Even with the recession, I have been seeing Estes rockets going for a higher than normal price lately. I was watching this Estes F-22 Raptor kit on eBay, and in the end it sold for over 100.00 dollars. Here is the funny part, I was also watching the same kit at the same time with a buy it now price of 40 dollars. Of course I bought it, and my max bid on the other was 35.00.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT

So I bought this manual for my metal lathe on eBay some time ago. It's an old lathe (40's) passed down by my dad and the manual was new in its original box. I don't remember how much I paid for it, but it seemed reasonable and I thought having an original manual was kinda cool so I sprung for it. These were the days before eBay blocked bidder user ID's, and no sooner had I bought the thing than I got an e-mail from some total stranger who had nothing to do with the sale slamming me as a moron (and worse) for paying for a bound manual when I could get a copy much cheaper elsewhere. It was more than a little offensive ... it was none of this guy's business, and completely up to me what I thought the book was worth and was willing to pay.

Same applies here, I think. This starter kit is not worth $700 to me, either, but it might be to someone else - maybe it has sentimental value. If it is, and that person is willing to pay, then more power to him AND the seller.

Not sure why I posted all that, except to say "to each his won" in hope folks will take it easy with the name-calling.

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Tim Wilson

Quite right... things are only worth what someone is WILLING TO PAY...

That said, there are plenty of people around that I consider to have 'more money than sense' and get rather irritated by, especially at farm equipment auctions.

Auctions are, by their nature, problematic. I've been to a bunch of farm auctions and it's always interesting to see how things go. We used to have an auction nearby, back when I was row-cropping. I use smaller, older equipment, but I DO like to 'move up' to newer stuff as it comes on the market, since most of my equipment was 30-40 years old, some older. Sometimes you'd find things quite reasonable. This auction ultimately went broke, and here's why...

The local market for farm equipment was kinda pent-up at first-- lots of guys like me, wanting to move up a little if the price was right, and a lot of bigger farmers that bought newer bigger equipment wanted to get stuff out of the barn/ storage yard and out of the way and make a few shekels doing it. SO, the auction was really moving, and at good prices, which got everyones attention and folks started clearing out their old stuff and other guys were buying it, at pretty good prices for the seller. Pretty soon, though, the supply dwindled as everybody who had decent stuff to sell had pretty much sold it, and so they started scouring the fencelines and junkpiles for stuff they could pull out of the weeds, stuff that had been 'junked out' for years, to haul to the sale and 'find a sucker'. On the buyer side, lots of guys saw cash changing hands and figured they wanted some, so the sale attracted an increasing number of "traders"... just like in the commodities and stock markets, folks that DO NOTHING, CONTRIBUTE NOTHING, but drive prices because they throw money around trying to make a buck for nothing (personally I think they should all be lined up and shot, IMHO). At any rate, these jerks would descend on the sales like wolves. Smaller farmers would come in, and look at stuff, see something that needed SOME repair, but was salvageable, and figure out what they could afford to bid on it based on the repairs they'd need to make to get it going again, how much the parts would cost, shop time/materials, etc. I did that several times myself. But invariably come sale day, some slick willy 'trader' who'd show up in a new diesel dually pickup with a 40 foot mini-float looking to turn a quick buck would run out and outbid you and steal it out from under you for a price higher than you could justify for the repairs needed. Then, they'd take it home, clean the weeds and briars off it, shoot a coat of cheap paint on it, and put it by the road for a few hundred bucks more than they paid at auction, which was already TOO HIGH. Invariably, they'd find a FOOL to part his money from, but that "froze out" all the real farmers who were looking at reparable machinery... so they quit coming. Pretty soon, the 'city-farmer' fool market dried up, and the traders quit coming too, and the auction just flat died right there on the spot.

