Ebay woes

rooster513

Thanks for the advice guys. Wish I learned this lesson before so I could have picked one of those sbd's. now I know better. Sounds like you have robdo it or you'll never win anything

 

Not necessarily, Rooster. I've won a few bids but to be honest, it was usually only myself or one other person bidding OR it was a kit that it seemed no one was looking at.

But for the reason you're bummed, I do prefer to look for kits that offer either the "Buy it now' or "make an offer" options. If the price doesn't cause you to break the bank, you might try that.

William 

Straycat1911

 

 

rooster513

Thanks for the advice guys. Wish I learned this lesson before so I could have picked one of those sbd's. now I know better. Sounds like you have robdo it or you'll never win anything

 

 

 

 

Not necessarily, Rooster. I've won a few bids but to be honest, it was usually only myself or one other person bidding OR it was a kit that it seemed no one was looking at.

But for the reason you're bummed, I do prefer to look for kits that offer either the "Buy it now' or "make an offer" options. If the price doesn't cause you to break the bank, you might try that.

William 

 

Yeah I've been checking in now and again to see if another comes up in auction. It's a kit I'd love to build sometime but I've got kits to keep me busy. More of a "if I can get a good price, I'll pick it up" kinda thing.

All the tatics you guys are mentioning makes perfect sense...I'll just have to use them to my advantage next time

All of the above....

It is all about what you want to pay on the day..

Remember when the Revell 00017 M-48 and Scissors Bridge 1/40 sold for $200 ?

It subsequently sold for $150, then $100... then, Revell re-released it & currently sells for UKP£12.00-£18.00, USD $15-$22 approx.

The €b@y options I use:

Searching for said item, using all the filter options applicable, location, category etc, then use the "follow my search" to save it, & €bat will email you all new listings of item daily. I setup each item on a seperate search.

Another useful option at the bottom:

to give you an idea of previous sales price.

Finally, delete the search when you have the Item you want.... as you don't want to know you paid $$$$ when they subsequently sell for $$.cc!

Always remember... there are other options,

Hobby club meets, Hobby Shows, for sale/swap pages on hobby sites, yard sales, car-boot sales.... and there always the retail LHS!

rooster513

Thanks for the advice guys. Wish I learned this lesson before so I could have picked one of those sbd's. now I know better. Sounds like you have robdo it or you'll never win anything

 

This is the old AM SBD I bought when they were selling these kits direct. I got a bunch of their stuff before they went out of business. Lost interest in 1/48 scale aircraft and most of the stuff sits unbuilt decades later.

http://modelingmadness.com/review/allies/us/lacombesbd.htm

Bish

 

GMorrison

One more tip, for those new to the game.

There's nothing sillier than complaining about shipping costs. Just consider it a part of the overall price pure and simple.

 

 

 

 

In other words, don't fall for the con trick of cheap price and extortionate postage to make up for it.

 

That is one reason ebay charges a shipping fee on sellers because they were avoiding the final value fee and getting more $ in their pocket so ebay got wise and punished everyone.

I too do the sniping technique otherwise, 99% of the time you loose. Like Bish, I wait 5 seconds or less with the highest price I'm willing to pay. Sometimes I have won or lost by a penny! Why drive up the price of something by placing a bid days or hours away?

Be patient rooster and you will get what you want. As an example, I was after the 1/32 ROG Bf109K-4 which in reality is a reboxed Hasegawa. The ones I eyed were in the mid $30 range and ending sometimes around or over $40. Took me a couple of months of waiting but sniped one out with an Eduard PE color set for $26. Took me a while but finally got it at a great price with seconds to spare. 

Yeah, it helps to establish some rules for yourself, too.  For example, deciding on your price levels, and sticking to them.  Or not bidding on a kit that is currently in production, with some exceptions.  For example, if I want to build a Monogram SBD--and who doesn't, on occasion?--I may bid on an auction for one, but I will make sure not to go past the retail price of the kit, which is currently in production.  And in the case of a long-lived kit, like that SBD, I might look for older boxings, from when I was a kid, for example, on the theory that the molds were in better shape, so the sprues will tend to be crisper.

I also weigh the rarity or ubiquity of the subject.  With model kits, it's one thing.  With figures and toy soldiers, it's another.  But generally, I like to pay no more than twenty bucks for a model, and less is better; five bucks for a single foot figure; and ten for a mounted figure.

My tolerances are a little higher for Maschinen Krieger subjects, because there are so many currently out-of-print, and they are generally rarer anyway.  Same goes for the figures made to go with them.

