Trading Goods for Dollars for Goods

Logic, rationalization, call it would you will.  I think all of us do this.  I no longer sell anything, I either keep it or give it away.  But does it really matter?  You didn't take up this hobby to make money or break even but to have fun, and you're doing that, so . . . success!

Even if you didn't breakeven on this transaction, you essentially traded for something you wanted. I call this being ahead of the game.

Good for you, Bob.

"I didn't enter this hobby to buy, sell and make a profit." Whew! 

It's called "priced to move."

Rusty

I do it and have done a lot of it when I traded off the antiques we had collected for a lot of Lionel.  The pay off is in the enjoyment of the hobby.

Antiques and collectibles, now there is a subject better left alone hereabouts.  

I call it, "Rotating the inventory" when I get tired of something or want something new. Stouts is only about 15 min. from my home & I'll take items there to sell and always get top dollar then use the $$$ to purchase something new. TRAIN NERD AL

I've done it...I don't know how to calculate actual $$ value in terms of time and enjoyment running a certain item.   I have sold off items I bought that I have enjoyed for a while to then try something else that looks cool or interesting.   My only exception is the postwar Lionel I inherited from by dad.

Sentimentally they are priceless to me...so no one else would be able to afford them at the price I would need to have to part with them.

I try to not actually lose when selling, but it's very difficult to do so given the amazingly cheap nature and numbers of bottom feeders that pervade much of this hobby.

It is particularly difficult when the models (cars or structures) are those that I have invested considerable time on either in restoration & rebuilding, or are simply scratchbuilt. 

Yet, for example, I still am willing to sell off 5 cars that are a stretch at fitting my modeling objectives to finance the acquisition of 1 that fits perfectly.

One finds a way to overcome separation anxiety and moves forward, or drowns in the accumulation of the years of items.

I used to do this with car parts. I'd drag in an old Charger, and strip it down like the Thanksgiving turkey. I sold or traded a bunch of parts for parts I needed.

It's rare I break even on selling something I've previously purchased.  I'd starve if I was depending on that as revenue!  The money I make doing repairs and selling products is all going back into someone else's pockets for new stuff as well.

I've done it three times do far.

1)  I sold off most of a very eclectic collection of MPC/LTI to finance a new-found focus on the Frisco, MoPac, and T&P.

2)  Years later when that collection began to overwhelm my space, I sold off most of the semi-scale to finance concentrating on the scale pieces for those roads.  The result was a T&P Mountain and the K-Line heavyweights made for it.

3)  More recently, I sold off my 2 2R ACW-era stuff and my Standard/Wide Gauge stuff to further concentrate my efforts, and the resulting purchases were a Frisco 10-wheeler and a MoPac USRA Light Mike.

I have also sold off a great deal of old HO, including buildings, just to reduce the amount of stuff in storage, and I am thinking of a Round 2 of that.  Frankly, I have too much stuff, and, as I get older, it's beginning to weigh on me.

I have never sold anything I bought and made a profit, or broke even. I feel I help the hobbyist out that can't afford retail prices and wait for me to buy and sell low. The only thing I've made a profit on were homes and my Corvettes that I restored.

i would never consider trying to make money in this hobby. when i decided to go back to 2 rail from 3 rail scale i basically lost about 50% on most items i sold. the items i am talking about were 3rd rail locos and Mth proto 2 all with very little use as i never even set up a layout just a little test running. now i have what i want and just chalk it up to a learning experience. Le$$on learned!

Man, that is well stated!  And true!

Happy railroading,

Don

Maybe an out of the box definition of "profit" doesn't have to be limited to just economics?

Personally, if I buy and item and then get enjoyment from the item before I resell it, yes I have take a paper monetary loss, but overall, I figure that I am still ahead in the game!

Jim

I have bought then sold all my trains probably 4 times over. Changed track systems5 times.   Although I never was able to sell items for what I paid for them, that was never the thought behind selling the items.  It was just time for a change.  I think any hobby that you sell off and get 30 - 50% of what you paid is fine.  Look at all the enjoyment you had building and playing with your trains.

For the past two Yorks, I have been taking stuff I no longer wanted and selling them and then taking the results of those sales and buying stuff I want.

Goods to dollars to goods.  Works for me.

Andy

Took the words right out of my mouth. Well stated sir. 

It is called "churning" and I have done a lot of it in the past years. I tell people I recycle things-more politically correct.  Like my naps are renewable energy.

One Dog In, One Dog Out.....

All selling somehow becomes buying, sometimes sooner than later, sometimes later than sooner, but the funds from sales always seem to find their way back to trains.

Guess, I should stop calling it "train money" as once it's called that it will always be that.

I sold off my S gauge ,which really didn't fit in to my layout, and bought a nice Lionel M-1000 from a forum member which  run every day and really enjoy. Only thing I evr made money on were my gun collections but those days are over.

