Model Prices Swap Meet VS Ebay?

[DailyGrindCustoms]

I've been out of it for so long. I can remember back when I use to go to walmart and pick up any kit I wanted for 9.99. Prices have doubled/tripled since then. I am curious as I have never went kit hunting as a swap meet but are they generally cheaper than you'd see at a hobby shop? NNL is coming up here and I plan to really get ahold of some stuff there. Plan to spend a pretty penny so I can get back into the hobby. Where do you guys do most of your kit shopping?

[martinfan5]

It all depends, I am going to use our model swap meets we have here in town as an example, but almost all the kits sold are in around the $10 mark, some kits sell for a little bit more, some a little less, if its a common kit, then chances are its going to be selling for under the $10 mark.

I can go to our swap meets here, and take $100, and buy ten kits, or more, it most case's , for the common kits, you can compare the prices to Ebay, just minus the shipping.

[rel14]

Like anything, it depends on the person your buying from, I,ve got some really awesome deals at swap meets. and

and I've seen some really unreal prices, I've got great deals on ebay, and seen some unreal ones too..

Shop around is about all i can say,,,

[Eshaver]

I DO NOT USE EVIL BAY OR KRAK LIST- period .

[Rob McKee]

I find shipping costs are the deal breaker for buying from eBay. Often shipping is double or triple the cost of the model.

[Rob Hall]

I've found pricing usually pretty reasonable at swap meets, but you can't beat eBay for selection. At swap meets I rarely find things that I don't have.

[High octane]

I've been to many swap meets and have seen sky high prices and resonable prices for the same kit. Some vendors will give you a break if you buy more than one kit. I usually cruise through the swap meet once before doing any buying and that way I can compare prices. The most fun I have at swap meets is seeing all the guys I've known over the many years in model car building and say hello to. There are good deals to be found and a swap meet is a LOT friendlier than a keyboard.

[DailyGrindCustoms]

I find shipping costs are the deal breaker for buying from eBay. Often shipping is double or triple the cost of the model.

Same boat I am in. I was wondering if the local swap meets would be same price with out the shipping. If so, I can see my room multiplying with kits very fast over this summer! lol

[martinfan5]

Same boat I am in. I was wondering if the local swap meets would be same price with out the shipping. If so, I can see my room multiplying with kits very fast over this summer! lol

You are going to have to go to find out in all honestly,

[Lunajammer]

I find shipping costs are the deal breaker for buying from eBay. Often shipping is double or triple the cost of the model.

For that reason this will probably be a short conversation. Swap meets are almost always the best deal; no shipping, you negotiate down instead of up and you get to hold in your hand what you buy. But as Robert says, selection is in ebays favor.

[Tom Geiger]

I find shipping costs are the deal breaker for buying from eBay. Often shipping is double or triple the cost of the model.

When eBay started, USPS shipped Priority Mail for $3.99 for up to 2 pounds. That made eBay what it is today! Then with all their losses, the postal rates have gone up significantly. That killed all the $10 or less items.

Swap meets will vary by area, size of show and who is attending. There are dealers who want eBay prices for stuff, but they may take it home with them. And there will be regular builders who are happy to get rid of some extra kits for $5 a piece. Like someone said above, tour the room before buying anything. You'll find the very same kit for $25 at one table and for $5 a few tables away.

I love going to swap meets to find stuff I haven't seen before, old built ups and being able to paw through junk boxes. I always come up with something that makes my day. Good luck.

[Edsel-Dan]

One day, I would love to go to a Swap meet. None around here though!!!

Have gone to Carlisle Pa Car shows and found deals on Kit's & Promos!!

[XJ6]

Swap meets aka Flea Markets...is the best place to go. I get up at 5:00 am every Sat / Sun just to go the the Market (yep i am a bargin hunter) anyway i know a lot of the sellers, and they save the Model kits that they come by for Me....Now I never pay a lot.for a Model Kit...take a sealed little Revell Kit and me will pay only $5.00 maybe $7.00 depends on the subject.... little ole AMT Kits...$3.00 maybe $5.00....

Why just last weekend i came across a Aurora @ 1965 kit of a 1/25 scale FORD GT Complete ! $4.00... i have got some super Great Deals..

