The Official EBay Discussion Thread

[Straightliner59]

13 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Everybody wants to be Amazon.

Even Walmart. Do a search for stuff like Vevor hobby machine stuff, and one of the sellers will be Walmart. some things were a lot better, when everybody wasn't trying to be everything to everybody!

[ewetwo]

I agree Daniel.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I'm in an endless loop they seem to be incapable of dealing with. Weeks ago I requested a combined-shipping invoice from a seller, following the seller's instructions on the auction pages. No response after repeated requests, and his feedback starting going negative as paid-for items were never shipped. Apparently he's dead or incapacitated, but I'm still getting pinged every day about "AWAITING PAYMENT"

Tried every online way to contact the feePay minions, unsuccessfully. Either I get bounced out, get an error message, or some equally frustrating response. The "sale" doesn't show up in the list of options, and if I manually enter the "order numbers" (which can still be found by going from the "purchases" page), I get "no results found". But I'm STILL getting the "AWAITING PAYMENT" messages.

I'm impressed.  

[ewetwo]

That would drive me insane Bill. 

[89AKurt]

Some sellers are high as kites! ?

[slusher]

What a price, someone may buy it…

[Ace-Garageguy]

3 hours ago, slusher said:

What a price, someone may buy it…

Somebody just paid $8 million for a bunch of old sneakers, so you never know.  

[peteski]

There are always several Feeling43 resin kits listed on eBay for over $1000. with no takers.  Granted (just like Scalekraft) Feelign43 is gone, and their kits are really well details, but those prices see a bit unrealistic too.

[Chris 422]

This is a model I'd love to have but not nearly this much...  https://www.ebay.com/itm/145249763024

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 2/11/2024 at 9:40 PM, Chris 422 said:

This is a model I'd love to have but not nearly this much...  https://www.ebay.com/itm/145249763024

I didn't even know that existed. Pretty cool, I'd love to have it too, but it's way beyond anything I'd pay.

Edited February 15, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[Rob Hall]

Nice..that's a pretty minty '58 annual.   The only '58 annual I've got in my stash as painted '58 Edsel I found maybe 20 years ago.   

[Beans]

Here's a fun one- Small wire ties sold as "1/6 scale" flex cuffs.

 

[peteski]

Sellers do get creative.

[Bugatti Fan]

They rely on villages being short of an idiot.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Having a run of bad luck with idiot sellers who can't seem to get to the PO for more than a week after the sale, or who don't keep their PO receipts until something is delivered, or who just don't seem to have a clue as to how the PO and tracking work, some who forget to issue promised refunds, and just now...the USPS site is down, so I can't get ANYTHING on several MIA shipments. 

I sure like doing other people's jobs, or having to follow-up to make sure THEY do them. 

EDIT: I don't CARE if something is late, or if the dog ate your car keys and you can't get to the PO in the blizzard/hurricane/mutant-alligator-attack/invasion-from-Uranus.  It's OK. JUST SEND ME A MESSAGE. IT'S EASY.

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[StevenGuthmiller]

I knew that prices were going into the stratosphere for some old annual kits, especially the Johans, but I just happened across this today on eBay and almost choked to death!

I suppose that I should be happy that I already have one of these!

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166361056716?itmmeta=01HRJKQVTPGYCHR5ZPWGC7K92G&hash=item26bbe445cc:g:4cQAAOSwWvNlEvzr&itmprp=enc%3AAQAIAAAA8AvQGYtUENPIYgxs6alM5DEojotfeCnjgssjX2XQvGWLOthDJj81EbDC%2F9LpQlZ4DRzhsGAmji7B%2FM1ScO1HLeB4vHnFkfCYygqDav5QNWItPyZFGWELOV1DjtMatCoOGKjG%2Fj%2F3u2V%2Fxgqgwr26MNnxfprgBFRtsu%2FbHI0aluXWBiGCB%2BVYMd9nd8Atjzc3vLwrpPgZHMwfSk0Lnj66UsHY%2BtYUjD3QxyymeqBePSGd03oEqIElKVI%2BkUWqQdAr1b4pcCEhaftOcL8U1djUPTNqqHDkuM%2FHKYW61sMg0v37Esw90ljI7lTvZgzZgH91EA%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR7q939PEYw

 

 

 

Steve

[Richard Bartrop]

On 2/21/2024 at 7:50 AM, Beans said:

Here's a fun one- Small wire ties sold as "1/6 scale" flex cuffs.

