Can anyone explain this to me… Revell Huey 1/32 police version. One just ended at opening bid of $9.99, the other ends in 2-1/2 days and is already at $29.00. The only difference is that the first one appears to not be factory sealed in cellophane and the second is sealed… this kit isn’t really collectible, is it? Otherwise I just don’t get it.
It seems like the 1/32 Revell Huey, Revell Jet Ranger, and the Monogram Blue Thunder have the same weird pattern… one week one of these kits will go for $30 to $60 while the next week the same kit will go for $9 to $12. I understand people get caught up in bidding wars and there’s a fluctuation in the value and desire to own certain kits but this is rediculous!
Probably marks the difference between a ‘sealed’ kit and one that “appears to be all there”. Otherwise don’t look for logic in eBay - it just ain’t there.
I know, I’ve noticed this sort of thing as well. It’s ridiculous. Prices don’t follow any sort of pattern. I’ve just bought a matchbow 1/72 ah-1g for £6.75 and a few days before bought the 1/32 ah-1g for £7.80 both inclusive of postage. So work that one out. It just depends on the day who’s bidding. I’ve learnt my lesson from getting involved in bidding wars and now I set myself a strict and I mean STRICT ceiling over which I wont go. Most things come up on Ebay, you just have to keep a watchful eye.
The mysteries of eBay. It has to do with who is bidding and how bad they want something, or how stupid they are when bidding. Two identical kits can be listed side by side and sell for totally different prices. How it is listed also makes a difference. Some will show up in one search, but not another, hence one goes unseen or seen by less. So to you they are both on the same page, to another they only see one.
This is true. Some kits do not appear to everyone because they are not available to them. For example, a kit who’s seller only wants to sell within the US will not appear to buyers in other countries.
The methods of payment accepted can also make a difference. I once bid on two items which were identical except that one was mint/boxed and the other not. The only other difference was that the unboxed one accepted Paypal and the mint/boxed did not. I won both, but I payed double for the non-mint/boxed one because of the higher interest and number of bids on it, due I am sure, to the fact Paypal was accepted.
If seller #1 can present his product in such a way as to cause buyers to pay HIS price, instead of the lesser price of seller #2’s identical product, I’d say more power to him! [;)] It’s what’s known as a Free Market. Afterwards, the Buyer may feel horrible once they discover they could have got the same thing for less money (sometimes a lot less), but that falls into the “I should have looked around more” catagory.
What’s the old adage… “Buyer Beware”?
I’ve done it myself, so I just build the kit well enough so it will be worth more than I paid for it. [;)]
Another factor in the seeming inconsistency with identical items going for what seems to be disproportionate prices is the experience level of the bidder.
Those who are unfamiliar or relatively new to eBay will pay much more than the people who have gone through the process for a while…Sooner or later it sinks in that what you think was extremely rare, will eventually show up again.
You will notice that the people with higher feedback numbers are more conservative in how much they are willing to bid for an item unless they really want it badly.