Ebay auction today

It was stouts auction, I have a laptop in my train room, so between projects I can bid. I went there last month to pick up my purchases Great bunch of people.  

I didn't watch it, but I put in an early bid for the brass unenclosed auto racks and won them.  I have been wanting to put together a Frisco/Santa Fe QLA-QSF fast freight, and these cars make a good start.

They may show up later in the "Buy anything cool lately?" thread.

I had my eye on a few lots and almost everything went for much more than I was anticipating.  

- Mike

Well that saves on shipping  

But at least its warm here in West Palm Beach

Shopping, in and of itself, is a hobby for some, and auctions are no different.  It has been proven time and time again that many people are willing to pay much more than the going rate for items in an auction environment.  It's the thrill of the thing, the competitiveness of it all that drives them.   I'm reminded of a line from a Deep Purple song:  "It's not the kill... it's the thrill of the chase...".   And that's OK - it's relatively harmless.  Typically, only feelings get hurt.   I LOVE watching the car auctions on TV, and I'm always dead wrong when I assume something will sell for what I THINK it's worth.    I'm usually way over or way under;  you can't really assign a logical value to something that someone else perceives as a "must have at all costs" item.   Everything is worth exactly what at least one individual is willing to pay 

I was bidding on a few items. It was cool to watch. Some of the items went way above what stout had predicted. What amassed me was what some of the final prices for some of the brass steamers. But then again this was my first Stout auction.  The issues that keep recurring. Was ebay losing its connection with stout.  both items that I lost on were due to lost connection. CBQ and GN/BN wood waycars.  I bid on one item but instead of registering it said passed and was on the next item. I noticed that on several lots. Anybody can tell me what that was about? Other then the connectivity issues, I thought it was pretty good. I will do thing different next time as far as bidding.. 

Knocking at Your Back Door, Perfect Strangers

I saw the listings........

Refuse to pay  those prices AND THEN pay 19% more on top.

I don't need anything that bad.

There was a number of items I'd like to bid....but to much $$$ for me.

Ebay can not even get the estimated times right. Item 442 was scheduled to be auctioned at 1AM tomorrow morning according to  my screen. Went and installed a sink was home by 1230 pm today and it was all done Horsefeathers and 19% wont try that again.

Missed that one, AND several tonight on eBay on the internet that I slept through when

I fell asleep watching the news.....

I watched it, and had a few items I was interested in, but each time I tried bidding, fleebay wouldn't respond quick enough, and by the time it did respond the item was already done.  And the estimated times were all over the place.  Was a waste of time, and won't follow anymore of their auctions.  Can find much better deals here on the Buy/ Sell Board, and there isn't a 19% Seller's Fee associated with said purchases.

What exactly is an Ebay "live auction" vs the normal auction? 5 people here ages 18-50 have no clue either. I cant find any info pertaining to it, except an ad link to another auction site.

When and where are they shown?

  If they are auctioning outside of a listed schedule, I wouldn't use it out of principle anyhow, it shows the business cant be counted on, but I'm curious.    

E bay partnered with stout auctions, and other auction houses. When they hold an auction, thru E bay you are able to participate. The difference is you follow Stouts rules versus E bay. You also have to register for that auction prior to the event. Todays event started at 1000 am est and ended about 1500. Needless  to say, I was late picking up my daughter from school. There is another Stout pre war and post war auction Saturday 14 February. If nothing else register so you can follow it.

Doug  

Watch the auction on Stout's website.  LOCOMOTION

Wonder how much that Weaver 2-8-0 went for?

Thanks for the rundown Doug! Nailed down all the info I would have looked for too.

 That stuff is too nice for my layout.

Winning bid plus 19%.  One can forget the added fee in the frenzy of bidding. Be funny if Lionel, MTH, etc. had a MSRP, plus 19%. Go figure? For me, no way do I do auctions were there is an additional fee added.

I have watched a couple of live, online auctions, and have won only one lot. Honestly, when I received the lot, I was not happy because the item was in much worse shape than I had thought. But it was my own fault.
Generally, the lots of interest to me go for considerably more than I am interested in paying, even without the premiums and shipping.
Anybody who thinks train collecting is dead hasn't participated in any of these auctions.

I think there is another auction today with some fairly rare items.

