auction house ... experts?

Probably the genesis of the phrase "Caveat Emptor". To say it another way, if you don't know what it is, maybe you shouldn't be buying/bidding.

Simon

I have seen some of the reputable train auction houses list sets with the wrong setboxes and have heard of others offering them corrections to their listings and be ignored.

I guess sometimes this is how people get good deals, by knowing more than the auction houses.  I know I have purchased items that were mis-identified at good deals.  

I figure if they don't know their stuff, why should I correct them.  

overlandflyer posted:

ever try to offer a correction to an auction house and been completely ignored?

with all due respect to the PA town, it's MECHANICRAFT !

All the time.. even with the ones that advertise here. IT too bad that the auction houses don't correct their mistakes because if they did many times there would be more bids and both them and the seller would have made a few bucks more.

Why correcting auction houses? I or a fellow hobbyist if I am not interested could have a deal! I do not care about a seller (the seller will not be a winner anyway according to Ward Kimball (he who dies etc..))

Regards

Fred

Interesting points of view being expressed...  don't tell anyone and get a good deal for oneself, or try to expose the error to expose the item to a wider audience and lead to a fair price for the seller.  Trying very hard not to be judgmental.   

Mallard4468 posted:

Interesting points of view being expressed...  don't tell anyone and get a good deal for oneself, or try to expose the error to expose the item to a wider audience and lead to a fair price for the seller.  Trying very hard not to be judgmental.   

Do you tell every seller that you buy from what the fair market value is?  or if they simply don't know what they have?

For those who I expect to know (ie train dealers / auction houses), I don't feel it is my job to tell them what they have as they are holding themselves out to be "experts" by being in their profession.

However, that being said, I recently purchased a 111-year old set from a seller who indicated it was their grandfather's set.  I paid them what I thought was market, which was significantly more than they were expecting for the set.  They clearly had no idea of what they had and I was willing to pay a fair price to get something that had not been touched by a train dealer.

Mallard4468 posted:

Interesting points of view being expressed...  don't tell anyone and get a good deal for oneself, or try to expose the error to expose the item to a wider audience and lead to a fair price for the seller.  Trying very hard not to be judgmental.   

i have to admit that the line i drew here was considering this blunder as a dumb mistake rather than an oddity.  i have three versions of these Mechanicraft trains... not particularly rare, especially unboxed (but then, if there was a box... oh never mind).  if i were searching for one, i'd rather have this be a hit and that's what prompted my addressing the mistake.

actually i have even written here before that auction houses are sometimes less than experts at identification.  when i picked up the two red frame Marx scale boxcar and reefer, i did not feel i needed to point out to the auction house the fact that the picture they posted could have shown that feature better.  as i recall, regardless of not being 100% sure, i thought it best not to even ask a question.  there was no blatant mistake in the ad and everyone had the same chance to pick up the not very obvious detail.

honesty can be needlessly carried too far at times...

overlandflyer posted:

ever try to offer a correction to an auction house and been completely ignored?

with all due respect to the PA town, it's MECHANICRAFT !

That is the "better" Presidential electric set. A little more expensive than the clockworks. Resale prices are all over the board depending on condition.

$8.00 steal

$150 and unsold

Nation Wide Lines posted:

Mallard4468 posted:

Interesting points of view being expressed...  don't tell anyone and get a good deal for oneself, or try to expose the error to expose the item to a wider audience and lead to a fair price for the seller.  Trying very hard not to be judgmental.   

Do you tell every seller that you buy from what the fair market value is?  or if they simply don't know what they have?

For those who I expect to know (ie train dealers / auction houses), I don't feel it is my job to tell them what they have as they are holding themselves out to be "experts" by being in their profession.

However, that being said, I recently purchased a 111-year old set from a seller who indicated it was their grandfather's set.  I paid them what I thought was market, which was significantly more than they were expecting for the set.  They clearly had no idea of what they had and I was willing to pay a fair price to get something that had not been touched by a train dealer.

Every time - no, but if something is grossly underpriced, I will ask a few questions.  Maybe there's a reason for the low price.  If I determine that an item really warrants a significantly higher price, then yes I will bring it to their attention and offer them a fairer price.  But then again, I believe in treating others as I'd like to be treated.

Knowledge is the one thing that we can take with us to the grave.  It's much better for everyone if we share it.  And if there's one phrase I really can't stand, it's "it's not my job".

Mallard4468 posted:

 And if there's one phrase I really can't stand, it's "it's not my job".

When I was a project manager, that phrase drove me nuts. I was doing everything I could to get the job done, but that sense of urgency was not shared by everyone.

Sorry to be off topic, but I just had to chime in.