Ebay sellers...

[Robin Colbourne]

Posted by Keith Sharples on 15/05/2020 13:08:45:

Why do so many if you on this forum knock ebay sellers. Yes there is some rubbish out there but why knock people for trying to sell it. You make it sound like they are idiots and after all it's the buyer that decides to buy it or not. Also take into account that some of them may well of left the hobby ages ago and not be away of how things and prices have changed. What is rubbish to some is gold to others.

Keith, don't take this thread too seriously! Most of us wouldn't be looking at eBay if we weren't potential buyers. I, and I'm sure most other contributors, accept that for a multitude of reasons modelling items are often advertised by people with little knowledge of what they are selling. I would much rather have the opportunity to buy a tatty looking model, engine or accessory which has some signicance to me, than have it go to landfill.

It isn't difficult to research on eBay's 'completed items' what a product is worth, assuming the seller can identify it. So when extremely tatty, very incomplete or even perfectly good items get advertised with outrageously high prices, it is bound to raise a chuckle which the finder wants to share.

The professional 'antiques' trade are probably the worst offenders, not only with the ridiculously high 'Buy it Now's, but also their glowing and flowery descriptions with no bearing on reality.
 

Edited By Robin Colbourne on 15/05/2020 13:35:02

Edited By Robin Colbourne on 15/05/2020 13:40:27

[Tomtom39]

Keith, my comments too are very much tongue in cheek. I seem to recollect a chap trying to sell an DB Auster for £900 in my village. I happened to know the chap , who wasn't a modeller , however he had bought it from one of our many antique shops that were open at the time for several hundred's and was told that he was getting a bargain as it was worth at least a grand! Subsequent divorce (I don't think it was anything to do with him buying this) led him to try and sell it on Ebay. He doesn't half still get his leg pulled . The model still flies (I paid £100 for the airframe, because I felt sorry for him )

[Erfolg]

It may come across that we are having a go at Keith and that we are bullying him. I know that is not what we are about, certainly in this instance.

After all of that, there has grown up a disconnect between what items in good condition are worth, with an emphasis to the general modeling community. Compounding the issue of worth, quite a few items for sale that appear, that are model related are in extremely poor condition.

Unfortunately, the traders, do not seem to be that astute, in seeing in general the expensive rubbish, does not find a buyer. It is a little akin to the South Sea Bubble or the Dutch Tulip Mania, where many came to believe that what they had was the equivalent of gold. Then there are those who are selling unwanted items of perhaps family members, who are aware when bought new, these artifacts cost relatively a lot of money, having no idea that in the intervening years, that modeling stuff has become relatively much cheaper.

Yet, even a blind person can guess, that items fit for the bin, should be taken straight there.

[Paul Marsh]

A person on ebay is selling and has been trying to sell this Hurricane for months, total wreck, and wants £120 for it. He hasn't dropped the price, just keeps relisting it. Hasn't got the message that's it's junk.

ebay

[Stephen Smith 14]

Posted by Paul Marsh on 15/05/2020 10:39:06:

A dreamer here, thinks he can £100 plus £10 post for a Futaba Challenger TX, said it was worth several hundreds of pounds new...

.ebay.

Dream on with the Cloud Cookoo Land...

Edited By Paul Marsh on 15/05/2020 10:40:23

Same seller has trex feathering shaft for sale in original packaging comes with 2 in packet for only £20 same packet with 2 in from midland heli £5.25. Midland obviously need to look at there pricing or sell them secondhand on ebay

[Peter Miller]

Possibly these types suffer from the delusion that they are budding Drew Prichards.

[Wilco Wingco]

Not too bad, soon fix the tail problem Ebay. Hope the link works???

[Jeffrey Cottrell 2]

Hi Guys

I think we're all old enough and ugly enough (certainly in my case) to separate the wheat from the chaff on e-bay.

However this one did tickle my funny bone.

Even better, scroll down a few places and here you can buy two bottles even cheaper.

Bargain in my book

Enjoy

Jeff

[Daithi O Buitigh]

That's normal practice on ebay Jeffrey (when they are out of stock). It's cheaper to put a really crazy price than withdrawing and replacing the posting. If you look at the bottom, there are a bunch all round that price and marked 'one in stock'

[wingcoax]

It does say it´s from YORKSHIRE.

[Shaun Walsh]

Another optimist! **LINK**

[Richard Clark 2]

Posted by Shaun Walsh on 22/05/2020 10:13:36:

Another optimist! **LINK**

That price is totally nuts!

But you don't see many of them about, mainly because of the fragile ABS fuselage. I've got the near-identical Carrera (well-known for its bicycles and 'sports equipment' in general) Draco, which I bought when new in the 1970s and which I still fly. It has a woven glass/epoxy fuselage which is much more rugged. I think it cost about 60 quid at the time.

[Paul Marsh]

Might offer £5 at a Swap meet, but you would have to bend my arm, though..

He's a house clearance person, makes sense, they live in another world, not in this one, even this galaxy. They seem to think old is expensive but opposite is true, unless it is a Louis XVI or Picasso...

Edited By Paul Marsh on 22/05/2020 11:59:18

[Rod Parsons 1]

Hello

Im finding this thread brilliant entertainment.

