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For those who have visited Akihabara, some may notice consignment stores selling a lot of trains. Second hand pop up shops are selling trains. Many articles trying to get people to sell their trains. https://mokeitetsu.com/used/kaitori https://tetsudohonpo.com/column/column20230611/ https://www.takakuureru.com/magazine/8493 https://kakaku.guide/model-train/post/6631/ What the heck is going on? Since the beginning of the year, with the Japanese economy leading to many companies increasing their prices, there has been a boom in the used market. Not just male customers but female is growing as well. The bad thing is many people are not wanting to pay for trains that are too expensive and are opting for used. And in Japan, there is a general sense that Japanese train owners are respectable to their collections and they maintain it really well. But now it's become big business. Companies in Japan want people's used trains. Takakkureru even got singer Kyon Kyon (Koizumi Kyoko) to promote their service. Popondetta who is known for selling trains, wants to now buy your trains. https://kakaku.guide/model-train/ https://www.train-takakuureru.com/ https://tetsudo-kaitori.jp/ https://www.toy-forest.jp/category/toy/rail/ https://mdltrain-arrows.com/ https://www.popondetta.com/kaitori.html https://hobbyland-pochi.net/?type_id=1 https://www.figurekaitori.net/collection/rail/?a8=o5a7254SMX_IXtg8-WgSiyR6RIuYZyApaWgs4I80CslSMXayEXT5iXToiXzw_wAgfskt8PaBK5a7ds00000012574002 https://tetsudohonpo.com/ https://kaitoricollector.com/pricelist/category/model https://www.omocya-kaitori.jp/mb/tetudoumokei.html https://www.little-cage.net/genre/rail/ https://www.ji-otrain.com/ While the idea is not new...consignment stores in Akihabara and Nakano have been around for many years, baseball and Pokemon card shops and video game stores have been around, as with the "OFF" stores or Traders stores selling used items. But as of late, 2023 is a boom for people to sell their trains. This is the most proactive I've seen companies wanting to buy trains from people, to the chagrin of model train companies who have increased their prices and hoping their sales numbers don't dwindle as much as they have in previous years. I decided to give it a try and purchase a few things used (which I never do, as I prefer my trains brand new), but the trains were well maintained, no damage and a lot of care went into shipping it to me overseas. But I guess I can see it becoming a business. YouTube has no doubt been a catalyst for used cars and homes being sold in Japan to people living overseas. I am seeing things growing on the vehicle side as more and more non-Japanese are participating in Japanese car auctions to sell Japanese cars that are 25-years and older to those living outside of Japan (or those who come to Japan often and want to ensure they can drive their car when they visit the country). It'll be interesting to see how these second hand stores have impacted new train sales (which were decreasing already).

To put it simply, I was in a rush at akihabara today and bought the wrong trainset (mircroace A3584). Is there any shop in tokyo, better yet, Akihabara, that buys back trains from people? Maybe a place where we can sell second hand or unused trains to shops? Flying back to Singapore next week! Thanks in advance! :)