 

One of the companies that sold detail parts for model cars used to sell resistors as scale fuel filters

[peteski]

20 minutes ago, Richard Bartrop said:

One of the companies that sold detail parts for model cars used to sell resistors as scale fuel filters

I believe they were diodes, not resistors. Diodes have glass envelope while resistors are not see-through.  The small diodes actually do make good fuel filters.  But yes, the point is that electronic components can be used in our hobby.  Just like some use wire wrapping wire for scale ignition wires.

Here is a 1N914 diode, They can be had for few cents a piece from electronic parts distributors like Digikey or Mouser electronics.

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, peteski said:

I believe they were diodes, not resistors. Diodes have glass envelope while resistors are not see-through.  The small diodes actually do make good fuel filters.  But yes, the point is that electronic components can be used in our hobby.  Just like some use wire wrapping wire for scale ignition wires.

Here is a 1N914 diode, They can be had for few cents a piece from electronic parts distributors like Digikey or Mouser electronics.

And resold for $10 for a pack of three as "scale fuel filters".

PS: Not all diodes have a "glass envelope".

PPS: Resistors have been used to represent fuel filters on model cars for decades too. Small carbon composition resistors (once very common and cheap) painted silver or another color, look close enough to aluminum-can or translucent-plastic fuel filters to pass quite nicely.

Edited March 10, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy
CLARITY

[Richard Bartrop]

20 minutes ago, peteski said:

I believe they were diodes, not resistors. Diodes have glass envelope while resistors are not see-through.  The small diodes actually do make good fuel filters.  But yes, the point is that electronic components can be used in our hobby.  Just like some use wire wrapping wire for scale ignition wires.

Here is a 1N914 diode, They can be had for few cents a piece from electronic parts distributors like Digikey or Mouser electronics.

 

I stand corrected, but you get the idea.

[Straightliner59]

The truth is that, except for finished, dedicated products, all those aftermarket products come from some other industry. Once you've found a source for the bulk materials, you're gonna save a ton of money! Like Bill said, ten bucks for three resistors isn't reasonable.

[peteski]

3 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

And resold for $10 for a pack of three as "scale fuel filters".

PS: Not all diodes have a "glass envelope".

PPS: Resistors have been used to represent fuel filters on model cars for decades too. Small carbon composition resistors (once very common and cheap) painted silver or another color, look close enough to aluminum-can or translucent-plastic fuel filters to pass quite nicely.

Thanks. I am well aware that not all diodes have glass envelopes - that is why I specifically selected 1N914. 1N4148 is a similar diode.  I've been involved in electronics for over 45 years (both professionally as an electronics technician, and as a hobby).   And I also agree that all sorts of items unrelated to plastic model car kits are used for detailing.  Just recently we had a thread about this (and I also use non-modeling items for detailing my models).

Many aftermarket parts companies repackage various non-model-related items for use in modeling.

[Bugatti Fan]

Like those 'scale'  braided hoses being just very small diameter screened cable with the outer plastic insulation stripped off !      Likewise 'scale'  ignition wiring that is just very thin insulated wire for electronics.

Both obtainable in coils as cheap as chips from electronics suppliers.

[Mr mopar]

Prices and shipping are going up and I can't play any more  how sad is that .

[Bainford]

Shipping is the killer for me. Shipping to Canada from the US is minimum $30-40 for a kit. This puts a serious pinch on buying kits. The initial buy-in has to be stupid cheap in order to make a purchase worth while. For me, this makes any currently available kit purchase untenable. In the last five years I have bought maybe five or six kits on ebay, all vintage, all much wanted and searched-for kits, all snagged for unusually low prices.

Curiously, all other countries are much cheaper to ship from, with the possible exception of Australia. It is almost always cheaper to order from, say, UK, Poland, Germany, Ukraine, or Japan, etc. than from the dozens on offer on this continent.