Postby gnnpnut » Sat Mar 23, 2019 12:26 pm
I gotta go with Sarge on this, selling on e-bay has turned into a gigantic pain in the a$$.
I still purchase on e-bay, now usually items of a low dollar value like Mini-metals HO vehicles. I have not sold anything on e-bay for well over four years.
My last sale was a like new in box Pacific Fast Mail Denver and Rio Grande P-73 Pacific in HO. Very nice piece, and I had purchased it years ago with all intentions of painting and running it. Alas, I decided to shift my railroad's focus slightly, and sold off all but one piece listed below to concentrate on GN and NP.
Before I listed the model, I tested it to make sure it ran, and ended up changing the neoprene tube between the motor and gearbox. The valve gear appeared to be properly adjusted, and it ran back and forth over 20 feet of track, through switches, and around a 36 inch curve. Packaged nicely back in it's original box it went. Got packaged up in a nice USPS Priority mail box, filled to the brim in popcorn.
About three days later, I get a note from the buyer stating that the locomotive wouldn't run, bound up, sat there humming. Figured it was simply the eccentric loosened up and bound up the valve gear, asked if he wanted to check that. Further stated that if he wanted, he could return it to me at my expense, I would go thru it, fix what was wrong, and return it to him, at my expense. Or, if he wanted, he could send it back to me at his expense, and I would refund his money after I received the model. I explicitly stated in the listing that on any returns, the buyer paid the return postage. He returned the model to me, I refunded his money, and then the prique left negative feedback, which was the FIRST time I had that happen over more than 150 sales, with many of them brass locomotives. I protested to e-bay, and they didn't do a darn thing. Haven't used them to sell since.
I no longer have the intestinal fortitude to deal with this crap, so the P-73, along with a whole host of nice 3 rail brass, sits in my basement, waiting for retirement when I can explore options for selling this stuff. I'll probably try the consignment route (has success with that years ago), or I may just let one of the auction houses deal with it and get what I can by going that route. The lower payment is worth it for not having to deal with buyer BS.
Regards,
GNNPNUT
