Wondering how many of you have done the ebay thing when searching for model railroad items. Is it worth the time and energy with the bidding and waiting, etc.?
I have bid on many items, however I have only purchased a few. So far I have only bid on engines and some other misc. parts.
The main problem that I have is shipping. I have not yet been able to purchase a single piece of rolling stock due to shipping charges. You may save a few bucks only to spend $5 in shipping. At best you come out even, and in that case I’d rather just give my buddies down at the hobby shop my business.
On the other hand, I have been very pleased with every puchase that I have made. All I can say is just DO YOUR RESEARCH! I can’t tell you how many times I see people on ebay pay more than what it costs to buy something in a store.
HTH
Canadians must beware the currency used. Most items on Ebay.ca are in U.S.$ and the shipping costs + taxes (GST and PST) can really catch you by surprise when converted to C$. I vote buying local. I have used Ebay and been “stung” a couple of times mostly due to not doing my research.
I’ve had good luck in purchasing structure kits and engines thru eBay auctions. You can find some bargains if you follow some do’s and don’ts:
DO:
Your homework. Research some of the discount internet retailers to get an idea of the price range of the item you’re interested in.
Be patient. You’ll probably see the item you want listed for auction in your price range…eventually.
Check the feedback rating.That’s a good indicator of the reliability of the seller. My experience has been positive overall…most buyers and sellers are trustworthy. Those that aren’t can be spotted by the negative feedback.
DON’T
Catch auction fever. Bid the max price you’re willing to pay, then wait until the end of the auction.
Hope this is helpful.
Bruce J.
i’ve bought:
P2K GP7 Rock Island Locomotive
P2K GP7 Burlington Route locomotive
2 Roundhouse kits
2 Great Northern hoppers
2 Great Northern box car
all the items i got were in excellent condition. the locomotives were awesome. i’m thinking about buying another one from the guy if he has anymore.
I have bought many things on e-Bay, from cars to locomotives to rule books.
The key is to set a limit on the amount you want to spend and to know what you are buying and its value.
For example there was a train set witha Mehano 2-6-0 camelback in it. I wanted the camelback boiler to swap with the running gear from a Mehano 4-4-0 to make a camelback 4-4-0 which was a much more common wheel arrangement (the 2-6-0 is a of a NYO&W engine). Plus I got several cars that were useful for my 1900 ing interests. I won an auction for the whole set for about $40 plus shipping. Two months later there was a guy asking several hundred dollars for the exact same set.
My rule of thumb is to figure what i can buy the item for locally or mail order and then subtract out the shipping costs, that makes my maximum bid. If the retai cost of the item is $40 and shipping is $5 then I won’t go much over $35 so my total cost is $40 (35 + 5 shipping). Also be aware that much of the bidding is done in the last hour of the auction.
I have had some real buys and a couple not so good buys. Overall i use it frequently and enjoy playing with it.
Dave H.
Ive never bought anything, but I had seen this guy selling his whole HO collection for $150 or something once, needed a whole lot of photos to show it all.
i do about 80% of my model train buying on ebay. i love the deals there and the ease of payment. i have only been ripped off once, when i recieved a piece of cr^& locomotive. I also sell there from time to time and i have only ran into 2 people that didnt pay. I can get everything i want and pay less that i would at my LHS. he doesnt discount hardly at all.
you can find just about everything you want on ebay. and it is an excellent place to find all those rare and hard to find older runs. be sure to set what you are willing to pay and dont get caught up in excessive last second bidding. as i type this, i am looking at a pile of stuff i still need to sell since changing eras.
I have bought and sold on ebay, not just trains. As others have mentioned, RESEARCH, know what you are looking for, know how much it costs elsewhere, know your dealers.
If you want something special that is not generally available, set up a search that e-mails you when things matching your criteria are listing.
Several well known Hobby Stores have an ebay presence. One non-train dealer I recently found, and purchased quite a bit from was Stanley tools, they are getting rid of thier over stock via ebay. http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=stanley_authorized_auctions&sort=3&page=1&rows=5000&since=-1&rdir=0
Ebay seems to be a good place to sell used, broken, and white elephant stuff, be it train or anything else. Most new items I seen there can be purchased elsewhere for the same or less money if you know where to buy them. An example is the week before Christmas the local Hobby Lobby was selling trains train stuff at 50% off list. The bottom line is the sellers on ebay are not selling there to loose money. They have to pay for the item, listing fee, selling fee, and paying fee if you pay with paypal. The seller also have to make some money. So thinking you will somehow magically get a bargin there is hype that Ebay sells you so they can make money. FRED
Ebay is probably the best swap meet out there. Yes, you CAN find new things cheaper IF you dig around long enough and are lucky enough to find exactly what you’re looking for, but chances are that you’ll find things more easily on Ebay.
Doing your homework is definitely important. I generally shop for all my big ticket items online, whether it’s Ebay or one of the larger internet hobby shops. I occasionally also purchase from Trainworld, which is really mail order only with an OK website. The key is to find the best price, period.