This is the auction where alot of the Lionel items from the 93 year old Lionel employee were placed.  She was employed at the Hillside plant from 1949 to 74-75.  Many one of a kind items never seen by collectors as well as some never run Postwar and MPC.  It was interesting to watch it all unfold.

IMO, it's not just this auction where prices have been going up, at least for certain items.  I've been watching ebay, stout, and ambrosebauer regularly.  They items I'm looking for lean to MTH "operator" stuff (not trying to offend anyone) like big diesels from major road names, such as UP, NS, BNSF, SF, etc.  AC4400's, 6000's, Dash-8's, Dash-9's, SD70/80/90, etc.  I'm sure there are programs out there that have tracked an item's sell-price with some factual data which I don't have, but I have noted in my casual watching for items I'm interested in, that prices are climbing.  If you are a seller, that might be great, but I'm trying to buy, and it's hurting.  One item recently noted is a MTH non-powered AC6000 NS.  It's a 13 year old engine.  MSRP was $160.  According to one place, it went for $80 in 2009.  This week it sold for $280 on ebay!  I was interested up to $180, but not for $280.  This is not a fluke IMO - it's happening over and over - yesterday's Stout auction was an example.  I was lucky enough to get two items, but the price went all the way up to my maximum I was willing to pay - in the past (2-3 years ago), this wouldn't have happened.  I lost two items that went way over what I was willing to spend.  It's also road-name driven.

Not directly related to above, but it's happening here on the board, too.  There is at least one person who regularly bids on Trainz, then flips them here for sometimes 2x what they purchased them for on Trainz.  I know this is capitalism at work, but when you are on the losing an item by $2, and see it here 4 weeks later for >$100 more, it makes you angry, as you want it to operate, not to make $$$$.  Bid more.  I know...

Maybe it's driven by some manufacturer's getting out of the non-powered/dummy market, as many of the items I'm looking for are non-powered big diesels.

That being said, I'm still looking for one powered and two non-powered NS AC4400 or AC6000, etc.  I haven't tried the WTB forum, but that might be next...

Increased prices on pieces that are primarily of interest to operators may be due to the increasing prices of the newly made stuff. Yes, they have more features. But some folks may be deciding that those extra features are not worth the additional cost.

Didn't watch it, but 20% added to the bid?  I don't think so. I don't need anything that badly.  Being here in PA we would probably have to pay 6% sales tax besides, that's a total of 26% plus what you bid! 

The buyer's premium is what keeps me away from these. I know it's Auction 101, but I'll pass.

The premiums don't bother me. They are disclosed in advance, so the just have to be kept in mind when bidding.

I have a listing on the Wanted to Buy for the MTH DAP IC passenger set. I did that after doing a Google search for the part number and finding the set went for $149 at some auction (so that is $30/car) last October. I would have gladly paid 149+19%+shipping over the 399 or 499 on fleabay right now.

Point is, there can be deals at auctions.

But today is in  February, us Northerners are all cooped in and got buy-itis. There is a reason this auction isn't in July.

I also don't get folks who are driven away by the buyer's premium.  Just subtract that % from your maximum bid and you now have your limit.  Also keep in mind the over-charging that some places put on shipping.  If I'm willing to pay $100 for an item, and if shipping is $20 where it should be $10, and buyer's premium is 20%, I'll bid around $75.  $75 x 1.20 + $10 = $100.  If the bid goes to $76, I'm out.  The buyer's premium could be zero or 50%, it's the final price with shipping that matters.  There is currently someone charging $35 for shipping on e-bay.  That's ridiculous, and needs to be factored into the final bid.

"Patience and time pay off for "new" trains on e-bay" (but as a modern operator, I don't consider stuff made in around 2000 new...) used to be the model, and somewhat is for certain items and certain road names, but IMO, ebay has still been much higher than stout, ambrose bauer, trainz, etc. 

My point EXACTLY.  Ebay seems to have been going outrageously high for some items over the past 2-3 years.

Hey! stop that logical nonsense! Everyone knows the buyers premium is there so they can steal an extra 15-20% from you when your not paying attention

As far as the Stout on Ebay auctions my advice is this: Put your absolute highest maximum bid in on your starting bid. You will NOT have a chance to get in a second bid!

Correct.  And they have stupid bidding increments that IMO either help or hurt you.  Pay attention to those.  After $200, you need to go to $225, which is really $30 more than the $200 max due to the 19%.  However, that can be the block for others.  There are tons of items that folks may be willing to go to $200 on, but that extra $30 just puts it over the edge. 

