boy!!! ebay is gone silent!!!

im very shocked at the slowness of the z scale on ebay!!! i ve been selling on there for 3 years now,, this is the first i ve ever seen, where there were only 200+ marklin items for sale. and 1/5th of those are even getting a bid!!! its nuts!!! im afraid to put anything on,, especially just for bidding on. i ve lost 15 cars in 2 weeks,, gave them away! im glad they weren t my best cars, just cars i wanted to chance, see if anyone was out there,,AND THERE WASN T!! woow,, i just hope it picks up in the fall,, im only sitting on 22 4 by 4 boxes of cars!!!! canada mike

Mike, Two things. First, the economy is bad around the world not just here. Model trains can't be at the top of most people's lists when it comes to feeding the family. It will all turn around never fear. Second, ebay itself is a shadow of its former self. It has, by choice, changed from an auction oriented site to what we have now, an online shopping network. Ebay has said this change would take some time an I would say that we are halfway through the change over. Like it or not we don't have a say in how this company does business. Many ebay sellers have given up on the site. It is now overrun by "webehonest" and a host of other storefronts trying to sell product. This is not bad for these folks and maybe not bad for us. However, the good old days of waiting for the last 3 seconds to place a bid are disappearing much to quickly. I use to get all nervous waiting to pounce on the good deal at the last second. It was fun. Now it is different. Small time modelers seem to have lost interest. Maybe you guys are still there, but with all the 1/200 people and the unrealistic too green trees for sale you can't find the small timers and folks are tired of wading through the list to find you. I'm hoping you will all stick it out until everything on ebay becomes "Buy it Now". Then we can all leave together. Cheers, Jim CCRR:(

Jim,

Along with your points about eBay, also... they keep raising their fees. Now that eBay owns PayPal... sellers get hit twice on the fees. That, and the new rules that are starting next week. I know a few sellers that closed at the end of May, because they refuse to agree to the new rules. I'm almost to that point, too. Also, eBay refuses to help the small-time seller with any problems. I've been fighting with eBay about a non-paying bidder who left me negative feedback. The same non-paying bidder has done the same thing against a half-dozen good and honest sellers... but, still... eBay is refusing to help. You would not believe some of the messages I have received from eBay. Absolutely no help. eBay and PayPal may be making money, but the Buy It Now and on-line stores are not going to stick around forever, if they keep raising the fees and more folks keep leaving.

Alex

Hey guys,
All you say is true, my e-bay sales have all but dried up. I too am frustrated by the increased fees and low bids, product ideas Ive been wanting to release are on hold and it seems that all things model railroad have succumbed to the "economic downturn". Being the person I am, I can't help but have it affect my mood towards the hobby, I wish I could snap out of it.

Tim

Alex and Tim, Tough to hear such gloomy news from two more ebay sellers. Z scale is such a tiny nitch that it will never get ebay's attention. Now if we were inside of 'Cameras' or something then things would be better. I'm probably too old to ever see it, but I think that another company should rise that is an Auction Only company. No, Buy it Nows or even reserve prices. If I was 35 and had a brain I would figure out how to do it! Cheers, Jim CCRR:(

I'd noticed the slowing down too, and also that a lot of old Marklin stock (eg 8561 turnouts) seems to be coming onto the market. The silver lining for me is that it's a good time to buy selected items with the AUD rising against the USD and the EUR.

I don't really understand why 'buy it now' is bad. There is a fixed price and anyone who is willing to pay could do it without loosing a bid. Of course, there is no chance to get outrageous prices for an item because without a bidding race nobody would pay it. It's also true, that you can't get something for 1 dollar because the fixed prices are always higher, but the good side is that you can go and buy something, pay for it and get it delivered without any wait or the chance of someone bidding higher. If I could walk into my local model train shop and buy what I want, I wouldn't use ebay or any other auction site. The problem is that today almost no manufacturer has any stock, not even maerklin. In the past there were manufacturers, where you could buy every model they ever made either assembled or as a bag of spare parts. For a short time, marklin z was like this. Imho the slowdown is caused by the summer. Even my local used model market is closed for the summer and the local used train shop is closed too until september. The three normal shops are open (one carries mostly maerklin and hand made H0/0/1 items, one carries noch, woodland scenics and other accessories and the third one is the local conrad shop with a little bit from everything) Of course good deals are usually made at the weekly used train market. I think everything will come back again in september.

kvp wrote:

I don't really understand why 'buy it now' is bad...

