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 Posted - March 05 2013 : 10:31:47 AM
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Back in 2007/8, I bought a Proto 1000 RDC-3 from Trainworld, when they were offered at $19.98. I have shown it here on the Tyco Forum, interior-detailed, repainted and decaled for my Minnesota, Sioux Lake and Western. I am very pleased with it.
I am less pleased by what I have seen happen on Ebay, where similar RDCs were going for $30-50 just a half year ago or so. Yesterday, I looked at this model again and the prices are now being offered at the $100-125 level!
That is absolutely crazy for an item which was produced in significant numbers
(or Trainworld wouldnt have had so many available for such a low price back then).
There appears to be a substantive disconnect in the "market" between price offers and reasonability, as I would not buy one at that high level. I see this with the mixed lots,
where one seller has four Life-Like and other train set diesels being offered for over
$100- as if they were made with watchmaker-quality precision (which they are not)!
You just have to wonder at how many gullible buyers there are out there...
Siouxlake Ron
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Posted - March 05 2013 : 2:54:25 PM
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Prices are going up on the stuff we like because, in my opinion, the prices on the newer stuff is going up, up and up some more. It stands to reason that the used stuff will be worth more as the demand increases.
Randy
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Posted - March 05 2013 : 3:23:49 PM
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| I agree with Randy, part of the appeal of the old stuff is because the new stuff costs a fortune.
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Posted - March 05 2013 : 3:52:54 PM
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It's all supply and demand. When the supply dries up and there's a demand, the prices rise. Still, that seems excessive for those RDC's, but it's good news to me since I bought 4 of them from TW at $15 a piece. 
I've noticed prices jumping on everything lately. Older Rivarossi is going nuts... a Casey Jones in the box went for $100 the other day, and the B&O Big Sixes are suddenly fetching $100+ routinely, when they were only in the $50 - $70 range a few months back. Maybe the spiking stock market is seducing some people into big spending sprees, because the trends coincide. Caveat emptor.
The Tyco Depot
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Posted - March 05 2013 : 6:20:54 PM
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I remember (as a young man back then) the late 70s, when inflation was running rampant and people were putting money into all sorts of unusual alternatives- art ( of questionable origin), wine ( often of questionable vintage) and a whole array of crazy things to offset value losses in other things and income.
Could it be that sellers are doing a similar thing- feeding into alternative "investments" by rapidly raising prices on their offerings?
Hmmmmm.....
Siouxlake Ron
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Posted - March 09 2013 : 01:57:18 AM
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| Same thing happens to most of the newer products over the last say 10 years. They release them in much shorter runs than the old days. They come out and have about a three week lifespan. Then they sit. Some dealers dump them to get rid of them. That's the time to buy. Sit on it for a few years and then put it on eBay. Eventually guys realize "hey, I should have bought one of those" and the prices go back up. I had two RDCs, one was a swap where I was already ahead money and one I bought for $20 lightly used and I was able to get $40 out of both and was happy, last year. The one I'd carried around for two years, brand new, no takers at shows.
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