The state of Model Railroading


engineerkyle

engineerkyle

Member
An interesting phenomenom is happening with my eBay and website sales.
Regarding the auctions; I seem to be giving away models these days. I did a lot of eBay sales from 2007-2011 and I got reasonable payment for my listings. My custom weathered rolling stock would average about $40.00 per car. Sometimes I'd take a loss, and sometimes I'd hit a homerun. HO scale scratch buildings could top out for hundreds of dollars, usually averaging around $70.
Now, after taking a couple years off, I am offering models on eBay again. Because my skills have improved, I believe these items are even better than before. I get about the same number of views and watchers, but I've yet to get any serious bidding and I've been taking a bath on every purchase.
Are people not into trains as much these days? Is eBay different?
 
I have noticed some prices dropping a little on railroad stuff.
I think ebay may be getting saturated with model railroad stuff.
I noticed that a few years back with woodworking hand tools.
 
I noticed some weird stuff last year about this time. I think seasons have a lot to do with eBay sales. It seems to me that prices/sales start to go up when the fall hits. Right around Christmas they drop off and pick up after the first of the year.

I think there are a lot of trends as well. If something is featured in Model Railroader (for example) and it sparks enough interest to gain threads here and other sites, the demand and prices will go up. Especially if it's an out-of-production item.

One thing that seems to always be really popular are the streamlined steam engines. I've seen old shells go for $100.00 plus and there's fierce bidding.

I think the hobby is going steady and possibly gaining some popularity. Lots of people like to claim doom and gloom, but the shows are always packed with new ones being added all the time. I think the hobby itself is changing. Mainly how business is being conducted.

I buy a lot online. I'd like to buy more locally, but the three main hobby shops that I buy from aren't really that local. The one that I did make a point to frequent moved further away. The other two I manage to get to about once every three/four months. And that's assuming they have what I'm looking for.
 
I'm with wombat on this one. The few I know who model have been hit hard by economy and government costs. Also I see more stigma attached to the hobby so those that do stay low and the hobby shops are moving away from trains to go to those helicopter like things. Spies have more class I guess. :confused:
 
Richard V said:
I'm with wombat on this one. The few I know who model have been hit hard by economy and government costs. Also I see more stigma attached to the hobby so those that do stay low and the hobby shops are moving away from trains to go to those helicopter like things. Spies have more class I guess. :confused:
Click to expand...

Stigma?

Can you elaborate on that?
 
While I can't speak for anybody else, I know my health insurance costs just went through the roof. Basically my entire hobby budget is now going to pay health insurance premiums. So now, if I want a new train, I have to sell something I already have in order to fund the new purchase. I am having to do some intense searching for the absolute best price I can get, just so I don't have to sell too much stuff to be able to buy it. If there are others besides me in this position, it would explain a lot.
 
I live in an area where there are no hobby shops at all. I probably lost years of progress until e-retailers came on the scene. ebay was one source of goods during the dry period, but in many cases I saw bidding get a little out of hand for some of the items I was looking for. In many instances they went at or above retail and then having to pay shipping on top of that sort of cooled my jets. Most e-retailers are also selling at some sort of a discount. Now I just wait until a have a good number of items I need and order on line.
 
bnsf971 said:
While I can't speak for anybody else, I know my health insurance costs just went through the roof. Basically my entire hobby budget is now going to pay health insurance premiums. So now, if I want a new train, I have to sell something I already have in order to fund the new purchase. I am having to do some intense searching for the absolute best price I can get, just so I don't have to sell too much stuff to be able to buy it. If there are others besides me in this position, it would explain a lot.
Click to expand...

I think you can thank our clueless leader for that.
 
Part of it might be you are advertising buildings that are obviously kits as being "scratchbuilt" (for example your HO scale boarding house). You are charging $125 for a $25 kit that is assembled and painted.
 
dave1905 said:
Part of it might be you are advertising buildings that are obviously kits as being "scratchbuilt" (for example your HO scale boarding house). You are charging $125 for a $25 kit that is assembled and painted.
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Good catch Dave,

I never really noticed my cut an paste titles were not accurate for every single model. I went with "model railroad scratch building" subtitles to aide in Google searches, never intending to sell a kit as an original. The titles on the few structures in question have been changed to correct the situation.
 
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What I've noticed in the last 35 years since I've been active in the hobby, is the aging of the participants. The baby boomers seem to make up the bulk of the active modelers, and as they die out, I don't see many young people embracing this hobby to take their place. Our train club has put on swap meets for over 30 years, and as a particpant in every one of those, most of the time you only see a younger person in the company of a parent. I've very seldom seen a 25 or younger person come through the door by themselves.
 
I walked into the only remaining LHS in my area yesterday, and was shocked to see a GN stock car for sale, with animal sounds, all for the amazing price of only $80!!!!! The owner confirmed I was reading the price correctly.

So, it's now possible to have sound-equipped diesels accompanied by a unit train of stock cars making animal sounds! When will that maker figure out the appropriate odors to add?

