What is up with Ebay?


I have used ebay for a few years. Starting out, I was mainly a buyer. More recently, it has been mostly sales. I have found it to be a good way to sell unwanted model railroad stuff.

It took me a while to find the best way to sell, however. I usually wait until I have many items, say 8 to 12, and put them all on the same time. I leave them on there for as many days as practical, usually 10. I try to have my bids end between 5 and 6 pm central time. I also group my sales by road name or region of the US if possible. For instance, all NP and GN, or all Milwaukee Road. I have had the best results using this formula.
 
We are kind of in agreement, accept I still sell all kinds of odds and ends on ebay with good sales and I find tons of stuff on there that I want at some of the best prices I can find, its not as easy as it used to be for purchasing and finding the deals or rare items , but its still there. Funny story my son love Jet, so I tried Jet, its the closest thing to Ebay , it is lousy, very lacking in fun stuff and prices are yucko.

Anyway happy holidays to all, I am off the to the only so - so local hobby shop just for fun to see what they gots. Flaps / Chris


Selling for me is the issue! If I want to buy something, Online Hobby Discounters work, unless I can find it on Ebay at a better price. Buying is easy, no problems, I can spend my money, many different ways at many different places!

I find the stuff I'm wanting to sell appears to not draw much interest. Right now I have 8 items listed all are at or below 50% of cost new. One of the items is on it's third go round and the price is almost giveaway and still nobody bites! Four of the eight are Woodland Scenics Rock Molds, priced at 50% of new. All my Rock Molds are on their second go round, now.!
 
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Selling for me is the issue! If I want to buy something, Online Hobby Discounters work, unless I can find it on Ebay at a better price. Buying is easy, no problems, I can spend my money, many different ways at many different places!

I find the stuff I'm wanting to sell appears to not draw much interest. Right now I have 8 items listed all are at or below 50% of cost new. One of the items is on it's third go round and the price is almost giveaway and still nobody bites! Four of the eight are Woodland Scenics Rock Molds, priced at 50% of new. All my Rock Molds are on their second go round, now.!

I found that Christmas is about the worse time to sell on ebay. Too many other sales and stuff going on.

I sold my rock molds in the fall and got nearly retail prices on them.

Hope this helps.
 
I agree Christmas time is bad for selling on Ebay. However, I'm finding it was bad previous, also!
 
Right now, December 23rd, there are fantastic deals on most rolling stock at Ebay. I found six un-built freight car kits kits for a Buy it Now price of $12.99, without takers! I also found five Standard Santa Fe Passenger cars for $10.95! I know if I was to go through all of Athearns list on Ebay, I would find many, many other fantastic deals, without bids! Other producers of freight and passenger cars kits are in the same situation! This punctuates my opinion that either Ebay is failing; or, people buying there only want pre-built rolling stock, unsure of which!

Both Ebay and train shows have tons of kits for sale at cheap prices. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out out most people are lazy sods and prefer rtr stuff. Either that or they have wives and maybe kids and busy lives and dont have time to build kits like all the retired or single guys on these forums?
 
I have been buying and selling on Ebay Since 2001. It has changed quite a bit however to me its very convenient and i will continue to use it. I dought it is going anywhere for a long time. As a lot of you pointed out Hobby shops are the ones that are going away, not Ebay. In our fast paced world a lot of people do not have the time to run around and shop, or the desire. That is certainly true for me. If I need anything the first place I go to is Ebay. I currently have 488 transactions .
 
Both Ebay and train shows have tons of kits for sale at cheap prices. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out out most people are lazy sods and prefer rtr stuff. Either that or they have wives and maybe kids and busy lives and dont have time to build kits like all the retired or single guys on these forums?

It's true, I'm a Superhero! Anyone 60 years young is a Superhero! I have a wife, two sons, owned two businesses, was a Rotarian, , coached little league baseball, went to church, Sunday mornings, headed up a couple of volunteer committees and built my basement model railroad empire and assembled more than 150 freight and passenger cars from kits and yes, even a few HO Locomotives! I was wondering if anyone was ever going to recognize how great I am! Thanks for making it known to all who spend a bit of time here at the Model Railroad Forums.

Well, maybe not a Superhero; but, at least I'm not a SOD, whatever that is?

