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huffmiester

tamiyaclub ebay

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i see for the way the club is going now with the amount of dealers we have as members this site will soon rival ebay as a sales and auction site so does that mean it will go the same way as the freeserve auction site and be bought up by ebay and get swallowed up by them

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I have noticed lately an unbeleivable amount of people who are buying

from ebay and then re-selling for twice the price (or more) on Tamiya

Club or relisting on ebay for a much higher price, is this not

expensive enough already without greedy people taking over and hiking

prices up even more??

Tamiya club USED to be full of decent guys trading between ourselves

for the love of the hobby but it seems lately it has swung to people

joining for the love of money

it's got way out of control recently and quite alot of the other

members i speak to are less than happy with the situation, and it seems

its getting worse by the day

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well i had noticed the same thing , too many money grubbing idiots and there not subtle about it either , then you got people who buy nip parts from members who think there doing another member a favour only to see them on ebay for extortionate prices , this site has really gone down hill on the the bright side not far to the bottom now lol .when i first joined (i know this may shock some new members) but people actually gave parts away to help others out (ive done it wouldnt now though as it would end up on ebay 9/10 times) . admin dont seem that bothered either that the site is going in the commercial direction instead of the community of people who truly love tamiyas now its looking like its a love of money :)

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Wow this is a tough one- I think I'm kinda on both sides of this:

Popularity in the hobby I love has driven up prices, and yet, I want my

hobby to be popular.  I also want to make my hobby as affordable

as possible.  How can we have our cake and eat it too?

So, I'll admit it: I buy things on eBay (lots) and sell off the stuff I

don't need - most times above what I spent on it.  It's one way of

recouping money, which I can then spend on MORE stuff.  (eBay even

recommends this)  DO I do this on Tamiya Club trades?  Of

course not - TC is made up of a SMALL community of well informed

enthusiast - some I consider my friends.  NOt the best place to

recoup anything!  EBay fills this by providing a market with

uninformed sellers and the chance of getting more out of your hobby

money wise.  I use it and I like it. 

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i think it is a real shame that this is happening. i joined a couple of years ago, and it was just a small(ish) community where we all helped each other. i've heard about the 'bad buyers' who don't seem to care about who they are buying it from, they just want the item, maybe just to sell it for easy money. i was lent small parts by a member on here, because i was in a stuation where i couldn't find them, and i wish the site could keep going this way. maybe TC has become too popular for its own goodemotion-9.gifemotion-50.gif

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odc this post wasnt aimed at people like you that do this to fund your hobby as we all have but the dealers who join to get stuff cheap from members break it and sell at inflated price this just makes our hobby more expensive. i have had one dealer whos a member tell me this is his only sorce of income so then its not a hobby or a love of rc just pure profiteering

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i feel the same here, i see the items on ebay that i missed out on and then low and behold they turn up on here for double the ebay price, i buy stuff i need and sometimes things i dont but then i sell em for what i paid or recently i have been giving them away cos i wanna help some guys out there, and hopefully someone would do the same for me.

we all know who most of the "traders" are, i try to avoid where i can.

just mi pennies worth, cos i cant afford tuppence [:D]

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I am pretty new to bouth TC and Ebay and my experience is that TC can educate you quite much on RC cars. And there are manny kind people and also some verry skilled people in here! When it comes to over pricing I have been fooled manny times. My LHS took aproxamently 6-7$ for one standar Tamiya metalseald ballbearing before the internett trading took of. I used 85$ to ballrace my re-re Hornet a year ago. Some guys are just greedy, and this is every where. I have also seen what you are talking about in here, but it will only work for so long, and only on people that don't know what is normal to pay. Manny, manny times I have payd to much for things because I just had to have it and did not now what the normal price where and where to gett it at a good price.

If you are like me and a litle addicted to this club, you will learn what good prices are (just ask in here.) And you will gett spoild with great offers al the time.  The Shopkeeper wrote in another tread in here:

"It strikes me at times that there are many on this board who would complain if any new release cost more than a packet of cornflakes!"

Offcourse we do, I cant afford cornflakes man! I collect RC[:D] And when you have gotten used to offers from Monty, Lemans RC, Huffmeister and manny more verry profesional rc car builders, you gett verry picky. I am the kind of person that think it is a litle to easy to buy stuff, and hard to sell because I gett attached to my models. And also the prices you gett for used RC are just redicules. It is just not worth the job of mailing, wrapping and sending.

And 1proteus1. It's not long since I was given a motormount for restoring my Grashopper with the original motor from a kind TC member. Actually I gott two respondings to my Wanted add in one day wich wanted to give me one! Another time I was looking for a manual for a Kyosho double dare. A Canadian TC member fotocopied it for me and sent it across the globe to me in Norway for nothing! I have just given away the whole doubledare lot to a friend since I have way to manny projects. So there are still plenty etusiast in here. But I can also see your point.

