Important information for anyone selling on ebay

I don't know wether this applies to ebay.com and othre areas but its totally cocked up ebay.co.uk for me. I had several searches set up with a few different manufacturers grouped together and would just pick the relevant named sub heading, not now though. Its going to make finding the right category to list things in impossible.

Thank goodness for your Posts, thought my computer had gone haywire, as I can not find the separate named manufacturers categories.

I'd suggest asking some of the ebay regulars for help via their community page if i were you bilbo by clicking on community then discussion boards and either new to buying or selling forums. You can either post a topic about it as you would on here or look through the history to see if someone else has asked something similar. There are usually plenty of helpful people who lurk about on there giving advice.

As for ebay.com the categories on there are even more confusing than on .co.uk.

Having begun to understand the logic of the Ebay catagories the main issue is the subdivision of OO locomotives, coaches and wagons. These issues may apply to other scales also however OO is the one I am most familiar with.

There are currently three subdivisions which are Hornby Dublo, Lima and other.

Other is clearly a massive catagory and within this you would under the new system place Hornby, Bachmann, Mainline, Airfix, Wrenn, Triang, etc.

Its really a question of whether it is acceptable to place all these collectable brands into "other".

The only other real issue is the area where items are suitable for both HO and OO. Without going into any scale issues in this thread where do you put track and scenery? If its clearly something for British OO modellers (eg Hornby, Peco track and buildings) then you would plump for OO. If its clearly something that appeals to continental HO modellers (eg. Marklin, Fleischmann track and Faller buildings) you would plump for HO. Figures and scenic items become less clear.

Ebay no doubt have had feedback on these points.

Happy modelling
Gary

They've certainly had feedback from me about it. The problem i have is that the trains/railway models category used to be divided into different manufacturers eg hornby,bachmann,mainline,dapol,tri-ang etc etc. The bigger areas were then divided into sub headings such as loco,carriage,wagon etc. I do search by keyword but it was very useful when cutting out all the crap to search by manufacturer as well. Also some of my keyword searches were types of rolling stock eg carriage,wagon,hopper etc which could then be subdivided into manufacturer also if i didn't want to look at over 1000 items as was usually the case.
The one slight change from ebay.com is that trains/railway models is listed in collectables on .co.uk and toys on .com and most of the other overseas sites that i could understand.
I think the problem stems from the fact that someone at ebay suggested the change about 2 months ago and everyone thought it was a good idea to list by scale/gauge(which it is) but didn't realise what a half arsed job they'd make of it.
All well and good to list firstly in scale, followed by relevant manufacturer, then type of item. This is just confusing in my opinion and doubly so for anyone trying to list new items.

This Is A nightmare now.Who dreamt this up?.I think It's a case of change for changes sake,probably justifies someones position at E-BAY.I don't mind moving with the times,god even I'm going digital In March yeah! I'm over 50.This though smacks of something jotted on the back of a *** packet after 8 pints.

I have clicked on HO on the American Ebay site and all this comes up:-

Accurail(205)
AHM/Rivarossi(779)
Athearn(2995)
Atlas(912)
Bachmann(1672)
Bowser(86)
Branchline(164)
Brass Imports(645)
Concor(127)
Fleischmann(150)
Hornby(230)
IHC(349)
Intermountain(565)
Kadee/Model Power(505)
Kato(181)
Life-Like(1306)
Lima(161)
Lionel(351)
Mantua(340)
Marklin(1534)
Marx(85)
Merten(3)
Roco(295)
Roundhouse(731)
Stewart(162)
Tyco(1022)
Varney(112)
Walthers(888)
Other Manufacturers(7103)
Buildings, Track, Access

Now surely this is what we need on Ebay UK?

Time to email Ebay (again!).

Happy modelling
Gary

I'd be careful what you ask them to do 'cos knowing ebay they'll end up moving everything from 0scale into HO instead
I did email them about it a few days ago and got the reply....

We value your suggestions and recommendations and we try to accommodate
as many suggestions as possible from UK traders. We are committed to
continuous improvement of our site to make it both a fun and safe market
place for users to trade. Your suggestion has been forwarded on to our
Category team for review.

We receive a number of suggestions and I apologise in advance if we are
not able to take up your suggestion

Pretty much a standard reply if my memory is correct but nevertheless a polite bog off if ever i heard one.
Still it gives them something to read if nothing else. Judging by some of the messages being posted on the relevant categories forum this isn't the only unpopular change this time round.
Hopefully they'll put it right before the next cheap listing day so i can sell a few other surplus items i've accumulated in the hopes of funding some newer locos and rolling stock.

I have to say i haven't had a terrible purchase yet, one or two which weren't quite as good as i'd expected and were promptly sold on with a more accurate description, i actually sold a coach for more than i paid for it which was nice!
I went through a phase just at the end of November where everything i bid on i seemed to win and at absolute dirt cheap prices too and the hornby pullman was among them.
I looked at it,posted positive feedback for it (which was never returned) ran it around for a few laps, took a second look at it saw it was in the wrong box,had paint splats all down one side,glue on the bottom of the battery boxes and a dynamo hanging off. Add to that the fact that it didn't want to stay attached to anything else cos the couplings are off line with everything else and that assured its quick send off.

Yesterday I noticed a sale for a Heljan 33101 D6553 BR "Eastleigh" diesel loco, this attracted several bids and tempted was I to place a bid - however the day prior, Heljan sent me a reply to my e-mail "Heljan: stated that 33101 D6553 Eastleigh was scheduled for general release in March 2006."
I am interested as to what the successful bidder is going to receive, if Heljan information is correct.
I sent the seller (also an on line retailer in models) an e-mail, I asked the seller if the diesel loco offered was indeed as quoted - a reply is still awaited.

I gave up on ebay about 2 months ago as it never gave me anything but aggro in the searches. Once I eventually got where I wanted I watched in amazement as idiots paid more for secondhand than what the same things could be bought new!!

QUOTE (drummond @ 27 Jan 2006, 17:38)I watched in amazement as idiots paid more for secondhand than what the same things could be bought new!!
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is amazing,isn't it?,-don't these people ever visit[or contact] model railway shops, or go to model railway exhibitions to see what items sell for in the real world?,-or do they get caught up in some sort of 'bidding fever'?

eBay is an evil place as it is oiled by greed...

That said, you can get great deals if you look in the right place, search well and are patient. A bit like fishing in a canal.

Regarding searching, find out how the searches work and you'll get the most out of the system.

For example, put these into your eBay Searches:

Hornby French Tin-plate O gauge:
+hornby (french,france,meccano,O,provincial,TNB)

Lenz Digital stuff:
Lenz (Set-90, Set-100, LV102, LH100, LH90, XPA, LS100, LS150, LB101, BM1, BM2, BM3, LG100, LK100, LT100, LR101, LB050, LRC120, LV101, LV102, LV200, LC100)

Arnold Digital stuff:
+Arnold (86201,86210,86220,86205,81207,86250,7098,Schaltrelais) -Schoenberg

Marklin Traverser (still trying to get a good one under 100 euros):
+(Märklin, Marklin) +(7294, SCHIEBEBUEHNE, Schiebebühne, "Transfer Table", traverser)

These are a sample of the 20 or so searches that I have on the go all the time. Every day I get a bunch of emails showing me what has cropped up on the searches.