Are you sick of seeing sellers on Ebay referring to their items as "rare". What constitutes "rare" anyway? If the item is a limited edition, how many of that edition is required for it to be considered "rare" 100? 200?...etc. How can a new item just released be called "rare". If an item is discontinued and hard to find, is it "rare"? I say no. I think it should be called what it is, "hard to find, discontinued". I've only known a few items that I considered rare. Alan Smith made that Mammoet KW with the 2x3x2 lowbed and the truck crane. I think there were 20 made. That's rare to me. I do not think a limited edition of 100 is "rare". If a model is very old and hasn't been around for 30 or 40 years, it may be rare, but more likely "hard to find", depending on the original production numbers. How about a model that is painted in a company livery, but in small quantities? Another example is a model in foreign liveries being sold here in the US. Why would that be considered rare? One of my pet peeves is the Roadtec paving equipment pieces. A new one is released and people want to get it quickly. But they aren't rare, there just new. They're made is large quantities but some sellers call them "Rare". "Hard to find " items are usually those made in small quantities that are sold and being held by collectors. But in the end, not many of the so called "rare" items will go up in value anyway. Anyone else agree or not? CAW

Should be unreputable buyers.
Steve

I would certainly consider any model limited to 100 pieces rare. Their are models produced in larger quantities that are nearly impossible to find. In the end it’s more about demand and condition then actual number produced. I would consider the Ruehl Pitmaster Crusher MIB from the 50’s a “rare” model even though it was mass produced.

Guys like me who have been late to the 1/50 party have a tough time finding a WSI Whiteline Scania R6 8x4 730 for a reasonable price however much mass produced it must have been.
I have even been cheated by a seller who exchanged the cab of the R6 with one of the R5 with an extended cabin spoiler which fouls up with the mesh of the equipment tower. I didn't know anything better then and was only very excited to finally land a big engined R6.

Don't be fooled by the "rare" moniker!!! I know for a fact that pieces like the RoadTec paving equipment (the shuttlebuggy, paver and milling machine) can be purchased for about $75 each and are brand new in the box!!!

Just remember, it was P.T. Barnum who said "There's a sucker born every minute." A lot of sellers on Ebay take advantage of these types of people by putting their stuff up for sale and than claiming it's "rare" or another one is "Mint in the box" even though it has been removed for pictures!! The words "Mint in the box" means that the factory seals are not broken and the model has not been removed for anything!!! If the seals are broken then it is NOT "mint in the box" but new or in some cases it is used!!!

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Dain

I'm a kid at heart, so I will play with any model construction vehicle from 1:87 scale to 1:1 scale!!!!

Age is a state of time NOT a state of mind!!

I own a very rare model - Conrad CC8800. It doesn't come up for sale often, and when it does it's expensive. Until recently I also owned an LR1750, which has also become extremely rare. Unfortunately, this gives "collectors" a chance to ramp up the prices of these models and it eventually gets quite ridiculous.

I paid £750 (approx. US$1,000) for the CC8800 this time around, and at first I thought it was excessive so I stepped down, but eventually I realised how rare the model was (brand new, plus fly jib kit) so I just bit the bullet.

I've seen many sellers use the "rare" trump card on otherwise common items, and it only really bothers me if the price is unreasonably high.

The thing is with places like Ebay there will always be people in it for the money and know there are others who will want something so bad that they will pay any price for an item. I again reference the RoadTec models because I have seen the shuttlebuggy go for a high price even on our fearless leader's own auctions!! People will pay a high price for something sometimes based upon words alone just because they interpret them meaning that the item is very difficult to find and instead of doing some research they are willing to pay top dollar to have the model. This is one factor that drives prices up on things like this. I for a number of years wanted the Roadtec Shuttlebuggy but the only place I ever saw it was in the actions DHS had and as I watched the prices of it go up I figured I never have one, well I was wrong as I stumbled upon the Roadtec site and found them selling their models. I did notice that the item was back ordered but when I contacted them I found out that they had more in their warehouse and just hadn't updated the site. I wound up getting 2, one for myself and one for my significant other's collection!!!

So just to put it out there, please do some research first before buying a "rare" model from someone as it might not be as rare as they think it is. Oh and I thought an 'HO' scale locomotive was rare too but I eventually found it and at a reasonable price too and NOW it is rare because the company no longer makes it and there is no more to be found at most model train stores that I have looked into. Fortunately I do have one so I'm a lucky one!!!

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Dain

I'm a kid at heart, so I will play with any model construction vehicle from 1:87 scale to 1:1 scale!!!!

Age is a state of time NOT a state of mind!!

Yes, you are 100% correct Roy. If I want a certain model bad enough I will track it down and undoubtedly pay the price. I did pay a little more for a Vogele paver because I only found one place that had it, it's the paver that has the different screed sizes, it's the 3000-2 paver from Conrad.

Some people think that this hobby is a great money maker and they can get what they want by just embellishing the identity of the model. The use of words like "rare", "limited edition" and "one of a kind" usually sends red flags up in my head which then makes me research the item to determine whether it is all of these. The another red flag to me is IF this model is so rare or one of a kind WHY is this person trying to sell it to begin with. Also a purchaser needs to be careful of the use of the above descriptors as what they might be looking at may not be a reputable sale but the sale of a stolen item and the seller is trying to get rid of it as quickly as possible and again will embellish it to get the deal done.

So my advice is if it sounds to good to be true it probably isn't.

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Dain

I'm a kid at heart, so I will play with any model construction vehicle from 1:87 scale to 1:1 scale!!!!

Age is a state of time NOT a state of mind!!

I think what constitutes a rare model varies from person to person. Let's take the CCM 390D that came out several years back. There was 1,000 of them produced which sounds like a lot even though it's still considered a limited run. Look at the bigger picture though; tens of thousands (maybe even in the hundreds) of 1/50 scale excavators were also produced and sold while the 390D was available at retailers. So the 390D might have only accounted for 1% of the excavator sales which makes it sound very rare. To me I don't see it as a very rare model though, perhaps because for a while I saw so much of it here on the forums, youtube and FB. To people who have been collecting for years and have a nice collection already established a rare model to them might be one that's only spoken about in hushed whispers and rumored to be on a shelf in a Nebraska basement somewhere. To others who are new to the hobby or don't dig as deep... well, a model produced to a run of 1,000 might be rare.

I agree that older models that went out of production a long time ago should be listed as Hard to Find, especially if there was a lot of them made. An old, limited run model would probably still get listed as Rare in my book though.

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