ebay items

[rsxse240]

So I was perusing ebay looking for datsun models (hoping someone has made a '80 510 wagon...might just give up on that) when I notice there's a lot of Revell Datsun 510 parts for sale. I really have to give it to the guy/girl for being creative trying to make some extra money. Selling PARTS of a model for a somewhat reasonable price....typically $3 plus shipping. Now that would be great if it were a kit that was no longer available for reasonable prices but something as readily available as a revell datsun 510? this cat is trying to make $200 on one kit!

I would be willing to pay $3 shipped for a windshield from a Johan Cutlass or maybe a pair of bedsides from a 64 Ford pickup. I guess if a person needs but one bumper or hood from the kit because in their kit it was either not properly formed or just missing and spending the ridiculous amount for a new kit now-a-days (upwards of $30 for a re-issued AMT 49 ford).

Really I guess I am just ranting now. I suppose I can't fault the guy for trying to get ahead. I just wonder how much money I could make if I were to list each of my parts box parts up for sale at $3 each. ....50 lb of model parts at $3 each...I could retire!

[martinfan5]

You must be talking about PJ-Toys.

[slusher]

There are other sellers with parts at reasonable prices...

[Thatswhatshesaid]

You must be talking about PJ-Toys.

I don't think pj toys offers anything in the $3 range.

[martinfan5]

I don't think pj toys offers anything in the $3 range.

You are right

Edited August 18, 2014 by martinfan5

[jbwelda]

well its not like he will be getting 200$ for nothing. packing all that junk up and getting it to the post office will eat significantly into his profit margin if he values his time at all

jb

[mikemodeler]

Almost as bad as someone on here requesting parts of a kit a couple at a time until they have enough to build the whole kit!

If someone wants those parts bad enough that are on eBay, they will buy them.

[w451973]

If it's old kit stuff thats one thing but a new kit ? Some of the parts listed just is'nt worth the price when you add in shipping. Makes me just want to buy a second kit for parts.

[Bill Eh?]

I just checked eBay. The seller in question, I believe is top-rank-records. He has 39 listings related to the Datsun 510, one of which is for the instructions. 37 of the listings are at $3.00. The chassis and tire auctions are at $8.00. If one person were to buy each of these items, excluding shipping, it would amount to $127, not $200. I would think that, that is not top-rank-records' intention. I would assume that they are appealing to individuals who, for whatever reason, need a part replaced. I know that Revell is generous, maybe too much so, in that with the proper documentation, they will send out replacement parts. In my thinking, I would only use this service, if something was wrong with a kit part that was Revell's fault. If it was my own fault because I lost it, or wrecked it in the build process, then why should it be on Revell's dime. Remember, this is just my opinion and how I feel about it. LOL By listing these Datsun 510 parts, top-rank-records is offering a less costly alternative to buying another kit, for people who think the same way I do. Just another way to look at the situation.

[Tom Geiger]

Ken, if you think you've stumbled on the get rich quick scheme of the century, go for it!

But the reality of the situation is that by the time you have photographed, written the auction text and sent it off to eBay, you probably have an hour invested. Then, if you are listing your auctions for free, you still are paying final value fees to eBay, So you aren't getting the whole $3. Postage... any small bubble mailer costs $2-3 to mail, and that mailer will cost you 50 cents to $2.00 depending on how / where you buy them. Note that something like 75% of your auctions won't sell, so you are only getting your $3 from 25% of the items you list.

I watch items in several collectible categories, and have noted some items perpetually relisted for the last 3-4 years. So some stuff will never sell.

Ever go to the car dealer and find out the little plastic clip you need is $28?? That's because that's the amount of labor and handling it takes to get that tiny little part from the factory to you!

[ChrisBcritter]

There are certain exceptions for older stuff, as I found out personally last week. As I'm sure you're sick of hearing, I'm putting together a '61 Bonneville hardtop from pieces but I still needed a good hood, underhood items, and taillight bezels and lenses. Those goodies finally came up NOS on eBay - underhood stuff (firewall, radiator, washer bottle and battery) went for $13, taillights for $19, and the hood went for $33!

So I repaired my damaged hood, scrounged a battery and salvaged the firewall and radiator, and ordered the taillights from Modelhaus.

There are about seven or eight sellers that are my go-to guys for old stuff.

[Tom Geiger]

There are certain exceptions for older stuff, as I found out personally last week. As I'm sure you're sick of hearing, I'm putting together a '61 Bonneville hardtop from pieces but I still needed a good hood, underhood items, and taillight bezels and lenses. Those goodies finally came up NOS on eBay - underhood stuff (firewall, radiator, washer bottle and battery) went for $13, taillights for $19, and the hood went for $33!