And in reckoning price, I also try to avoid buying from pirates, if I have a good idea that something is a pirate copy.

But these are just guidelines, and if I've had a beer or two and go on on a Friday night, I've been known to get stupid, too.

plasticjunkie

 

Be patient rooster and you will get what you want. As an example, I was after the 1/32 ROG Bf109K-4 which in reality is a reboxed Hasegawa. The ones I eyed were in the mid $30 range and ending sometimes around or over $40. Took me a couple of months of waiting but sniped one out with an Eduard PE color set for $26. Took me a while but finally got it at a great price with seconds to spare. 

 

Yeah that's the way I'm looking at it too PJ. It's one I'd like to build up someday but will wait for a good price before I have another go at it.

There is one eBay store I frequent in and he has tons of oddball kits and decals. I've bought a few stuff from him and his prices are pretty decent - especially when buying multiple items. The best part? Great customer service if you have questions.

The eBay store I often go to is Scott's Model Workshop. Check it out.

the Baron

 

And in reckoning price, I also try to avoid buying from pirates, if I have a good idea that something is a pirate copy.

 

There's another phenomenon regarding items like this. Sometimes those items are "bid bombed" in order to chase away buyers. Bid bombing is when fake bids are made in order to jack the price up so real buyers won't bother bidding on the item. So what may start out as a cheap way to get a pirated copy of a legitimate item, becomes even more expensive than the real item.

Bid bombing usually occurs when people do not want someone selling an item. Yes, there are people like that out there.

Bid bombing.... that's a new one to me.

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

Bid bombing.... that's a new one to me.

 

The Harambe-shaped Cheeto is probably the latest example of bid bombing. People starting fake eBay accounts to make the amount for the chip become ridiculous.

I remember it becoming a thing post 9/11.

http://www.salon.com/2001/10/15/bid_bombers/

the Baron

Yeah, it helps to establish some rules for yourself, too.  For example, deciding on your price levels, and sticking to them.  Or not bidding on a kit that is currently in production, with some exceptions.  For example, if I want to build a Monogram SBD--and who doesn't, on occasion?--I may bid on an auction for one, but I will make sure not to go past the retail price of the kit, which is currently in production.  And in the case of a long-lived kit, like that SBD, I might look for older boxings, from when I was a kid, for example, on the theory that the molds were in better shape, so the sprues will tend to be crisper.

I also weigh the rarity or ubiquity of the subject.  With model kits, it's one thing.  With figures and toy soldiers, it's another.  But generally, I like to pay no more than twenty bucks for a model, and less is better; five bucks for a single foot figure; and ten for a mounted figure.

My tolerances are a little higher for Maschinen Krieger subjects, because there are so many currently out-of-print, and they are generally rarer anyway.  Same goes for the figures made to go with them.

And in reckoning price, I also try to avoid buying from pirates, if I have a good idea that something is a pirate copy.

But these are just guidelines, and if I've had a beer or two and go on on a Friday night, I've been known to get stupid, too.

 

Your comment is the perfect lead in to what I observed on Ebay today.

I was watching a dozen or so auctions that a kit seller had starting at 99 cents plus $7 shipping. Within hours of the auction commencing, more than half were selling at prices that were equal to or more than you would pay at the most expensive hobby retailer. Towards the final moments of the auction frantic bidding ensued and all sense of self control went out the window. Bidders payed an exorbitant amount for a kit not realizing that it they just scrolled down or did a simple search, the Buy it Now option would have been alot cheaper.   

Once more, why I used snipes. You set them in advance, with a maximum price, then walk away. Unlike actually bidding, where your bid gets posted, the site won't show your hand ahead of time. It bids once, at the last second when a counter bid would also have to be a snipe.

Frankly I see no positive in bidding at all, until the auction goes over. All you are doing is inviting someone to outbid you, and cost you more money in the long run.

Like was stated earlier, I was in a live auction once and recognized I was getting run up by a shill. So for the sport of it I counter offered three more times, each time bluffing that I was more than eager to keep raising the price. At the right moment, I stopped bidding. The auctioneer couldn't believe it, and kept stalling the call. Finally he gave up and knocked the other bidder down for the sale. She went ballistic, screamed at the auctioneer that I should be forced to make another bid.

Thats harder to control on eBay.

Definitely bidding early on an auction with a low starting price is WRONG!