Back before the LHS (Riverside Hobbies) went out of business in 2011 i would buy kits and sell to them....And Boy did i do good...Always made my $$ back and would get store credit for a Good Amount.....That is why all of my Tamiya...Fujimi...Gunze Sangyo (High Tech Model) and other kits i have i have paid $0.00 I have sold the LHS store a total of 516 kits in the two years i dealt with them...Now i just need to build the 56 kits i have in my stash..

But back to the place to buy.....Get the word out...tell your friends....Neighbors.....Post on CL (Craig's list)....and Hit the yard sales..heck i even ask them if they have kits....If it seems right..

So Buy the kits when i get enough i Just post them on CL and sell them....I even have buyers that come 35 miles to buy from me...And Always...Always make Money....Keep a Get or two...and they are free to me.....and i always give the Kid Down the street a kit...Gave him one for X-Mas now he won't leave me alone...

So Yes...Look and you will Find-em....I even go to Micheals and use the 50% off coupon....Buy the Kit for $12.00 and sell for $20.00 along with the lot..

So hey looking for Kits....find me on the Net CL Sacramento, Ca

Good Luck in your Hunt...

Cheers...Don

Edited March 23, 2013 by XJ6

[lanesteele240]

I DO NOT USE EVIL BAY OR KRAK LIST- period .

Great. More for meeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

[DailyGrindCustoms]

Swap meets aka Flea Markets...is the best place to go. I get up at 5:00 am every Sat / Sun just to go the the Market (yep i am a bargin hunter) anyway i know a lot of the sellers, and they save the Model kits that they come by for Me....Now I never pay a lot.for a Model Kit...take a sealed little Revell Kit and me will pay only $5.00 maybe $7.00 depends on the subject.... little ole AMT Kits...$3.00 maybe $5.00....

Why just last weekend i came across a Aurora @ 1965 kit of a 1/25 scale FORD GT Complete ! $4.00... i have got some super Great Deals..

Back before the LHS (Riverside Hobbies) went out of business in 2011 i would buy kits and sell to them....And Boy did i do good...Always made my $$ back and would get store credit for a Good Amount.....That is why all of my Tamiya...Fujimi...Gunze Sangyo (High Tech Model) and other kits i have i have paid $0.00 I have sold the LHS store a total of 516 kits in the two years i dealt with them...Now i just need to build the 56 kits i have in my stash..

But back to the place to buy.....Get the word out...tell your friends....Neighbors.....Post on CL (Craig's list)....and Hit the yard sales..heck i even ask them if they have kits....If it seems right..

So Buy the kits when i get enough i Just post them on CL and sell them....I even have buyers that come 35 miles to buy from me...And Always...Always make Money....Keep a Get or two...and they are free to me.....and i always give the Kid Down the street a kit...Gave him one for X-Mas now he won't leave me alone...

So Yes...Look and you will Find-em....I even go to Micheals and use the 50% off coupon....Buy the Kit for $12.00 and sell for $20.00 along with the lot..

So hey looking for Kits....find me on the Net CL Sacramento, Ca

Good Luck in your Hunt...

Cheers...Don

Hey thanks for the idea! I like it alot, What type of flea markets? I know they have alot around me. Does the usual flea market I see set up in the parking lots have kits? How about Car shows are they good in the swap meet area?

[mikemodeler]

Brock,

A lot of good suggestions of where to find kits and the bargains that can be found, if you just look around! Also stop by antique or estate sales type shops, they sometimes get a household of goods and could have models in them. Some folks also visit the thrift stores (Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.) as they occasionally have kits. From time to time places like Ollie's Discount Outlet or Big Lots will have models too, so keep an eye out.

As was mentioned about model shows/swap meets, walk around and check out what the vendors have before shelling out your hard earned bucks, you might find a kit cheaper on the other side of the room.

Happy Hunting

[JohnU]

Yes, estate sales and local Craig's List! I had a little money stashed in my savings and picked up 320 kits from a guy I found on Craig's for $1,200 kept my favorites and sold half on eBay and made my money back! Trick is not being greedy when listing. Started at $5.00 a piece and let the bidding take care of the rest. My Craig's List buddy turned me on to the estate sales where I've found some cool and rare stuff. Got to get there early and look for estate sales of old car guys! They collect the coolest stuff, God rest their souls!