In Norway we have a auction site where you always can ask questions to auctions. They then will be posted directly on the auction. This I think is a great systen because if you ask the right qestion to a "scam" auction, for exampel: "Did you not gett this parts from me last week for almost nothing?"  You can give bad karma to that seller wich deservse it. I would not mind at all that people posted coments on my trade section, this would maybe make the "grubbing idiots" think twice?!

Sorry for going so of the subject. I have found out that Ebay are much to protective to layers and scammers so I trust only sellers I know from this site ore verry serios Ebay stores that I have made smal purchases from in the past. If Ebay buy this site, witch I hope is just a bad dream. We will have to build up a new alternative[:@] 

 

 

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Correct me if i am wrong but,

TC is not an auction site and makes no money out of sales here,therefore things are generally cheeper here and members are much more friendly and generally there is more related info to be found here about the buyers and sellers ,ie showrooms traderooms amont of posts ect

Buy/sell here if you can and feel ok about it or buy/sell on Ebay for a wider audience.

TC is a global site and getting more poular every day,i don`t see the problem?

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hi i agree the site is getting bigger, by an auction site i dont mean the admin or indeed the site owner get paid, but theres a lot more people saying the highest bidder in 7 days makes it seem more like and auction site.  the few members who have joined to boost there business with cheap advertising £15 a year and a captive audience. and dont have any great love for rc just a great love of money. there are still good members on here but usualy the older members but saying that we have some good new members to. im not suggesting all the members are like this its hard to say what we mean as we are not allowed to put names or ebay id's or they get removed. even if you have a genuine grievance and email proof. 

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i feel the same here, i see the items on

ebay that i missed out on and then low and behold they turn up on here

for double the ebay price....

Just don't understand why they do this, most of us trawl ebay and if we

haven't won it surely we will not be prepared to pay an inflated price

here. As a lot of us would rather trade parts than buying them surely

that limits the market for the traders even more. Surely the best place

to sell to uninformed fools is on ebay?

Recently advertised for some parts on here and got several replies,

most from the usual traders (are they declaring their income to the

taxman?) but I did a trade with one of the members I have dealt with

before. Got the parts for less than half the cost if I had bought from

one of the traders.

The traders do have their purpose, if you want a particular part and

they have it in stock then if none of the regular members have it at

least you can get the part.

Basically the value of any vintage car or parts is what someone is prepared to pay for it, not what a seller asks for it.

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There are some greedy ******s about on tc I have noticed lately. I like to try and make enough money to fund my hobby, but at the same time try to sell things at a reasonable price to fellow club members. On the other hand some people probably make a living out of selling Tamiya related stuff so thats fair enough if they don't expect any favours in return. I myself have given away a fair few bits on tc to members in need of parts that I have spare, this is mainly because people have done the same for me and I believe that is the whole point of a club, to help each other out. At the end of the day none of us has to buy anything we don't want or think is overpriced.  ;) [:P]

 

 

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I could name 2 TC members who buy complete cars and break them to sell on ebay. Really p*sses me off,  if thats what they are like, why they on a COLLECTORS site?

i know some people are happy to be able to buy bits for their own cars but i hate to see original cars being broken up just for more cash. I know their ebay ID's so if they ever bid on my auctions id cancel their bids.

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nice comment joe perhaps if more tc members did the same they would think they are wasting 15 quid and go away. i dont give them the chance to bid on mine i have them on my barred list lol

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Just to add my bit, I've found that a lot of tc members are still genuine people who will help others out whether its a trade or just a free part that someone needs, I have got several parts and trades way cheaper and in better condition on tc than on ebay. I have given people copies of Kyosho manuals, odd Clod parts, odd bits that people have needed that I have had lying around and generally try to help people out with bits whenever I can.

I sell quite a few cars and parts etc, but as with most of us they are either taking up too much space, not used enough or mostly in my case, sold just to get some money back in for the next thing. (ie my nib Aeromax that I just bought!).

I just put a load of 959/ grb parts on ebay and advertised them on here, the only reason I haven't put a cheap offer out to tc members is because I need as much money back in as I can to offset what I spent out recently on a complete Grb.

As far as breaking cars is concerned, most of the time I do the opposite, as little parts and bits come in with some of the joblots I buy I think aha, thats a bit for that and put it in the box until there's enough to put a car together, then I play with it and if I like it or it looks nice, it stays, if not, it gets sold.

Basically, I reckon tc is a great place to be with helpful advice from most people and excellent trades from others. I wouldn't have got my first Scorcher if it hadn't been for a good trade with a tc member, plus it's still a great site for collectors and enthusiasts and not just a big trading site, you've only got to check out the new showroom pics and action pics to see that.

