Buying Trains Remotely via Live Auction Events

I'm curious on this myself... Never figured out how it works. Seen lots of "lots" starting at 10 bucks or so...

Interested in the comments..

I've participated in one Stout auction, using their web site, not EBay. The bid increments are fixed, based upon the current price. People there in person get preference over remote bidders. The live bids appear on your screen too.
As long as you look at the photos carefully, and keep the extra fees in mind its fine.

I won one item, and was happy with the experience.

Maybe I will watch the auction today for a little while.

I note in their listings that they do not accept Paypal.  Interesting.

 

Also shipping is to be arranged with the seller.  So apparently you have no idea how much it will cost.  I have seen some outrageous shipping costs which are far higher than I would have expected.  I always take shipping costs into account when bidding on items.

TGP: I am glad that you are familiar with Stout. There are people who are not.

Well I'm one of those whop doesn't know everything about these auctions.  Seems to not have any specific information regarding shipping.  I was looking to bid on a K-Line caboose on a certain site but the shipping for one car was over $30.  That was a real deal breaker for me and I have seem some items I purchased with what I thought was a reasonable shipping cost to be a rip-off in that the item was shipped for far less.

Not that long ago I wrote to Stout and asked whether they could estimate shipping on a specific lot. The answer was no.

I purchased the lot anyway.
It was well packed, with peanuts and a new carton.
The item was light, but a little bulky. I forget the exact amount for shipping.
Overall the experience was good.

Curious as to why they would schedule this on a work day and not a weekend when lore people are available to participate

You just discovered it and it's not new - Stout and others used to do it quite frequently 5-8 years ago.  I've seen a few others re-surface recently. 

Back then I used to get an item now and again, but it was infrequent so I stopped.  Everything worked out just fine; buyers premium was a bit lower then but well within reason for an actual auction house; shipping cost was cheaper than my going there and back....

 

I'm more curious as to why this sort of activity disappeared and has returned.....

A few thoughts:

 

I am not aware of any advantage to bidding through EBay. If there is an advantage, I wish someone would post an explanation.

Folks can watch the auction and live bid from the stout site.
You have to register first, so don't wait till the last minute.
(I think EBay takes you to the Stout site to register too).

You can also leave a bid with Stout at their site. Some of the lots in today's auction already have some bids.

 

I don't think Stout tests anything or guarantees operation.

 

I will mention again, look at the pictures closely, read the description carefully, remember the overhead of fees/shipping, and you will not be disappinted.

I was involved in a event by the B*** and was told that Stout would not ship and I had to pick up. So I pulled the plug on a couple of bids. it was to bad to as I could of picked up a few good deals.  If they The B word wants to do this they need to figure out shipping.

Many of my modern Lionel trains are to be sold today on the Stout site. I've been very happy so far with the results. Sat. I sell the rest of my large Post War collection. Yes the market is down now so there's deals to be had. Bad for the seller but good for the buyer....

I dont like the fact its on that you know what site...

I have never participated.

 

They always auction on Friday and sometimes on the following Saturday.  Last month they had about 17 people there.  It is fun to attend and participate in the auctions.  They do anywhere from 100- 125 lots an hour.  It moves very fast          LOCOMOTION   

Let me comment from the other side, the seller's.  This past summer I decided to sell my prewar O and Standard gauge collection and Greg Stout was highly recommended to me.  I contacted him with an inventory of items and he responded promptly that he would be happy to sell the items.  Living in Arizona we worked out an arrangement where he had a person drive here to pick up my and another friend's lots, charging only for the person's travel expenses.  The auction was held in September and within a month I had a check.  Everything was done promptly and professionally.  (and after receiving the check, I didn't feel guilty at all about ordering a new Big Boy!)

I havve purchased from Stout's several times and had great dealings with them. This one should be interesting to see what the UPS increase does to the shipping charge.

Gunny

In my experience, better put your max bid in on the first bid. You won't have a chance to get in a second.

Auction houses from all over the country list items (trains included) online using online auction services such as Proxibid, Liveauctioneers and Auctionzip and I have purchased many items online using all three - there are more online services that I have not dealt with. The online services are like an industrial ebay. Stout and NETTE are two of the auctioneers that I have done business with that are reputable, and they conduct auctions periodically with a large number of train and related items in all gauges. They seem to target onsite bidders and even when I have a lot of bids on items, sometimes I don't win anything because onsite bidders made higher bids. That's life. Some start with low opening bids and some start high, but they're all subject to what the market will bear. 

 

All auctioneers charge a premium on the items sold (usually 14% to 18%), and shipping can cost a bunch. Some auctioneers pack and ship items themselves and some turn the items over to businesses that pack and ship and buyers make shipping arrangements through them. When an auctioneer ships themselves and they are not accustomed to dealing with trains, sometimes they do not pack items as well as they should and occasionally items are damaged in shipping. I usually do not bid very high for items because of the risks associated with buying items I cannot inspect myself, shipping fragile items, no return policies, and the costs associated with the auctioneer premium and shipping. 

