What did you buy? There were many things I liked, but either couldn't pull the trigger or they were over my budget.
I picked up 2 Weaver engines with DCC this morning...one looks good and the other needs a little work.
I picked up a VO1000 with DCC & Sound and an RS-2 also with DCC, but needs a little work. I will most likely repaint both of them.
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Idk about the two rail or the HO but generally for the 3 rail side prices were almost retail.
PRRhorseshoecurve,
Does you statement apply before or after the buyer's premium?
Chuck
Personally, I was following the Bertoia Auction. Much more for the tinplate collector. I was impressed by the sale of the 2 7/8 inch motorized Lionel gondola and trailer for $31,000 hammer price.
However, I did not buy anything. Am currently conserving my cash in case business slows during the pandemic. Need to pay the mortgage before buying any trains.
NWL
I don't waste my time with auctions - get aced out in the closing seconds. Will buy with fixed prices, only.
I lost out on a VO1000, no joke haha.
Someday I'll get one and repaint into NKP.
Most everything else was too expensive for my tastes.
Too bad the NYC Mercury engine up for sale was not 2-rail.
Lotta nice stuff in that auction. Someone spend a lot of time pulling together a nice collection of GN.
@Nation Wide Lines posted:Personally, I was following the Bertoia Auction. Much more for the tinplate collector. I was impressed by the sale of the 2 7/8 inch motorized Lionel gondola and trailer for $31,000 hammer price. ...
NWL
That was pretty amazing to see. I've often wondered if these ever show up for sale. And in the original shipping crate no less.
So that answers two of my questions...
1) Do they ever come up for sale? A: Yes
2) Could I ever afford it A: No
.
Prices for the modern O gauge stuff are ridiculous - more than what one would pay at a meet, and that's before adding buyer's premium (what a crock!), shipping, and tax. Lots of money being spent on trains.
@PRR1950 posted:PRRhorseshoecurve,
Does you statement apply before or after the buyer's premium?
Chuck
before. Yes add the buyers premium and the shipping that is padded as well.
@Daniel Raible posted:I lost out on a VO1000, no joke haha.
Someday I'll get one and repaint into NKP.
Most everything else was too expensive for my tastes.
Too bad the NYC Mercury engine up for sale was not 2-rail.
Lotta nice stuff in that auction. Someone spend a lot of time pulling together a nice collection of GN.
Did you really bid on the VO1000? I have missed out on several of those recently.
I kind of have buyers remorse on the RS-2, but I figured the parts and decoder are worth the money I paid for it.
Lots of things went way higher than I would have ever thought...Live auctions are always fun and funny. People get carried away ...plus I always look in a month and see how much of it ends up on ebay at even higher prices.
I got the EP2 bipolar that needed care at 180 not including juice I thought it wasn't to bad
@roll_the_dice posted:Did you really bid on the VO1000? I have missed out on several of those recently.
I kind of have buyers remorse on the RS-2, but I figured the parts and decoder are worth the money I paid for it.
I did, but took it as a strong sign. Working two jobs in these uncertain times...such projects are best held off for later, haha.
I still have a Lionel S-2 conversion project in pieces I need to wrap up. Someday I'll get around to a VO1000.
I am supposed to have won the bid on 2, Max Gray covered hoppers, for $70.00. The email I got said they would send me an invoice shortly. Whatever "shortly" is? I had interest in a lot of other items, but they all went too high.
Jeff
@roll_the_dice posted:Lots of things went way higher than I would have ever thought...Live auctions are always fun and funny. People get carried away ...
Yes, but sometimes you wind up the only buyer interested in the item you want. I always place bids on this site for items I want, biding the maximum I would pay for it, including the premium and shipping. Its easy to bid, and there were three items this auction. Then I forget about it so I don't do something stupid.
Every now and then I get an email saying I won. So far, not this time.
I've purchased items through Stout before and have found them good to deal with. Managed one or two good deals. That being said, it's not just Stout's but great deals are hard to find anywhere anymore on desirable items.
It appeared to me that the hitters we're there today. Most of the desirable items went for higher than you'd hope and even the lesser items were driven close to full wholesale price.
It seems the flippers won't let anything go if they think they can get it for decent wholesale and turn profit on resale. That's my theory anyway, on why I never see the sweet score.
