What's the Item That Got Away?

glennac Aug 4, 2014

  1. mu26aeh

    mu26aeh TrainBoard Member

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    LOL, I posted on TRW that I was looking for them and someone had gone back through looking for wanted items. He contacted me thru there and told me he thought he could get other two I needed. By the time I got back to him, only 1 was left but he was able to get it. So now I'm only looking for #301.
     
  2. Inkaneer

    Inkaneer TrainBoard Member

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    At Columbus, OH N scale Weekend in May of this year someone had 24 MT 2 bay hoppers with loads. He was selling them for $60/12 pack. Offered me a deal of 12 for $50. I bought one set but I passed on the second set. If I hadn't I could have had 24 MT hoppers for $100.00. That's about $4.17 each. When I came to my senses someone else had bought the other twelve. About two weeks later I see the same 2 sets of 12 cars on Ebay auction. Both auctions went for over $100 each.
     
  3. umtrr-author

    umtrr-author TrainBoard Member

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    Imagine the fun of putting in a subversive bid knowing you'll be sniped out anyway... although I'm sure no one here has done that... right?
     
  4. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Nope. Ha ha.

    I was once after a piece of paper for my RR collection. Was doing just fine until someone else stepped in and I knew the party. It is someone willing to spend whatever to get the item. So I dumped a nice three digit bid on it, late in the game. Figured he'd have a big chunk on it, just to be certain he'd win. I was right. It ended up costing him over $200 dollars more than he thought. He was not happy, but he did not change his methods. Too bad fella! Ha ha.
     
  5. SandyEggoJake

    SandyEggoJake TrainBoard Member

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    With out a doubt..... Athearn's N Scale John Deere trainset (#3, steam with the 2-8-0 and Model D's on a flat car).

    It's not particularly valuable, and certainly not that great of a model. But my 3 yo son saw one at a local swap and later started to fixate on it. With help of mom he wrote to Santa asking for it a few weeks before last Christmas. Lo and behold, there was several on auction on fleabay and even one on C-list being sold in my very own neighborhood! Of course, I procrastinated or got out bid and the supply dried up. In spite all the other train and john deere stuff he got, Santa didn't come through in, and our little man asked mom if he did something bad to make Santa upset with him! Ouch!!!

    Not a month has gone by without my wife asking if Santa has found it yet.
     
  6. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Ouch. What an awkward situation..... :(
     
  7. SandyEggoJake

    SandyEggoJake TrainBoard Member

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    Yep! And no one to blame but myself.... and Santa. DAMN YOU, SANTA!
     
  8. glennac

    glennac TrainBoard Member

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    Dag Nabbit!!! :cautious:

    I had bid on and was carefully watching a George Holdewell MT "Route of the Chief" Special Run box car this weekend (I think I have all of these except for this car). Had might phone with me to alert me to when the item was near to ending.

    Then I had to go to Walmart for just a few minutes. Wouldn't you know it, those were the few minutes that the auction ended - AND I'D LEFT MY PHONE IN THE CAR!!! :mad::mad:

    I was all prepared to up my bid at the last moment and snatch it from the jaws of defeat and didn't realize what had happened until I'd gotten back in the car. I was so angry with myself. If i'd been just 3 minutes earlier I would have made it. :cry:
     
  9. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    Ouch bummer:(
     
  10. nscaler711

    nscaler711 TrainBoard Member

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    I only lost a couple things I really wanted...
    One was the Trainworx Optimus Prime truck, that was released, when I heard about it, I went straight to the LHS, and had them preorder it... even gave them money to pay for it... When they started hitting online shops I went back and asked if they had it.... They never got it... So they refunded me, and I never saw one go for the same price as retailers or saw one go for MSRP... taught me to never preorder with that LHS ever again.

    Another one was a Athearn ATSF SD75M #207, its the last one I need to fill out my SF 75M roster, was on ePay hadn't seen one prior, and haven't seen one since... It sold while I was asleep... Missed my alarms to go bid on it... Bought 4 prior ones for around $60-75 a pop, and only paid $100 for the fifth... Probably willing to pay that again for 207... As Athearn has no interest in rerunning them anytime soon...
    Ah well...
     
  11. Ryan Wilkerson

    Ryan Wilkerson TrainBoard Member

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    I was introduced to N scale 25 years ago and back then I couldn't afford much. I would buy mostly MDC tank cars for $4.85. Many, many products were released that I couldn't afford. Over the last 10 years or so, I have been fortunate enough to run across many of the items that I wanted back then and able to buy them. I guess the only thing that I missed out on was Kato SD70M with flat radiators (undec) to do as EMD demo and EMD leaser units. I'm sure there are others but I can't think of any.
     
  12. Zug

    Zug TrainBoard Member

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    When I bid on feebay I decided the max I will go to and that's it..
    On the other hand I have sniped stuff by 1 cent:)
     
  13. greatdrivermiles

    greatdrivermiles TrainBoard Member

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    Not exactly a "One that got away" but. I really wanted one of those Atlas 94' Whale belly Tank car. So I researched how much they were going for ($70 - $100 at the time) so I put in a respectable top bid of $75 on one, and I won($74)... 2 weeks later I found one in my LHS for selling for $25... So now I have 2.
     
  14. glennac

    glennac TrainBoard Member

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    I definitely have a max bid in mind for ever item I bid on. However, I don't place that max bid until a few seconds before the item ends. I don't want to 'show my hand' too soon.

    Placing your max bid in days before the end just gives everyone else an opportunity to beat it and send the price soaring.
     
  15. dualgauge

    dualgauge TrainBoard Member

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    I pre-ordered some Trainworx Erie Lackawanna semi trailers. Most not have got order in soon enough. By time figured out I was to late nobody had any left.
    Dan
     
  16. thenightfly

    thenightfly TrainBoard Member

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    I lost many items on ebay that way, by a few cents or a buck or two, and then I never saw those items again. One of those is 'the one that got away'; a reefer with the picture of a pretty 'Michelob girl' on the sides, that I had wanted for my train of all different beer cars. That was 10 years ago. I've never seen that car again, anywhere, not even a picture of it shows up on google searches. So after that, what I do it just consider the max that I would normally be willing to pay, and add some on top of that, because I got sick of losing auctions on the items I wanted, over a few cents. I also weigh out the possibility that I might never see the item for sale ever again, and increase my bid to reflect that. Like many others, I don't put in my bid until the last moments of the auctions. It's easy enough to just set the alarm on my phone and then put the bid in as the auction ends.
     
  17. SPsteam

    SPsteam TrainBoard Member

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    This could really be a long list for me.

    H-8 2-6-6-6, LHS had a mint used one for 600 bucks, didn't buy since I'm an SP guy. A voice in my head kept saying "buy it', but I didn't. Now they sell for 2-3 times that.

    PRR T-1 Duplex, found a Dai Young without skirts on ebay, it sold for less than 500, now they sell for 1-2K. When key was getting out of N scale, they had some Q-2s on sale for 6-700 bucks, should have bought one of those too.

    Missed a 2-8-8-4 brass Yellowstone with caboose on ebay the other day, sold for 750. I usually see them for 900 and up.

    I haven't been able to get my hands on a Key AC-9 in oil yet, I've been outbid several times. That is the last AC that I'm missing for my collection of AC-4 through 12.

    Missed several WOT passenger cars. I hardly see them on the auction sites anymore.
     

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