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Prices of kits- just cruising Ebay


Mentalguru

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UK ebay has gone to much commercial, hell even Tescos has a presence on there now, gone are the days of cheaper goods, often idiots bid them past what you can buy them for in the shops.

exactly!

Are you working the nightshift as well?

Julien

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Well I bought a daylight lamp off ebay that was £2 more than Maplin did them for, didn't realise Maplin sold them, he simply had like 10 on buy it now on ebay and ordered it to be delivered to my address from them direct, didn't mind the £2 hit as I wasn't aware they sold what I was after, so looked on it as a finders fee......... nice way to make money for no effort though and he wasn't blatently making a huge profit on them, suppose if he did he would have got lots of negative feedback.

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ebay is just one source of kits, and its easy to use. Set yourself a limit of what it is worth to you, and don't forget to include the postage. Do not get drawn into going over that limit for 'just one more bid'. Never expect what you get to be perfect! Know what the price of the kits you're bidding on is from other sources, retailers in particular. There are bargains out there, you just need to follow these, and your own, rules and be careful..and a little lucky too.

It is the bidders who set the prices. Even the 'chancers' setting stupid prices (£149 for a Monogram Landrover, the last of which went for £40 at auction for example) have to rely on silly bidders. Just don't get drawn. If you don't go over your limit and you don't expect what you buy to be as perfect as from a retailer then give it a go and enjoy. Just be lucky!

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  • 4 months later...

I've just read this thread and felt like putting in my take on the whole thing. I'm currently selling a lot of kits on E-Bay, I'm not a trader, just a bloke who makes models like pretty much everyone else here. I'm selling my kits partly, mostly, because I lost my job about a year ago and need the cash. The other reason is that I walked into my back room a few months ago and found I had no joy in the stupidly large piles of kits I had.

I've decided to go up to 1/32nd scale and build less models, as an example, I had 12 Hasegawa 1/48th scale F-18 kits with various Aires / Eduard upgrades and decal sheets that, realisticly, I'd never have made. I've now got just two Academy 1/32nd scale F-18s which I actually stand a chance of making.

Anyway, I'm not trying to defend some of the crazy prices you see on E-Bay but I always try to think about what I'd pay for whatever it is that I'm listing and give very detailed descriptions so that there can be no doubt about what you're bidding on.

I used to put things on for very low starting bids but got fed up with traders buying the kits/packages and seeing them appear, usually broken down, a few weeks later at massively increased prices. Now I put my stuff on for what I think it's worth and hope it finds good homes.

I try not to use "rare" unless it actually is as I'd started to notice it appearing on things that, as someone else said, could be bought at hobby stores fairly easily. Just in case anyone might want to have a look at my listings, my E-Bay user name is XXXXXXXXX I'd also be interested to hear what anyone might think about the prices I'm asking. Right, that's enough, I'm off to have a look at my PAC/Cammett Spitfire Mk.XVI TTFN, David.

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.............................................I've just read this thread and felt like putting in my take on the whole thing. I'm currently selling a lot of kits on E-Bay,................. Just in case anyone might want to have a look at my listings, my E-Bay user name is xxxxxx. I'd also be interested to hear what anyone might think about the prices I'm asking. Right, that's enough, I'm off to have a look at my PAC/Cammett Spitfire Mk.XVI TTFN, David.

Well played Sir! Nice bit of product placement. :thumbsdown:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12293

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13476

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Thats why I am becoming very friendly with the Wanted and For sale sections of this board, since the start of the year I must ahve bought in just under £100 worth of modelling materials, £60-£65 on here, £10-£15 on Heritage for B-17 and Lincoln tails and the rest on Hannats, Wonderland for me is a joke to buy on-line.... I frequently travel to Edinburgh and just drop in when I am there! I have to add I support my LMS when ever I have time to go into the city....

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I was selling some patches I picked up at the Kenndey Space centre on ebay.

A guy sent me a message complaining that the auction price had gone above what you could buy them on line for from the Space centre!

Doh How did he expecty me to control what people would bid for them!

Eventually went for over 3 times the price you could buy them online for, I was not complaining but it does show how things happen on ebay!

