Buying trains from a catalog is pretty expensize and online the shipping is pretty high. But with ebay you can get deals is this always good or is there other resources out there that the trains aren’t so high in money.
I have had a lot of experience at buying rail stuff from ebay and up to just recently i could recommend it. I had some really good deals and everything went pretty good for months.
However my last 3 transactions were no good at all. One the guy never sent me what i had bought and paid for a nice little green powered tender to go with my Sachsen. he got into trouble and had to give me my money back. Then on antother deal i had trouble with freight; wanted to charge me $86.00 for something that should have been about $35.00.
The last one was quite strange i bid for an itemand won it and then it just disappeared from the listings.
I have since had trouble as i have been notified by ebay that someone has been trying to illegaly access my Paypal account from ebay. I know who it is and it is someone i had a brush with some time ago; he appears to me to be a nut, so who knows.
I will still buy some stuff but look carefully at the seller you need 90 % at least rating but then read the comments too much funny stuff and don’t bother.
What i have done now is to buy new stuff from ridge Road station and i have had a bit of trouble there as well. But to give them their due they are very cheap and the hickup i had could have been a one off thing and i am going to try them again.
Rgds Ian
Yesterday I got one of those scam e-mails purportedly from Paypal requesting that I update my account information! HA! GOTCHA!!! I’ve never used Paypal and don;t have an account with them!
I forwarded it to the paypal spoof address & deleted it! They replied that it apparently stemmed from e-bay. Another good one as I have never done e-bay. I figure why make it any easier for them to get your info!
Yeah, if they are determined they can get it, but I ain’t gonna hold it out there on a silver platter!
You can find some good deals on ebay. I’ve gotten some rolling stock that is no longer available through the commercial dealers and been very happy with them but, like everything else, it’s “buyer beware”.
A couple of things that I do when I consider bidding:
- as Ian suggests, look carefully at the seller. Personally, I don’t even like to go as low as a 90% approval rating. I don’t need even those odds.
- Read the descriptions CAREFULLY!! Then read them again. Look at the pictures CAREFULLY. Especially on used items. Try to make sure you are biddiing on what you think you are getting.
- See if the item is available at a dealer like WholesaleTrains.com or St.
Aubin or Ridge Road and compare the price there to where the bidding is going. I recently watched a USA reefer I was interested in go for ten dollars more than I could buy it for at St. Aubin. - When comparing bid prices to dealer prices, remember that most ebay sellers charge more than actual shipping costs. Some add “Shipping & Handling” and other fees. Most dealers pass through the actual shipping costs only.
- Remember that USA Trains makes rolling stock in two significantly different scales. Be sure you know whether you are bidding on 1:24 or 1:29.
- Don’t get too carried away with the bidding. It’s fun to get into the bidding but before you know it you can find yourself committed to more than you intended, both price wise and in number of items. I always set a limit on each item before I start bidding for it and, it it goes higher than that, I have to let it go.
There are some neat things on ebay; there is also some junk. Have fun.
Dan
I’ve had mixed results with Evilbay. I’ve scored some really great deals from excellent sellers, but my PayEnemy account got jammed up and the Hindi speaking “customer service” rep could do nothing and I lost over $200. I still can’t use PayEnemy to this day and have to accept only money orders for payment.
As Dan suggest, be VERY careful when buying from Evilbay. Much of the time you can get the same item new from a reputable online hobby shop for LESS than the used Evilbay price.
I buy trains on ebay a lot. You just have to be careful! ALWAYS check the sellers feedback! If he/she has had more than lets says 5 negative feedbacks within the month, you should probably hold off. Also, make sure you have a good idea of what the item is worth in retail. Don’t place a bid of $100 when the car is only worth $60 in retail! Also, look at the pictures carefully to make sure you are getting what the description says. If the pictures ar fuzzy or blurry, just forget it. They are usually trying to cover something up. Always check the shipping costs, they are usually not to bad, but just in case, they might overcharge you! Also, I would recommend not buying overseas (no offense to our guys over in the UK and Australlia). It can be just to big of a hassle, and the shipping rates can get pretty expensive. I have heard a lot of stories of people losing hundreds of dollars and their winning item never showing up from overseas.
Just a few tips! Hope this helps! Remember, just be careful about and ask lots of questions!
I’ve used ebay for quite a while, indeed the majority of my stock has come from Ebay.
I agree with most of the above. keep an eye on prices - a classic is the SDA tanker from LGB - Ebay has them listed for more than they can be bought retail. I usually use a range of dealers to cross reference prices, and have built up a library of books and catalogues to see what is what.
So far I have not had any problems. Paypal has worked just fine!
I have found one guy in Austria via Ebay - have since bought more off of him as his service and advise is worth the $$.
So too a dealer in America - bought off ebay and now deal direct with them. They can ship stuff to me here for up to half the price of buying locally.
I also sell bits, and you can tell a novice by the way they bid. Set your limit too, and stick to it. Only in extreme cases will you see something really rare that won’t be back for a while!
