Clueless Ebay Seller. Maybe some deals to be had. But mostly sad


kjchronister

kjchronister

Member
So I happened across an auction on Ebay. The fellow mentioned he was liquidating an estate, so I took a look at all his auctions.

He's not got a clue. Has some good stuff. But, for example, no concept that tenders and locos go together. So he's selling a bunch of locos with no tender, while the matching tender is in another auction for a misc. lot of 20 'cars'

My favorite/saddest is he had a nice Rivarossi Hiawatha 4-4-2 "with coal car" ... and had a Peabody Coal hopper behind it. Meanwhile the tender was in another auction with some tyco cars...

The gang here is probably best equipped to get some deals if you want to work with it. Either buy a loco and get a tender elsewhere, or comb through his other auctions and bid on the one with the tender.

Point is, the listings are so poorly done bidding seems pretty light and prices are not bad. He has, for instance, a Rivarossi Big Boy. But he doesn't say Big Boy or 4-8-8-4 or much that would tend to bring bidders. Just "rivarossi engine"...

I actually wrote the guy and tried to educate him a bit.. "this 'coal car' in this auction goes with that locomotive, you'll get better money if you put them together"... He said 'thanks for the help' and didn't do anything about it. Sigh.

I hate to see decent equipment broken up that way. Maybe some folks here can get it put together properly and get a decent deal at the same time?

If you wanna take a look: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_saslop=1&_sasl=atrainj123&_sop=10
 
I hear ya! Anybody who lists items as "ZEPHYA PASSAGE CARS" obviously is a fish-out-of-water as far as model railroading!

Be that as it may, obviously these trains belonged to the guy's father or an uncle and he himself has absolutely no knowledge or interest in them. He may be listing them as a perfunctory exercise to satisfy other relatives, and whatever doesn't sell, he'll take it to the nearest landfill. If he is the estate executor, he most likely wants to get this done asap. Trying to get top dollar for "junk" is not at the top of his priority list.

Depressing for sure; but unfortunately, not everybody in this world shares our passion.
 
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I suspect you've hit the nail on the head, Ken...

It's still a shame. If not passion for trains, you'd at least think the fellow would be interested in getting best value for them. Oh well.
 
I see the tenders for a GS4, Santa Fe 4-8-4, a couple N&W probably a 2-8-8-2 and an H4, a J class, Milwalkee 4-4-2 or Pacific for the Hiawatha, etc. Probably all AHM or Bachmann stuff though. Can't see the connecting pins well enough to know.
 
Yeah. Hard to tell. And timing wise he's out of synch too. some of the tenders that matched locos are in auctions that already ended, and vice versa.
 
I slapped a bid down on one the "Rivaross" engines. I certainly won't go too high without a tender, but if I can snag a good deal, why not?
 
I took a look at his feedback. He has been a seller since 2000. Doesn't look like a train guy to me. Most of what I seen sold was plastic car model kits and a lot of fish hooks as well as assorted other items. There were a few train items, but they were a mix of everything from Lionel to Tyco. I only looked at the first 200 auctions, but only 1 auctions in the last year as well. Looks to me like he just picks up what he can at estate sales and resells on Ebay or he may possibly own a hobby shop or toy store. Most items are hobby related. I agree with Stoker, though. Definitely not taking advantage of him.
 
I would not want my trains to end up in this guys eBay store.

I feel bad for the former owner of the these trains, not that I guess he cares much about trains at this point, but I still feel bad for him.

I think that is the mostly sad part of this situation.

Stoker is correct in saying "If you see a deal on the bay, take it..." I can guarantee if you don't take the deal somebody else will and I would rather my trains end up with somebody on this forum. You would be doing the former owner a favor.
 
After looking at the link I believe what he may have intended was to entice people into buying the lots.

If you want the locomotive you will buy the lot.

Crazy like a fox?

Shot in the dark from over here.

Guessing a persons motivation is never an easy task.
 
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Bruette said:
After looking at the link I believe what he may have intended was to entice people into buying the lots.

If you want the locomotive you will buy the lot.

Crazy like a fox?

Shot in the dark from over here.

Guessing a persons motivation is never an easy task.
Click to expand...

When 2+2 doesn't make 4, a healthy dose of suspicion is a good thing, along with reading between the lines.
 
Stoker said:
Am I the only one who has noticed that the seller's name is "atrainj123" and has an Ebay rating of 3,624? This is obviously a pro who specializes in model railroad items. Bigtime. If you see a deal on the bay, take it and don't worry about "taking advantage" of somebody.

P.S: Last week I scored a couple of Descoware pans on the bay that regularly go for $50 each+ shipping for $26 for both shipped. I am frying away in these beauties and not losing any sleep.
Click to expand...
Yeah I wondered about the name, but he rarely/never seems to sell train stuff.
 
tootnkumin said:
When 2+2 doesn't make 4, a healthy dose of suspicion is a good thing, along with reading between the lines.
Click to expand...
If it's a strategy, it's backfiring on him based on what he's got on the already complete auctions of "incomplete" items. Plus you'd think he'd spell things right, at least.
 
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