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Saito2

Prices of used vehicles

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Its been my experience on local sites like Craigslist and Facebook marketplace, that the prices of used RC cars are through the roof. This has been true before Covid. I noticed this when looking for a used Traxxas Bandit. They were all well over $200 used when they are $160 complete with battery and transmitter direct from Traxxas brand new. I expect stupid pricing on older vehicles at this point as common folks have caught on to the collectible nature of older RC cars, but currently available stuff too? Someone has a Super Clod Black Ed. assembled for $500. Tower has them for $275 new. None of them sell. Where do they get ideas for these prices?

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Yeah - prices are high at the moment 

A year ago you could pick up an ok tamiya model (no radio gear) for £50-£70 - now they are all above £100

JJ

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I share your sentiment completely. I would really like to understand the logic of selling currently-available kits that are sometimes used or partially built at double or triple the price of NIB. Something doesn't make sense.

 

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Very true, i was thinking of selling my dn-01 to make room for some new stuff but didnt want to over price nor underprice myself. I see new and used Zahhak/trf 201 kits are all over the place price wise. I only driven it about 4-5 times in the last year and only once since i put a new chassis on it, no point just sitting in my house. 

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I think for some strange reason people think their time to assemble a kit adds extra value, when I guess most here buy a 2nd hand kit and strip it immediately to check it was built correctly .....

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I think the sellers sum up all prices they have paid for the car, parts, paint and so on. And then they charge the work they had for building and painting the car. This is the only explanation I could imagine.

I also love the sentence in some advertisements: "Real experts know the value of this car" :wacko:

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I wouldn't buy something that someone else has put together. I prefer NIB if I am getting anything. At one point I was in the market for a new chassis and someone on this site said 'I have one for sale' and then mentioned a price, and I was like but I can buy it new cheaper and have the fun of making it. It doesn't make sense.

I'm not in it to make money or to collect for the future, buy them, build them, thrash them and put them back together. I just can not understand keeping them unused in their box kept away, are they not for having fun with? I only have one that I have made but not used, and that's only because waiting for parts.

All I can say is that you are missing out if they go unused

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5 hours ago, Saito2 said:

Its been my experience on local sites like Craigslist and Facebook marketplace, that the prices of used RC cars are through the roof. This has been true before Covid. I noticed this when looking for a used Traxxas Bandit. They were all well over $200 used when they are $160 complete with battery and transmitter direct from Traxxas brand new. I expect stupid pricing on older vehicles at this point as common folks have caught on to the collectible nature of older RC cars, but currently available stuff too? Someone has a Super Clod Black Ed. assembled for $500. Tower has them for $275 new. None of them sell. Where do they get ideas for these prices?

I think the sellers research by first, then find the highest priced ones that have sold and figure they can get that price as well. Also, the word “vintage” makes people think they can sell them for a higher amount too, I believe. (Hardly antique, maybe collectible, but rarely worth what they are asking, drives me nuts seeing that word used all over the place)

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5 hours ago, Aerobert said:

I also love the sentence in some advertisements: "Real experts know the value of this car" :wacko:

Or the 1:1 car equivalent “no tire kickers/low ball offers I know what I’ve got here “ .

 

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@Saito2 - Pretty sure I know the exact Clod you're talking about as we're not that far from each other.  It's a Black Edition that the seller says he "spent a great deal of time building so it would be perfect, paid attention to detail etc." and I just have to laugh.  First of all, the guy didnt even paint the body, just put the decals over the unpainted black shell and it looks terrible.  He also thinks its a bonus to include a couple of NiMh batteries and an MRC charger that was literally the one I used when starting in RC in the late 80s that doesnt even charge NiMh batteries properly.  

I could go on and on about this specific example, but people seem to throw around the terms "perfect" & "expert or pro built" all too much nowadays when it's rarely true.  That's the most annoying part to me, people want you to pay them for their time of putting a kit together poorly.  I'd often pay more if they just left it alone.  I hate to sound negative, but it is irritating, espeicaly when they're selling a current kit for more than MSRP that they basically butchered by toucing it.

I actually have no issue with how much people want to "ask", that's their business and I could care less if it sits for sale for all eternity.  I mainly get annoyed when people think that whatever hack job they did to the poor vehicle is actually worth more for some reason.  

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I will say there are still great deals out there on FB/CL if you're patient and can act quickly.  Granted, you'll have to look at 100 RCs for sale before one is even close to a decent price, but that's OK.  I just picked up a Grasshopper 2 NIB (still shrink wrapped) from a guy 5 minutes away for $80.  Not a screaming deal, but very fair.  When I got there he asked if I wanted to bearings & motor also.  No idea what he was talking about as the ad just mentioned the model I said sure and he handed me a full bearing set and Sport Tuned motor new in the box, made it just a little bit sweeter.  Now if I could only find time to build the thing...

 

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7 hours ago, 87lc2 said:

@Saito2 - Pretty sure I know the exact Clod you're talking about as we're not that far from each other.

Yeah, that was the one, lol. Crazy right?  Your right about being patient. Occasionally a good deal will come up. One of the last ones I scored was an RC10 Team Car and DF03 Avante MK2 for $125 and I pounced on it instantly. The funny thing was the the Avante was the same one I sold years back, so it got to "come home".

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Not sure many of these actually sell. There are quite a lot of cars I am tracking on ebay which seem to have been there forever. 

The only way to really know the price is it to run auctions. I don't even bother looking at Buy it Now on my searches anymore, just auctions. And when I sell I always start at £1 and never take a Buy it now offer. Only once in over 50 auctions would the offer have exceeded the price I got. I recently sold a SRB chassis with RCChannel parts and all the trimmings. I reckoned I would be lucky to get £250, had a load of offers at £200 and it went for £500!

Tanks and the 1/14 Trucks are a very interesting market. They cost +£500 new and take a long time to build. You frequently see Tigers etc with BiN prices in the +£500 mark. But when oe finally hits auction they end at £250. Same goes for the 1/14s.

There is definitely a bump in prices. More people at home with time on their hands. But with an auction you get to see the real market and it is nowhere near as inflated as some chancers like to think.

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9 hours ago, 87lc2 said:

Now if I could only find time to build the thing...

I'm sure you could find someone on Craigslist who would have the time to build it for you.  It will cost you, mind, they're expert builders and they know the value of their time.  Twisting parts off sprues with hairy bear hands and creasing decals across unpainted plastic bodies isn't easy ;) 

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2 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

I'm sure you could find someone on Craigslist who would have the time to build it for you.  It will cost you, mind, they're expert builders and they know the value of their time.  Twisting parts off sprues with hairy bear hands and creasing decals across unpainted plastic bodies isn't easy ;) 

I needed this post on a Monday morning, haha.  

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3 hours ago, Saito2 said:

Yeah, that was the one, lol. Crazy right?  Your right about being patient. Occasionally a good deal will come up. One of the last ones I scored was an RC10 Team Car and DF03 Avante MK2 for $125 and I pounced on it instantly. The funny thing was the the Avante was the same one I sold years back, so it got to "come home".

Yea, that guy is nuts...Wow, that's a heck of a deal on the RC10/DF03.  

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