It's not that "Buy it now" is necessarily bad, it's just that it defeats the whole point of eBay--that is, back when eBay was conceived. "Buy it now" just turns it into any old online storefront.

The face of eBay is changing with the need for a public company to turn a profit for its investors. Unfortunately, what eBay has found is that its original concept doesn't make investors rich.

Hopefully a new enterprise will come along and pick up where eBay has left off, but that's wishful thinking, I fear. There are plenty of competitors out there, but name one that has even a snowball's chance of becoming another eBay...

David K. Smith wrote:

It's not that "Buy it now" is necessarily bad, it's just that it defeats the whole point of eBay--that is, back when eBay was conceived. "Buy it now" just turns it into any old online storefront.

The face of eBay is changing with the need for a public company to turn a profit for its investors. Unfortunately, what eBay has found is that its original concept doesn't make investors rich.

Hopefully a new enterprise will come along and pick up where eBay has left off, but that's wishful thinking, I fear. There are plenty of competitors out there, but name one that has even a snowball's chance of becoming another eBay...

Once again, Mr. Smith, you wrote it better than I can, but that is what I was trying to get across.

There are rumors that Google is thinking of starting an on-line auction site. Unfortunately, I am NOT a Google fan. I have serious concerns about their use of intrusive add-ons and software that hides on your computer, even if you delete it.

There is another on-line auction site that is trying to make in-roads... Wigix. Nothing in Z.

Alex

Tokyo, Japan

i keep hearing about this big downturn,, i guess since i live in a province thats completely deat free,,we dont see what your seeing out there. in canada, we have a great economy right now,, except for cars,, its about time they learned that the oil companys wont bail them out forever,, time for new technology!! but back to trains,, i just wish that more canadians would embrace this scale! but its really hard to embrace a scale thats almost impossible to get anything in canada for,, thats why i started selling!! i wanted to see more canuks give this scale a try,, the last train show i sat there by the ONLY z scale layout, to people s aww s n what scale is this! questions,, trying not to scream, or cry.

the BUY IT NOW theme is ok, if your looking for something in particular, or shopping for that one thing, but i do prefer to bid on the other stuff,, if it goes over my expectations, i guess i didn t need it that much, and try again. as a seller, im not out there trying to become the next million dollar seller, i just wanted to give people a chance in canada to be able to bid and hopefully win that one thing that hasn t been seen too often. i usually buy from europe, finding the odd, wierd, and sometime very cool set,, and get it brought over to north america for others to purchase. if you ve bought from me, you know i ve always got something strange on.

but if it does come to the BUY IT NOW only,, i wont be selling much longer. and with ebay ever increasing fees, and some very block headed new changes, this fall will be my last sale. i ve tried and i think failed in my attempt to bring canadians this scale i feel,,it s time to just enjoy the scale myself. canada mike

Yes! I agree with what you guys are saying!!! For me, when I put a diorama on ebay, one that took many hours to build, and it goes for the opening bid I feel cheated of all the time and effort that went into that dio. You put a low opening bid on something to keep your listing fees down and then get scalped because only one person bids then wins and we are the ones who lost. Giving the dio a Buy it Now price you not only pay the higher listing fees but also the high final value fees, not to mention PayPal fees and even then that's IF someone even buys it. If it doesn't sell you're out the money you paid ebay to list it! Its like taxes; income tax, gasoline tax, sales tax, car licensing fees, etc. in our every day life. The Big Guys just want to suck our blood all the time. I haven't listed much on ebay at all lately for all the reasons you all mentioned. Why GIVE it away to ebay even if you don't need your items anymore. Better to hang on to your surplus Z stuff than to practically hand it over to someone for nothing and making ebay richer in the process. I have some very usable/desirable stock that is going to sit at home waiting for a better way and/or time to sell it to Z scalers than through ebay. Yep, I'm as frustrated as you guys!
Thanks, I feel better now
Karin

Karin, I don't know how the other sites work, but ZCS does have a free to you Classified section. Click on My Z Central and list there. We get 600 hits here a day and the occasional reminder of you classifieds on the Forums would be okay by me. Rob always posts new product listing, but doesn't use the classifieds either. Maybe you guys don't know about them. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Socalz44 wrote:

Karin, I don't know how the other sites work, but ZCS does have a free to you Classified section. Click on My Z Central and list there. We get 600 hits here a day and the occasional reminder of you classifieds on the Forums would be okay by me. Rob always posts new product listing, but doesn't use the classifieds either. Maybe you guys don't know about them. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

The problem with Classifieds is that you've got the (sometimes awkward) issue of negotiating price. Then there's the logistics of handling a transaction. For all of eBay's faults and fees, they do provide a painless system for managing sales. I have over 80 auctions running there right now, and I could not imagine handling them all 1:1.