There are times that you can find a rare old part that you need. The last full size Chevy I needed to own all of them was the 1972 year. That one is also pretty scarce, along with the 1971, so I was piecing one together from parts and such. I had a resin body that was defective, but I had a really bad broken 1973 Chevy that I could cut the trunk lid and other elements I needed from. The '73 also provided the hood and the entire chassis. I got my bumpers from Modelhaus, but sorely needed the interior bucket. Modelhaus only had the front seat. The '73 again would provide the dashboard and steering wheel but the interior bucket, and front seat were unique to that 1972 year. I put wanted posts on both the model car message boards I frequent, nobody had one to spare.

Enter eBay! I had a search out for 1972 Chevy minus Vega,Nova,pick (for pickup) that would send me emails when it found something of interest. After a long search that interior bucket came up for sale. Perfect condition, never assembled or painted. Complete with front seat, dash and steering wheel for... get this... $9.99 starting price with free shipping. I put the auction in my snipe software and was amazed that nobody else bid on it. I got it for the $9.99. I had bid double that. So there are times you can find that rare part at a reasonable price.

I left the search agent open and watched complete kits sell for over $200. I saw a few old built ups sell for $100 range also, but eventually I found one that was less than $50 so I bought it. Now I have two 1972 Chevys!

[clovis]

I doubt that anyone is getting rich selling parts from kits.

Aside from the eBay and Paypal fees, they still have considerable risk when they sell the parts. "I didn't get it" and "It arrived broken" are two excuses commonly used by thieves and scammers. There is also risk that you sell three parts to a crazy guy somewhere, and after throwing a huge hissy fit over some perceived and imagined issue, like 'The parts are for a model, not my real Datsun" or better yet, "Why didn't you tell me that these were plastic and not resin?!?!?!!!"

Those folks can then leave negatives for some CRAZY and SILLY reasons:

"Took 5 days to get here"

"Seller shipped in a box. Parts should have been packed in a wood crate!"

"Total rip-off!!! Whole kit only costs $15 on ebay. Seller a thief."

"Had to drive 27 minutes into town. Post office wouldn't deliver to my new address."

"Poorly packed. Sent in a wood crate. Seller should have put it in an iron box too."

"Seller didn't say that my plastic model part smelled like smoke."

"Bought Datsun part. Won't fit my Camaro model. Seller refunded and I kept part for free, but should have said in the description that 1/24 Datsun parts don't fit 1/12 Camaro kits."

"Instructions not included? I thought that the trunk lid, doors, and entire kit was included. Avoid!"

"Seller sent one part. I thought I was getting the entire kit.Seller is a scam artist."

"Took 10 days to get here. Ebay said it would take 5."

"Seller shipped plastic part in brown box. Should have been in a white box."

Another problem with those selling the parts is that the next college boy that finds an incomplete kit at a thrift will list all of his parts for 1.99, and after that, a SAHM will list her parts for 99 cents, with free shipping. Next thing you know, the market for that kit will be utterly destroyed...ask me how I know this.

I think, once it is said and done, ebay and PP will take about 15% of the sale, give or take some.

When the ebay listings end, it will cost them .20 each to relist, if you already have a store @ $15.99 a month. 50 listings will cost $10. It adds up quick.

[Harry P.]

Check out the listings for Pocher parts.

Crazy.

[Tom Geiger]

Aside from the eBay and Paypal fees, they still have considerable risk when they sell the parts. "I didn't get it" and "It arrived broken" are two excuses commonly used by thieves and scammers. There is also risk that you sell three parts to a crazy guy somewhere, and after throwing a huge hissy fit over some perceived and imagined issue, like 'The parts are for a model, not my real Datsun" or better yet, "Why didn't you tell me that these were plastic and not resin?!?!?!!!"

Those folks can then leave negatives for some CRAZY and SILLY reasons:

"Took 5 days to get here"

"Seller shipped in a box. Parts should have been packed in a wood crate!"

"Total rip-off!!! Whole kit only costs $15 on ebay. Seller a thief."

"Had to drive 27 minutes into town. Post office wouldn't deliver to my new address."

"Poorly packed. Sent in a wood crate. Seller should have put it in an iron box too."

"Seller didn't say that my plastic model part smelled like smoke."

"Bought Datsun part. Won't fit my Camaro model. Seller refunded and I kept part for free, but should have said in the description that 1/24 Datsun parts don't fit 1/12 Camaro kits."

"Instructions not included? I thought that the trunk lid, doors, and entire kit was included. Avoid!"

