Chris Raines (RPB TRAINS) is selling some of his trains

Which is PRECISELY why Chris was grinning ear-to-ear at the Trainz booth today.  Everything is moving along on plan. 

P. T. Barnum Quotes

No man ever went broke overestimating the ignorance of the American public.

Many people are gullible, and we can expect this to continue.

There is a fool born every minute

The common man, no matter how sharp and tough, actually enjoys having the wool pulled over his eyes, and makes it easier for the puller.

You can fool most of the people most of the time.

It takes only one fool to set a precedent.  It takes only too such fools to set a trend.

Ron 045 brings up an interesting aspect, that Chris lost money as soon as he bought the items. However that begs the question did he really? What if Trainz sold it to him at little above cost? What if Trainz provided him with a long term lend, or as part of his compensation arrangement with Trainz? Let me be clear this is not an accusation of wrong doing. It is a question.

It speaks to the greater question of conflict of interest at the very least which may or may not affect the objectivity of any influencer's videos dealing with product.

Those of us old enough to remember the Payola scandal in the recording industry when DJs were paid to play (the original source of that saying) a particular record so that it would chart higher than might otherwise have been the case.

In short I am very skeptical that the select few model train influencers (as opposed to content creators) are doing what they do solely for the benefit of others. If not for self aggrandizement, then money? If not money then perks?
Hit Like. Hit Subscribe. Drive up the subscriber numbers. It really help helps my channel.

Does that sound like a labor of love to you?

My take on all this is that maybe they do this, making videos, for fun.  They have families and full time jobs and love the O gauge hobby.  They make a small income on the side and have an affiliation with Trainz that may benefit them both in a small way.  Chris’ reasons for selling his stuff, be it on consignment or he may have been paid already and Trainz took over with the promotion of the sale, is his business.  If he has been paid already then Chis may be out of the equation.  Whatever the arrangement it is obviously to both of their benefit.  Chris gets more exposure, Trainz can say ‘We sold Chris’ trains, we can sell yours too!’  

Shouldn’t matter to us.  It’s no different than how dealers buy and exchange trains and resell them for their own profit.  It happens before the opening of every York Meet.  This is what Capitalism is all about.  Celebrate it, we’re under no obligation to buy and nobody cares about being ridiculed about overpaying for trains.  We’ve all done it, sometimes knowingly.  Like anything else the customer must educate themselves to guard against overpaying for anything or take the chance they won’t have the chance to buy an item again.  It took me 15 years to finally purchase the Lionel scale Penn Central GG1 for a price, and a dealer, I was comfortable with.