Sorry for the long post, just my opinions.

PS big shout out to 67CamaroSS for finding me some balloon front tyres to match my rears for my srb, and selling them to me at a bargain price!

PPS there are "breakers" on my barred list too, I like to see cars I've sold go to a good home[:$]!!

PPPS Huff is a great bloke to deal with and his srb exhausts are the best!!![H]

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I always find that if I need to get as much money for something I am selling then ebay is the place to sell it, no contest.

Even if people are buying whole kits and splitting them and trying to sell them on TC I doubt there are many takers here. Lets face it most people who are into Tamiya on here know what is a reasonable price for something and will just ignore overpriced items.

I think the nice things about the TC for slae / wanted section is that if you put something down as wanted, often another TC member in another part of the world who can get what you are after cheaply will offer to go and buy it and ship it to you at cost. I am happy to do the same for other TC members, and I think it is that side of the TC trading that really makes the TC trading experience different. Recent example is sourcing an ABC Hobby shell. You can only get these in Japan / HK usually, but a TC member in Japan offered to try and source one and send it over with some other parts I was after. Same thing has happened with hard to get details parts from Conrad.de, where a german TC member offered to get what I was after and send it over.

Just ignore the people after a quick buck - you don't have to buy what they are selling if its overpriced after all. I think the core values of TC are still alive and well and most members will help each other out when they can.

Chris

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Its an interesting one this and one there is no quick answer too (unless there is and I'm just missing it - in which case let me know [:)] )

How to you define what is just to "Fund the hobby"? When does someone stop being a collector and become a professional trader? If someones sole income is making 10k a year buying and selling rc bits are they more of a professional trader than someone that only does it for fun (having a proper full time job) but turns over the same value or more? Maybe its not the value, maybe its the number of items traded? But then does that discriminate against those that have spent years building up big collections of models and parts and enjoy the trading side? Its a similar problem with regards to selling items which you then see sold on, at what point does it become ok? I've certianly bought items before and then changed my mind before I've got around to use them, or found a better item later on so sold the original one

Not playing devils advocate but to try and make any sort of change on the club we'd need all these clearly defined, understandable and moderators able to prove any of it. If anyone truly wants things to change we need viable suggestions as to the way forward. For everyone that doesn't like it I put my hands up and admit its not perfect - this is your chance to suggest an alternative. (if only ebay were so open to suggestions)

This also a thread that comes around every so often for as long as I've been in the hobby. There are people that make a living out of selling RC parts, just like there are people that make a living out of everything else in life. There are people that buy whole life size cars and break them up to sell as parts. Its just the same. I think its interesting that it still seems a worthwhile thing to do - seems only a couple of years (or maybe less) since many people were debating falling prices and the end of the hobby. If you think its bad now and think these guys are driving prices up - you should have seen it 4 years ago, loads of kits were bought to be broken up and the only reason so many whole cars were sold was because they still fetched big prices whole.

At the end of the day everything offered for sale either here, ebay, local papers etc are up for anyone to buy - if you see a bargain anywhere do you leave it on the off chance that it will be bought by someone that 'really' wants or needs it? Anyone selling has the right to accept or decline and offer from anyone.

Sad, but I the concept of doing a complete 'stranger' a favour is virtually dead on the internet you have no idea who you are dealing with. Sure I still do it for friends I know and if I do it for someone else and then see the item immediately sold on they only fool me the once. Since day one of the club, we've always advised people to sell at prices they are happy with and then not worry about what happens to your item after that. If you get what you wanted thats all that matters. I gave up bothering that someone might make a few pounds on something i sold them years ago.

Its an issue facing any club, website or forum- as it gets bigger it becomes less personal. At the same time if you prevent its growth then it will die as it becomes stagnant. There is only so much a static group of people will have to talk about, before they start looking for something fresh and new, and drift away.

Don't read this thread as me 'not caring' or 'being pro professional traders' as that would be wrong. I've more invested in this club than anyone and would truely love everything to be great. So I'll read and consider any serious suggestions with interest. As big as this site gets you all still have a direct hotline to the guy that rights the code, there are not many sites of this size that can say that [;)]

I think a lot of this comes down to personalities, there are some people you like to trade with and some people you don't. I'm already working on something that will help out on this score.

Chris

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As usual, I think Chris covered it pretty well, but there is something I'd like to add.  As long as people are will willing to pay high prices for something, someone is going to be there to sell it to them at a high price. 

Except for one instance, I've had nothing but good experiences buying/selling/trading here (& ebay for that matter).  Most members here seem to enjoy this hobby, but even the ones that are more into it for buying & selling items help us out by making something available that may have not been otherwise.  I get enough enjoyment from the vehicles I have to not worry about the ones I've sold or traded away.