Am I the only one on here who thinks this is crazy? I can understand the desire for realism, but at what price point are newcomers being discouraged from entering the hobby?

Photoman475
 
Hey EngineerKyle,

I think you are selling a premium product and like a Lamborghini dealer you will never sell as many as a Ford or Chevy dealer.

It may take some time for your market to find you, but when they do and word of mouth spreads from happy customers you sales will go up.

If I were you I would not offer much in the way of discounts, I learned a valuable lesson when I was a salesmen, "You can always come down in price, but you can never go up." If word spreads about lower prices then you won't get the higher prices you need to justify the use of your time and skill.

Great work, I wish you well and good selling.
 
It's funny that this topic was posted. I've been selling my milwaukee road stuff and other random odds and ends on eBay for a couple months now. I'm using the money from those sales to fund my layout work. So that being said, I've noticed that people are asking way more for items than they are worth. When did the value of an Athearn blue box engine become worth $50 or more?! Or a used Atlas engine without dcc cost as much as a new one? It's outrageous! Even Athearn genesis 2 bay covered hoppers are going for over $40 a piece. The hobby shop by me sells them for $20 only. The cost of this hobby is going to drive plenty of people out of it.
Bnsf971, I'm in a similar situation to you. We're paying for our health care at work, and union dues went up but our pay checks haven't. So that's put a huge damper on my hobby money too. My layout will be probably be only half finished for eternity at this rate
 
photoman475 said:
...

Am I the only one on here who thinks this is crazy? ...

Photoman475
Click to expand...

No, you're not. IIRC, back in the 80's, there was a company that offered "Railroad Scents". They came in a bottle with an eyedropper, and they offered 4 or 5 scents. The only one I remember was "Coal Smoke", and a drop could be added to a smokestack at a factory, a locomotive tender, (helped hide the oily shine). The smells were a close approximation of the real thing, but the drawback was that like all smells, your nose got "used" to the scent and after several minutes, you almost couldn't smell it without effort. AFAIK, they went out of business in the 90's, but I could be wrong. Special scents, like the RR scents, to me at least, is like sound, I can only tolerate it for a few minutes.
 
Carey:

I remember that outfit-they were out of Minneapolis-my wife is from the Twin Cities area, that's why I remember them. I can't remember their name; I've probably got an old MR or RMC around with an ad in it somewhere. They may have also advertised sound tapes of city noises, etc.

I just have problems with details that can't be seen while the cars or diesels running on a layout. I understand having the details for a contest or a museum quality piece, but for me on my layout????? The odds are all that underframe air brake detailing will get broken. So why have it?

I just can't help but wondering about all the bells and whistles that manufacturers keep putting on today's models. Are they really necessary for the hobby to survive?

Photoman475
 
I've noticed that a lot of things on eBay are at or above hobby shop prices.
I will bid on something unique or hard to find but unless it's a great deal I'll order from an LHS to keep them going.
The biggest deterant from buying on eBay has been the introduction of the global shipping program, it often doubles the price of the item, sometimes higher.
 
If I were the President of the Model Railroad world, I would focus on one thing in my "State of the Union Address"; introducing young people to this fantastic hobby. The free market will take care of the rest. Sellers and dealers that over charge, don't provide good customer service or blow things out at or below cost will soon enough find themselves out of business. Many of them find every excuse why their business are failing, but all they need to do is to look in the mirror.

I recently went into a small train shop here in Baltimore that I found by accident. He had every kind of new old stock you could imagine. Athearn, AHM, Tyco, Lionel, and many more!. Some boxes and manufactures I had never seen or heard of. (I am still a novice) All covered by a thick layer of dust. I could not find a thing I wanted because it was such an unorganized mess!!! He only had a small pathway through his store with things stacked up haphazardly everywhere. If I were a young man it would have taken me more then a month of 100 hour work weeks just to see what is in there and to organize it.

I asked about a few product numbers I could remember of the top of my head and his reply was "I don't know" I asked if I brought in a list could he find out if he has them, his answer "if you give me a few weeks"

I also asked "how is business?" he said "not so good, people don't want to play with trains any more"

I was a successful salesmen for many years, even through the recessions I was able to prosper. I will never forget my very first sales meeting with our sales manager. One of the senior salesmen spoke out to the new young sales manger and said "the economy is bad" he reply was "I don't give a damn, go out and take the business away from the other dealers or I will find someone that will!" he followed that up by saying "all you have to do is work hard, be honest, persistent and provide better service then the other guy" I kept that in mind thought my career, especially when I went into business for myself. That lesson applies to selling almost anything.

When I hear dealers complain about the economy I know they are more then likely just lazy.

The post war boom ended in the 60's now you have to earn your business!

Hang in there EngineerKyle, once people see the quality and craftsmanship in your products price will become a secondary issue. One other thing, my wife still swears one of your models is a real building! She thinks you did It with trick photography. :)
 
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