Nic, could you expand on that for us novices? [:I][?]
Thanks,
Dan
Hi Dan
Er Should have proofed that a little better.
No offence was intended!
Hey, absolutely no offense taken. [:)][:)] My question was serious - I’d love to hear any tips and observations from a seller’s viewpoint that would make me a better and more successful bidder.
Thanks.
Dan
As both a buyer and a seller:
Check to see that he has some feedback. If he doesn’t, try to get in touch with him. Don’t worry about a couple negative feedbacks if the rest is positive… He likely hit a grumpy customer.
My first 2 locos came from Ebay. 'Course, I had to buy 3 to get too. I hadn’t learned the importance of feedback[B)]
Dan I agree with you and i would stress this bit about prices. i have bid for stuff and not won it, and then i found i could buy it for less new from Ridge Road Station.
I am referring more now to accessories like track contacts and supplementary switches.
rgds ian
The “buy it now item” is one way I’ve had good luck with ebay, the auctions are another story…
To amplify on the checking feedback: See what the seller’s response is to the negative feedback. If it is always “the buyer is a jerk” then skip that auction.
Some problems will always occur. Statistics say it will be the seller half the time and the buyer half the time. Always the buyer’s fault is just not normal.
Regards, Greg
My big problem these days and if it can’t be worked out properly i willnot buy anything more from ebay and thats is freight. They try to rip you off a lot. In ebays eyes the seller is always right until proved otherwise and as a few people have said some of them are real shonks.
To mention a name, i have had terrific service from Spearkat and i have done my best deal ever with him The items were expensive but very good quality and reasonably rare, i got about 6 items out here by sea freight and even though it was a wait, they arrived almost exactly on time, beautifully packed and i am very happy with what i bought! which is saying something if you knew me!
Rgds ian
To me the “deal” days are long gone
Ever since online retailers discovered they could sell on ebay the # of deals has plummeted, most of the stuff there now has starting bids at or above what I can get it for direct from a reputable online large scale dealer like Ridge Road or San Val.
I have to dig thru a pile of online ebay retailers just to find the sellers just trying to sell their stuff to other modelers. As a result I havent bought much lately…been cheaper and easier to just drive over to San Val
Well you wont hear me being anti Australian too much, but the prices being offeredby aussie sellers are a joke and i have given up trying to tell them. I just don’t bid on anything remotely Australian being offered.
they must be joking.
Rgds ian
Hi Dan
There have been some interesting comments on the thread. Have travelled across our continent in the last week with work, hence the delay.
I am not sure if Ian was refering to LGB retailers, or to those selling on Ebay. I think those selling on Ebay in Oz merely reflect the retail situation here. With one Supplier, prices are at a premium.
I have bought lots off ebay, and now direct from two retailers in the US and one in Austria - these are linked from my site.
One can sell me four switches, airmailed to Oz, cheaper than I can buy two locally. Delivered in 10-14 days, verses anywhere up to 12 weeks locally.
My experience with new Ebayers is that they tend to bid in small amounts, and very often. They seem frightened to put their money where their mouth is, ie place a single bid of what they are prepared to pay, and then see what happens. Great for sellers - they help push up the price.
My other experience is that they will pay more than something is worth, generally more than retail. The web is such a great tool that one can easily find three or four retailers against whom to compare prices. My favourite item for the ripoff is the San Diego and Arizona tanker - US$30 from TrainWorld, listed for fourty, fifty or more greenbacks on ebay. There is really no excuse for being ripped off.
Feedback is important - just wish people left it for me!
Freight - The web allows access to the USPS site for calculations - it isn’t as cheap as Aussie Post (we are luck
If you think that’s bad, take a look at the current bidding for a USA Bear Whiz Beer reefer - now up to $202.45!! [:0][:0] I don’t know what the going retail price is or whether it is even still available but $200 for a reefer? I can get a great little GP38-2 for less, including shipping.
But there is a difference between getting carried away with bidding and being ripped off. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement (?) of the bidding competition and overbid if you haven’t done your homework. (i.e., “painful lessons learned”) [:I][:(]
Anymore, I don’t bid on items because the starting minimums are set higher than I consider reasonable. It looks like otheres agree because more and more items are finishing their times without attracting bids. This is especially true for the Buy It Now items but the reserves on more of the regular bid items are being set near or at the retail prices. It’s getting to the point that, for the few bucks saved (if any), I’d rather go through an established dealer and have the security that they will be there is I have a problem. Well, maybe a little more security. OK, at least I have a phone number.
The thing I find more offensive, however, is the unreasonable shipping charges. It is pretty apparent that this is where some of the sellers try to make up the low margins on the item sales. I saw several locomotives listed last night that carried shipping of more than $50 for standard ground shipping. For that amount it should be coming overnight or they should be hand delivering to my door! Other sellers are now adding handling and packing materials charges. Bah.
Still, I will admit that I enjoy checking the new listings every couple of days. You never know wh
I still haven’t, don’t, and do not anticipate doing e-bay! Just don’t like the concept!!!