You learn some things while watching auctions, though... People get into peeing matches and get 'go fever' WAY too easy and get suckered... Last time I bought something at auction, afterwards I backed up and was loading it in my truck, and this guy backed his truck in beside me and was attempting to load his stuff... it was readily apparent he was one of the new 'city farmers' we have moving in out here... the kind that buy 5 acres or so, build a $250,000 brick home on it, build a barn and a corral and spend $25,000 on a rail fence, dump a few horses and a couple cows on it, and think they're going to retire as rich gentleman farmers... Anyway, this guy is trying to get loaded up, and his wife is FUMING mad, and popping off snarky comments out the truck window, which was down on her side. I finished loading my stuff, and the guy was obviously having trouble, so I helped load his as well. He was glad and thanked me, even as his mad-as-a-hornet wife was STILL making snide remarks from the cab of the truck... Then it hit me... this guy had got in a peeing match over a pretty well worn spin seeder... and it was an old TSC model at that... and had bid it up to about $400 IIRC... and a BRAND SPANKING NEW ONE sells for about $350 at TSC... SO THAT was why his wife was PO'd...

Funny too, is how something will come up for auction and NOBODY will touch it, until SOMEBODY ELSE bids on it. I was looking at an old ragged out grain drill, older than dirt, and they started the bidding at $100. No takers. The auctioneer lowered it to $50. No bidders. Finally, he dropped it to $1. Nobody would bid. I was half paying attention, and had noticed earlier that the nicest thing about the pile of junk was the fact that it had two nearly brand new 15 inch car tires on it, which would fit my trailer, so I bid $1. POW! the show was on! One guy bid $5, then another $10, then someone else $15. The first guy bid $20, and another guy bid $30. All of a sudden, like a whirlwind, it was over. I bid $35 and nobody was interested in it anymore. BAM! sold. So, I got it home, took the two tires off it for the trailer, which saved me about $60 for USED tires, and the hauled the rest of thing for scrap (eventually) and got about $40 for it as scrap steel. Not a bad turnover...

So, it all boils down to what someone is willing to pay, and the reasons for it...

Later! OL JR

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

If you have a copy of ROTW, you can probably retire someday...

I've seen those things go for as much as $700 on ebay! I bid one up to $70 (all I would go) and it went right past that, (this was before NARTS started selling them) and it ended up going for like $450...

NUTS! OL JR

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

Tim, I understand where you're coming from, but let me defend my comment by stating that, although 'IDIOT' and 'MORON' may be offensive words to a lot of people, it is not 'name-calling' if it isn't directed at anyone. The seller is fishing for an uninformed and impulsive buyer, and right now the whole human race is in his pond. Hopefully, he won't find a sucker, but if he does, I will feel sorry for the buyer. It's the seller that I find annoying here, not any potential buyer.

Joe

Guys...I thought it also necessary to comment about the attitude of posters on this thread.

I am growing tired of seeing forum members using the words Idiot and Maroon to describe any human being or buyers of Estes, or other collectable kits, period. Where is your sense of respect and dignity?

It seems there are many experts on this board who know so much about antique kits and can be quite judgmental. I would challenge all of you to step forward and establish a pricing guide for these kits rather than belittle the seller or buyers.

Do any of you understand how much work has gone into the Estes kit database? After almost three years of effort, I still believe information and education is a better alternative than any of these judgmental posts. There will always be uninformed sellers who believe they have a piece of gold in the attic and there will always be newbies who will make mistakes if they venture into a new collectable area. Again positive education is the solution, not calling people Maroons or Idiots.

Ok, I'm sure someone will take a shot at this post. I really don't care as I'm tired of seeing certain "experts" here........... This is why I don't read this forum often or comment.

Gerry

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Estes kit pricing history and individual kit descriptions at www.seateddimevarieties.com/BAR/home.htm At least a work in progress....

I bid on the exact Space 1999 Eagle set up a few months back. I paid $200.00 for it. Unfortunately, when I got it I realized the kit was not all there and I had to make some custom parts. All the launch gear was gone. Seller stated it was all there in Ebay post. The seller did the right thing and gave me back $160.00. I figured what I did get was worth about $40.00 and that was being generous. He thought it was all there when he purchased from a "toy collectable broker" at a convention in Chicago. The cool thing was the engines, wadding and igniters were all in the original packet! No I have not dared myself to use them. (See another post on the old Quest engines). Anyway before any of you bid on it I would make sure it’s all there.

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NAR # 91740SR
C.R.A.S.H. - NAR Section #482
SAM Member #0153

"I said Lunch, not Launch!"

- Far Out Space Nuts