Julien

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Recently bid on some decals and put in a maximum bid that would have saved a couple of quid.

Up until the last day it was looking like it would be a really good deal.

Someone (hopefully not a BM member) put in a bid which, with postage, ended up paying a bit less than they would buying from Hannants.

The next bid would have gone upto that so I declined.

There are loads in stock at Hannants.

He didn't get a bargain any more than me. What is it about ebay? Is it a competitive thing?

or just lack of research? or just greedy sellers like Julien! fancy charging that much :bleh:

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O.K, I'm sorry, I didn't know that I was breaking any rules, just thought I was adding my own .2pence worth to the thread. Certainly wasn't doing any pre-planned "product placement" and my apologies if my post came across that way. To be honest, I would much rather have posted my for sale items here but I don't have 30+ posts yet and I'm not going to post just to make up the numbers as that's just plain dishonest. Hopefully we can consider my lesson learned and now, suitably chastised, I'm off for a troll around the forum before allowing myself some model-making time.

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i looked on e-bay for a 72 scale hawker p1127 found one at £99, couldnt belive it, ended up with one from fellow bm person. its also done to manufactures for oop kits, they only need to watch the other sites to see whats selling, they could release stuff again and they would sell as there is obviously a market for the kit or prices wouldnt be so high

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I used to be quite keen on Ebay, now I honestly can't remember the last time I bought something there. It was probably years ago.

However I have had some excellent deals from some great and very honest blokes here on BM! :thumbsup:

Edited by Murdo
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I think Ebay is tending to lean more towards the strange breed of kit "Collectors" who don't actually build kits, as far as I am concerned if kits were designed to be stored away or collected then there wouldn't be so many parts! This is also why IMHO kit prices are forced up, for example the Airfix SR.53. How many of these kits have actually been built in the past 15-20 years? I imagine the ratio of kits built to kits "Collected" favours the collectors, but unfortunately this has the adverse effect of forcing the prices up and in some cases making many feel that certain kits can't be built as they are worth so much more in pristine un-built condition. A prime example is this Frog 1/24th Bristol Bloodhound, looking at the price it went for what are the chances that this will ever be built? And if it were to be built how would that effect the value?

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I think Ebay is tending to lean more towards the strange breed of kit "Collectors" who don't actually build kits

However I am surprised by the price that even unboxed kits go for sometimes - I could pick up the boxed one in the LHS for less on occasions.

Pat

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There are some strange eBay phenomena.

1. Two identical kits with different starting prices. One at £5 and one at £15. The £5 gets bid on and the bids rise to over £30 but there are still no bids on the £15 one and it doesn't sell.

2. You watch an item considering whether to bid but decide not to and it goes with only 1 bid at the starting price of £0.99p. If you had decided to bid everyone else would too and the price would have risen to over £90.

3. You decide to sell a "rare" kit and check eBay to get an idea of value. An identical kit has recently sold for £50+. Bearing in mind Phenomenum 1 you put it on with a low start price. You get 1 bid and have to sell it for £5.

4. Ditto but you "protect" the kit with a starting price of £20. There are no bids and it doesn't sell.

5. Determined to get a long sought after kit you refuse to enter a bidding war and place fixed bids on six examples. You end up spending six times your fixed bid amount for six kits.

The only thing I can put this down to is pure chance.

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The only thing certain on eBay is that nothing's certain. It just goes to prove that the Great British public are a curious breed prone to bidding wars & poor research. That's their look out, I'm afraid, and nothing for those of us that either want a bargain or pay a reasonable price to get upset about. :shrug:

The old addage of "A fool and his money are soon parted" holds true to this day... and explains why I've not got any money :doh:

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For me, as I may have said before, eBay remains a choice. No one is forced to buy. I was amazed to see a newly released Super Etendard going for around £50. A few days later, another went for around £20. Bottom line for me is that where fools lead, others follow, but no one should expect, on eBay, to be able to dictate the price they pay for something; that's up to the sellers and whoever's competing with you.

