eBay part seller now gone

[SfanGoch]

I'm not going to begrudge someone for parting out a kit, no matter how relatively rare it might be. What's the alternative, buy a complete kit for a large pile of dough to get the parts you need for the one you already have? If you're going to do that, you'll be back at Square 1 because you'll still end up with a kit missing those same parts. Be glad that there are model car chop shops on ebay so you won't be forced to go that route. Ain't no more Modelhaus and VCG Resins doesn't offer replacement parts anymore, either.

[Ron Hamilton]

18 hours ago, MrObsessive said:

I've bought from vintagemodecarparts, Sportfuryus, floyd426Rt (didn't know he was gone ), and I've gotten very good service out of all. However, PJtoys I had a BIG problem with as he came on this board and IMO was VERY curt and not so nice.

We have a right to voice (politely) a disagreement about someone's pricing or how they treat their customers. To come on a forum such as this and frankly belittle anyone that disagrees will not set well with most. IIRC, I made a comment about a part he was selling..........I believe it was either a radiator shroud, or something to that effect for Monogram's 1/8 scale Trans Am.

I was FLOORED for what he was asking price wise and I pointed it out here on the board. He came on here VERY defensive pretty much telling us that if we don't like it, we can just **** Off. Well, you just lost a potential customer (myself) as I did see some other things that looked interesting, but no way would I ever do a transaction with someone with that attitude.

I don't get the reason for pricing things so high and then not expect there to be backlash from someone. True no one has to buy it, but then when questioned why the nasty attitude?? If it's a way to weed out the chaff, well that's a very poor way of doing it.

So if he's gone, well that's how it goes!

Yeah I noticed that too. We daren't say his name as it can cause the board to literally EXPLODE!

Exactly.

[Ron Hamilton]

I was selling off some of my collection on Ebay, and I had a  Resin Chevy Express van kit for sale. It was a complete Scale Equipment Kit. I had some clown PM me that my price was exorbitant, and the van was worth no more than $25 including shipping, and I had to lower my beginning price to that figure. I politely told him where he can go, and let the bidding process work. The market will dictate what something is worth on Ebay. Fair pricing and good service will get you far.

 I never bought from PJ's Toys, even though a lot of the items he listed was needed one time or another for a project.

[Ron Hamilton]

17 hours ago, gtx6970 said:

I know him personally. I went looking for him a while back and saw he has not sold anything in some time. ( his name is Larry Rose ) Ive bought  A LOT of stuff off him over the course of SEVERAL  years

Hopefully all is good with him

So do I.

[Lunajammer]

Somewhere there is a mountain of highly desirable, collectible and flat out rare vintage kits ravaged of pieces, and will never be built or enjoyed by anyone again. You know, that holy grail kit you were outbid on. 

Edited August 2, 2018 by Lunajammer

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, Lunajammer said:

Somewhere there is a mountain of highly desirable, collectible and flat out rare vintage kits ravaged of pieces, and will never be built or enjoyed by anyone again. You know, that holy grail kit you were outbid on. 

Possibly, but those "ravaged" pieces are going towards completing another kit that would probably have never been built or enjoyed due to missing parts.

So you could say it's pretty much a wash.

The way that I see it, every one of those old rare vintage kits that were cut up and customized over the years are a total loss.

Much more so than a kit that has been parted out.

A great number of them will never be salvaged again.

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, Ron Hamilton said:

I was selling off some of my collection on Ebay, and I had a  Resin Chevy Express van kit for sale. It was a complete Scale Equipment Kit. I had some clown PM me that my price was exorbitant, and the van was worth no more than $25 including shipping, and I had to lower my beginning price to that figure. I politely told him where he can go, and let the bidding process work. The market will dictate what something is worth on Ebay. Fair pricing and good service will get you far.

 I never bought from PJ's Toys, even though a lot of the items he listed was needed one time or another for a project.

That is the nice thing about auction sites like ebay.

The item will sell for what someone will give for it.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of Bozo's out there that somehow believe that they have some sort of say on what your items are worth.

Something that might be worth $25.00 to you, might be worth $225.00 to the next guy.

Guess which one determines what that item was worth.

The guy who pays the most for it!

If you believe that it's only worth $25.00..........you lose!

 

Steve

[Ron Hamilton]

I know certain members here on the board have a distain for certain  Ebay sellers parting out kits for re-sale, but since The Modelhaus  has decided to wind down, a lot of my projects would be still-born without them. I look for parts on a daily basis.

[vamach1]

Hard to find parts are one thing but if I parted out all my run of the mills kits at $100 each (when whe you add up the cost of the individual parts) I would make a fortune. The reality is I would have to relist these overpriced parts over and over and over and over and clog up Ebay and once in a while a sucker would come along and buy an air cleaner or whatever.  I have no patience for that.  On this board it someone has a want and I have and extra part they need I (hold onto your PayPal pants) I send the part for free or trade for something of similar value.  That what this hobby is about.  I have bought a few obscure old kits on Ebay oly when I could not find them anywhere else but I will not overpay either.