I've resigned myself to pick up the white whales I seek if I see one there. I set my price with calculated markup fees and then walk away.
I picked up the OMI 0178 FEF-1 for couple hundred more than I wanted to spend. Especially since it needs work and I haven't finished my other projects... But OMI only made 10 of them and I've been looking for a while to get one. So... opportunity and all..... The last one I saw sold was 4 years ago.
Now all that's left on my list is the PSC late bull moose.....
@CAPPilot posted:Yes, but sometimes you wind up the only buyer interested in the item you want. I always place bids on this site for items I want, biding the maximum I would pay for it, including the premium and shipping. Its easy to bid, and there were three items this auction. Then I forget about it so I don't do something stupid.
Every now and then I get an email saying I won. So far, not this time.
I had about 8 items I was interested in. I did exactly what you do. Place my top bids, then don't worry about it again. If I get it, I am happy and if I don't get it, I am happy.
Jeff
@CAPPilot That is my theory on ebay. I set my price and if I win, I win if I get outbid someone wanted it more than I did. However, I do usually wait to bid near the end or use a snipe program with ebay. On Stout, I rarely prebid.... I have a spreadsheet I use for live auctions...I put down the items I am interested in based on the catalogue and write down my max bid with fees. if I get outbid before I even try to bid...it wasn't meant to be.
@mowingman posted:I am supposed to have won the bid on 2, Max Gray covered hoppers, for $70.00. The email I got said they would send me an invoice shortly. Whatever "shortly" is? I had interest in a lot of other items, but they all went too high.
Jeff
Stout is usually slow sending invoices...I know I have waited several weeks before...lots of items to go through...takes some time.
I do the 'place my top bid and wait until the auction is over' thing. That way I avoid getting caught up in bidding and spend too much,
That said, I missed out on the two items I bid on. GHB Brill doodlebug and 4 DPM house kits. I low bid hoping I'd be the only one.
I guess with lots of people staying at home there was a lot of participation.
On a Stout auction earlier this year I lucked out being the only bidder on a lot 15 of new in box Weaver Ultraline transition era freight cars. I only wanted about 7 or 8 of them but got the lot for $110. I turned around and sold 6 of the unwanted ones on ebay for about $25-$30 each. I was left with the 8 cars I wanted and only one unsold Southern caboose (sprung metal trucks!) that I thought would be the first to sell. The profits paid for Intermountain wheelsets for the cars I kept.
Apparently, I won a couple of cardboard boxes:
I was surprised to see bids from the "floor" when it was advertised as an internet only auction. Oh well, I guess it's good to be the king.
Good Morning everyone,
Thanks to everyone who participated yesterday. We have a few housekeeping notes that will hopefully add clarification to the bidding / buying process.
1. Invoicing- Our invoicing process changed at the beginning of 2020. We used to pre-pack all the winning lots and send your shipping total on the first invoice. This changed at the beginning of the year. By the close of business on Monday you should have received an email invoice from us. This does not include the shipping total. Once your invoice is paid, we send it back to shipping to get a quote. Once we have that quote you will receive a second invoice for the shipping total. This speeds up the process for everyone involved and gets your trains to you sooner depending on how quickly you pay your invoice.
2. Floor Bids - As noticed, there were floor bids executed. Those bids were absentee and / or phone bids that we have to execute manually. Invaluable only gives us the option to insert those as floor bids. We understand that is strange to see during an online only auction, so I wanted to take a second and clarify.
@Jim Scorse I was thinking the same thing...more people at home, more bids, higher prices.
Auctions mean many buyers and that means high prices.
Charlie
It's a syndrome: shelter in place + internet + $1,200 "FREE" money = Spending.
stout advertises that they get the most for their consignments - therefore, how can that mean good deals for the buyer. It can’t work both ways.
My traveling partner and I cancelled the March Meet trip the last week before going. My logic is I am going to treat myself to a protocraft express car on the $$ saved on transportation, motel and food. Same goes for an auction. Until we can do shows again, Stout is not a bad way to go.
I got a PRR Consolidation, good price when compared to some of the same ones on the Bay.