 

All that said, I like to collect pre and post war items and it is a lot of fun "finding" and buying collectibles through an auction. I like to tinker with locos that don't work too, and it is fun taking something I don't expect to run (because of a low price through an auction) and making run. Sometimes I find really good deals, and sometimes not so much. I live in north Florida and there is not much of a model train culture here, so online is nearly my only outlet. You guys that have an active local market and large  LHS's don't know how good you have it. I do occasionally sell items on ebay (and plan to offer some items I don't want to keep on the forum sometime), but I am careful to not over-exaggerate the condition and have learned how to pack and ship items pretty well.  

 

Anyway, having some experience in this area, that's my two cents worth. I currently have some bids on items in several upcoming auctions that feature trains. To find items online, open the website, register with the online service (usually requires a credit card and has been safe for me the last few years), and search using terms like American Flyer, Lionel, MTH, K-Line, scale, track, train, rail or Williams. You  don't have to register to conduct a search just to see what's on the market. I can see that the auction houses provide a service to people who have items they don't know what to do with, or have too much to manage and need help marketing items. As Peter mentioned, it gives an owner/ seller marketing options. Maybe the market does not bear what the seller hoped for, but it is helpful to people in certain circumstances. 

I've been using Stout's for quite a while now. I've yet to be disappointed. 

 

BTW  RickO, you're so right..LOL!

 

"Pappy"

I've won lots from Stout either using their absentee bid process on their site of with LiveAuctioneers, but never through the bay. I'm  not looking for anything in that era, but I'll have to check it out just to see how it works.

I just spent a couple of hours watching Stout's Auction.  Several things I didn't like. 1) I had to keep hitting the refresh button as it kept kicking off saying lost connection.  2) There was a small note under the blue bid box that said what the buyer's premium was.  This price was way out of line, for example there was a 6 switch package that I was interested in.  The premium cost was almost as much as what the lot went for which was around $300.  I thought the max Buyer Premium was 19%.  ???????????

Just be aware that most, if not all of these online auctions are accessible simultaneously through Proxibid and LiveAuctioneers as well.  In other words you might see how many bids have been made, say on NETTE or Stout Auction webpages, but there are also bids being made through the other websites as well.  The more exposure, the better, I guess.  No wonder the price of premium items goes sky-high. Then there's the applicable buyer's premium, on top of all that.

I just checked out the current Stout auction, and it looks like you bid live directly from their web site. Nice.

 

Premium on this auction is 19%. And watching some of the auction, it seemed like most items went more than a little north, esp. considering the premium and shipping!

Need to be careful with any auction site.  Make sure you understand the rules.

 

For example, buyer's premium, tax (if applicable), shipping and handling fees quickly eat away at 'bargains.'  One recent auction added close to 38% to my total after all these were factored.  Not a good deal.  MSRP was cheaper.

 

However, I had one of the best deals ever on an auction site.  It was off the 'beaten path' and I did some checking to make sure it was legitimate.  I'll never see deals like that again, and well worth the effort of verifying it was legit, paying the premium, and shipping costs.

NETTE has a boxing fee...you pay for them to hire people to box your item for transfer to actual Shipping Company.  I imagine Stout has something similar.  Seems a little bit distasteful to pay for boxing.  Isn't this overhead??? Or are the good ol' days truly gone???  Don't the Buyer and Seller Premiums cover the BOXER!!!  Oh well, we all need a little more GOUGING eh?

I have purchased from Stout in the past when they were live on the big auction site.  All of my experiences with them have been good.  They have not used the big site for several years.  I have participated in live auctions through the Stout site, but have not won anything.  Like others have said, you need to be aware of the rules and associated fees.  You usually need to sign up in advance and be approved to bid.

 

Jeff Davis

Today was my 4 th auction at Stouts and was very happy they way it came out. Sat. is the post war auction, we'll see how that goes..Hope as well as today! One more next month and I'll be done.. now to buy new toys..

I have bought from Stout, many times (8+ auctions), over the past few years, always via the web. There shipping rates are higher than many others, but their packing is second to none -- everything arrives in about a billion packing peanuts and brand new heavy weight boxes, thus I am sure they have additional costs involved which are part of the reason why the shipping is more than those using a few sheets of news print and second hand box.

 

They tend to under rate a lot of their lots in my view, I've been thrilled with the overall quality and for the most part value -- even with the buyers premium and shipping costs.

 

For anyone within driving distance, you can save both a significant amount of the buyers premium and all the shipping costs, by being there live in person. Next time there are more than a few lots of interest you'll see my smiling face in Williamport.

 

Had I been paying attention today, the 7 NYC 20th Century Limited MTH Premier cars that sold for $190.00 would have been heading this way, even with shipping and premiums (as high as one poster stated their were 38%) 7 like new premium cars for $262.00 ($37.50 per car) is a good deal.

Just to clarify, I didn't mean Stout's (the 38%).  I wanted to make a point about being careful.  I didn't make it clear who I was discussing. My bad.

 

I may see you there the nesxt time.  It's only an hr from me and I'd like to attend once. Just been looking for lots I want to bid on.