I have been a buyer on E Bay for several years and have made repeat purchases from the same sellers several times. I have found that sometimes they will sell off line to save the fees and I don't mind helping them have some extra profit. I model Swiss and there isn't that much out there that I don't already have. Since Loren and Karen offer some fine items, it is just easier to contact them direct to see what they are working on and ask how much they would like to sell it. Maybe, several of you guys that are tired of E Bay can just list what you have here and see if there is any response.

Just my 2 cents.


Robert

Thanks Jim, but if sellers don't realize there are classifieds how many potential buyers will ever notice them. I'll just mention here that if anyone wants a kit ready made to contact Loren or myself and we'll give you a quote. Thanks.

loadmaster wrote:
Since Loren and Karen offer some fine items, it is just easier to contact them direct to see what they are working on and ask how much they would like to sell it. Maybe, several of you guys that are tired of E Bay can just list what you have here and see if there is any response.
Just my 2 cents.

Robert[/quote]

Robert,
That is exactly what I am going to do when I get the time to list what I still have in back stock. I want to trade stock for money.........
Loren

I'm with Karin on the disappointment of spending hours on a project only to have it sell for the opening bid price. I can't afford to spend roughly 10% of each sale in fees to eBay and Paypal. My solution has been to build my own website.

As Karin points out, the negotiation of price can be a bit awkward with out a site like eBay; however, I'm willing to give it a go. If you see something that you like on my site, make me an offer. Worst that I'll do is say "no."

I might use eBay now and again as an advertisement, but most of my stuff will not show up there in the future.

Cheers,

Michael
aka Paw of a Bear
www.pawofabear.com

Michael,
I agree with your comments. Artists are starving by the thousand, not just painters and musicians, but anyone who creates 'art' of any sort.

Ebay has messed up by having to charge more for their services whatever the reason they give. I think Ebay will suffer in the long run and perhaps become a dinosaur.

Those out there, (you, Karin, and many others) deserve good money for your efforts.

Laymen have no idea what so ever of the talent, time, and creativity needed to produce these fine treasures.

I say it is time for folks to start paying the piper for the 'good stuff'

There are many out there with big bucks who once they discover they like a certain line of product can and will pay top dollar for the unique items.

It is a matter of putting the artist and the potential buyer together.

It's also a matter of supply and demand to some extent. If you have 10 items and only one person wants one, it isn't worth beans. On the other hand, if you have one item and 10 people want the same item, then the artist can go home smiling.

I once heard a saying that I can recite easily and I believe it is very true.......

"People will be happy to give you their money if you provide a product or service that they want or need."

Finding the right product is the challenge.

I still can't believe that many folks just "had to have" a pet rock........

Loren

I just had another thought on the subject of unique items.

Take for instance David Smith's very unique T scale flasher warning. That is a work of art in my opinion. It is hard to fathom the whole concept of what he did. The end result is beautiful and I'll bet any T scaler would love to have a bunch of those.

That took much careful design and fabrication and currently it is the only one in the world and likely to stay that way.

True, David could decide to make a couple of dozen for the upcoming T modelers, but I seriously doubt he'd have the patience to make them, unless buyers were willing to pay big bucks for them.

The smaller something becomes......the more valuable it is it seems.

Artists deserve the bucks, the recognition, and the respect of those who receive the artist's works.......yup!
Loren

At a recent train show a couple of gentlemen were allowing as how they could get a locomotive for what I was asking for one of my dioramas. True enough! On the other hand, the locomotive is mass-produced out of plastic in China. The dioramas are one of a kind and hand made in the USA.

Loren, in addition to supply and demand, there is also how much one needs to sell as a component of price. You are absolutely right that it is just a question of coupling the buyers with the sellers.

Quite honestly, I wish that I could turn out dioramas faster but maintain the level of detail. Time.

Cheers,

Michael