But also know that bidding the max on an item when there are no other bidders can hurt you.  You still may have gotten the item at what you thought was a great deal, but you might have gotten it 50% less....you'll never know...  happened to me yesterday.  Put a max bid on a "damaged" item.  Was the only bidder.  If my max was $100, could I have gotten it for $10?  Possibly.  Couldn't sit in front of the computer all day to watch and bid.  Had to put it my max and hope it won.

I "won" a Pennsy H-10 2-8-0....2 rail. on my first Stout Auction. The 19% premium is a big factor......I'll wait 'til it's delivered to determine if I got a deal or not.....`

Estimated times are very rough estimates.  This is true in any auction.  Auctions are not timed events, when one item sells they immediately move on to the next item.

Jim

I watched it on the Stout Auctions web page and it was very easy.  I was surprised at the speed of the auctions.  They sold 550 lots in 300 minutes, if my math's right.  The reason they can go so fast is cause of the bid increments.  When it starts jumping $25 a bid it makes it easy to stop.

I'm pretty sure that if there was a tie between bidders the bidder "on the floor" received the bid.  Also looked like if a lot was bid on by internet before the auction started that became the starting bid.  Unlike EBay's proxy bidding it went to the highest bid even if there was only one bid.

John23- I "won" one of the Weaver die cast 2-8-0.  The Western Pacific with oil tender and no sounds.  Yes I paid more than I hoped to but I decided to pass on the new WP heavy Mikado since the tender is incorrect.  The final prices can be checked on the Stout Auctions web page.  The other one I've seen for sale is offered at $1400.

I've sold a few things on EBay and always add a little to cover some of the fees.  So the buyer's premium is usually in there someplace.  I read the rules carefully to avoid surprises.  I wish I knew what shipping was going to be so I'd know my total cost.

Also "won" one of the Atlas 0-6-0 switches.  The second one.

I remember the SVC board.

Missed it as we were out if town. It will be interesting to learn what the 21" L-Line passenger cars brought.

I tracked this one but didn't bid on anything this time around.  I participated in my first on line auction a few weeks ago and enjoyed it.  On that occasion I had minimal connective problems and had little trouble bidding.  I ended up with a nice looking Pre-war American Flyer 102 Central Passenger Station that I am very pleased with.  Of course I don't like the 19% buyer's premium but if there is an item I have difficulty finding in the condition I desire I am willing to pay it as long as the base price is within my financial constraints.  As far as E-Bay timing is concerned I'd ignore it.  Get on the site early and stick with it if there is something you are keenly interested in.

You guys either don't realize or are forgetting something.......the "shills" or so-called affiliate/friends that help the auction houses drive up prices

  the people sit by and inject inflated bids to drive up the price.  If they "win" so what?

the auction house simply re-lists that same item elsewhere or at a later date.

  the first York i went to I was wondering why most prices were fairly reasonable.  An older fella I exclaimed that to took the "role" of a mentor and explained that this happens at auctions (including Fleebay) all the time.  that explains the Lionel dome cars online going for $285.00 +/-......at York I bought three.......hardly run..... for $75.00 each.  I kid you not!

There are several sellers on ebay that do that. Therefore I don't even consider their Items.  

In my opinion, "shilling" is vast overstated.  To say it occurs all the time at auctions, including eBay, simply isn't true.

An auction house, like Stout's - the topic of this thread, isn't going to use "shills" to drive up prices.  They can't chance winning a bid and having to sit on their customer's items.  Their customers expect ALL their items to sell.  They are selling 'lots' of product for individual customer(s).  Stout's is a well respected auction house, so I would suspect that their auctions result in premium prices anyway. 

Turning to eBay, while "shills" might be involved in some auctioned items, my personal experience over the last 16+ years is that most auctions have been legit.  I will say, that on several occasions, I have gotten some tremendous bargains on eBay.

Jim

I just rechecked the sold price on the MTH Southern Pacific SD9 and it said $60.  That's before premium. 

I thought most items including pretty good descriptions.

For bidding I used the Stout Auction page and it was fine.  Bidding increments are not that unusual and they make things go so much faster.   Would you want to be at an auction hall for days while people went back and forth over a dollar?  EBay can do it cause the computer does the work and everybody bids on line.

I remember the SVC board.

I remember the SVC board.