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What i have noticed is that alot of these people who are sell sell sell

all the time seem to have very limited showrooms themselves maybe there

should be a ratio of showroom cars/trades allowed??

how can someone who has say 4 cars in there showroom be trading so many parts/cars?

surely any proper collectors try and put their cars on show in the showrooms we all pay for ??

if they dont have time to do this but can find time to list all there trade ads why be a member of the club at all ??

we all buy and sell we all have people we know and can trust, it just

seems the traderoom  doesnt work as well as it used to,  as

people are scared  of trading with people they dont know for fear

of being conned or overcharged

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well to start im not suggesting you can change anything in the club. ( it would be nice if it could be done ).as for the classification of a trader i would say someone who says its his only form of income could be classed as a trader. its good for them to be members as they get cheap advertising £15 a year at the expense of real members as our trades spend little time on the home page because of this practise..i personaly think its bad that we cant name a member who trades badly sends abusive emails and leave erroneous feedback just to spoil anther members feedback. and then has the cheek to badger them trying to get it mutualy removed. and i have all the emails sent his and mine to prove the point. now as for the club its self  when i joined in 2004 my wife applied, she was turned down in the first instance you said she didnt write enough about herself, i see now you can be a member if you write nothing a change of standards. i was told i couldnt list anything that wasnt rc in trades. this now seems to have gone out the window to as i see lots of items like this that dont get taken off. i was also told i cant sell from my showroom this is something else that is now done blatently. as chris knows i have emailed when i have thought things break the rules.but from his responce it seems he deems me as a trouble maker and not worth listening to his choice.the only thing i can do is what i will be doing not subscribinng this year so he will be well rid of me.i wont put anymore threads in the forums after april as i wont be a subscribed member my choice. i have meet lots of members on this site who are nice and i would still try and keep in contact with all of the and help if possible.

 

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mmmm ratios - its a possibilty, but just to think it through, it could mean they just upload a whole heap of items and then leave them there so i guess it might be an easy thing to get around. What do you suggest?

Trading anywhere on the web and people should be very wary of being conned no matter how legit a site or people may look. At the end of the day thats the same now as its always been it just more in the news these days. Everyone should do what they can to protect themselves.

Being 'overcharged' though is an easy one though. Never pay more than you are happy with. It just the same as selling. If you buy something and are happy with the price then don't worry about what others might pay for the same item later on. Prices fluctuate wildly and you'll always find items cheaper if you look around long enough, you'll just end up bitter and twisted. No one can 'overcharge' you as no-one can force you to pay anything so if you only ever pay what you are happy to pay then its not a problem.

Chris

 

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Wooooah, hold a minute here Huff we are going off at a tangent a little - lots of discussions in one thread just makes the whole debate a bit muddy. If you want to start any of those as new threads I'll happily discuss them as I have all the mails still from our debates. You are right many things have changed since 2004.

(The only time I've "suggested" anything was when you kept sending the same email, about the same showroom and I kept sending you the same reasons back -  it was going no where, but still if you want to debate it, like I said then and now, please start a new thread - I think just about everyone that emails me will get either a reason back or "thanks for the tip off" email, as you have done on many occasions - the club welcomes and depends upon this member policing)

Bad ebayers, joining criteria, showroom use - i will debate anytime (even though we've been through them many times before), just as I'm debating this one now if they are given thier own thread. The forum is absolutely the best place for it, others can join in, read what said and make their own minds up)

Back on this topic, with regard to wordings and peoples discriptions of themselves, again on its own its not really much to go on. Regardless of what they have said, if they take that statement back, eg "I was only kidding", "I was just trying to sound more professional, but really I only do it for fun", "I was doing it full time but I'm not now" then what do we do - how do we prove otherwise?

Chris

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well chris i agree i went off at a tangent. honestly to many threads to start at this time. but you could answer the main point at the begining of my post as to why its not posiblle to name and shame but only if you have proof that you could send to admin to back up your claim as other members should be told when people like this join the site. if i have time before i stop subscribing i will start other threads on other subjects.

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Just start a clearly titled thread huff and we can thrash it out with who ever wants to join in. It would be a shame to spoil this one or hijack it as it promises to be most constructive at the moment, mixing it up with a thread about ebayers will just confuse it all.

BTW Subscription and forums are not related. You don't have to be subscribed to post in the forums, just a registered member (which is free). I understand you may not wish to post which is fine, just wanted to set the facts straight though incase anyone was confused with the relationship between the two things.

Chris

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the naming and shaming is not so much about ebay, more how a tamiya club member is trying to give a fellow member a bad name. i have named him in emails as lots of members wanted to know which member this was, and would be a lot easier all round just to be allowed to name them and i would expect the club admin to take a dim view of members like this , and he breaks all the rules i state and gets away with it

 

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