How cheap is cheap enough?

[Saito2]

I have been struggling mightily to sell anything of late. Selling RC has never been easy here in the States but it seems impossible of late. Perhaps I have a distorted view of worth for the items I'm selling. For example, I have a NIB Wild One that won't sell for $165 when they cost $242 in stores. I include free shipping now to help the cause but to no avail. Is it bad timing or do things need to be really really cheap nowadays to get any interest? I'm often under half price at times with not even a peep. This is not to sound embittered, but at this point I feel these things will simply sit for sale until I house downsize in the coming years and move, at which point they will go in the bin. I'm not spending the time and money to pack and ship them for free nor give them to local Craigslist vultures scanning for free stuff constantly. There are NO kids that want this stuff either, even free. I've tried in the past. Sorry for the rant, I just need to know how low I have to go to realistically get stuff to move.

[Kowalski86]

For starters, I strongly reccomend finding a LHS and asking if they have a consignment system. If they do, they'll take whatever you'd like to sell and do all of the work for you (on top of hold onto the RCs). Give them your Traxxas stuff and it'll sell quick.

A part of the problem is simply demand, right now touring/rally cars and re-release RC10s seem to be the big "thing" here at Tamiyaclub. 

Your Emaxx isn't a bad price and people still like those. The Bandit may be one of the most unpopular Traxxas model that's still sold, your asking price is absolutely reasonable, it's just not a model that many people want.

I can't explain the Wild One though, I think it's one of the better re-releases. I guess just be open to reasonable offers.

[Saito2]

All very valid points. Thanks for the consignment suggestion.

[tamiya_1971]

Your prices are great. I was seriously considering your Wild One several months back, but life keeps happening (kid beginning college, real car issues.... the list goes on and on). Your price on it is great. 

Instead of eBay, you might throw it out on Facebook marketplace. I look out there more frequently due to real car searching, riding lawn mower (another thing I would really like to have, but again, other things keep coming up). I don't like Facebook, but so many people I know are out there on it (family, friends, etc), it's become more of a morning scroll through the marketplace for fun. 

You might also try RCGroups.com classified section. I've sold items through there many times without incident (an RC10T a few years ago which I now regret). I sold a Traxxas X-Maxx on craigslist a few years ago. That wasn't an issue either. Just try and gauge whether you are dealing with a) genuine person b) a moron c) a scammer d) a dealer. Tough to know, sometimes it's a genuine moron that is sincere. Meet ups aren't too bad. Pick a place that is busy (out here, Wal-mart parking lots, QT gas stations, police station parking lots). 

In the last several months, I've sold on Facebook:  a Marimba, a drum set, giant beanbag couch thing, a single tire, various other things we had laying around that we just weren't using any longer. Not a single issue, just getting the regular "is it available??" "is it available?". Some people say they are interested and you wait to see if they mean it or not which is as annoying as heck. But eventually, it all sold and now I look for possible bargains just for fun. 

That E-Maxx is honestly tempting. Thanks for that.  

[tamiya_1971]

One more thing. You probably hate eBay as much as I do, but if you list the Wild One there, crank the price to $195, put shipping as $20 and then see what happens. You'll obviously lose 10-12% once you sell it, BUT, you'll still end up with at least the $165. People get excited on eBay and just buy. I'm guilty of purchasing things that I should have researched and could have gotten $20 cheaper somewhere else. It's easy to "Buy It Now" and just pay with PayPal. No one goes to the bank for cash and no one has to look at their bank statement. It's convenient with credit and it makes life easier (and worse) for people.

I sold a double bass pedal for a drum that way. Like brand new, 2 weeks on Marketplace and couldn't get rid of it. Put it on eBay, gone in 2 days for more than I had it on MarketPlace. Audience/customer size matters sometimes.

That being said, I still hate to sell on eBay.

[markbt73]

That Wild One you had was mighty tempting, but the timing was never right. Still isn't, unless you want a box of on-road chassis in trade...?

I know what you mean. I absolutely hate selling stuff. Between the lowball offers, the interested nibbles and then complete slience, and the hassles or shipping and all that (or worse, on CL or FBMP, picking a meeting palce and then having to wait around for them to show up) it never seems worth it. It's gotten to the point now where I'd rather just not buy the thing in the first place than have to deal with getting rid of it if it turns out I don't want it. I've got a few more things I was considering selling, but I really hate to even list them.

I'm afraid I'm not much help, but I can commiserate.

[Saito2]

Thanks for the input guys. Even commiserating helps.

