[julesmail67]

Hi....I have a rather, how should we say, petite N Gauge Layout that is now up for sale.
I am a fairly regular (fairly) contributor to these boards so thought I may try it here first.

Buy my layout - please! Don't let me resign myself to e-bay and further hassles!!
If you would like to simply take a look please click on through...

http://www.modeltracks.co.uk/

At present there is no set price and I'm open to all offers!

Thanks for looking,
Best wishes,

Jules

 

[Gary]

To be honest Jules that looks like a classic Ebay item that could fetch large amounts of money. It would be hard to put a value on it.

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[julesmail67]

I'm trying to work that out as a compliment or a hidden 'dig?!' Mind, I do like the sound of 'Classic e-bay item, worth a lot of money!!!!' Thanks for that!

Jules

 

[Doug]

It all depends who sees it. Sometimes these things sell and sometimes they don't.

Depends on the weather, politics, TV reality shows and $/£ exchange rate...

 

[Gary]

All very true, especially as its a one off and only a very small fraction of those who may be interested will see it over the 10 days of an Ebay sale. Early December will be the best time for an Ebay sale as it would make an interesting Xmas present from a spouse to a husband. If you were a husband interested in N gauge how would you react if your wifey gave you the miniture layout for Xmas?

The only reality thing on TV right now is The Games on Channel 4 and that is not the sort of thing that blokes watch. It finishes on Sunday but then Mike Baldwin is about to exit Corrie so a bit of drama there and the Mitchell Brothers are back in Eastenders so ratings are on the rise. Remember Easter is coming up so something in a basket may appeal if you sell it with an Easter Egg.

Weather forcast to improve next week and we enter the lighter evening period so browsing Ebay becomes the last thing on peoples minds as they start going out to the country pubs, etc.

If you are an Ebay seller these are all things you take into account.

Start it at the minimum price you want and see if it sells.

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[julesmail67]

Bleedin' 'eck gary! Whata reply! I feel an in depth thesis approaching on the indeterminable factors affecting ebay sales!!!

You do know a worryingly large amount about naff TV for a well informed railway bloke!!

Anyroad, thanks for taking the interest and the time! I think I may yake my chances within the next week...

Best wishes,
Jules

 

[Dennis David]

I wouldn't get your hopes up. I doubt you could get as much as you put in with regards to time and effort.

 

[julesmail67]

Cheers Dennis!

No, I did kinda realise that it wouldn't realise parts and time etc, but that's not really the reason we build them is it?! Methinks another 'thread' coming on here?!

If nothing else it's helped fill out this rather quieter area of the modelrail forum, and I've enjoyed reading all the comments! Plus the modeltracks site had a few hits from it...thanks all and I'll let you know in due course what happens.

It's going to hit e-bay around the weekend and I will set a reserve rather than a starting price to encourage some bidding.

Then we shall just sit back and watch and wait...!

Best wishes,
Jules

 

[Gary]

Not the weekend!!!

Start on a Thursday evening for a Sunday evening finish and select a 10 day auction. Sunday evening is the busiest selling time on Ebay as its the worst TV of the week on a Sunday evening.

If its not a one off and you are a regular seller it does not really matter but if it is a one off then the finishing time is critical.

Do a buy it now tonight. 10p only for the listing fee. Put £99 on it and see if it sells. At least you will see how many hits it gets and if it does not sell so you can judge the level of interest.

Describe it as unique or rare and an ideal Easter gift.

You will be absolutely amazed if you knew how many girls buy model railway presents for their boys.

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[spongebob]

Just a word of warning, last Sunday the entire ebay site was playing up due to it being the end of another cheap listing run so take that into account as there was also another one yesterday so the same will apply a week on sunday. I find that Thursday is another good ending night for the same reason of the telly is rubbish but avoid finishing on a Monday. Thats when I do most of my bargain hunting.

 

[Doug]

The TV was bad last night - how come?

Wise words from seasoned eBay merchants - thanks guys.

 

[spongebob]

Thursday night is politics night on BBC1 and just general moron TV on ITV. Sky is just as bad except in much greater quantities. Even the footie was boring last night! Typical innit 4 televised cup matches on 4 nights I watched the 3 yawners and missed the 7-0 one cheers Beeb.

 

[julesmail67]

Wow! I thought it was just my club that was so clued up on e-bay but the ideas and suggestions from you lot is staggering!

And...I've taken the advice, thanks!

'No Picnic' will be appearing on a Thursday night listing to end the following weekend with suggestions as to the target audience ie dads and uncles for Easter.

So here's hoping!

Thanks again,

Best Wishes,
Jules

P.S. The next one's in a violin case!! 'Strad Sidings!' listen out for that one!

 

[spongebob]

I suppose in N scale you could get a whole tail chaser into a double bass case.

 

[julesmail67]

Well after all the helpful thoughts and thesis on e-bay it never realised my Reserve Price! In fact it made an incredibly lowly - £12 - twelve quid!!I ask you?!

Mind, that's why such things as 'Reserves' were invented!
But not too dissapointed.

Take care all!
Jules

 

[spongebob]

It seems to be a really bad time for selling at the moment. I had several items up for sale that finished at the weekend and one with 6 watchers didn't even attract an opening bid but sold an hour after relisting when I dropped the buy it now price a couple of quid even though it was still dearer than the opening bid. I have been struggling the last few times i've listed but from a buyers point of view it's great, just bought a 12 wheel dining car for £8.50 plus p&p.

 

[cig1705]

QUOTE (julesmail67 @ 11 Apr 2006, 00:34) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Well after all the helpful thoughts and thesis on e-bay it never realised my Reserve Price! In fact it made an incredibly low £12 - twelve quid!!I ask you?!

Mind, that's why such things as 'Reserves' were invented!
But not too disappointed.

Take care all!
Jules

Jules,

If it still hasn't sold, put it up on eBay, but at your reserve price (with no reserve), and perhaps throw in something cheap (e.g. converted carriage) that you can advertise as "thrown in for FREE!"

If you start it at, say, £60-£100 with no reserve, you'll get a lot more interest. People are often put off by having a reserve price because many sellers stick reserves on that are far too high (though yours was wery reasonable), and they thus think that it is a rip-off. I know that many are discouraged by seeing an item with a £0.99 start, clicking on it, and seeing those fatal words, "Reserve not met."

Good luck,

RM

 

[Gary]

Thats good advice. Start at your bottom line with no reserve and highlight *NO RESERVE* in the title.

Make sure you have a gallery picture. And you host your own pictures on your website so put plenty of them in your listing rather than using Ebays picture service to keep costs down.

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[julesmail67]

Yet again, over whelmed!

I like the opinion that it was a realistic reserve and I also think that, yet again, its all good advice and relevent. I too hate bidding and then realising that I may never make the reserve price.

I have had two seperate enquiries about it since reserve not met. So we'll see.

I wrote my advert in HTML so included loads of links to my brilliant (ahem!

) photographs on my outstanding (oh please!

) web site as I had cottoned on to the money saving spin of referencing your own hosted photos.

I'm not going to readvertise at the moment. I'll hold on to it I feel. I have chance of a few exhibitions coming up around the Midlands so I may take it to those instead.

Best wishes,
Jules

 

[spongebob]

The problem with a reserve is that 99% of ebayers haven't a clue that the minimum reserve is £50 so are quite happy to bid a quid at a time. There are no problems with stating clearly the reserve amount on your listing if you want to, it saves a lot of questions Its alright starting at £60 but the lixting fee will be quite high. You could put a buy it now on as well as a normal auction start price and if its higher than your reserve it won't disappear until someone hits the reserve.