I just finished doing some eBay shopping, and will be walking away with about 8 kits. I’d list them for ya, but can’t remember what they all are, but all but two are Tamiya 1/35th kits. And, since I’m in a rush to get out the door for our Thanksgiving “vacation” to the in-laws, I’ll have to wait until Monday or so to give more details. But, coupled with the two I have in reserve right now, it’s the beginning of a nice new stash.
The kits are all armor, with most WWII era and one M1A1 (or is it an A2?). Also, the price I paid was WELL below retail on what I bought! I can’t wait to get the stuff and take some pics to show what I got! (One of the kits even has some AM stuff for it!)
Well, I’m gonna leave the net for a few days. Take care, Happy Holidays, and keep safe.
Heh, you’re on your way, lol… I got back into modeling after a ten year hiatus this past June. I had about 20 kits I’d been packin’ around for all those years, so I just went to the hobby shop and restocked tools and supplies… Figured I’d just build those kits and then buy abother one now and again… No big deal. Then I discovered Ebay… By the end of September, I had well over 120 more kits in the closet… All armor and aircraft, with a bunch of figures too… I went for the lots mostly, especially on the Monogram 1/48th planes. My favorite score was getting the Revell 1/28th WW1 birds, a Camel, SPAD XIII, and two Dr1s for 35 bucks…
The good part is that I financed it by selling off a bunch of my flight gear and extra WW2 uniforms, so I didn’t dip into the cash reserves (I couldn’t believe what some people would pay for a 20 year-old flight helmet-shell that didn’t even have the liner)…
There are some really good deals on Ebay… Just make sure that you set a hard limit and don’t get suckered in by the rush of bidding just to “win”… I did, on an M109 that went way above retail (Remember that one, Redleg?[;)])… Since then though, I’ve become an Ebay Sniper… Simply because I kept getting sniped m’self…[}:)]
I tried to bid on lots a few times and was immediatley thwarted. Is there some program that lets a person outbid you right away? I swear to God, as soon as I typed in my bid and hit submit BANG “You have been outbid” So I entered another bid, hit submit…BANG “You have been out bid”. I did it one more time before I saw the writing on the wall so to speak. This all happened within the span of like 3 minutes. So I basically said, “Screw this”. I may try again but I am in no hurry. /rant off
I think I’ll stick with my tried and true method of looking for the LHS going out of business (Predatory I know but, hey, someone is gonna snatch those kits up, may as well be me.) And going to shows and hitting the vendor booths.
Sorry to hijack your thread. Grats on getting your stash built back up.
Yes, there is… What happens is this. Once a person has the high bid, he can then bid the maximum amount he’s willing to pay, and when someone else bids, Ebay automatically records the new bid and raises the first guy’s bid automatically to a amount higher than what has just been bid, and will keep doing it until the maximum bid is passed, then the new high-bidder can do the same thing…
So you have to keep bidding (usually in 50-cent increments) until you have the high bid, or you decide you don’t want to pay any more and quit…
Know what an item has gone for in the past on ebay. If it is a currently available kit, know what the cheapest price is on the net. I usaully try to get thing ~20% below the cheapest price.
Be persistant. OK, I will come out of the closet…I have specific searches which I do every day and have done so for the past 3 years. Also if you don’t win the first time…it will be back and eventually you will win
Patince in the understanding of ebay. Bid ending on a Sat will go for a higher price than on a Wed. Particular periods, like this week are low bidding weeks. time to find a great buy.
Hey, Hans! Welcome back to modelling (can I say that?)
I went for three single item bids (I was the only bidder on 2 of them, and the other had either 1 other bid or just me…walked away with a STEAL!) and 5 kit “mini-lot” (my words). I dropped $71US for the 5 kit bid, but free shipping. WAY below what I would pay retail, and includes AM stuff for one of the kits (happens to be two of the same kit in the lot, but at least I’m getting my money’s worth!).
I may have paid more than the going eBay price, but feel I got a good deal over all. After all of it is paid for (including postage), I still come out ahead money-wise against paying retail. And my stash grows a bit.
I’m not overly worried about not having the mega-stash some people have mentioned, as this time around I plan to take my time and build these things right. Whether I build them as “factory fresh” or (eventually) weather them. My old way of doing these (20 years ago) was to try to build and paint them as fast as I could…usually meaning they came out sucking!
I’m going to try to buy a small number every month, maybe saving some cash for a couple months, then bidding. And, if my attempts at stash building are hit by a sniper, then I’ll just roll that months money into the next attempt! (And I stayed in my budget that I had set for this go 'round. I did add to the bid for the 5-kit lot when it looked like I was going to have to work for it, but I’d already won the others and paid much less than I had been prepared to pay. All in all, quite under-budget for the day!)
Oh, all the auctions I got in on were in the last 12 hours of their life, so I didn’t have to wait long to find out if I won. Yeah, I’m that way.
I love ebay. I got most of my kits for 1/2 cost with shipping. That’s led to an increasing stash. Good luck to you Michael, the addiction has begun and there’s no turning back now. LOL
