Its interesting:

When a rocketeer has the kit for sale they want as much as they can get for it...

When a rocketeer isn't interested in a kit or already has one, the price becomes outrageous...

Some of the very same people here will say that their instance of item X is worth at the very least $100 as they sold it to someone back on 2002 for the same amount. Or when you ask them what they want for something they ask you to make an offer. When ever I hear that, I already know price is going to be high. I have been dealing for decades and when someone doesn't name a price up front, warning flags go up. That is just me...

I guess this is why some honest sellers on ebay use the bidder id hidden feature. If I am operating in a free market, and a buyer pays what they are happy with, and I have allowed them to set the price via some bidding format such as ebay, then why should some outsider come into the transaction and state to the buyer they paid too much? What happens if the buyer backs out, will you pay for the listing and final closing fees? I think this is why hidding the bidder ids isn't such a bad thing in some cases.

If you are willing to state and contact the bidder that they paid too much then to be consistent, you must then contact sellers when ever an item closes too low. You bought something for $100 last year. Now you see it sell for $50 on ebay. Are you within your RIGHT to contact the seller and inform them that they are getting too little for an item that you paid too much for?

Its tough selling items that are driven by speculation and emotion. NONE and I mean NONE of the items that sell in the collector markets are worth the amounts they sell for (unless they are inherently constructed of rare and/or precious materials, or works of art). The materials that make up a 1963 Estes kit are worth pennies. What makes that 1963 kit hundreds of dollars is PURE greed and desire. Now I am not saying that people don't have the right to be greedy or to be wanting; they do have the right to set their own prices in transactions.

Would I pay $127 for an Estes Space Shuttle... I might at some future time, but at the moment, no. I have 5-6 of the kits spanning the first release to the master's edition. Would I sell one of them for $127... yes; and be ****ed the person who gets between myself and the buyer.

For some people, $127 is toilet paper; for some others, its the difference of making the rent or being out on the streets... or maybe the person buying the kit is a model maker and plans to incorporate the model in a video or film and then charge 100 times what he paid for the kit. I know people who crash radio control helicopters into sea side cliffs and make tens of thousands of dollars doing so. One name is Larry Jolly, and when ever you saw Airwolf or the A-Team, those were his radio control planes and copters crashing into hillsides. He made millions in the process during the 1980s and 90s.

I think when it does come time to sell my collection I will use ebay, and I will use hidden bidders. I think that in the end, privacy is the best way. ebay has already started doing that once the bidding reaches a certain amount, and I agree with that policy. If the feedback is high and with little to no negatives, the seller been on ebay for a few years, and a credit card used for payment, then I have NO issue paying/receiving lots off $$$ in private for an item.

Just my opinion, and nothing more.

Robert

Robert, I agree and feel the same way if the bidding process is fair. The problem that I have noticed with Ebay is that some of the auctions are fishy... I am not saying this only for rockets but I have seen it with some other bids. So as always bidder beware and bid what you think the item is worth to you. I wanted a Colonial Viper some time back and I was willing to pay 120.00. I won the bid for 65.00. So I was happy, but other people would say 120.00 is way too much. Heck I used to spend 120.00 in 4 hours at a bar, I will tell you that I get more satisfaction out of the rocket then the night at the bar.

I ain't going to go there....

__________________
Don
NAR 53455
"Carpe Diem"

Yea,... the ugly ones suddenly become good looking.

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Have a good day
Bob
NAR 77103

You drank 120 beers in 4 hours?!?!?!?!?

__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Mini Dactyl Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Groonie Der V 1/2

He is in a sort of a depression stage after realizing he had spent so much money on his entire '78 catalog build which he purchased on Ebay

__________________
Leo

My rocket fleet and more @ Leo's Leisure Site and on YouTube - My latest project: ALTDuino

Yeah, but it was that cheap unbranded keg beer in a little plastic cup. He got a serious arm cramp from constantly pumping up the keg for four hours straight.

Its called having cheap friends and recklessly blowing money.

Life is too SHORT to drink CHEAP beverages !

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

That auction says "Space Shuttle Circa 1970"?? Now I don't know my Estes Kit history that well, and I was born in 1970, but did they REALLY have a shuttle kit anywhere nearly that early? I remember the prototypes of the (real) shuttle were being tested sometime around 1980 when I was in upper elementary... I know the shuttle designs were around for years before that, but did Estes REALLY have a kit circa 1970??

-Tim