat, toy cowboys and indians in the wrong scale, just hysterical. The photos said it all. Everybody laughed on the forums, including me. It got like 20 bids and went way up. Suddenly you find yourself looking differently at bags of toy cowboys.
     
  14. Stourbridge Lion

    Stourbridge Lion TrainBoard Supporter

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    As they say, One Man's Junk ...

    One never knows what drives someone to buy something you think is junk but rest assured, they don't think it is. Maybe it has another planned function in another hobby just like we find ways to reuse "stuff" into out hobby that others would call "junk". If you think I'm lying, just ask may of the spouces about all the "stuff" we keep collecting...
    :tb-wink: :tb-wink: :tb-wink: :tb-wink:​
     
  15. 2-8-8-0

    2-8-8-0 TrainBoard Member

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    I have seen some pretty low quality stuff on ebay, and for some insane prices. Its the same across all markets, not just trains, but yes, there are people who use every trick to unload junk.

    There are also many who are uninformed. Or who just want something badly enough, for whatever reason, that they pay a bit more than someone else might. The "worth" of an item is subjective; It is worth whatever someone will pay for it, not one penny more or less.

    I sold a couple NS -9s (Athearn HO) a few years ago. Like all NS -9s, they were produced in a small run, I got two from my dealer (I preordered them). I had them for maybe a year, and sold them on ebay...for almost twice what I paid for them. I thought it was quite high, but the buyer was ecstatic to get them. They arent common, but are by no means rare. Why he bid so much, I will never know; we parted company happy, and that was that.

    The volcano is odd, but if someone buys it because they want it, that dosent make it "dumb". Odd, to some of us, perhaps, but not dumb.

    Amanda
     
  16. nscalerone

    nscalerone TrainBoard Member

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    Amen!!!!!!
     
  17. tgromek

    tgromek TrainBoard Member

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    I see the old Atlas C liners on there all the time, and just shake my head, what's worse is when they have a reserve bid of more than one dollar, which is far more than what a dozen of them are worth.

    I will agree with what has been mentioned about selling the least valuable stuff, as long as you describe it correctly, it will sell, and you'll probably be surprised how much others will bid!

    I had a bunch of leftover Walthers modular pieces, which in earlier days, I would've just tossed in the trash, but, I listed them, as accurately as I could, and sure enough, received a decent price for them.

    I do have a suspicion, there are bidders that will bid on anything that is described as a "lot", multiple items in one listing. Purchase the group of items, then split them up, and relist them. Perhaps they make a living this way, I just want to get rid of excess stuff.
     
  18. Chaya

    Chaya TrainBoard Supporter

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    I've found that the old Kodak Instamatic cameras--dirt cheap at a yard sale or used camera store--have some terrific usable junk inside.
     
  19. Chaya

    Chaya TrainBoard Supporter

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    Reminds me of an old Amtrak F45 I sold on Ebay. I just hate to throw anything away, and you never know that someone might not be wishing they had what you were wasteful enough to toss in the dumpster. So I took it apart, cleaned it up, lubed it, tuned it, and put it up for sale.

    Somebody won it, paid $8 (I think) plus shipping, and I sent it off to him. I still felt bad, like I should have paid him or something.

    But he wrote to me to tell me how happy I had made him. I won't tell the story because I don't want this broadcasted and him embarrassed, but I realized then that I had been right: throwing things away can just be wasteful, because someone may think they are a dream come true.

    Of course, it wasn't a volcano running lava with a tunnel through it. Now that's cool! :tb-biggrin:
     
  20. Chaya

    Chaya TrainBoard Supporter

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    Nah. If it were Mt. St. Helens it wouldn't run lava. It would blow itself in half every now and then.

    Now that I might pay for! :tb-biggrin:
     

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