[Tom Geiger]

From time to time places like Ollie's Discount Outlet or Big Lots will have models too, so keep an eye out.

The Ollie's closest to me still has some of the Lindberg stock.

[ToyLvr]

I 2nd the suggestion about educating your family and friends about your hobby (sickness?) and enlisting them to help find some kits for you.

My wife likes to go to yard sales, etc. One of her favorite outings every summer is "the World's Longest Yardsale" which stretches from Michigan all the way down to Florida. Last year she brought back an original 1967 issue Monogram '41 Lincoln Continental kit, unbuilt and in great condition, which she got for just a few bucks.

You just neveral know where kits will turn up...

Mike

[Mike_G]

IPMS meetings are sometimes a good place to find bargains- airplane modelers almost always have a few car kits they've taken in trade, etc. that they aren't in love with and will sell for a reasonable price.

Also, I go to yard sales and ask if they have any plastic model kits and sometimes people will go in the house and pull a nice kit out of the closet.

Thrift stores sometimes have kits too, I just bought an airplane kit at St. Vinnies for .89

[Craig Irwin]

I just got home from a show and swap in Indy, and scored a 60 Buick conv. built kit in good rebuildable condition, a 72 Ford grand Torino built kit, and a Jo Han 64 Dodge hardtop unpainted built kit, and a sealed Revell 67 Corvette roadster. I spent a TOTAL of $45 and payed no shipping. I don't count the gas because I enjoyed the contest show. Also I got to talk with severial friends that I don't see often.

Try that on ebay.

[Tom Geiger]

I have friends who score big at flea markets, swap meets, car shows and thrift stores. My friend Gary and I can walk the same car show flea market and he will find some neat old kits and I find nothing! LOL

My own luck is along the lines of this... I am at a flea market and I spy a model box on a vendor table. As I get closer I see it's just one of those AMT snap truck kits done from the last generation promos. You know, the ones that are still plentiful in the hobby for $5-10 each at shows. Of course this one looks like it's been sitting out on a vendor table in the sun for the last 20 years. The box is all faded and sunken in, with a dented corner. The shrink wrap is waving in the breeze.

The vendor spots me looking at the kit and tells me, "Dat Dere is a geniune antique! They don't make 'em anymore. Gimme $50 because dat's whut I'd get on eBay". I walk away chuckling to myself.

[gtx6970]

Depends on what I'm after at any particular point in time. AND what kind of time I have avail.

There is just one model swap meet near me and it's only once a year, so it has extreme limitations. . And I will not drive 2 hours just to hit a swap meet, There is nothing I NEED that bad. I'll wait and find it via ebay 1st. ,,,like when I can shop in my underwear.

I do hit maybe a half dozen 1/1 swap meets a year. And I do look around for models / promos. to either keep or flip.

I've been on a antique car craze lately and Ebay offers the best chances to get what I may want at any particular point in time , problem is once I see something that catches my fancy is what usually gets that interest ball rolling in my head. I see it then my mind says 'OHHH , I need that'

[Art Anderson]

I've been out of it for so long. I can remember back when I use to go to walmart and pick up any kit I wanted for 9.99. Prices have doubled/tripled since then. I am curious as I have never went kit hunting as a swap meet but are they generally cheaper than you'd see at a hobby shop? NNL is coming up here and I plan to really get ahold of some stuff there. Plan to spend a pretty penny so I can get back into the hobby. Where do you guys do most of your kit shopping?

Call me old-fashioned if you will, but I still want to have a local hobby shop that will be there to cater to my car modeling wants when I stop in. Having said that, the LHS has to earn that position from me, and currently, the one true hobby shop here in town hasn't--so, I bundle my wants together for a periodic trip to Indianapolis, where I can practice that same philosophy.

But, why you ask, do I shop at local hobby shops? Plain and simple: I want the guy to be there when I want something, and don't want to wait for merchandise to be shipped to me. A LHS is not going to survive on just the occasional bit of glue, some Xacto blades on occasion, or the sale of a couple of bottles or spray cans of paint--that's a fact of life (spent too many years in retail hobby merchandising to believe otherwise).

