want to make a fortune in model railroad?, start with a much larger one.
That was a favorite quote of John Smith (Pecos River Brass).
I started buying and selling on EB in 1998, but besides the problems you described they destroyed most collectable markets within a few years as items that were hard to find suddenly became very easy.
But, today, we have a very different crowd selling on EB and some really ignorant sellers who know very little about what they are selling.....at least in the train sector where I roam.
I bought a KEY Challenger 2 months ago that priced very right, as the sellers photos sucked and he got no interest. So he kept dropping the BIN price until it got to the point I couldn't resist it. Well, turns out he didn't know how to pack either and it got damaged in shipment. He's one of those estate sellers who sells everything under the sun purchased at local sales.
He just couldn't understand how FED-X could damage this train, as he "packed it so well, which he always does"
his words. He merely put it in the hard foam that KEY used, without any additional tissue paper or the blocks of support foam to keep the model from moving/shifting inside the hard foam......and it shifted around. Totally his fault. The outer box was maybe an 1" from the inside KEY box on most sides, which most likely would have failed a damage claim as well.
Since I had no intention of getting stuck with the damage without some compensation, I bit my tongue and played along with all his BS and arrogant claims of his knowledge.
He also stated he's had a rash of damaged shipments lately and he blamed the carriers for his packing ignorance. He was young and I don't know how to deal with people like this. A know-it-all that knows nothing.
I sent photos of the damage to prove what I got and he couldn't open the photos (jpeg) on his phone. He let me know he was also a computer expert and always opens photos, so this problem must be my fault or I sent corrupted photos. Eventually he got them open, but if he's a computer expert, I'm Bill Gates. We must have had 24-25 texts messages and several phone calls and he had to sense I was becoming irritated. I finally told him I was sending it back and I caught his attention.
He offered a partial refund larger than I would have asked for. Fortunately, the damage looked much worse than it's turned out to be and can be fixed like new and never show. I did have to completely dismantle the model and in the process gained a lot of respect for KEY steam locos. I always considered them to be a lot more delicate than any of my KTM models, but they're engineered very well, including being able to dismantle them to work on. And, with the price adjustment, a very good buy turned into a great buy with a little sweat equity.