The idea of beginning to purge came about when my mother basically decided it was too tough to reduce the amount of "stuff" she had accumulated over a lifetime. She said she'd leave for someone else (read: ME) to deal with after she died. I still love my core collection but things that don't fit in it or get used need to go. I also don't feel very good about the future. Social Security etc. that we've all paid into all our lives here in the US is on shaky ground after 2033 with no immediate "fix" on the horizon yet. I've been putting away for retirement for a while now but any extra money helps so why not sell off things that don't see use. Do I need a fine China set handed down in my family? I never use it, so nope. Nobody cares about that stuff anymore. I used to joke about working until I drop, but physically, how realistic is that?

[dannymulder]

I can feel your pain, its not only hard to sell rc stuff in the states, here in the Netherlands it is hard to,  selling new build cars or cars that only have 1or 2 runs on it they just do not sell even with a price 50% off the new price, and every one is trying to get them for free or lowballing it instead of just buy it for a fair price, sold a lot of stuff to cheap, for me it was one of those things that almost decided to stop with the rc hobby,  oke it was my own fault simply  bying to much rc cars and stuff that where cheap ore on sale and wanting to try out,  in the end I got frustrated with it.

So after a big break for a few years I am back now in the hobby for 4 months or so with a different approach, simply do not buy a lots of rc cars, and then run and enjoy them until they worn out or just can't get parts for them and bin them , instead  of trying to sell rc cars and stuff.

And  make my collection versatile, so not buying 10 4x4 buggies or 10 monstertrucks,  just  1 or 2 from each model is enough.

And it is not only Tamiya cars that are hard to sell,  a half year ago I was trying to sell a Traxxas rustler 4x4 vxl, that car cost  over here about €500, then my car had a lot off traxxas upgrade parts, so if you want to buy that car new with all of the upgrades it wil cost more then €1000.

 I bought the car second hand but I put about €700 in it or so, it put it on the biggest selling side for  stuff over here, it was on it for months, only had one person interested, man that guy had a ton of questions and I put a lot of time in it to answer al of them, in the end even when I was ready to sell the car for €250 and that was very a low price, he just wanted to pay €200, then I just gave up and decided to keep the car.

[wolfdogstinkus]

Nobody biting on eBay or Facebook, I thought there was a better alternative that everyone was using that I don't know about, but I think it's just people have less spare income.

 

[dannymulder]

1 hour ago, wolfdogstinkus said:

Nobody biting on eBay or Facebook, I thought there was a better alternative that everyone was using that I don't know about, but I think it's just people have less spare income.

 

It do not help life is getting more expensive, and people have less money to spend, but rc cars and stuff in general are  just way harder to sell, I think not a lot of people doing rc cars, in al of the 9 years I am doing rc cars, I never came across some one else with an rc car.

And when I look at all of the webshops that selling rc cars and stuff, a lot of cars and parts are  on sale and way cheaper then a few years ago, so I think they do not sell that easy and they just have to lower ther prices.

 

In my other hobby building Lego sets, is much easier to sell and when sets go out of production most of them are getting more expensive and sold for more then the original price, sometimes double or more.

A few weeks ago I put up 12 lego sets on the net for sale, and all sold within 2 days, 4 of them double the price I payed for it, and the rest of it witout almost zero loss of money.

[Pylon80]

Indeed. It's almost impossible to sell anything second hand in the US. We see it all the time even here in the Sale and Trade section: less than impressive used stock sells instantly and for a good price in the UK, meanwhile members in the US practically give it away and still no takers.

But I was wondering. Has anyone (from the US) tried to use eBay's global shipping program? AFAIK it's a system whereby we only ship to a US located warehouse and then eBay arranges to ship it to the final destination (which could be the UK where Tamiya product still to retain their value). Obviously the buyer gets charged extra shipping, but I'm wondering if a considerably better sale than within the domestic market could be made?

[Saito2]

2 hours ago, dannymulder said:

In my other hobby building Lego sets, is much easier to sell

I've found that as well. I bought some Star Wars Legos to build up a couple years back for some retail therapy and was easily able to sell them this year.

2 hours ago, Pylon80 said:

Indeed. It's almost impossible to sell anything second hand in the US. We see it all the time even here in the Sale and Trade section: less than impressive used stock sells instantly and for a good price in the UK, meanwhile members in the US practically give it away and still no takers.

Yes and it quite painful to watch, lol. There seems to be a different buying/selling atmosphere here in the US from what I've seen in the UK. Items seem very fairly priced in the UK, but everyone in the US seems to be out for maximum money unless they're the buyer, in which case they want it for nothing. The sheer amount of "stuff" we accumulate is pretty vast in certain cases. Garages more often are filled with boxes of belongings than actual cars. Cars wind up in the street half the time. Then people rent storage units to hold even more stuff when their house fills up. Crazy.

