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Early Days Of Vintage Rc On Ebay/internet

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This has been touched on in other topics over the years, maybe it deserves it's own thread.

1) When did you join eBay?

2) What were your first experiences with vintage RC on eBay?

Enough years have gone by now that not only can we be nostalgic about Tamiyas in the 1980s, we can be nostalgic about eBay in the early 2000s :)

I joined in 1999, so it's over 10 years now. My first experiences were of course being amazed/thrilled at seeing vintage NIB kits available. I was also amazed by the prices - I clearly remember the first time I saw a NIB original Sand Scorcher sell for between US$1000 and US$1400. I just stared at the computer screen, stunned at the high price. But look at it now. By 2004/2005 they were US$2000+. Then they went much higher, sometimes peaking above US$4000.

Also, I remember...

# how some parts were really expensive (Super champ rear tyres, Sand Scorcher rear tyres), while some were incredibly cheap (I bought 5 NIP Hotshot MSCs for a total of $10, one time). Now it's the opposite. Those tyres have been re-released and are plentiful. The MSCs are perhaps $40-$50each.

# how NIB kits of most non Tamiya cars were going very cheap. NIB Maruis were only a couple hundred. Now they are much more collectible, and following Tamiya prices upward.

# a popular seller of vintage parts was "rc-parts", who was a wheelchair-bound chap from the US (his name escapes me momentarily).

# Some bidders who were difficult to beat like Typischdesign, and another called OCBanker that nobody else seems to remember, but who caused me a few headaches outbidding everybody for kits :)

Those were the days. Now there's a lot less quality vintage for sale on eBay. My saved searches often return nothing but junk these days.

cheers,

H.

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I joined eBay back in 2000. I'd found that you could get spare parts for old Tamiya cars quite easily and cheaply, so I set about getting my old Frog on the road again. It needed a new metal parts set, and front suspension/bumper support. Plus a few decals were peeling, so I picked up some decals for it too.

Then I found out you could get parts for lots of other cars, so I chose the Fox and Super Shot, and set about collecting all the parts for them! I maintained spreadsheets with a complete spare parts breakdown for each car, and the stock I had of each parts bag/tree.

I remember ordering a large batches of parts from members like Jim Sourbeck (who is still around, still selling on eBay), and meeting a few collectors face to face. And this was before PayPal, so transactions were quite risky, dealing in cash or money orders.

Then a friend gave me his old Hornet that was a wreck, but had a new body shell, so I set about collecting the parts to repair that one too.

The addiction just got worse from there...

I remember clearly watching Bruiser and Scorcher kit prices climb over the years. And hearing about the odd bargain, like a NIB Scorcher that someone scored on eBay for about $60!

And a few years back, when brand new Dyna Storm re-release kits were being blown out cheap, and you could get them for well under $200.

Other things I collected on eBay over the years include various console games, and Nintendo Game & Watch.

- James

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My first buy was a Sand Scorcher from joan_blue, July 2002 - must've paid by cheque as paypal history starts in August 02.

Other notables from paypal history;

$105 for 'chrome parts and front wheels' - I assume for Scorcher

$169 for a Landjump runner (Sep 02, Dazmeister)

$187.50 for a RR from the US

$159 shipped for a NIB Bullhead (Oct '02, Holiday123)

$87.50 for 3 RR roof sprues (Sep '02 A J Rupp)

$250 NIB RR shell :) (Oct 02 K. Baumgartner)

$63 RCH SRB Dual Rear Shock Brackets (Jun 03 J. Peacock :) )

$1,200 NIB RR - The one that got stabbed by a forklift in transit :) (Mar 2003 A J Rupp)

Regular sellers early on;

Alois Rupp, Jim Sourbeck, JR-RC, RcChopShop

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I first joined Ebay in December 2001, cannot remember what my user addy was back then lol.

I opened an Ebay account as I needed to sell a few things that I found on my travels (was living in Singapore/Thailand at that time) so used to list things on ebay UK and send them back home. I also remember selling my n my mates 2002 world cup tickets on ebay (that was when you were actually allowed to sell tickets on ebay lol), we put in for the lottery when ticket selections were almost sold out for Englands group stage, we figured if we put in for them 3 times we stood a chance of actually getting some and bizzarely me n my best mate ended up with 2 pairs of ticket series EACH!, now we onyl needed 1 pair between us lol, we ended up paying out nearly £1000 each for these tickets and we sold the others on ebay, some of the prices we got were amazing ;-) seem to remember us getting about £3000 each for the "Excess" tickets so we made a nice profit on the excess ones.

Unfortunatley 2 weeks before our first flight/first game my mate broke his leg while we were playing football for a local expat Team and we decided not to go as it would have been difficult getting round with my best mate on crutches, so we actually gave our remaining tickets to one of the younger lads who workred for us and he took his girlfriend.

We watched most of that WC on a big screen somewhere in Singapore (I forget where?).

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Joined ebay in February 2001, used it mostly for PC related items and then one day found Darryn's home page and then Boom, all my RC past came back and then, in a total frenzy, I had to check if there was any such thing as vintage RC stuff on ebay, and God there was....