"Seller sent one part. I thought I was getting the entire kit.Seller is a scam artist."

"Took 10 days to get here. Ebay said it would take 5."

"Seller shipped plastic part in brown box. Should have been in a white box."

Another problem with those selling the parts is that the next college boy that finds an incomplete kit at a thrift will list all of his parts for 1.99, and after that, a SAHM will list her parts for 99 cents, with free shipping. Next thing you know, the market for that kit will be utterly destroyed...ask me how I know this.

I think, once it is said and done, ebay and PP will take about 15% of the sale, give or take some.

When the ebay listings end, it will cost them .20 each to relist, if you already have a store @ $15.99 a month. 50 listings will cost $10. It adds up quick.

All of the above!

The guys selling resin hoods and decal stripe sets have big notes on their auctions saying "THIS IS NOT FOR A REAL CAR" and the idiots still think they are buying a full stripe set for their Camaro Pace Car for $3.98 plus $2.00 shipping. I want to meet that idiot.

And the guys who don't / can't read the description. I imagine these are the same guys we see on the board....

Post: Here's my new build,painted Testors Royal Spew over Duplicolor primer.

Reply: Cool car Dude! What color is that?

You also described my own departure from making good money on eBay. I found a niche in selling car brochures on eBay back in 1998 or so. Everyone was selling antique car brochures, but I found that I could sell 1980s brochures to car owners. I was running 100 auctions a week, starting them at $3.99 plus $2.99 postage. It was rare that something expired without a bid, and even rare that there weren't multiple bids. My median sale was $11. Life was good.

Then I noticed new sellers coming in on a regular basis. It got down to sellers getting in offering brochures for 99 cents plus 99 cents shipping. I was curious and found that they shipped them in manila envelopes without any protection, instead of the expensive photo mailers I bought in bulk. Each one of these people would show up, pollute the category with dollar brochures, quickly find out that they couldn't mail them for the $1.98 they got, never mind their fees. Then they'd tell everyone that eBay was a scam and they couldn't make big money there.

As I saw my own sales shrink to the point that 25% sell through was good, and most of those selling at opening bid, I decided it wasn't worth my time and quit selling. I didn't have many scammers, this was before eBay tracked packages and such. I had a few say they didn't get their package, and one who said their letter carrier bent my package in half to fit in his mail box, (hard photo mailer marked "do not bend" all over it) and of course, that was my fault and he wanted a new brochure. I had one swapper I remember. I had a brand new case of 1985 Firebird brochures so mine were absolutely mint, never even opened pages. The guy sends me a tattered one that looked like a cow licked it. He was returning it for 'bad condition'. Oh yea.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Tom Geiger

[JTalmage]

I've actually bought stuff off of Top Rank Records. he combined shipping, and I got them quick. Because when you make a deal with someone on here for parts, and havent gotten them yet 6 months later, you tend to get desperate.

[Zarana-X]

I've seen that fool. I'm pretty sure the parts are from the Tuner version. Somebody is also selling nearly all the parts form the old Monogram 720 pickup, and the Revell 620 pickups. Like, nearly complete kits, but as individual pieces.

[jbwelda]

I don't see what the problem is with anyone selling like this. that part about "reduced the value of the kit" or something is hogwash and even if it were true, and you are bugged that your "investment" went down, that's life and not much sympathy required. those who live by the sword are bound to fall upon it.

jb

[clovis]

All of the above!

The guys selling resin hoods and decal stripe sets have big notes on their auctions saying "THIS IS NOT FOR A REAL CAR" and the idiots still think they are buying a full stripe set for their Camaro Pace Car for $3.98 plus $2.00 shipping. I want to meet that idiot.

And the guys who don't / can't read the description. I imagine these are the same guys we see on the board....

Post: Here's my new build,painted Testors Royal Spew over Duplicolor primer.

Reply: Cool car Dude! What color is that?

You also described my own departure from making good money on eBay. I found a niche in selling car brochures on eBay back in 1998 or so. Everyone was selling antique car brochures, but I found that I could sell 1980s brochures to car owners. I was running 100 auctions a week, starting them at $3.99 plus $2.99 postage. It was rare that something expired without a bid, and even rare that there weren't multiple bids. My median sale was $11. Life was good.

Then I noticed new sellers coming in on a regular basis. It got down to sellers getting in offering brochures for 99 cents plus 99 cents shipping. I was curious and found that they shipped them in manila envelopes without any protection, instead of the expensive photo mailers I bought in bulk. Each one of these people would show up, pollute the category with dollar brochures, quickly find out that they couldn't mail them for the $1.98 they got, never mind their fees. Then they'd tell everyone that eBay was a scam and they couldn't make big money there.