Knowing what the shipping charges are on Ebay is definitely a big issue. You might pay $2.99 for an Athearn kit, but then pay $10 shipping! Buying freight cars doesn’t really work on Ebay unless you buy batches of them, to lower the individual cost of shipping. Case in point: I buy RTR Red Caboose cars and F&C resin kits from Ebay vendors, but only when I have the money for at least five of each. This way, I can get the cars, including shipping, for less than what any brick & mortar store can sell them for, including the 10%-20% discounts I get from most local shops.
I’ve found that Ebay is best for picking up out of production stuff, used brass steam, and brand new engines. It’s also been a fantastic help in finding research material for the line I’m trying to model. Ebay isn’t the place to look for track, scenery supplies, raw material, or buildings (unless the kit’s out of stock).
As always - Let the buyer beware. EBay is an excellent source if you follow the rules as stated above. I live 55miles from the nearest hobby store. Sales tax has not been mentioned and can certainly offset the freight charge of an item.
Here’s a hobby shop from Canada that sells in US dollars. www.modeltrains.com . Lots of brass too with sales.
Research, compare, patience, set your price of what you are willing to pay, - is all it takes. And I have met some neat people from all over using EBay. But I do not buy from people with a feedback rating of less than 98% unless I email them and ask questions. Check them out if you will.
I’ve had some success with ebay. As it has been said before, if you don’t know your prices and you’re an impatient person, you will likely get burned.
I have found that good deals have been harder to find over the past year. It seems that many have discovered ebay, and often have notions of getting top dollar (and beyond) for their “treasures” (or insert whatever clever word they came up with to describe their old junk).
I’ve also noticed that several dealers have joined in too; often starting bids below MSRP but above what savvy bidders generally considers a fair price.
Freight – well, that’s a whole different story. You just have to consider shipping and handling charges as part of the price of the item. Some may overcharge, but it really depends on what the final bid price is. If you get a steal, then a high S&H charge can be justified. My only rule here is that I don’t bid on an item where the seller has not clearly stated the S&H charges.
It’s always worth it to keep an eye on ebay, but just don’t expect to constantly find great deals.
Ebay rocks if you know what you are doing. As with everything else in this world, the more effort you put into it, the more you will get out of it.
Warren
As everyone else has said, It’s important to do your homework. I’ve bought a couple of locos from eBay, and had a good laugh at some of the crazy prices others have paid. The trick is to work out how much the item would be in a normal hobby shop, and then don’t bid more than this. I mostly look for stuff that isn’t available anymore in normal hobby stores - I won a brand new, never been opened Athearn BNSF Warbonnet Dash 9 dummy recently in this way. Also, be careful of your sellers. Only buy from people with very high positive feedback, this should protect you from the scammers!
I’ve bought a train painting and a train set from Ebay. Sadly, the guy shipped the wrong set and later said he did not have the one I paid for!!![:(!]
[:(]This is disturbing–finding that what you received wasn’t what you anticipated. Did the guy make amends, or are you having difficulty getting what’s owed you?[?]
Ebay is Caviet Emptor, but itsstrongest selling point is its the best dam place on earth to find long out of production items.
Going to a local swap meet saw prices way above what sellers on ebay offered. Remember the swap meet seller knows what he’s selling and wants a premium for it. Many ebay sellers are often just cleaning out gramp’s collection and just want to get rid of it. So you can get some really good bagains out there. Some simple rules:
BE PATIENT, cant find something, 6 days or 6 months, it will eventually show up.
ADD SHIPPING COST TO YOUR MAX BID. never bid without adding shipping to your max bid.
KNOW YOUR MAX BID, DONT EXCEED IT. bidding wars are for idiots.
CHECK THE SELLERS RATING, often the best way to spot a lemon.
ONLY BID ON ITEMS THAT HAVE PHOTOS. at least you have an idea of condition from photo.
NEVER BID ON RESERVE ITEMS. I hate reserves, reserves on items are from greedy bastards who dont want to tell you up front what they want for it. so they put it up for bid starting at $1 and it goes up to $25 after the auction has closed, only then they tell you they want $100, bastards!
I have gotten several items from ebay. I do Large Scale so ebay is a huge source of savings for me. Also there are not many LHS that carry LS, so that do have limited selection and ordering can be both expensive (full retail price) and difficult (one LHS cant get naything unless Walthers carries it, and Walthers has a poor selection).
do your reserch!!!
What he said…
I have made many model purchases from Ebay and frequent it often. My wife buys there often too. We have had mostly good, a couple of less than ideal, but knock on wood, no bad transactions.
Know what you’re looking for and have an idea what market price is…based on LHS +tax and internet, mailorder + shipping. And then decide what your reasonable price is …AND STICK TO IT…like Bruce said…alot of Ebayers have a tendency to get caught in a ego driven last minute bidding frenzy…then they end up paying more for it than list and shipping to boot. Discipline…
Do check out feedback on sellers. If they have have negs or neutrals…read why…alot of these folks are pro ebay sellers and can be quite jerks …in fact, to see how some of them refer to sellers, go to the Ebay Community page and then to the discussion boards…it will give you a different perspective on some of the sellers.
Don’t be afraid to email the seller with questions either.
And do be patient…