As for kit prices, well those tend to reflect inflation and pretty much always have, save for about 15-20 years when kit prices were dictated by the larger "Big Box" mass retailers. That situation, more than anything else, is what drove plastic model kit production out of the US--the costs of doing that production in the US ultimately made off-shoring a necessity (when a major retailer is willing to buy up half of your production of any item, AT their price--you surely can see where that leads!).

Of course, that situation (off-shoring) may very well be ending, due to serious inflation in the Far East due to fast rising wages and other costs associated with industrial production, but for the time being we have to live with the situation as it exists. For whatever "savings" result from using lower cost (both by living standards and by currency exchange rates) labor overseas are now being eaten up by higher feedstock costs (styrene plastic is made from petroleum), shipping (it costs frightful money to sail one of those 100,000 ton container ships across almost 8000 miles of ocean. Then there is the cost of offloading that ship in port--and the Longshoreman's Union doesn't work inexpensively. Neither do the railroads nor trucking companies. Additionally, hobby shops don't often buy their model kits and supplies directly from the manufacturers due to the very large quantities they would have to commit to in that case--so they (and the manufacturers) use wholesalers to service small independent retailers for perhaps 90% of all the hobby merchandise the LHS stocks--and that of course comes at a price as well.

A lot gets said about "inflation", but the acknowledged rate of inflation as reported by government and the media is but an average--some things may stay very stable in price (actual number of dollar bills) while others accelerate rapidly, while some items may only go up by smaller amounts. Even with that being said, domestic brands of model car kits haven't, except in a few "spikes" gone up that dramatically compared to 50 years ago, although the market for any individual model car kit is a fair bit smaller than it might have been in 1963--but that's at least in part due to there being vastly more different model car kits available today than a half-century ago. Thus, to amortize (put money spent on new tooling back into the company's bank account) takes longer now than it did in 1963, and that doesn't take into account that there are fewer car model builders today than at the height of the baby boom generation reaching an age where they got interested in model cars and building them. Additionally, a new, "21st Century State Of The Art" model car kit is in many ways light-years ahead of where common model car kits were just 30-35 years ago, let alone the comparision to kits produced in the 1960's.

All of this should help explain the costs, and why the prices. Now, most online retailers can only "discount" a kit so much, and when they add in the cost of shipping, pretty much on a newly produced model kit, the total cost to the phone/mail/online customer will be pretty close to what he might expect to pay in a "briick and mortar" store. Of course, there are advantages to buying multiple kits, for if the online seller is really on top of it, he can lump several kits together in a shipping box, and pay less per kit for shipping than if each kit were sent separately. Most online sellers probably do this, probably some do not.

With reissues of kits from older, existing tooling, sure the tooling may have been amortized years ago, but there will still be upfront costs to effect a reissue while making it a salable product (rehabilitating the tooling as needed, perhaps adding a few new parts, possibly creating a new decal sheet or instruction sheets, and certainly new box art--even making retro-copies of old box art isn't exactly cheap). BUT, almost without exception, the sales of a reissued model kit will be but a fraction of that for a brand new release, so the requisite costs will be spread over a much smaller volume of production and sales--generally, that rather balances out pretty closely. Lastly, it's the sale of existing model subjects and the reissuing of older kits that provide the upfront money for new tooling, and that is a situation that has never changed. Unlike many other industries, the hobby and toy industry isn't going to be able to establish vast lines of credit in order to finance new product--the risks are much greater there than say in the 1:1 auto industry.

Hopefully, this helps background the discussion at least a little bit.

Art

[Art Anderson]

As for swap meets and model car shows vis-a-vis eBay--well, at a show, the "dealer" is gonna ask the price he wants, and the buyer may haggle--perhaps they come to a price, perhaps not (pretty much the way the guys on Pawn Stars do it too), where if at auction on eBay, it is an auction, subject to bidding by whomever, however many bidders take a swing at it. So, the price at one venue versus eBay can vary a lot, in both directions at times.

Art