[larman]

I understand why people get annoyed with the jacked up prices for parts, but it happens everywhere. Not just on Ebay,  I was just at a local flea market  a few weeks ago and  a guy had an out of box 1/18  low line diecast '57 Chevy that had seen better days, FAR from perfect. Fair value would have been around $20-25 for a nice one in the box, this one was probably worth $5-10 as it sat and that would be a HARD sell. What was the seller asking for it ....$330!  Because it was very rare.  FWIW, at the same market I got an old issue MPC  Maverick Iron Horse, started ,not painted for $5, a near mint  80's issue "Recharged" Johan '64 Dodge Super Stocker (molded in off white) for $30, a nice built up MPC 1970 Chevy pick up for $10 and a nice unbuilt  MPC "32 Chevy Roadster street rod kit, issued mid 70's. The one with the headers out over the fenders for $12. I thought all those prices were fair, I am guessing there were others there who didn't, but I am happy I got them. I also just bought a bunch of new parts on Ebay from a seller who starts his items with fair starting bids and let's them go where they will. He also sells some stuff with BIN's that are very reasonable, he combined shipping so what I got was very reasonable. Some stuff he had got bid up, so I let that go, other stuff went my way for decent prices. I bought the parts to repair/restore a bunch of common cars I have that otherwise would not have been worth putting money into, so it worked out nicely for me and I guess the seller did ok too. Bottom line is, there are good deals out there as much as there are bad ones, maybe more so if you keep looking. 

[vamach1]

Also gets me is the $6 decal sheet and $5 shipping.  Charge more for the sheet and $1 shipping and that would be easier to swallow.  I guess if someone needs to mark things up that much they probably need the money more than most.  The rationale of paying for the sellers time does not fly here - it's a envelope and a 50 cent stamp.

[slusher]

1 hour ago, Ron Hamilton said:

I know certain members here on the board have a distain for certain  Ebay sellers parting out kits for re-sale, but since The Modelhaus  has decided to wind down, a lot of my projects would be still-born without them. I look for parts on a daily basis.

I don't have anything rare but I do part shop often so I never had a problem with guys parting out kits...

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 hours ago, vamach1 said:

 On this board it someone has a want and I have and extra part they need I (hold onto your PayPal pants) I send the part for free or trade for something of similar value.  That what this hobby is about.

I do exactly the same thing.

I have given away just as many, or more, parts than I have traded for.

If I'm not going to use something eventually, I see no point in not "paying it forward" to someone who can use it.

 

2 hours ago, vamach1 said:

  I have bought a few obscure old kits on Ebay oly when I could not find them anywhere else but I will not overpay either.

I need someone to explain to me what "overpaying" is when it comes to vintage parts & kits.

It's not exactly like there is a "Vintage Model Car Parts Walmart" to use for price comparison.

 

Steve

[dshue76]

I believe he just has a new name. I'm sure that I'm not the only one that figured out how to filter his auctions out of search results and I learned how to do it from a post about him that was either on this board or scale autos board. If enough people have filtered him out it has to be hard on sales. Just the other day In perusing ebay  I got results that looked just like his auctions but a different name. I was focused on my search and didn't note the name, but the similarity was so striking that I did double check the name to see if it was him. I could care less that he parts out kits. My issue was with his auctions clogging results from other sellers. Most items he sells are sold by others for far less money. I'll just keep an eye out for his new name and filter accordingly.

Edited August 3, 2018 by dshue76

[Tom Geiger]

I had my say earlier in this conversation.  You guys are confusing  hobby and business.

First as a hobbyist,  if someone needs a part I have, I'm pleased to send it to them free of charge.  If I know you and that part is holding up a project, I'll even crack open a new kit to send it to you!

Then there's business.  Everyone wants there to be services to the hobby. But everyone has a problem paying for those services.  If someone starts a business, either full or part time, their goal is to make some money.  Our entire free enterprise system in America is based on finding a need, and filling it. And being able to profit from those efforts.

Back when eBay was fairly new, I started a business selling car brochures.  I found a niche market.  Most everything sold and with healthy bidding.  I built that business up to a $1000 a month profit.  It allowed for me to give my family a lot of things we wouldn't have had otherwise.  Was that money free?  Nope, I put in an average of 20 hours a week, so figure with 80 a month I earned $12.50 an hour.   Would you begrudge someone that wage?  Or should I have simply given it all away because "it was a hobby"?   

Eventually the eBay market got saturated and it wasn't worth the effort anymore.  Should I have continued to do it for a dollar an hour?  For free? Or at a loss out of some duty to a hobby?  Nope,  my time was better spent elsewhere at that point, so I moved on.

I hope someone here gets the point.

 

[dshue76]

24 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

 

 

I need someone to explain to me what "overpaying" is when it comes to vintage parts & kits.

It's not exactly like there is a "Vintage Model Car Parts Walmart" to use for price comparison.

 

Steve

 

Every buyer has a top price they're willing to pay, anything more would be overpaying. Just because a seller has the bumper I need and it's the only one listed on all of ebay it doesn't mean I'll pay any price. In the same way as sellers are free to set their price, buyers are free to spend as they see fit and they are also free to set their maximum bid.