I 'watch' some items and think, "ok, that's got potential, but it's slightly over-priced"; I don't bid on these and don't feel that if I don't, I'll miss out. Sometimes, they'll go for the asking, and other times, they'll not sell and get relisted. But, I don't lose sleep over them. A lot of eBay commerce is about timing. As soon as I heard that Kinetic were bringing out the Mirage 2000, I put up my Airfix 2000B on eBay. I got slightly more than I thought I'd get for it, but knew that I'd get less, more than likely, once people had seen Kinetic's. Did I feel I was taking advantage? No. Did I rip someone off or force them to buy? No!! Did I help meet someone's needs? Yes, definitely!!

The other aspect of timing is the auction end time. If it's at a time that a keen buyer can monitor, they'll ride their luck and aim to put in the latest bit they can (that can be fun to watch from the sides). But, if people know they will be busy at end time, and they 'must have' an item, then they'll put in the highest bid in advance that they can, what I call, a "Mad Bid." I think matey did that with the Super Etendard, and whilst I bet he regrets it now, at the time, he wanted that kit, then, and didn't want to wait. His call, no one forced him, and given that the starting price was £0.99, can't fault the seller or eBay, IMHO.

Finally, I do feel that there are bargains to be had, whether patient or not. The Hasegawa Sea King SH-3H 1/48 has an RRP of £42.99, and the Flightpath HAR.3 conversion £25.90, so that's around £70+ with P&P. With apologies to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, no one is going to tell me that getting these, plus Whirlybird decals, for £37 all is isn't "a deal, a steal, and sale of the $££&**@@ century!!". For that alone, eBay, I thank you.

That is all.

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2. You watch an item considering whether to bid but decide not to and it goes with only 1 bid at the starting price of £0.99p. If you had decided to bid everyone else would too and the price would have risen to over £90.

Nick - all your points prove that Murphy's Law exists in all its glory on E-bay!! I have long wondered why only kits I bid on went for more money but I guess by definition those kits would have one extra bidder (ie you) than every other and therefore the price would rise to reflect the demand, so there is some logic in what happens. For that reason I always snipe to hide the extra "demand" until the last possible moment.

Also found pretty much every kit will come round again if you wait long enough. The Revell RN Sea Kings were going for £25+ a while ago. Then everyone who wanted one seemed to have got one and the prices came down too.

Pat

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To be honest, I've only just started using eBay for model kits, and I am surprised at the prices. I've been buying and selling (mostly CDs) for many years, and I've saved a king's ransom, and found some excellent stuff.

The trick is... set your price and stick to it. You know the value of an item, be it a model, a CD, a car, or whatever else. You know what's in your wallet as well.

I just bought a model on eBay for £13. £6.50 for the kit, and £6.50 for the p&p*. £12 was my own valuation, but another quid to end the search for it was OK by me. The same model goes for £25 upwards from time to time, which I wouldn't pay if it were the last example anywhere on Earth. Like I say, I use my own valuations, not anybody else's.

I've noticed some phenomena become patterns after a while:

1. People hate sky-high p&p. Things with low p&p get more bids, even if the total cost outweighs the same item with more expensive p&p.

2. People get into bidding wars, and become blinkered.

3. People hate high starting prices. I sold a vinyl record last month that I started for 99p, and was bid up to £90. Another seller had the same record, and started his bidding at £80. No bids. No only did I win, but my listing fee was zero, and his was £££.

4. In the case of many items, hype and internet chatter can obscure the supply-and-demand rule. I wanted a particular CD single for ages - it was limited to a run of only 500 when it was released. They turned up on eBay with 'buy-it-now', or auction starting prices around £100. Usually, somebody bought them, sometimes not. On the one occasion that someone listed a copy, adn opened the bidding at £5..... I was the only person who bid. Turns out that very few people really wanted one, so the rule of supply and demand had been affected purely by a number of chancers asking sky-high prices.

When I'm buying, I take advantage of the first point. Even if the p&p is inflated, it could work in the buyer's favour my depressing the final value.

The most important rule is... if everyone's on the make, and charging too much, then walk away. Don't be anyone's fool. Keep searching, and patience is rewarded.

* As it happens, the American bloke wrote to me and admitted he over-estimated the p&p, so I got £2.50 back. Top man.

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