Got my first Javelin a few days later, never stopped since....

Jerome

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I Joined ebay in May 2004 so I hardly can talk about vintage days in ebay...

All I can say that without Internet I would never have stumbled across the Tamiyaclub, and without Ebay I would never have started to collect and restore vintage models.

Where would I have found the models and spares in Germany? No way, the market is pretty dry for vintage RC I would say.

Just last year the only good local hobby store in Frankfurt closed doors. Just no customers anymore.

And I am part of the reason for it; most of the parts I order in ASIA or US due to the favorable USD/EUR rate.

And so I am waiting for some packages coming soon from Spain, France, US and Honkong....

Life is good!

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1) When did you join eBay?

started browsing about in 1998, only joined up in 1999 after buying 1st Wild Willy locally & needed a new bumper sprue.

Buying stuff was painful back then without Paypal... basically you gave your $$ away

using WesternUnion or posted a bank draft in foreign ccy. Luckily i worked in a bank

usually above a retail branch & i was very nice to the branch ladies downstairs.

At one stage we were also situated next to the postoffice... so that was convenient! :lol:

Paypal came some yrs later but initially they only accepted US-based addresses only. Luckily i knew someone @ Stanford...

2) What were your first experiences with vintage RC on eBay?

you could search "tamiya" and come up with 200 entries.

Worldwide! ;) or at least the entire fleaBay universe then

Again amazed at how much Tamiya parts & kits & used cars there really were, even though we scoured all the hobbystores we came across.

oh and fleaBay's servers would store about 4-5 mths worth of history, so plenty of completed items to dig thru

# a popular seller of vintage parts was "rc-parts", who was a wheelchair-bound chap from the US (his name escapes me momentarily).

same! Paul i thought he was... or maybe a Nick or Matt.

Always had a vision of a Brian Kinwald-type figure in a wheelchair.

BlazerFraser was another early parts peddler, he might have predated fleaBay.

Also dealt with Al Jung, lord he cleared out a lot of 3spds!

Al Jung's fleet:-

aljungtruk1.jpg

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Buying stuff was painful back then without Paypal... basically you gave your $$ away

using WesternUnion or posted a bank draft in foreign ccy.

Yes, totally remember filling out fistfuls of western union money orders. My local Post Office only became accustomed to processing them, because of me, as few people were buying things online in those days.

same! Paul i thought he was... or maybe a Nick or Matt. Always had a vision of a Brian Kinwald-type figure in a wheelchair.

Just remembered: his name was Kim Dobyan, right? :lol:

BlazerFraser was another early parts peddler, he might have predated fleaBay.

Blazer is still going too, I bought some stickers off him only a fortnight ago.

And there was Hiro's R/C Collectors Page, which I loved and used to visit every week as he would post things for sale with nice photos, and had separate sections for "Kits", "Tyres", and so on. You had to be quick though, because as the collecting community grew, things would sell within minutes of him listing them.

The site is long gone, but can be viewed through the internet archive here...

http://web.archive.org/web/20000226175856/...ofact/HOME.html

(or index of archive entries --> http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.kt...ofact/HOME.html )

Pictures may not load, but from the text we can see prices - here he was selling original vintage NIB Grasshopper for only US$196, and a NIB Hilux Monster Racer for merely US$247. And that includes shipping!! http://web.archive.org/web/20000604045551/...rofact/NIB.html

Yes Schaumat, without eBay and the internet, 95% of my collection would not have been possible either ;)

H.

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Just remembered: his name was Kim Dobyan, right? :lol:

heck yeah! spot on

pretty sure i've still got some boxes in the shed with his return details on it, was gunna look next time i was in there

he wasn't the quickest shipper and only went to PO every fortnight or so

Yes Schaumat, without eBay and the internet, 95% of my collection would not have been possible either ;)

what would we have done with all that extra spare time & money?! :)

This "nostalgia" kick is pretty interesting .. as imho prior to 1970s no one really cared nor sought to relive the "good old days".

Is it a sign of the times that life today has become too fast/hard/painful and we yearn for a simpler era?

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I remember Typischdesign! Budget seemed not limit - the moment his id came up it meant it was over :lol:

Ebay from 2000. But back then for me it was for Taschen books and similar.

What surprised me when I first started searching for Tamiya?

- That Tamiya has copied my long shock absorber mod to the Super Astute and made the Dyna Storm! ;) That's the only reason I bought it - I had to see it in the flesh, and then the madness started.... 959 came along shortly after and the rest is bank account history. :)

Totally agree that ebay has basically zero fun now, mostly junk now or professional sellers of vintage stock now.

I surf TC, rctech and oople classifieds mostly now.

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I rarely come on here now but I have got in from the pub and cant sleep!

1) When did you join eBay?

2001 I think as my friend who is a diecast model car collecter wanted me to buy a Corgi Rockets Mogan that was a rare colour or something for him.

2) What were your first experiences with vintage RC on eBay?

Hard to remember, bought things from Al Jung like tyres etc. Later on it got silly buying from JR-RC and Stellamodels but I did sell a lot too.