[dshue76]

As an example, I absolutely love the Revell/Monogram 91 Ford F350 kit. I bought a bunch of started kits from ebay a couple of years before the last re-release and some were missing parts. I could have paid PJ's Hobbies over a hundred dollars for what I needed. I didn't. I filtered him out and found all but two items and paid $25, 1 set of glass, one set of door handles, 1 of 2 grills needed, 1 rear wheel(got all 4 wheels), 1 tail light set, and 1 complete bed. The other item I needed was a front bumper. Pj wanted $30 for the remaining grill and bumper. In MY opinion, $30 was too much, I chose not to overpay. That saved $30 eventually bought a complete kit when it was re-released. He set his price, I made my purchase decision. Retail 101. I don't begrudge his prices one bit.

[vamach1]

1 hour ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

I do exactly the same thing.

I have given away just as many, or more, parts than I have traded for.

If I'm not going to use something eventually, I see no point in not "paying it forward" to someone who can use it.

 

I need someone to explain to me what "overpaying" is when it comes to vintage parts & kits.

It's not exactly like there is a "Vintage Model Car Parts Walmart" to use for price comparison.

 

Steve

 I have seen listing for basically the same kit (1/12 Otaki) Mustang from anywhere from $150 to $500.  I think I paid $125 for the last one I bought a few years ago.  Patience is the key.  If you need that one of a kind part I guess your choices are limited.  I just do not get the parting out common and cheap kits (under $20) when it would make much more sense to just buy the whole kit.

[OldTrucker]

4 hours ago, vamach1 said:

  On this board it someone has a want and I have and extra part they need I (hold onto your PayPal pants) I send the part for free or trade for something of similar value.  That what this hobby is about.  I have bought a few obscure old kits on Ebay oly when I could not find them anywhere else but I will not overpay either.

I do the same thing. Seems it always comes full circle back to me in the end when I need a part!

Just had a a member here send me a whole kit and even refused to let me pay the freight!

That is a big part of what keeps me in this hobby!

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, dshue76 said:

Every buyer has a top price they're willing to pay, anything more would be overpaying.

Maybe I should have been a little less flippant, but my point is that there seems to be this inherent hostility towards sellers because some feel that they are trying gouge them.

But what is overpaying to a seller?

Obviously there is no such thing for him.

He is looking for top dollar, & there is no way that any of us can begrudge him that, regardless of whether he's selling model cars or real ones.

I understand that every one of us has their threshold for what they are willing to pay, but what the part or kit is worth to someone who is willing to go higher is going to be the worth in the end.

If a front bumper for a '66 Bonneville routinely goes for $20.00 & I feel that $10.00 is fair, I'm going to be going without a front bumper.

So, if I decide that my only avenue is to suck it up & pay the $20.00, am I overpaying, or am I paying fair market price?

 

Steve

 

Edited August 3, 2018 by StevenGuthmiller

[StevenGuthmiller]

7 minutes ago, OldTrucker said:

I do the same thing. Seems it always comes full circle back to me in the end when I need a part!

Just had a a member here send me a whole kit and even refused to let me pay the freight!

That is a big part of what keeps me in this hobby!

I have come out on the sweet end of some transactions on the forum as well!

They say what goes around, comes around, and that works for the better as well on occasion.

I have sent complete kits on a whim, and have received the same periodically.

 

Steve

[dshue76]

But to most hobbyists, if it regularly goes for $20 and the seller is asking $25 the buyer will likely pay. But if the seller wants $30 or $35 the buyer may not purchase. I think for the most part when people say they aren't going to overpay they have an idea of the going price of the item and base their value accordingly.

[Ben]

Looks like nobody is entitled to their opinion on this thread unless it’s kissin this guy’s hind end! Anything else and your ridiculed and laughed at. I hated the guy, his prices and having to wade through ten thousand of his auctions in my search results! I could care less what anybody thinks of that!

[dshue76]

29 minutes ago, vamach1 said:

 I have seen listing for basically the same kit (1/12 Otaki) Mustang from anywhere from $150 to $500.  I think I paid $125 for the last one I bought a few years ago.  Patience is the key.  If you need that one of a kind part I guess your choices are limited.  I just do not get the parting out common and cheap kits (under $20) when it would make much more sense to just buy the whole kit.

Sometimes those of us who like to kitbash don't like the donor kit we need a single part from. Other times we like the donor kit so much that the single part we want needs replaced to use in the donor kit, in that case, it's a perpetual issue. And that same issue applies to long out of production kits. Say your JoHan Heavenly Hearse is missing a crucial part, then buying a complete kit only to use that part isn't very feasible because you'll want to replace it's missing part to make it complete.

[Ace-Garageguy]

4 minutes ago, Ben said:

Looks like nobody is entitled to their opinion on this thread unless it’s kissin this guy’s hind end! Anything else and your ridiculed and laughed at. I hated the guy, his prices and having to wade through ten thousand of his auctions in my search results! I could care less what anybody thinks of that!