TOPIC:

I didn't know whether this needed a new topic or not but I thought I would give it a try in here and see what happens.

I am getting on in years and was looking for something to keep me occupied. I decided I would try to track down an old / wrecked vehicle and see if I could do it up - keep the mind ticking over. What I found was there are people who and I will just use one car as an example who utterly astound me.

You buy a new vehicle for $300 AUD, a good upper level machine. You then spend spend another $800 AUD in hop up parts buying every conceivable alloy part. build the vehicle and drive it once, maybe twice then clean it and put it on a shelf. Years later you decide to sell it and put it on ebay for 50%of the original purchase price without the add ons ($150 AUD) and some old guy buys it within 6 minutes of it being listed.

As it turned out this was not a one off. I have picked up several vehicles like this and just cannot understand why someone would do this. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining, I got an Astute and a Top Force with add ons for around $400 AUD from the one seller both absolutely mint.

Is it just that some people see them as merely a toy or luxury and can be seen as dispensable. I would appreciate your thoughts.

Cheers Vincenzo

If you don't want something any more then it has no value, or worse, a negative one if there's money tied up in it.

In that case, realising as much of the value as possible without an unreasonable delay or unwanted hassle becomes the priority.

RC cars at best only hold their value (+ inflation) when kept unbuilt, 50%-60% is all that can be expected on a built, used one. .. and TBH that applies for anything that's been used. Sometimes it's a lot worse: re-release Grasshoppers, Hornets & Frogs especially at the moment seem to be worth almost nothing. And vintage Foxes.


I have a low tolerance for delay or hassle, so anything I put on eBay is priced to hopefully sell quickly, my ideal would be to get just slightly more than someone would regard as a bargain, so they umm and ahh for a bit, but buy it anyway. Some cars I've failed to sell at that "ideal" price so have left it a bit then tried again after a few weeks or months, usually dropping the price. Some have sold within minutes, but in general 2 hours would be about average.

I've often wondered if I could have got more, but it wouldn't have been much more - and the longer a listing is up, the more likely it is to attract the attention of one or more types of idiot - for example bidders that want to buy now, but needs to sell a few things to pay for it so do I mind waiting for the money for a week or two? Thanks to a fixed price listing with immediate payment required they had to ask me that question, otherwise I'm sure they would have just gone ahead ... I know times are a bit tough, but there's a word for that - deadbeat.
Also the people that want to arrange their own courier, as long as you pack it up for them (because filling in an online form is the costly, time consuming part there ), also those who aren't winning unless they get something off the price, regardless of what it is & will hassle you for days to try to get 5% off.
Not to mention all the other sundry unreasonable demand making buyers who lose it when anyone says no to them (my advice - block anyone that you have to say "no" to on eBay).

To sum up, I'll take a bit of a hit on the price to avoid that.

Jonny - thanks for taking the time to answer, it is very much appreciated.

My Daughter will be visiting tomorrow, so will be able to take photos of all the acquisitions etc and finally ad them to my empty showcase thread.

Cheers Vincenzo

I moved these post to a separate topic, located in "Vintage Tamiya/Anything else..."

I think I'm with Jonny here: When I decide to sell, I price it to sell quickly, basically because time is money. I want to get rid of things fast. On the other hand, I do follow market prices, but usually sell somewhere below market price to get rid of stuff.

I also have some models that I could sell, but will not, if I find the market price too low.

-Lars