See you in six months!

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Hi Daz, welcome back, see you in 6 months :D

I wanted to add, is it me or even Jason (JR-RC) seems to have lost his sources for real vintage parts?

Seems it does as He has to sell Watches and sunglasses to compensate...

J.

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Hi Daz, welcome back, see you in 6 months :lol:

I wanted to add, is it me or even Jason (JR-RC) seems to have lost his sources for real vintage parts?

Seems it does as He has to sell Watches and sunglasses to compensate...

J.

Hey Jerome, long time - are you still living Steyning way? My son keeps asking when we can go to do some trail driving at Wittering again.

Well there cant be much new old stock left in Japan now so definately harder to find for him. Also everyone has jumped on the Tamiya bandwagon and its easy to Google stuff for values.

A lot of the reason I sold up was because of the re-releases - I couldnt afford to buy them and they were reducing the value of my collection. Also I loved the thrill of finding unloved cars but too many people know their potential value now. No one would look at the scruffy rc cars at car boot sales but now I hear people asking sellers for Tamiya, it used to be records or jewellery!

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I joined eBay in Feb, 2000.

Some of my earliest Tamiya purchases were in 2000 and 2001 for my Super Champ (all amounts are in US $, not including shipping):

Tamiya Super Champ Ballrace/Plastic Gears - $15.00 (seller=rcparts) [ Ballraces were hard to find, even back then ]

Tamiya Rough Rider Rear Tires NIB - $30.00 (palleven@(email_domain_hidden)) [ This was before the re-re Brat and BC, so these tires were hard to find as well ]

Tamiya Rough Rider Arm Set w/ ballraces NEW - $13.00 (rtuccio) [ good deal on this complete set ]

R/C TAMIYA NIB SUPER CHAMP MECH DECK *DUTCH* - $5.00 (aljung@mediaone.net) [ I didn't need one, but hey, it was only $5! Remember DUTCH auctions? Haven't seen one in ages. ]

R/C TAMIYA 2PAIR FORD RANGER/SUBARU NIB TIRES - $43.50 (aljung@mediaone.net) [ More tires ]

Tamiya Super Champ/R.R./F-150 U-Joints - $17.00 (mjp130) [ These are the hardened steel green u-joints, not the brass or silver ones they use today ]

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The thing I remember is that I used to have to search ebay for all sorts of misspellings of the word Avante just to find a couple parts. Nowadays nobody gets it wrong, plus a standard worldwide search of "Tamiya Avante" returns 617 results. Almost all of which are actual car parts. My how things change...

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I was a late adopter, discovering TC in early 2003 before I had even been to ebay! (I was not the most IT savvy person in the world... I remember getting my first email address at work in 1998 and thinking "this new-fangled stuff won't catch on")

A random search for "Tamiya 959" when I was just bored at work one day lead me here and from here to ebay where I could not believe my eyes at all the goodies available. It had never occured to me that there were other 30somethings out there buying and selling these old 70's and 80's toys.

Although Paypal had been invented by the time I started, I remember buying my 959 NIB from Jason in HK for $750 and going to the bank here in London, converting £400 to $750 (good exchange rate in those days too!) and sticking all that cash in an envelope to send to HK.

I was very nervous for about 2 weeks and had begun to think I had been stung, when one day this amazing box got delivered with an immacualte NIB 959 in it.

8 years later, totting up all the purchases, postage and customs I have paid, I can safely say that tapping "Tamiya 959" into some old-school search engine like askjeeves, was without doubt the most expensive search i have ever done!

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1998 here. I started searching for records, CDs, music books, sheetmusic, books, and a specific line of Matchbox toy figures from 1973. Shipping costs weren't so high as in the last decade so I had the chance to get plenty of nice stuff for my collections. I remember I started paying with US cash wrapped up in a piece of newspaper. Sellers would wait no problem, it was fantastic. And exciting in the same breath. Since I started selling and exchanging records with people from all over the world earlier on that decade I had no problem with the system. And I still believe it works great. Too bad postage costs being so darn high nowdays :angry7:

 

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I joined first off in 2000, but that account was lost due to password problems, so I had to rejoin in 2003.

I remember back then it was still, possible to buy something cheap on ebay, relist it a week later and make a profit! These days everyone wants top money for everything.

First item I bought was actually a owners handbook for a ferrari mondial, but the first rc item was a very tired Sand Scorcher.

I have had an ebey shop for some years now, it used to run in tandem with the antiques shop I had.

J

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16 minutes ago, junkmunki said:

I have had an ebey shop for some years now, it used to run in tandem with the antiques shop I had.

You don't have the Antiques shop anymore?

 

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1 minute ago, mongoose1983 said:

You don't have the Antiques shop anymore?

 

No, unfortunately problems with a business partner and other factors saw the demise of it about 5 years ago. I still trade stuff either online or at auctions from time to time, but that chapter of my life is now closed.

J

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I have been an Ebay member since 1999. I was thrilled at first because I found some parts that I thought I never would to restore my original Wild Willy. Bout a lot of hard to find parts etc since. 

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