Are these people nuts or what?

Forward Observer · Post by **Forward Observer** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 6:17 pm

I happened to book-mark an XD Winter Panther that was up for auction on EBay. I wasn't interested in buying because I generally am not going to shell out the kind of money these big hunks of Chinese plastic are bringing.

I have one standard model and that will do me until the re-paint that we are hearing about comes out, but I am always curious to see what kind of price they bring.

First of all, this item was not MIB. The guy had it in a bookcase on display, but he still had the box to re-pack it in.

Secondly, he admitted that he had lost the included figure and one of the extra track sections.

To my amazement it went for a whopping $240.50 plus $15 shipping.

That's about double what one went for last week that was MIB.

Somebody must have gotten auction fever, or maybe they simply have more money than sense.

Cheers

digger · Post by **digger** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 6:28 pm

What's funny is sometimes loose brings more $ than MIB.

On a somewhat related note, Small Blue Planet, before they went out of business, had a sale on a BoB package that included the Panther, the Plastic Winter Tiger (2 tankers), the OD Sherman, the winter Stuka and a whole bunch of figures for like $100. I bought 3 and each set came in a HUGE box. I sent one down to Florida to a fellow member and traded away most of the others, but that went down as a one of those all time XD deals.

hotrodrock · Post by **hotrodrock** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 6:43 pm

That auction caught my eye also since I got a winter Panther on ebay a couple of weeks ago for $47 MIB never displayed. The mysteries of ebay bidding will never be solved!

smittyrob64 · Post by **smittyrob64** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:01 pm

It's just plain greed. Was anyone bidding on it?

smittyrob64 · Post by **smittyrob64** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:05 pm

I get a kick out of high $ bidding wars when there are duplicate items listed ending the same time, (sometimes the by same seller) with zero bids.

killoff · Post by **killoff** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:16 pm

Maybe it's the fact that some people are just not in the "know", On the other hand I buy guitars used cause they just "play" better. No pun intended.

Tambo · Post by **Tambo** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:13 pm

"'Nuts'!? Vas ist 'Nuts'?"

immeww2 · Post by **immeww2** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:20 pm

Just goes to show how one can overspend by not doing their homework.

Forward Observer · Post by **Forward Observer** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:25 pm

smittyrob64 wrote:It's just plain greed. Was anyone bidding on it?

It was all bidding. The listing started out at like $40 or $50, and it stayed around $75 for a few days then today it just took off. There were like 20 or more bids on it.

Just a few days ago a business out of Florida going by the name "Three
Geckos" dumped a bunch of XD stuff on EBay all at one time. There were like 3 Panthers and 2 or 3 Panzer IV's plus some other vehicles, playsets, and figures.

The listings were fairly detailed and in their advertising they indicated that one could bring in stuff for them to professionally list on EBay, so this appeared be a situation where some former collector gave his stuff to them to sell for a commission.

The funny thing is that while their listings looked professional, their method of listing was not. They listed all three Panthers ending at the exact same time. They did the same thing with the Panzer IV's, but maybe an hour later.

This was really poor judgment on the part of selling agency because it spread all the last minute bidders, who really drive the prices up, too thin.
They would have been hard pressed to concentrate their efforts on more than one auction at a time.

Most of the Panthers went in the $90 to $100 range and the Panzer IV's pretty close to that, but if the seller had spaced each item out to end a few hours apart it would have allowed more bidders a chance to have a shot at each item.

Human nature being what it is, I just bet they could have gotten their client at least 50% more for each item and you might have even seen a record price on the last Panther or Panzer of each group.

I also see it every day, but it still amazes me that people will pay as much or more for a used item at auction than they can buy the same item new at an on-line dealer.

I even see XD stuff go at auction for more than the exact same item can be purchased outright in EBay Express---now that's just stupidity or laziness on the part of the buyer--maybe both.

Cheers

Spudkopf · Post by **Spudkopf** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:38 pm

Not nuts, either single or used to paying Australian prices for XD

hotrodrock · Post by **hotrodrock** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:29 pm

There are members who post on this site who pay outrageous prices for items on ebay. Its not too hard to figure out some of their ebay user names if you pay attention to the posts here. I don't think they are crazy or have less sense than money. They just happen to have a lots more disposable income than I do or prefer to spend it on 1/18 when I might spend it on something else. There is one member I have watched who has spent close to $2000 on 1/18 in the last six weeks. Dollar amounts that some of us consider outrageous, other members will consider "chump change". It will always be that way.

vmf214 · Post by **vmf214** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 7:11 am

Yeah you can't call a seller greedy because bidding drives his prices up (unless he's shill bidding that is). Not really much homework to do either, search for a particular item, can't find it, then when do pay a high price. What's the problem? It's actually good for the hobby, inflation is what makes "collections" a collection. Plus the manufacturers know what stuff is bringing on ebay I'm sure. I personally think it's pretty cool to own a toy that is bringing a couple hundred bucks on ebay, makes me glad I only have $40 or so in it. But at the same time, I've paid what some would say here was too much for XD, but quite simply, I wanted it.

Not about need, all about want.

tmanthegreat · Post by **tmanthegreat** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:52 am

Hmm... Glad I picked up a winter Panther a few years back. I also saved the box

DocTodd · Post by **DocTodd** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 6:10 pm

I guess you can consider false bids to drive a price higher. I have seen auctions in the past that look rather suspicious. I have no idea about this XD stuff because I rarely buy these on Ebay, but I do check every once in a while to see if I want to sell something. If you can sell something and it allows you to buy something else you desire then that can keep the hobby interesting. Everybody has their own ideas about it and all likely have a valid reason for it.

olifant · Post by **olifant** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:17 pm

I actually won a German halftrack and Pak40 from one of those "3 Geckos" bids and paid $25 less than retail even counting the shipping. There are e-bay deals to be had, you just have to be patient.

From what I have seen lots of people watch items and bid in the last few minutes. And there is no rhyme or reason to how much is paid for what. There was a lot of 10 loose 1/32 21C tanks, six Pak40s/75MM infantry guns and a whole slew of figures that had a very low price. I bid $60 figuring I got a deal if I won. The lot finally went for something like $150 and I was thinking I could have bought most of what was in the lot brand new for not much more. Go figure...

jeffrowse · Post by **jeffrowse** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:35 am

DocTodd wrote:I guess you can consider false bids to drive a price higher. I have seen auctions in the past that look rather suspicious. I have no idea about this XD stuff because I rarely buy these on Ebay, but I do check every once in a while to see if I want to sell something. If you can sell something and it allows you to buy something else you desire then that can keep the hobby interesting. Everybody has their own ideas about it and all likely have a valid reason for it.

Someone I used to work with would get the rest of the guys at work to bid on his items to bump up the price. Always used to make me laugh when it ended up with one of my friends "winning"... it ain't easy to relist a "one of a kind item" without posting bad feedback for the previous "winner"

(Note - I consider that sort of thing very nasty and refused to do it, even to "help" a friend. The other bidder might be someone like me who can't afford to pay full price for the stuff, so is hoping for a cheap win on Ebay... But that's just me.)

Small Scale Military Headquarters

Are these people nuts or what?

Are these people nuts or what?

panther