For example, take a hard to find $50 kit, something that if you saw for $50 at a retail store, you'd buy because it is scarce and a good price. Now say the starting price is $5. The casual eBayer sees it early and says, "I'd buy that for $5!" and bids, say, $10.

The next casual bidder sees it and bids $5.50, but he's still not the high bidder. He keeps bidding a buck at a time until he's the high bidder at $10.50.

First guy gets an outbid email and he goes back and repeats process until he's the high bidder. rinse and repeat until the end of the auction or the price is no longer the great deal it could have been.

Never bid on something until you are tracking 2, 3 or more similar items. Either use the autobid option or be there for the end. Once the price goes above what the others are selling for, stop bidding and continue to watch the cheaper options. Once the two or three have sold for a lot of money, the 4th or 5th ones will probably go for much less.

Hi,

I'm not fully sure that I agree that starting with a low bid is always wrong. 

If its something rare or something that I really want then I think it might make sense to just put in my 'this is the highest I will go' price. 

But if its an item that isn't so rare, then by starting with a lower bid, if it looks like someone is intent on outbidding me on it, I can drop out and wait for something similar to come up for sale later.  Whereas if I had started with my maximum 'this is the highest I'll pay' price I run the risk of having someone else drive the price up right to that point but dropping out just below my price.

I guess alot would just depend on how rare the item is and whether I'm willing to wait a little while to get it.

Another good trick is to use the "See Automatic Bids" when you click on the "10 bids" or whatever next to the current price. There you can see if one or the other buyer is one of those kind of bidders who "creeps up" to the price by like, $10 dollar increments. You can use this to your advantage.

When you post a bid, the price SHOWN on the page will always only be a few dollars more than the previous price. So if you bid $100 on an item that is currently at say, $40, if you do this in the last minute or so, by the time the clock ticks down, that bidder will still be still be "creeping" when it ends. I don't know why guys do this----they obviously don't understand the process. I once got a vintage 80's rare guitar for a mere $375 that should have gone for around $800 by doing this.

Karl, the only small increment I'd add to your suggestion is to snipe. Your bid only goes in once, when it's too late for a counter, and the one better thing is you don't have to be there. Costs a buck.

BTW looking forward to those NASCAR models!

Another thing people want to realize about Ebay. The major mfg'ers also watch the auctions....

And if they see one of their ancient OOP kits selling for a lot of bucks with tons of activity, they will sometimes do a re-release of the kit to capitalize on the demand...

This is why it pays to keep your ears to the rail so to speak.

My illuminating moment came in search of a Heller La Reale. at the time it hadn't been in production for over 30 years and complete untouched examples were extremely rare.

Caught one on the bay starting at about $50.00 (this was back in '95 or so) A good many bidders ensued to jack it all the way up to $220.00 or thereabouts.

Me, I watched this without worry cause I was willing to go to $500.00. (I had been searching for one for about ten years) Well I sniped it at 3 seconds and got it for $260.00 shipped. Paid for it thru paypal immediately. and went to my friend who happens to run a B&M store to tell him about it.

He was more than pleased to inform me that in three months Heller was re-issuing it at an initial MSRP price of $45.00, they just hadn't made the formal announcement yet. (came four weeks later)

I went back to the auction page and contacted the bidder that I had beaten and asked him if he would take it at my last bid + shipping. (5.00 more than his last bid)

He happily agree and when it arrived he paid and I re-labled it and sent it off, didn't even leave the PO. Picked mine up later at the store.

I came to learn through another friend that Heller decided to re-release because of the prices that they were selling for when they came up for sale.

It's like many of the old time '50's and 60's re-releases we have seen over the last 15 years. They were on the shelf, they caught the eyes of the young guys as "That" was something I would like to build, but never got the chance, and those young boys are now adults with the cash to buy...

Always check with your HS buddies/friends, they may know something way before it becomes common knowledge.

AS far as Sniping?

Only way to buy from E-Bay. I don't buy unless it is the only way to get it, I figure a value, double it, and last second bid it.....

I don't buy much off Ebay, but when I do it's because no one else has it and I don't usually lose those auctions.

E-bay is the source of last resort.

I buy on Ebay the same way I approach car buying. I do my research, decide on a fair price and then go looking. If I find what I want on Ebay, first I check out the Buy it Now offers. If I find one that's in my price range, I'll buy it. If I have to bid on an item, I'll list my max bid and let the chips fall where they may. I learned early on in Ebay how the "win at all costs" urge can take over and you do nothing but screw yourself over.