Hello guys and gals

We loose money selling trains no matter what condition they are in. We are going to stop

doing that. We cannot afford to loose money when on fixed income.  i think when anyone

of us buys a train, it should be for keeps not selling it later. If there something wrong 

with it, sometimes its best to fix it and keep it as if spend money on fixing it then sell 

it later you end up loosing more money this way.  Some people have money to burn but lot of us forum members don't and that's a sad truth.

Tiffany

I make a substantial profit on every transaction.

OK, actually, I did make a profit on some items, back when eBay first came out, and before TMCC came popular.

As I recall, TMCC came out in the late 1990's, and I sold quite a bit on eBay around year 2000.

Copy and Paste from coilcouplers.com ....

In 1996, LIONEL introduced the first Command equipped Geeps, the 2380 Southern Pacific and the 2380 New York Central.

After more than six decades in this wonderful hobby, this still rings true. Granted there was a few years when a few folks broke even. Show me one hobby where you can get back everything that you put in. 

Originally Posted by Tiffany:

Tiffany,

The "sad truth" maybe that you're putting in more than you should. Each and every one of us has regrets. It is up to each one of us how we deal with those feelings. The hard part to accept about this hobby is not to expect instant gratification. I'm looking for a certain set of passenger cars to go with my newest locomotive. It may take me two or three years to find them. That's fine because I'm in no hurry.

I prefer to trade all the time if someone has something i'm looking for and I have what they are looking for. Problem is nobody seems to be in to trades - only $$ - at or near eb*y pricing.  I get it, money is tight for most however why let these items fade away on a shelf?  Why not trade it to get something new thus now the 2 parties each have a new item to enjoy. heck - I have some items for sale right now on the forum but guess what, I'd trade in a heartbeat if someone has something I want. so far, no trade offers - only one lowball cash offer.  nobody wants the short end of the stick but if the trade is of equal value why not go that route.  Is it a trust issue that stops people from considering thr trade option, who knows. 

goods for dollars = dollars for goods - ok, but I'd still rather trade goods for goods.

I don't know what you have for sale, and neither do I know what you would want in trade.  Maybe include your wants in your for sale listing.  I am always interested in trading.  It's difficult to read minds.   

I do - I even have the trade items im looking for in red lettering. 

Hello Happy Pappy.....

That is correct " maybe that you're putting in more than we should" and we are stopping doing that. The lionel Amtrak passenger cars is perfect example - cannot sell them cheap enough to even make a tiny profit and costing us pretty penny to repaint them to Santa Fe colors to go behind my Williams Santa Fe F-3's so we are stuck in the middle. What a 

fine mess we gotten ourselves into ? ( laughing )

Tiffany

I've traded a few items for other items that I really would like to have in my collection.  I seem to lose about 20% of the value in the trade.   I'm fine with it.  However; I must be looking at the wrong posts in the "For Sale" forum.   To me it seems that a lot of people are asking for retail price, or higher, on used trains in the forum.  

The for sale items run a complete gamut.  There are things that are dirt cheap, and others that are near retail.  It's just the way of things.  Some folks put a very high value on their items.  And others, once they are through with something, almost give it away.  In fact there are those that actually do give stuff away.  As far as trading, I never seem to have what others want.  I have seen stuff that is offered for trade, but unfortunately, what they want I don't have.  I guess I'm being redundant at this point.  

Or also improving "cash flow".

Something else to consider is the value you got out of using the items while you had them. Your enjoyment is worth something. What does a round of golf cost these days?

I do all this for fun, not for investments or buying and re-selling. I have never sold anything as far as the train hobby goes, all I do is buy.  Probably should sell some things, but I haven't been able to part with anything yet. And I see this scenario continuing for some odd reason? I had some duplicate 1:43 vehicles once, but the grand kids got those.

I know that when I first got on eBay, as a johnny-come-lately, and started searching for, finding, and buying duplicates of my childhood trains, what I paid for them then,

is a lot LESS than what eBay prices, local show or York prices are now.  If I sold those items off, even with auction fees, photos, hassle of listing, etc., BUT, not figuring inflation and the loss of value of the dollar (which sometimes seems like Monopoly money), it at least looks like I would be ahead.  It depends on what it is and when

you bought it.

When the "Born again Lionel freak out" happened to me, I sold my lifetime coin collection.  I had played in a wedding band playing a Cordovox.  Sold it and the amplifiers, mics.  Sold my Dad's entire H0 collection.

I now have enough of a collection to fill the shelves in my train cave. 

Two Christmases ago, my boys bought me a similar Cordovox and even after 30 years, I can still play it. So you see, sometimes things come back to you.  You have to sell hobby to buy hobby.