Dave
@luvindemtrains posted:I got a PRR Consolidation, good price when compared to some of the same ones on the Bay.
Dave
If that was the CLW one, that was the only item that I was seriously interested in but somehow I had thought that the auction started at 200P so I missed it. When I did log in to check on the status of my favorites around 1100A, I had just missed the H-10 by about ten minutes. 
@mowingman posted:I am supposed to have won the bid on 2, Max Gray covered hoppers, for $70.00. The email I got said they would send me an invoice shortly. Whatever "shortly" is? I had interest in a lot of other items, but they all went too high.
Jeff
Considering there few 100 items, it takes a few days to get it all ready. These guys are very reputable and good to do business with. They treat these trains like they belong to them. A couple years ago there were two Sunset E8, a Rock Island and a CB&Q unit. They were labeled for each other. I called and they corrected the problem Q was Q and Rock etc. I won the Q model and was really surprised that it was the Rock loco. Called them, the next dat I had a return ticket as did the other guy. By Friday, I had the correct model and so many apologies. I have spent probably $2500 with this company and will continue to do so.
Dick
I about dropped my teeth when the GN NW5 sold for $1300. WoW!!!
Dick
@CBQer posted:I about dropped my teeth when the GN NW5 sold for $1300. WoW!!!
Dick
You and me both!
Hey guys, I was in hog heaven with the current auction. I am a 2 rail GN guy and those items are few and far between on any auction site or eBay. I got most of what I wanted at OK prices. The prices for steam locos were mostly less than I have seen similar items go for on eBay.
@Peter Lagus 091618 IF you are a GN guy you definitely were in hog heaven. Nice when things work out like that. I can't imagine if it were mainly ACL or SCL/SAL. The 2 engines I bought will be repainted...I have a Sunset FTA&B set in GN that I am going to sell to make more room for ACL/SCL/SAL. The sunsets are too nice to repaint.
I also thought the Steam locos for the most part were inexpensive compared to Ebay...I am sorry I didn't buy a steam loco.
Many moons ago I put a bid in for $80 on an O scale mixed lot box at an online auction, name of which I cannot remember. Looking through the photos I saw a bunch of Arttista figures and Kadee couplers worth at least that amount so I took a chance. I completely forgot about it till I got a call from a shipping company that I’d won the auction for $84 and to discuss shipping. He said it was a heavy box, "pretty big" and the best he could do was 20 bucks, parcel post. Done.
About a week later a box about 2' in each dimension arrived and it was quite heavy. As I went through everything I found about 50 Arttista figures plus many sets of Woodland Scenics, at least 100 pairs of 800 series Kadee couplers and a number of metal vehicle kits. There were 3 sets of logging tools and 100's of packs of detail parts, signals, electrical kits etc etc. It took me a week to sort through it all! I stopped adding at a value of $500.00. I was happily shocked by all this.
My only experience with an on-line auction was very good. Hopefully yours was too........
Peter
I received and paid my invoice this morning...now waiting on the shipping quote.
I do a lot of shipping for work, I would like an option of getting box dimensions and weight and providing my own UPS/FedEx/USPS label. This way I could take advantage of my shipping discounts.
@roll_the_dice posted:I received and paid my invoice this morning...now waiting on the shipping quote.
I do a lot of shipping for work, I would like an option of getting box dimensions and weight and providing my own UPS/FedEx/USPS label. This way I could take advantage of my shipping discounts.
So basically have a different shipping procedure for everyone? Not a reasonable expectation, IMO.
And although I hate the buyer's premium crock, in Stout's defense I will say that their shipping charges on items I've bought have been reasonable. They do a lot of shipping, so they probably get a decent rate, and they don't appear to try to use shipping as a profit center.
I know I paid $90 for a shipping once that I only paid $70 for the auction items...I know I could have shipped cheaper. The box was huge and I am sure an OS2 shipping rate, but the box was just HUGE and not the size box I would have chosen to ship the product in...so there should have been no upcharge for a new box since it was clearly used.
I am not saying they mark up shipping greatly, but would be nice to have options. I don't see it much different than sending an invoice with 19% buyers premium, but still offering a 3% discount if I mail them a check.
However, I enjoy shopping on Stout and other auctions...and will continue to do so.
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