So, on to how well RTR stuff is selling: Looking at Walther's RTR sales, in 100 items only 5 had bids! For Atlas RTR, in 100 items, 9 had bids! So, looking through 200 items, only 14 items had bids.

With kits, I could really only find slightly less than 50 Athearn Blue Box kits and I could only find about 40 MDC Roundhouse kits. Of what I found, only 2 items of each, had bids on them.

So, my findings do show that RTR is selling better than kits; but, 14 bids out of 200 RTR freight cars still seems pretty gloomy, to me. I'm sure that Christmas is a factor and maybe I will re-look at this later.

Merry Christmas everyone!
 
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I stopped selling on ebay for the most part because the buyer protection program is IRONCLAD in favor of the buyers. They can say "not as described" and ebay will side with the buyer 100% of the time. No amount of photos and proof that the buyer is lying will do any good. Ebay simply sides with the buyer and tells you to refund all money. They do not force the buyer to return the item.

I do sell extra minor league hockey tickets on there occasionally. But that's a really niche market. The people looking for minor league hockey tickets generally aren't your scammers. And if I do get a scammer who says they didn't receive the tickets I can check with the hockey team to see if they tickets were scanned at the door and used. I also know everyone who sits around my seats who can tell me if people were in my seats that night. And my seats are right behind one of the goals so they are ALWAYS in the local newspaper photos of the game.

So if I ever did get someone who lies and says they want a refund because the tickets didn't come I can prove they did get and use them.

But ebay will STILL side with the buyer in that case because they don't actually investigate when they get a claim.

So the trick is to immediately withdraw the PayPal payment to my bank account as soon as it comes in. If someone tries to scam me by saying they didn't get my tickets eBay will charge my credit card for the refund to give back to the buyer. Then I can take it up with the credit card company as a fraudulent charge. And they don't half ass the investigation on a fraud claim. The credit card company will force ebay to prove the charge was legit or they won't fund the transaction. And since the credit card company will listen to me and take my evidence of fraud, I'm covered.

I assume the same technique would work for selling train stuff too. But it's too much hassle to do it regularly. I on'y put up with ebay for selling tickets because it's relatively low risk for the product I'm selling.

I will also say that ti's much harder to sell tickets now than it was 5 years ago. Selling prices are dropping despite attendance at games increasing. Listing views are down. It's just not as easy to sell a product even if it's in demand there.

But if you want a fake counterfeit product from China, ebay is your go to resource. (Amazon is a close second)
 
Skipjacks, With close to 300 transactions on Ebay, I have never had anyone want to; or, actually return anything. What you say above, I can not argue with! However, cheating as you describe, has simply not happened to me. I find the people I deal with to be honest for the most part. Unlike many people, I don't see evil behind every bush and believe in the natural goodness of people. You can think I have a Pollyanna view of the world if you like; however, I am just not finding my Ebay customers to be as bad as you feel they are!

I'm just finding Ebay buyers to be few and far between!
 
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I don't see the darkness in the world, dude. But I've had multiple problems with eBay buyers in the last few years.
 
What can I say, other than I feel it's to bad you've had the trouble you've described. Although I believe that you have had these troubles. I think there are many others who see a bunch of evil that doesn't exist! There certainly is evil out there, I'm not dumb enough to believe there isn't. I also think that much of what is described as evil is actually the misinterpreting of what has been said.

I also wonder why it is that I can go through pages of items for sale on Ebay and not see any bids? Much of what I see that is not selling, due to sellers asking more than what we all can get it, through a hobby discounter. This fact is what has prompted this thread!

We can use Ebay if we choose. However, I am sorry, I'm not interested in why you don't use Ebay! My interest is maybe an unanswerable question and is re-asked in the three sentences just above.
 
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I've never had a problem with an eBay buyer when I've sold stuff. I do always make certain to offer multiple photos and describe the items and any defects in exact detail. The one time I screwed that up, I refunded the guy's money and told him to just keep the item. He still left bad itemized ratings, but some people are just a**holes and one sour apple didn't have much impact on my ratings. I have had problems AS an eBay buyer, and luckily eBay has stepped up and made a couple of real jerks make good on bad merch. I have not, however, ever had eBay tell me I didn't have to send something back. They have covered the postage cost on egregiously bad deals (yes they, not the seller), but never that I just didn't have to send it back.

