EBAY

Norse · Post by **Norse** » Wed Jan 23, 2002 3:13 pm

I know a lot of guys have had a lot of success with EBAY when it comes to picking up some bargains and some hard to find miniatures. I have never won an auction on EBAY though I do bid on items regularly. One thing that really

me off though is that every model is either described as OOP or as Pro-Painted.

OOP means that GW no longer have the mould and/or license to make these models. Good examples of OOP models in the past have been Judge Dredd and the original Lord of the Rings models. Sadly, this description does also include a lot of 2nd Ed Blood Bowl models.

OOP does not mean hard to find, or expensive in the USA, or even still available from GW if anyone was bothered to check their website. OOP Troll Star Player is NOT Ripper Bolgrot...

Pro-Painted would be hard to define, but I would expect that at least 4 or 5 hours had been spent on each model, with 3 or 4 levels of shading and/or highlighting and absolutely no mistakes, visible brush strokes, blotchy uneven finishes etc.

Pro-Painted does not mean painted by a monkey, dropped in a can of emulsion, spat on by a camel or crapped on by a bird.

Why do people pay so much money for badly painted models which are still avalable unpainted and cheaper from GW mail order?

Has everybody gone

??

Why doesn't EBAY monitor its posts instead of letting millions of people falsely advertise their atrocious junk.

Am I the only one who gets

at this?

_________________
"If something is easy it isn't worth doing.."

[ This Message was edited by: Norse on 2002-01-23 15:14 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Norse on 2002-01-23 15:50 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Norse on 2002-02-05 14:40 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Norse on 2002-02-05 14:41 ]

Princelucianus · Post by **Princelucianus** » Wed Jan 23, 2002 3:27 pm

I'm with you.....

But I'm trying to get xxxx and that's definetely OOP. I can't say what it is yet, because otherwise these forum xxxx might interfere with my bidding.

Lucy

Deathwing · Post by **Deathwing** » Wed Jan 23, 2002 3:33 pm

I can see your point. Some of the jobs described as well-painted look atrocious. Trouble is there's no real definition of what consistutes pro, well or any other painting standard.
I've seen figs. on display in GW stores that I wouldn't even own up to painting!
Another thing I would say is that it's difficult to photograph models well, I know I've taken some photos of good figs. that look diabolical when developed. Ebay pics tend to be heavily compressed as well, and some are just snaps with a low res. digi. camera.
Galak gave some good advice some months ago, get in touch with the seller and ensure you can return anything that you consider isn't acceptable quality.
And yes, advertising things as OOP when they're clearly not is totally out of order.

Norse · Post by **Norse** » Wed Jan 23, 2002 3:49 pm

C'mon Lucy, what xxxx are you looking for?

In my extensive collection, I might just be able to help you

Princelucianus · Post by **Princelucianus** » Wed Jan 23, 2002 4:00 pm

I'll tell you when I've lost the bidding

That's the way it normally goes.

Lucy

Post by **GalakStarscraper** » Wed Jan 23, 2002 6:31 pm

I sell/buy on Ebay as aeip94 , I've sold over $7k worth of football figs and Magic cards in the last 3 years and probably purchased at least half that amount back from Ebay sales.

Here are the big pointers to me:
1) I never bid on anything that I cannot pay for online. The receipt trail is clear and there is no argument with the seller about payment lost in the mail etc. It also saves me over $1 per transaction as I don't have to pay for the money order, the stamp, the envelope, or the return receipt for the letter.

2) NEVER bid on an auction with undefined shipping costs especially the Buyer pays shipping comment. Early in my Ebay days I found that many sellers would bump up the "cost" of shipping when the item didn't sell well to help cover their expected profit. After getting an item where I paid $5 more for shipping than the seller paid, this one became a hard and fast rule for me. I do a lot of bidding from the UK chaps across the pond. I've always had good luck, but as soon as I see one of their auctions I ALWAYS write and ask for a firm quote on Air Mail shipping to the US and then if I win I forward their response back to them to remind them of their quote. Shipping and Handling can be very deceptive if you don't ask for disclosure in advance. Ebay has a button for Ask Seller a Question and I usually ask at least one question about every auction before I bid.

3) ALWAYS look up the details of the sellers feedback BEFORE bidding. If the seller has 2 or 3 negatives for not shipping product than for Pete's Sake DON'T BID no matter how much you want the item. Almost everything comes up for auction once a year on Ebay, nothing is once in a lifetime (the only exceptions to this in the last 3 years were a Mount Fuji Walking Stick and the 1st edition Blood Bowl badges ... but I disgress). The bottom line: if you bid on a auction where the seller has negative feedback and you get burnt, you deserve to lose your cash.

4) Ask questions, ask questions, ask questions. If you have concerns about the paint job, the condition of package, etc. Ask BEFORE you bid. If you really need something minty condition and you cannot tell either don't bid or email and make sure that you can return the item if you are not satisified (I usually offer to pay the return shipping and auction fees for the item if I return something I'm not satisified with).