As I saw my own sales shrink to the point that 25% sell through was good, and most of those selling at opening bid, I decided it wasn't worth my time and quit selling. I didn't have many scammers, this was before eBay tracked packages and such. I had a few say they didn't get their package, and one who said their letter carrier bent my package in half to fit in his mail box, (hard photo mailer marked "do not bend" all over it) and of course, that was my fault and he wanted a new brochure. I had one swapper I remember. I had a brand new case of 1985 Firebird brochures so mine were absolutely mint, never even opened pages. The guy sends me a tattered one that looked like a cow licked it. He was returning it for 'bad condition'. Oh yea.

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one.

About a 1 1/2 years ago, I started buying a type of tool, and parted it out on ebay. I have made great money doing this, but about 5 months ago, everyone started copying the way I list. I was selling one item for $15.99...and selling them briskly. Now, everyone and their brother, and their aunts and uncles, too, are listing them...get this...for 3.99.

Some of this has been okay, because some of the sellers won't do the homework to see what is more rare, and I've scooped up a few bargains myself.

A few years ago, my wife and I found a grocery product that wasn't being listed on ebay. We were barely making $2.50 each on the item, which wasn't really worth it, but we had an endless supply of an easy to find product. Most buyers bought multiples of the same thing, so sometimes making $10 was easy. Every following seller has destroyed the market. There is no way they are even making money on this stuff, unless they are stealing it from the store.

I love ebay...but I don't understand why so many people think "I'll just list mine for a few bucks cheaper" is a good idea.

Edited August 22, 2014 by clovis

[Tom Geiger]

I love ebay...but I don't understand why so many people think "I'll just list mine for a few bucks cheaper" is a good idea.

It's basically people with no business skills. They don't know how to do the analysis of what they're costs will be, versus the sale price.

A while back someone I knew sent a guy my way for advise on selling on eBay. This guy had a common item with what I imagined as a very limited appeal that he thought he was going to make a fortune selling on eBay. He was planning on buying these retail, as he got orders. I tried to show him that he would be losing money on his proposed plan.

He got mad at me and refused to look at the numbers. He said that I was trying to talk him out of it so I could steal his idea. When I told him he'd lose $2 each on his item per sale, he told me he was going to make it up on volume! He thought he was going to be selling and shipping 100s of this item every week. I was still being nice and told him if he sold 200 of them a week he'd LOSE $400 a week. And my analysis was that he'd be lucky to sell one or two of them.

[Mark]

I hate plowing through the "sell individual parts from a new kit" listings, as well as the over-and-over-and-over-again listings. I've been seeing the same three Pyro kit instruction sheets over and over again for the past three or four years. These kinds of deals are what happens when eBay gives out free listings to pad up the number of listings in a given category. Every once in a while, you'll see a bunch of totally unrelated items dumped into your search too.

[Tom Geiger]

Mark it's the same way in other collectible categories as well. In my stamp collectors categories I've seen the same old postcards and covers (postmarked old envelopes) that have been on constantly for years. Then there are the 100s of cheap common used stamps that nobody would pay a penny for, all listed for a dollar each with free shipping. I doubt that seller has sold a one.

Then we get the non-collectors who haven't a clue that list common items for $100s of dollars. And there are those decently desirable items I'd snap up at the right price listed at astronomical prices. And these things all come up in my searches so I have to weed through the same awful ones regularly. It would be nice if they had an option to ignore a specific seller. That would be a good part of the battle.

[Mark]

Not necessarily looking for much stuff anymore, so maybe it's a good thing that eBay has worked so consciously to discourage me from poking around there as much as I used to. I mainly do searches now. Still, there are deals to be had. I've been trying to finish off a collection of the early Pyro 1/32 scale cars (not the "classics" or "brass" cars, but the no-vinyl-tires, no-chrome, 50/60 cent ones). I found one of the tougher ones (the '52 Chevy wagon) with a B-I-N price that was less than half of what I'd seen others sell for. It had only been listed half an hour before I saw it. Today, I found a dealer selling Model Car Garage photoetch sets for about 10% less than MGC gets for them, with cheaper shipping. I've still got to go direct for a couple of them that this guy didn't have, but still I saved enough to pay for a couple of sets. I still buy modeling supplies, tools, and CDs. It's just not what it used to be, and a lot of that is of their own making.

[Tom Geiger]

Remember back when all the models were lumped together and you could still get through the entire category? (sigh!)

[Thatswhatshesaid]

Everybody wants to make a quick buck with minimal effort. That's why so much BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH ends up on eBay.