On another note about no bids, I agree that most of it is just overpriced. It will eventually sell if someone wants it badly enough and the people with decent prices have sold out. I paid probably $20 more for my Ontario Northland SD75 than it would have been at release, but then again I wasn't looking to buy one when it was released. At the time I bought it, it was an extremely rare item that was very hard to come by, and a $20 premium actually seemed like a decent deal. Still does. A lot of those guys count on that same thing happening, though the ones that have them priced WAY up above discount retail (or even above MSRP) may be waiting a good long time.

Then there's people that just don't know what they're selling. They buy a bunch of stuff at an estate auction or have a relative who died and they have no idea. I just got through offering some advice to someone I saw with a couple of really bad listings, and they were appreciative of the help. First, they had an Athearn N-scale SD75M with a heat-damaged body at a really low price, but it wasn't selling. Sooner or later it might just do so for someone interested in either re-painting the shell or just needing a good chassis, but I warned the seller they might have blowback from listing it as new and undamaged. Their other listing was an old Bachmann non-DCC U36B priced at Atlas U36B levels, which frankly is just never ever going to sell. They had no idea the difference in quality and pricing between an Atlas and an old Bachmann. The whole reason that I even offered that advice was that after looking at their other listings I could tell that model trains were not their normal fare and they had no idea what they were doing. Hopefully I helped both the seller and any buyers that come along.

So yeah, there are folks out there willing to sit on overpriced stuff until they find a desperate buyer, but a lot of it is also just people who have mediocre or crappy items that they just don't have the knowledge to realize are mediocre or crappy, or that the MSRP they found on the Kato site has nothing to do with what a Kato sells for.
 
I stopped selling on ebay for the most part because the buyer protection program is IRONCLAD in favor of the buyers. They can say "not as described" and ebay will side with the buyer 100% of the time. No amount of photos and proof that the buyer is lying will do any good. Ebay simply sides with the buyer and tells you to refund all money. They do not force the buyer to return the item.

I do sell extra minor league hockey tickets on there occasionally. But that's a really niche market. The people looking for minor league hockey tickets generally aren't your scammers. And if I do get a scammer who says they didn't receive the tickets I can check with the hockey team to see if they tickets were scanned at the door and used. I also know everyone who sits around my seats who can tell me if people were in my seats that night. And my seats are right behind one of the goals so they are ALWAYS in the local newspaper photos of the game.

So if I ever did get someone who lies and says they want a refund because the tickets didn't come I can prove they did get and use them.

But ebay will STILL side with the buyer in that case because they don't actually investigate when they get a claim.

So the trick is to immediately withdraw the PayPal payment to my bank account as soon as it comes in. If someone tries to scam me by saying they didn't get my tickets eBay will charge my credit card for the refund to give back to the buyer. Then I can take it up with the credit card company as a fraudulent charge. And they don't half ass the investigation on a fraud claim. The credit card company will force ebay to prove the charge was legit or they won't fund the transaction. And since the credit card company will listen to me and take my evidence of fraud, I'm covered.

I assume the same technique would work for selling train stuff too. But it's too much hassle to do it regularly. I on'y put up with ebay for selling tickets because it's relatively low risk for the product I'm selling.

I will also say that ti's much harder to sell tickets now than it was 5 years ago. Selling prices are dropping despite attendance at games increasing. Listing views are down. It's just not as easy to sell a product even if it's in demand there.

But if you want a fake counterfeit product from China, ebay is your go to resource. (Amazon is a close second)

This right here is why I no longer do business with eBay, no selling and no buying. People should get refunds for things that are genuinely not as described, but the policies have become too much in favor of buyers for me to be comfortable with. I remember years ago you used to be able to review the buyers to warn if they were engaged in the sort of fraudulent behavior you refer to, but that got changed.

Personally, I'm lucky enough to have 2 hobby shops in my area that specialize in trains. They're not super-convenient, but they're both within 20 miles of me. This thread is a reminder to throw some business their way so that they remain in business. Websites are great for some things, but there's really no substitute for being able to walk into a shop and talk with somebody.