5) Finally, make sure you let Ebay do the work for you. When I'm looking for something (like the White Dwarf #106 that I just won), I set up a search for it (you are allowed up to 3) and then let Ebay tell me when one goes up for auction. This saves me a LOT of time, you just have to word your search correctly so that you don't get false hits.
Example to search for White Dwarf #106 I used:
white dwarf 106 -snow
Eventually a nice man from the states put one up for auction that I was able to win it, but I didn't have to check in with Ebay every 3 days to see if one was for sale.

That's everything I can think of as pointers to the wonderful land of Ebay ... happy shopping.

Galak

Norse · Post by **Norse** » Thu Jan 24, 2002 9:35 am

All very sensible advice Galak which I would try to follow. I guess what gets to me though is that, as an almost professional painter (over 15 years experience), some of the horrendous stuff you see on there offends me deeply. I fail to see why someone would advertise a badly panted model which is still available through GW as OOP Pro-Painted! I guess basically I'm honest, so such wanton dishonesty :razz:isses: me off!!

Ancalagon · Post by **Ancalagon** » Thu Jan 24, 2002 10:00 am

Norse: do you have any picts of your minis?

Norse · Post by **Norse** » Tue Jan 29, 2002 1:41 pm

Sadly not, though Prince Lucy has seen them in the flesh if you want a reference...

I've had a socialist idea, please all bear with me...

We're all quite friendly and helpful here, giving each other plenty of hints and tips etc, so my suggestion is this:

If you've bid on an item on Ebay, post it here so that we all know (because we're decent chaps) not to outbid you. This may seem to be a bit radical, but why should we drive up prices outbidding each other if we can help each other out instead??

I'll start:

I'm currently the high bidder on an unpainted 2nd Ed Troll model (Item 1697537812). I would greatly appreciate it if none of you guys outbid me. Likewise, if you have bid on something and don't want me to bid on it, just tell me who you are..

My Ebay login is: mcphersonrgc

Lets all work together shall we??

_________________
"If something is easy it isn't worth doing.."

[ This Message was edited by: Norse on 2002-01-29 13:43 ]

Post by **voyagers_uk** » Tue Jan 29, 2002 2:35 pm

Not Sure it's legal to discuss price fixing on a public forum but what the heck I'm in, although I am not bidding on anything at the moment.

Norse · Post by **Norse** » Tue Jan 29, 2002 2:51 pm

It's not price fixing, it's just a group of friends (mostly, it must be said, who do not know each other!) making sure they don't stuff each other without realising it.

There is nothing to say someone NOT on this forum won't outbid me, but it would be nice to think that we could try to help each other out wherever possible.

I tried this a few weeks back, when I noticed Scarlet Jester (from this forum) was bidding on a Skaven team. I wrote to him and said I would not bid because he was a member here. He won the team, but he never thanked me for my decency

...

Ah well, 'tis not easy being a martyr.

Princelucianus · Post by **Princelucianus** » Tue Jan 29, 2002 3:02 pm

Allright.

No we're on top of the matter, don't bit on
"painted chaos team"
nr 1696467097
I myself am registered as ademont@xs4all.nl

Would like to know who the others were.

Norse, I was bidding on a copy of Dungeonbowl, but the price became $ 72. which was too much for me....

Lucy

Deathwing · Post by **Deathwing** » Tue Jan 29, 2002 3:02 pm

Hmmm...this could be dubious. I won't knowingly bid against anyone on here, but that's a personal choice.
I don't think you can work things on a 'who sees things first basis'. Some people will only check out the auctions due to end within a day or two. Unfair advantage to those that can trawl through all the pages and put in early bids? And let's not forget that people on here sell as well.
Having said that, there's nothing wrong with people choosing to make public their ebay handles if they wish. I use the name third_company.
BTW, don't go too high on that troll, VA has them listed at $16, and I assume that'll be the newer harder metal.

Princelucianus · Post by **Princelucianus** » Tue Jan 29, 2002 3:08 pm

Wow, you responded 1/100 of a second later then me. Personally, I see no problems with conversing here about auctions. Everybody can place an early bid, personally, I hate it when people outbid me 10 seconds for the auction closes because they have a faster modem then I have (happened several times).
On the other hand, if you want to sell something, then you can mention that as well. The advantage is that all the members can see it, and that enhances your chances to get more bids..... BBC has had several messages where people advertised for their own auctions.....

Lucy

Norse · Post by **Norse** » Tue Jan 29, 2002 3:28 pm

I'm not trying anything illegal here (well, it wouldn't be illegal in Holland, but then again what is?

). I'm hoping that by improving our communication channels we can stop making life more difficult for each other than we need to. If someone comes to me and says..

"Norse, I really need that Troll to complete my BB collection, so i'm going to bid on it."

Then that's what I'm looking for! I don't want to go to Lucy's flat to discover he's playing with a team that we both bid on and ended up pushing the price up needlessly.

PS I appreciate the info on the Troll, I'll bear it in mind. Maybe I should visit the VA again..