Small Scale Military Headquarters

FieroDude · Post by **FieroDude** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 7:45 pm

I think that would depend entirely upon who you had to work with you to bid it up. I just looked at the different auctions snd bid histories of these bidders. One has what looks like a perfect record, and the other a fair one at best (to land a negative before you even hit 30 feedback is a sign, plus all the retractions). I think it may be two scammers working together to bid up a "rare" item, making sure the one with the shaky history wins. Somewhere, I suspect there is a paypal claim (or similar--a friend of mine once got paid with a fake cashiers check on a camcorder she sold, but we checked it before we shipped the item and learned it was stolen from a bank in FL and contacted the police instead). The buyer gets his money back, the seller gets ripped off on what he thought was a great sale, and after a couple repeats, one of the scammer creates a new ID.

From what I have seen: if an item sells for far more than recent trends support, then something is up. $200 for a Panther is insane, but believable--we have seen it many times. And I don't recall recent trends on Stukas going that high. I can't tell which P-38 these guys are working on, but it isn't one that I have heard going for big bucks, either.

All I can is: be careful guys. Especially those of you that sell on e-bay. We seem to be entering a new wave of scammers and rip-off artists..

Threetoughtrucks · Post by **Threetoughtrucks** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 7:56 pm

That listing on the Tiger is from our friend "The Woofer". His customs are sure worth much more than the average MIB.

TTT

FieroDude · Post by **FieroDude** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:09 pm

Threetoughtrucks wrote:That listing on the Tiger is from our friend "The Woofer". His customs are sure worth much more than the average MIB.

TTT

Definitely-The Hun's work is awesome. If he did aircraft (maybe he does, but I haven't seen one), I could also imagine them bringing numbers in the $400 range or more. And actually, for the buyer of one of his tank customs, $250-300 is a bargain (take a $50 tank, add maybe $30-50 in materials, and countless hours--figure $90-125/hr for an artist of his caliber in the marketing world--and see how it adds up). But $200 for a MIB Panther seems steep. And $500+ for a MIB Stuka, even if it is a reboxed S1, is comparable to selling a mint condition 97 Ford Taurus for $250,000. Sure it is worth more than the desert Stuka or a loose S1, but not THAT much!

V2 MAN · Post by **V2 MAN** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:45 am

Geez I wouldn't even pay that much for a stuka on crazybay

DocTodd · Post by **DocTodd** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:53 pm

There's an old saying that mostly holds true "IF it sounds too good to be true then it probably is". More power if people can really get that kind of change for a plane. But realistically they can't be worth more than $100, and that's pushing it for an S1 Stuka.
Todd

pickelhaube · Post by **pickelhaube** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:58 pm

Could be a little fishy . If the prices are forced up it will hurt collectors. Bad news for newbees good news for us old collectors. I seem to be sitting on a gold mine. Everytime I think of thinning out this happens. I guess I still have to hold on to everything for a little while longer.

mccarthy1028 · Post by **mccarthy1028** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:23 am

i think its a cover up to a whole other type scheme... The guy bids it up the other guy wins and its a way of washing their funny money... You see this a lot in south texas, someone will open a small business, that hardly ever gets traffic but they are making a boat load of money... Its money laundering and these guys are using ebay to do it... I dont know why but thats just what I came up with, or they might have found a way to scam paypal out of a lot of money...
-MIKE-

warhawker · Post by **warhawker** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:59 am

mccarthy1028 wrote:i think its a cover up to a whole other type scheme... The guy bids it up the other guy wins and its a way of washing their funny money... You see this a lot in south texas, someone will open a small business, that hardly ever gets traffic but they are making a boat load of money... Its money laundering and these guys are using ebay to do it... I dont know why but thats just what I came up with, or they might have found a way to scam paypal out of a lot of money...
-MIKE-

Being the the fraud detection biz, I can see how ebay would be another channel for this to happen and this could very well be one of those scenarios.

KAMIKAZE · Post by **KAMIKAZE** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 11:48 am

Definitely fishy guys. That is way out of line for a fairly common Stuka. I have 2 cases of these and would sell them in a heartbeat if I thought I could get anywhere near half of what this auction brought. As for the $200.00 Panthers, you have witnessed General Blasto and I "duking it out" on E-bay. Needless to say he has deeper pockets than me right now and you'll notice almost all the auctions are won by him. Until recently, I wasn't aware that I was bidding against a fellow board member. Just trying to get a few more tanks to make customs from. GB, it was very interesting to see where all those Panthers ended up. I have a sneaking suspicion that you guys might just see the price of armor come down.

Mark

flpickupman · Post by **flpickupman** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 11:56 am

Well, that tank re-numbering question posted by GB makes a lot more sense now.

VMF115 · Post by **VMF115** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:06 pm

I have one word for these high prices: NUTZ'S

KAMIKAZE · Post by **KAMIKAZE** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:15 pm

Believe me guys, nobody would like to see $39.00 Panthers again more than I. This is one tank it would not hurt to release again.

Mark

flpickupman · Post by **flpickupman** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:20 pm

Heck, they re-released the M48 for pete's sake. The Panther would be easy money.

If they were to re-release the Panther, however, I only ask that they come up with some different turret numbers. The stuff that's out is just as bad as the standard configuration Hanomag. I mean how many #13s did we really need?

KAMIKAZE · Post by **KAMIKAZE** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:45 pm

Total "no brainer" right?

flpickupman · Post by **flpickupman** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:58 pm

Especially if they rolled out an Ambush scheme with different numbers. I'd have a hard time resisting one of those. North Africa focus or no.

V2 MAN · Post by **V2 MAN** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:36 pm

flpickupman wrote:Heck, they re-released the M48 for pete's sake. The Panther would be easy money.

If they were to re-release the Panther, however, I only ask that they come up with some different turret numbers. The stuff that's out is just as bad as the standard configuration Hanomag. I mean how many #13s did we really need?

I agree a re-release of the panther would be awsome

I think they should put different numbers on all their armor pieces. Make everyone made different

flpickupman · Post by **flpickupman** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:39 pm

Especially when they change paint schemes. There's a regular Panther, a Winter Panther, and a Ambush Panther. How much more difficult would it have been to integrate a turret number change with each scheme?

immeww2 · Post by **immeww2** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:24 pm

I think 21C should leave off the numbers completely and just insert a decal sheet so that the purchaser can number their own tanks.

omg