I wonder how long some of this stuff stays on sale for? I wonder if they actually con anyone into buying it.

It makes me kind of sad, as many years ago when my Dad first started with RC, he was ruthlessly ripped off with second hand radios and engines ( all of which were faulty). We did persevere and get better kit. Even when an established modeller, I could not get some of our early engine purchases to run.

Keep um coming

Rod

[Robin Colbourne]

Posted by Rod Parsons 1 on 22/05/2020 11:57:53:

Hello

Im finding this thread brilliant entertainment.

I wonder how long some of this stuff stays on sale for? I wonder if they actually con anyone into buying it.

It makes me kind of sad, as many years ago when my Dad first started with RC, he was ruthlessly ripped off with second hand radios and engines ( all of which were faulty). We did persevere and get better kit. Even when an established modeller, I could not get some of our early engine purchases to run.

 

Keep um coming

Rod

 

 

Hello Rod,
That's why we are in a much better position these days for finding secondhand equipment. I remember scouring our local newspaper classifieds every week looking for model aircraft engines. I did find a Frog 3.49 diesel once and cycling a 10 mile or so round trip to get it though.

These days with Ebay, Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace, Schpock, BMFA classifieds and this site's own classifieds, we are really spoilt for choice. Even rarities come up relatively frequently, provided you are willing to scour all the vague 'model plane' and rc aircraft' ads to see what they actually have.

Modern radio gear is generally reliable, whereas the early 1970s equipment did need maintenance fairly often. Vibration and crashes took their toll on pre surface-mount components, not to mention the dodgy, castor drenched switches and servos with dirty potentiometers. My first 27MHz Fleet set would blow something inside if you operated it for too long with the aerial down and my model would also usually fall out of the sky if it flew past another 27MHz transmitter.

Secondhand equipment is fine for experienced buyers who know what they are looking at, what the likely cost of spares is and how to fix things; beginners are generally much better off buying new.
Robin

Edited By Robin Colbourne on 22/05/2020 12:36:06

[FlyinBrian]

"My first 27MHz Fleet set would blow something inside if you operated it for too long with the aerial down and my model would also usually fall out of the sky if it flew past another 27MHz transmitter."

Ah yes "Flitter Flutter Fleet" Having said that they did become reliable and we had many in my club at the time.

[Robin Colbourne]

Posted by FlyinBrian on 22/05/2020 18:38:18:

"My first 27MHz Fleet set would blow something inside if you operated it for too long with the aerial down and my model would also usually fall out of the sky if it flew past another 27MHz transmitter."

Ah yes "Flitter Flutter Fleet" Having said that they did become reliable and we had many in my club at the time.

Yes, FlyinBrian, this was a 2+1 Fleet set made in about about 1972 with four wire servos and a centre-tapped three wire DEAC (Nicad), It had a two axis stick, and a thing like a trim lever for the third channel. I bought it from the Fleet Control Systems shop, secondhand, in about 1977. My Futaba FP-T5LK that I bought new, four years later, was like a breath of fresh air, but three times dearer!

The later Fleet Custom 1 and Custom 2 sets, were, to the best of my knowledge, perfectly ok.

[Peter Miller]

I uased Fleet in their 35Mhzdays and never had a problem

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Richard Clark 2]

Posted by Peter Miller on 22/05/2020 21:06:44:

I uased Fleet in their 35Mhzdays and never had a problem

Yes. Derek Olley, who was the designer/founder/owner of Fleet (named after the Hampshire town he lived in and where had a retail model shop) was a regular contributor of radio articles and circuits in Aeromodeller and the early years of RCM&E (which was a 'spin off' from Aeromodeller) right back to the single channel days.

The recently deceased Idris Francis was similar but later. He wrote a series of build articles with circuits for his 'Super Dual Proportional' and founded 'Flight Link Controls' who's first product was a two-channel proportional plus 'positional' throttle (press the up or down button until you got the engine speed you wanted) system based on his articles.

Both Fleet and FLC stuff worked ok, at least among the flyers I flew with. Idris was s regular. He was a useless flyer, even with modern equipment

[Paul Marsh]

Posted by Doc Marten on 26/05/2020 00:18:04:

£30 for a Rusty Irvine , "everything seems Good"......apart from the snapped muffler screw and half the carb missing.

No returns, Chancer.

Not even worth the £3.70 postage fee, as that is more than the engine is worth...

[Rod Parsons 1]

Hello

How do you save a eBay link, once you’ve found these gems?

I saw a pilot and canopy from a plane for £40 an eBay and thought you’d like to see it, but wasn’t sure how to save the link.

Fit only for the bin.

Rod

[Peter Miller]

Copy the URL at the top of the Ebay page.

When you go on this thread click on the symbol that looks like a motorcycle helmet and goggles in second row down on that row in  you new postinng box

Put your cursor in the space that appears on your posting and click Control+v

That will put the link in your posting.

Edited By Peter Miller on 26/05/2020 10:41:07

Edited By Peter Miller on 26/05/2020 10:42:50

[Gary Manuel]

Posted by Shaun Walsh on 22/05/2020 10:13:36:

Another optimist! **LINK**

Money laundering?

Edited By Gary Manuel on 26/05/2020 11:11:57

[Brian Neasham]

Worth the money?**LINK**