As far as the internet goes, I'm seeing a real uptick in advertising for sites that sell things 2nd hand, I'm going to have to see if any of them have a decent supply of trains. I'm moving from HO to N and I'd love to find a decent deal on some DCC stuff.
 
All the info in these two post are not accurate in my opinion. Ebay sides with the buyer more than seller but not 100% of the time. I sell tons of stuff on Ebay for my work and for personal stuff too, right now I am selling off large collection one by one of Shelby Cars.

I have rarely had any issues with buyers ever and I have been selling on Ebay as long as it has existed. Any issues I have ever had I usually work out with buyers. You will once in a while get someone dishonest, but its rare. I dare to say if you have lots of issues selling or buying on Ebay then something your doing is not on the level.

Flaps
 
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The best way to avoid conflict as a seller is to take and present as many photos as needed, accurately showing the product (they give you 12). As the item is packed, and of the package with the address label attached, showing clearly the address. Save those pictures. Ebay will ask for pictures if a dispute. Ditto if you receive a damaged parcel and in that case, make sure the delivery agent notes it, if at all possible.

If in the case of a dispute, always contact the other party, or attempt to solve the issue, first, always in writing VIA EBAY MESSAGES, that is most important to keep an official correspondence record, NO PHONE CALLS/PRIVATE EMAILS. If a dispute is opened, give ebay permission to view those messages.. Before returning an item, take photos of the damage/faults (do that on opening, or in the case where the item is clearly damaged, or may be, within the package, do not open).

Basically, try to eliminate as far as reasonably possible any comebacks or connivances from a crook, present yourself to ebay as having an open/honest trading attitude, but whatever you do, do NOT bend over backwards to try to placate an unreasonable or devious other party, that will leave you in the unfortunate position of having tender parts of the anatomy exposed to kicking. Finally, be aware of the time limits ebay and paypal place on complaints and required actions to settle disputes.
 
I just got a used engine off Ebay last week. When it arrived Saturday I discovered the seller had forgotten to mention it had been hand-painted with a brush, and the quality of the paint job did not show up in the photos he posted.
 
Is it headed back???
I used my Ebay account to purchase it for a fellow club member. While he wasn't overwhelmingly enthused about the paint job, he opted to keep it. The seller dodged a bullet, if it had been for me, it would have been returned before the mail truck had gotten out of the driveway.
 
I've hit on another thought for why items are moving slowly; or, not at all on Ebay. Could it be that the many of sellers on Ebay are actual Hobby Shops? Their margins are slim and because they can't buy in the quantities needed to get good prices on things, they must sell at; or, near retail. I believe that this is why most hobby shops are struggling, the discounters can undercut the brick & mortar hobby shop prices by substantial amounts and the competition for our hobby dollars is fierce! Then, Joe Blow on the block, comes along and sees what other Ebayers are asking and they boot their prices right up there with the rest. I know that of the last 9 purchases I made on Ebay, a look at what else the sellers had for sale showed that 7 of the 9 had multiple pages of items listed and many had Ebay Stores.
 
What makes you think things are not selling on Ebay ?. I have sold, for my job almost a Million in Auto Parts Last Year, were having the best January ever so far, and on a personal level I have sold a lot of odds and ends, mainly Shelby Diecast Car's right now.
When it comes to purchases, I check Ebay 1st, and usually end up back there. I try and shop the one local Hobby Shop and am ok paying them a little more to support them, but there selection is lousy on HO trains. When it comes to train purchases, just this month on Ebay, 2 Engines, 10 PRR Passenger Cars, some diecast HO Cars and Trucks, way too much :). At the local Hobby, I got some magazines, track and that's about it, but I tried. Direct from Model Train Stuff, a few engines, my GG-1's. So if you ask me there is no problem selling on Ebay. If you wanna have some fun go to the Ebay Community pages, you will read horror stories about sales and fees and on and on complaints, when you look at the items or store of the people posting and complaining, you will see why there stuff is not selling. No one wants used beat up crap with lousy pictures and slow shipping and other issues like a lousy listing with almost no info, too many issues to list with some sellers. I think Ebay is just fine if your selling something worthwhile and something people are generally interested in as well as you ran a nice auction, good pics, ship quick, aren't overcharging on shipping and so on. Plus you can find stuff on there from all over the world, you just would never get any other way. Just my two cents , Chris / Flaps
 



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