The more I look at the parts and money put into my Emaxx, the more I think "why not just keep it" and forget about ever buying anything new again.

[Kowalski86]

6 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

The more I look at the parts and money put into my Emaxx, the more I think "why not just keep it" and forget about ever buying anything new again.

If I had to have one RC, I'd stick with a monster truck with easily accessible replacement parts. They work on basically all kinds of terrain and they usually don't chew through tires.

[Grumpy pants]

I think the hike in the cost of living and the increase in the cost of borrowing is still workings it’s way through the economy.

I don’t think as many people have the disposable income anymore. 

Some great stuff is coming up on eBay and the prices are pretty decent imo.

Nice kit, for not a lot of money, great if your buying, not great for selling sadly.

 

 

[Saito2]

9 minutes ago, Kowalski86 said:

If I had to have one RC, I'd stick with a monster truck with easily accessible replacement parts. They work on basically all kinds of terrain and they usually don't chew through tires.

I totally agree. The Emaxx is an odd one (taken apart from the fact I have no emotional attachment to them). It sheer size and power means it opens up new places to run. Few places are too rugged for the Emaxx. Still, that fact means its not as challenging either. Its very boring around the yard for instance.

Giving some more thought to the shopping differences between the US and UK, it honestly seems US folks (in general) are simply greedier. There seems to be this big revelry in "getting a good deal". Its never enough to accept getting fair deal, its always about coming out on top, at all times. Conversely, its a severe blow to the ego to find one paid a little more than than they should have. No one would ever admit in open conversation that they got "taken for a ride", rather they always come out on top.

[guggles]

3 hours ago, Pylon80 said:

Indeed. It's almost impossible to sell anything second hand in the US. We see it all the time even here in the Sale and Trade section: less than impressive used stock sells instantly and for a good price in the UK, meanwhile members in the US practically give it away and still no takers.

But I was wondering. Has anyone (from the US) tried to use eBay's global shipping program? AFAIK it's a system whereby we only ship to a US located warehouse and then eBay arranges to ship it to the final destination (which could be the UK where Tamiya product still to retain their value). Obviously the buyer gets charged extra shipping, but I'm wondering if a considerably better sale than within the domestic market could be made?

DONT, just dont use Ebays global shipping program, it removes all the ability for you to control your shipping methods and for you to ensure the customer gets their item in  the way you intended. Unless things have changed drastically in the past few years its a terribly executed program. 

Its more work but research the shipping methods to other countries and ship directly to the buyer or dont ship to other countries. I would pretty much only offer shipping to the continental United States and then state fort he buyer to contact me if outside. This allows You the seller to have control of the  product and helps to weed out the people who are not serious buyers. Some times I would make a special listing for someone with the actual calculated shipping costs to their location and most people who are genuinely interested in an item have no problem paying for the real added shipping charges incurred. 

 

 

As far as selling/buying goes, Ive sold a lot and yeah sometimes you take a hit or a loss but its part of the balance. Other times Ive put stuff on ebay I was going to literally throw away and got some good money out of it. It all just kind of chalks up to the  timing/interest/market/marketing... ect.

I would also say dont forget about pawn shops, second hand stores and maybe just charity to a lhs. 

 

[Kowalski86]

2 hours ago, Saito2 said:

Its never enough to accept getting fair deal, its always about coming out on top, at all times. Conversely, its a severe blow to the ego to find one paid a little more than than they should have.

That might describe a recent case that I encountered. I found a cheap Tamiya touring car for sale on a different website, however after inquiring about it the listed price was lower than what the seller really wanted (the listed price was just clickbait), and they complained about how much money they had put into the project.

The price that they really wanted wasn't bad, I just don't agree with their false advertising.

[tamiya_1971]

2 hours ago, Saito2 said:

I totally agree. The Emaxx is an odd one (taken apart from the fact I have no emotional attachment to them). It sheer size and power means it opens up new places to run. Few places are too rugged for the Emaxx. Still, that fact means its not as challenging either. Its very boring around the yard for instance.

Giving some more thought to the shopping differences between the US and UK, it honestly seems US folks (in general) are simply greedier. There seems to be this big revelry in "getting a good deal". Its never enough to accept getting fair deal, its always about coming out on top, at all times. Conversely, its a severe blow to the ego to find one paid a little more than than they should have. No one would ever admit in open conversation that they got "taken for a ride", rather they always come out on top.

