Hubley die-cast Lockheed Electra

Twin Engine Hubley Airplane


ended - Saturday, April 26, 2008

Auction grade: B

Starting bid: $25.00

Final selling price: $37.00


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a vintage die-cast toy airplane manufactured by Hubley Manufacturing Company. Specifically, this is a Lockheed Electra from sometime in the late 1930's. It's not stated, but this actual die-cast aircraft was most likely manufactured in the late 1940's after World War 2.

Starting out, the auction's title could use some adjusting for better eBay search engine optimization. Key words such as "Lockheed", "Electra", "vintage", "model", and even "die-cast" can be added. If needed, "Twin Engine" can be replaced with a better search word or phrase. Then again, since the seller already paid for use of the subtitle, those additional key words can also go down in that part of the title. Maximize your key words and phrases to make your auction appear in as many relevant search engine results as possible.

The auction's description isn't bad. I like how the seller goes into brief detail about this die-cast model airplane. I would like to have seen the seller give us the airplane's basic measurements from nose to tail and along the wingspan. It also would have been nice if the seller could have done some research and given us the general age of the metal toy. My basic research shows that it was probably manufactured sometime in the late 1940's, but that's just my educated guess.

The other correction I would make to the description is when the seller talks about the item's overall condition. While the aircraft looks pretty good in the pictures, it still shouldn't be considered "excellent". The seller even admits it when he mentions the paint chips.

"The plane does have a few small paint chips."

Looking at the pictures, I would presume that some of the paint chips are missing, most likely from the aging process. In the pictures it looks very good, but I wouldn't go so far as calling it excellent.

The pictures are great. The seller gets extra credit from taking the time to show use lots of different angles of the aircraft with the main landing gear raised and lowered. There's just no sense of scale in either the pictures or the auction's description. Judging by the relatively low shipping cost, I would guess that the aircraft isn't that large or heavy.

Overall, a few minor changes in the title and description should bring in more potential buyers. I'm a little bit mixed about the starting bid. If this aircraft really is rare and in excellent condition, the actual value of it would probably be three or four times the price of the starting bid. That's another reason why the seller needs to do a little more research and sell the idea of this being a very old and antique collectible item.