well here is another nutso Ebay auction
Buyer beware
Too rich for me. Nicely lit, though…
Could someone explain to a non-star trek fan what is wrong with this auction? Thanks (at least im trying to learn things) [:D]
umm it’s got nothing to do with startrek I don’t think… I think it’s ridiculous because of the amount of money this guy is asking. I don’t do sci-fi, but one thing I know is that LED’s and other lighting for a kit isn’t nearly that expensive, nor hard to do… heck I’ve done it with fibre optics for less than 3/4 the cost of what hes’ asking… yeah it’s a nice build, but c’mon, 1000 dollars for that? bah!
eh it is built and does look very nice
$ 1000 sounds like a bit to much to me.
But then again, I don’t know how many hours he has worked on it…
If you look at the hour rate, it might not be that much.
In one of the last episodes of Enterprise, they did “In a Mirror Darkly” which is basically a re-do of the TOS “mirror, mirror” in which they show an alternate version of the enterprise and crew we know and love. So spock had a beard and was all evil and lustful, yada yada.
This guy basically took the polar lights (?) NX-01 and either bought or made the decals and expects to get a, oh…seven million percent profit.
To be fair, how much is your labor worth per hour when you build a model? It’s not just the cost of the kit, supplies, paint and glue used.
Wow, this guy must have a minor case of mental retardation, either that or a VERY big ego for that asking price.
Very nice build. $1000.00 that’s my yearly modeling budget. Too expensive for my taste.
But he’s letting the buyer choose the name on the ship! That’s gotta be worth a grand! (Of course, the font is wrong.)
[banghead] Ahh I didn’t think about that.
I like star trek, but there is no way I would spend over $30 on Star Trek memorabilia (bought a star trek model once, and will problably never buy anything other than the movie DVDs ever again). Now if it was a scratchbuilt LOTR model of Grond, that would be a different story…
For a cool grand, at least he could make sure the nacelles and hull were all lined up properly.
Alright i don’t know this guy, but he did a fine job. Let’s break down the costs.
65.00 for the kit
50.00 for the light kit
45.00 the aztec template set (or many hours more labor)
25.00 for various power supply and electronics
25.00 for supplies and base
15.00 for decals
225.00 total
There’s not 1 minute of labor in that price.
Let’s say he charges 15.00 an hour for labor. That’s conservative. For the sake of simplicity, let’s say he does spend a even 40 hours on the kit. Also conservative. That is 600.00 in labor so our total is now 825.00. Now let’s add in ebay’s fee of say 5.00. Total now is 830.00
The BIN is 999 so for an extra 169.00 you can insure you are the winner of this very nicely done kit.
It only seems too expensive because we’re all modelers. It’s not though, when you stop to think about it. Just food for thought before any lynch mobs. : )
Sorry, I have to disagree with you on the above breakdown. I build models on consignment for customers all the time. The supplies list is inflated. Electronics bits and LEDs are not that expensive at all. I bet he didn’t pay more than $20 total for all the lights, electronics, etc. A plain wooden base will run you less than $5 if bought at a craft store, less if you make it yourself. If you figure in labor, you will price yourself right out of the market. Best you can hope for is to get back twice what you put into it and a little extra. Bottom line, this guy is nuts if he expects to get that much for it. However, I will also caveat the above with there are plenty of people out there who have plenty of money to throw away as well. Stuff on Ebay regularly goes for inflated prices. Usually not that much though. I predict his auction will end without a buyer.
Well said Gundamhead. If you take a look around the web for kit building services you can find prices from around $500 to well over $2000. If someone thinks of the work as a profession rather than a hobby things start to change quite a bit. These builds that come up on ebay are targeting the collectors market not the hobby market. As a model builder - collector the top dollar I am willing to pay for a boxed kit is far less than in the collectors market. I wouldn’t have interest in buying a built kit from someone else. Just my [2c]
http://www.federationmodels.com/
Under Lighting products is the 1/350 kit for 50.00. I’m just using what is currently out there and available. There’s no power source, in that light kit, just lights. Radio Shacks power supplies run about 15.00, and again there’s tools, wires, tape, and probably a connector or two.
Why is 25.00 for all the paint, glue, sandpaper, putty, stand, and base inflated?
2.50 for MM Just for arguemnet, say it only used 2 bottles
5.00 for a wood stand
2.50 for a rod/tube
We’re at 17.50 and not counting any putty, sand paper, primer, top coat, or tools.
I didn’t say he was gonna get 1000.00, just that it isn’t absurd to think it’s the actual value of it. You yourself said you price your stuff very low, so you ought to know that if all things were fair, you’d get much more than you do.
But it is Trek. I’m curious how much he will get.
Whatever the final cost will be, Im sure that the one who purchases it will be satisfied and the seller as well. The model looks gorgeous,lets leave it at that.