I personally couldn’t say for sure US folks are greedier. I could say I’m more of a bargain shopper. I will offer a lower price if I think it warrants it. I also don’t take it personal if I paid too much (I don’t like it, but it happens). Seems to balance out. I honestly ran into more people on Facebook marketplace that did not make offers more than ones that did.  I’m always of the opinion that it doesn’t hurt to ask. I love a good deal and I honestly don’t think that makes people greedy. The seller can always say “no”. Bartering can be fun and I fully expect it on non-eBay sites. 

[Saito2]

Bartering and trading is cool and expected. I don't mind that. Getting offered $120 for my NIB Wild One already dropped from a $242 store price to $165 is a bit harsh though, lol. I'm sorry if that train of thought came off overly-negative. Admittedly, some of the 1:1 buying and selling business probably crossed over into my thoughts here and that's not entirely fair. High prices or not (like used Traxxas vehicles being posted on Facebook for more used than they are new), I still don't see the gems like "Rare!!! no low ballers! I know what I have! No tire kickers!" that come out in old 1:1 car biz.

[tamiya_1971]

20 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

Bartering and trading is cool and expected. I don't mind that. Getting offered $120 for my NIB Wild One already dropped from a $242 store price to $165 is a bit harsh though, lol. I'm sorry if that train of thought came off overly-negative. Admittedly, some of the 1:1 buying and selling business probably crossed over into my thoughts here and that's not entirely fair. High prices or not (like used Traxxas vehicles being posted on Facebook for more used than they are new), I still don't see the gems like "Rare!!! no low ballers! I know what I have! No tire kickers!" that come out in old 1:1 car biz.

Lowballers ******* me off, no doubt about it!  I don’t take any of this personal. Now a 120 offer on the Wild One would ruffle my feathers and I wouldn’t respond to that BS offer. 😀 I think low ballers are looking to flip or are just hoping you might be sick of waiting for a sale or need the money now. Greasy is a good name for them, if we are keeping the name calling clean. 😁

[Kowalski86]

1 hour ago, Saito2 said:

"Rare!!! no low ballers! I know what I have! No tire kickers!" that come out in old 1:1 car biz.

I see a bit of that on eBay from time to time,  I'm probably just going to slow down buying anything RC over there.

1 hour ago, Saito2 said:

High prices or not (like used Traxxas vehicles being posted on Facebook for more used than they are new)

I just laugh and keep looking when I see those, plenty of people buy a Slash, some aluminum part of questionable usefulness, then get bored jumping curbs all day.

Some of the problem is due to Traxxas themselves slowly raising the prices of their  new models. So people who don't know much about the hobby have a warped view of their RCs value.

A few weeks ago at our LHS, there was a lightly used stock Rustler XL5 in consignment with the old 27mhz system for $155. We all felt that was a bit overpriced, but someone gladly paid $155 for it. To me that was overpriced, but I guess it's not a terrible deal when a brand new one is $210.

[Rinskie]

Yea I feel ya. Honestly if I had know about your Wild One a little earlier I would have bought it but now isn't a good time personally. Not only do I not have the money but I don't have the free time or motivation to work on the projects I currently have. I think for a lot of folks are feeling very uncertain about the future or are feeling an economic pinch that prevents them from enjoying the finer things in life such as the new Tamiya smell. Good luck on the sale and if the Wild One is still available when my current situation changes, I'll reach out to ya! 

[87lc2]

Sorry for your troubles @Saito2.  We've spoken about this before and it seems nothing has changed.  Your RC stuff is always fairly priced (I've bought a lot of it myself over the years ), but yes in general selling RC stuff is a bit of a pain.  I think I've mentioned this before, but I have great luck selling on Ebay as far as RC goes.  I list everything on Marketplace for a bit just to see if I can avoid the fees on Ebay, but I generally end up listing on Ebay and selling almost immediately (and usually for more than I was trying to get on Marketplace).  Best of part Ebay is you just box it up and send it.  As long as its accurately described there won't be any issues and you don't need to arrange a time to meet, worry about people not showing up, or worry about having people come to the house. 

 

[Gun Slinger 393]

Hi @Saito2 tried to message you but said you couldn’t receive,

what’s your eBay link bud, im trying to build a collection so maybe we can help each other 

[Saito2]

Well, the Wild One and Bandit have found a home again proving Tamiyaclub is the nicest forum on the web!

42 minutes ago, Gun Slinger 393 said:

Hi @Saito2 tried to message you but said you couldn’t receive,

what’s your eBay link bud, im trying to build a collection so maybe we can help each other 

Sorry, my inbox was full. There should be a little room now.