John Carmichael Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 This must be a mistake. For sale on Ebay is a new MTH Rail King 1 Gauge Dash 8-40BW Diesel Locomotive Amtrak # 519 w/ Protosound 2.0. Starting price was US $0.99, Current Bid is US $33.89 Why would the seller have such a low starting price? What if the bids go no higher? Would he have to sell it at such a low bid, or would Ebay let him remove it and refuse to sell it? I wrote the seller but he has not answered. http://www.ebay.com/itm/MTH-Rail-King-1-Gauge-Dash-8-40BW-Diesel-Locomotive-Amtrak-519-Proto-Sound-/371669702511?hash=item56893d976f:g:LUUAAOSwZ1BXdCbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayman4449 Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 Honestly I'm not sure but I do see that from some sellers. It does expose the seller to more risk as every once in a while one of these types of auctions will go very low. Normally they do equalize out to a more reasonable market price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RRX Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 The risk level varies with the item offered and the duration of the auction. This practice can actually stimulate bidding. KC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_s Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 There is some risk, the seller has an option of setting a reserve price, in which case he is not obligated to sell below the reserve, but e-bay charges extra for this. By setting a low starting bid, when the price is low as it is now, lots of people will see the item, and tend to click on the 'Add to Watchlist' button, in which case they will get e-mails when the auction is getting near the end to remind them to look in on the item, so it can help to stir up the bidding. I personally am not a fan of the way e-bay does their auctions with a fixed, hard end time. It encourages people to wait until the last moment before putting in their bid, which results in lower prices to sellers, and more disappointed buyers who are sniped out at the last moment. I have sold through an auction site where there was an end date/time for the auction, but if a bid came in just before the end, the deadline was extended by a few hours to give the previous high bidder a chance to reconsider his bid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enginear joe Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 Uh oh. I was going to bid on that and I'm watching it. I lost out on the last three. When MTH announced a new dash 8 Amtrak release, I thought I would just get a new one. It seemed like all of a sudden the flood gates opened and there was now a flood of used engines too. So I bought new and used. Amtrak got pushed on the back burner again. I believe their sold out now? SO........ I still need at least one. My girl says how many do I need? I answer, all of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Carmichael Posted June 30, 2016 Author Share Posted June 30, 2016 The seller just wrote and said he also starts all of his prices at $.99 I don't want this loco, so I'm not going to bid. But it will be interesting to see how high the bids go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enginear joe Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 Well someone just outbid me with a click so I lost it. I wonder who got it? Great price anyways. I just bought eight new engines so I'm tapped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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