Have any of you thought you found a great buy and found out different? My boy bought me such a find a Kato BNSF executive loco that he brought over and gave me for my collection. Well tonight I got it down to look it over after almost a year sitting on the shelf, what a surprise I got. It was a new loco alright it looked like he bought it and started to assemble it and got distracted, and a little someone took it out side to play in the mud. I had to completely disasemble it and soak in the sink to get the mud off. It had dried to a powdery weathering that we all wish we could copy. It is now all put back together and oiled and all thats left is the add on parts that he must have gotten upset about and didn’t complete. He must not have had enough knowledge to take it apart to clean it or so upset it didn’t matter anymore so on E Bay it went. If you have had such a great find let us know I dont want to be the only one this has happened to. Jim.
I have learned the hard way to study the pictures very carefully, and if the pictures are no good then…caveat emptor!
Dave
I have bought quit a bit of stuff off of E-Bay. Some was pretty good, I got three Athearn locos that turned out to be great, detailed out and ran perfect. Then I got some Bachmann locos I ended up just throwing in the trash. They looked good in the pics but were total junk. So I suppose its just a hit and miss thing.
Stacey G.
I got a bach. GP40 in alaska railroad colors didn’t work so I had to send it to philly, buyer beware.
I have got some great deals on E Bay also but the Kato was sure a surprise, jim.
Hi!
I’ve been an avid Ebayer sincd 2000. Adding up my two screen names, I’ve had over 1000 transactions, buying and selling. Throughout all those “deals”, I got cheated one time (lost $25) which happened early on. Three or four times the item was less than expected, but all three times the “fine print” in the ad should have warned me off. Fortunately, these were for relatively small items. Also, I’ve had two occasions where I felt the item was misrepresented, and the seller refunded my money.
To sum up, out of almost 1100 transactions - about half of them train related - I had less than 10 unhappy experiences. That’s a pretty good “batting average” I would say.
The thing is, assume nothing. Read the ad carefully, and if you have questions, email the seller. Of course check his feedback percentage AND the total number of transactions. If the seller isn’t 100 percent positive, check back on the individual feedbacks to see what the problem may have been.
Recently a Spectrum 2-8-0 with DCC/Sound was at auction. The price was right, but it was used. The picture and ad looked OK, but the feedback was less than 100 percent. Considering the seller’s relatively few transactions, this was important. Looking for the bad transaction, I found where he had ALLEGEDLY sold a used loco to a guy who claimed it was missing detail parts. And, the transaction was not subsequently made good. Result? I did not bid on it, and it only sold for $85.
Oh, also check to see where the item will originate from, and the shipping fees. Remember, shipping is NOT cheap, but the fee needs to be reasonable.
If you wish to be happy with your eBay purchase, especially if it is used, re-read mobilman44’s reply and then re-read it again. It says it all.
Rich
One other thing to add to mobileman’s excellent post - don’t get caught up in auction fever! Unless the item is say a brass piece where they truly did only make like 50 of the thing, NOTHING is that scarce. And if it’s a current production item, or at least recent, check the cost + shipping with one of the reputable discount vendors like Modeltrainstuff. Many times an item ends up cheaper from a regular retailer.
A good portion of my collection has come from ebay, and I really only had one less than perfect experience, with a damaged loco that I can’t readily tell if happened in shipping or it was already damaged, although the photos on the auction show it undamaged, so I think it was more an example of poor packing - really poor because the older P2K locos that came with the shell not attached did so for a reason, the box is not designed to hold the assembled loco, which is what the selled did - put it in assembled, and it broke off one of the pilots.
I’ve passed up many things as the bids went too high, or just skipped entirely trhing with too high a shipping. I’ve sold quite a bit on ebay as well as buying, so I have an idea of how much it really costs to ship things. Nothing annoys me more than paying what I know is enough for Priority Mail and then have the item come a week later Parcel Post.
By paying attention and not getting caught up in the frenzy, and just waiting for the next one to come along, I’ve scored some excellent deals, like unopened P2K S-1 switchers for $25 and other brand new locos for $40 or less.
–Randy
Yep. Patience is definitely a virtue when it comes to bidding and buying on eBay. I’ve found some great deals over the years and I’ve also passed up on some presumed “problem children”.
Quality pictures, reasonable postage, and 99.9% or > seller rating are generally good signs of an honest seller. Their readiness to answer questions score big points in my book, too. Poor pictures, excessive postage, a lower seller rating, and gruff answers to my inquiries means I move on to another item.
Tom
LOL
I once asked a seller of a new item with a Buy It Now price in excess of the MSRP if he would accept the MSRP for the item. His answer was that I had insulted him and now he wouldn’t sell it to me at any price.
That’s all that I asked him in my original question. Would he be willing to sell the item at the MSRP. The item was still generally available, just not in stock at Walthers or MB Klein, the two places that I normally shop on line.
So, Tom’s comment about gruff answers is good advice.
Rich
Rich,
I’d be curious if it was from one of the 2 or 3 eBay sellers that I’ve run across over the years that consistently charge 30% and more above MSRP for items - EVEN when they are in stock at other online stores. And they usually have stellar ratings (i.e. 100% positive feedback w/ 10,000+ feedback scores), which either means that :
- They are able to manipulate their eBay accounts
- Their buyers are idiots and don’t do their homework
- All of the above
Tom
While I’ve gotten several good deals over the years this one remains my best “deal” to date.
I’d say 2 and 3. I wish there was a “report price gouging” button. [swg] I’m sure that ebay would clean up too much if they did that. lol
Tom,
I went back onto eBay and looked at my messages, but they don’t go back more than 90 days so I cannot find out who sent me that message.
PM me your 3 sellers and see if that rings a bell.
Rich
actually ebay was where I got my pride and joy and is where I get a majority of my stuff. though I bought two BN coaches from wholesale trains.
I like the sellers that charge $9.95 to ship one N scale car…
Bill
I too shop Ebay for most of my purchases (partially because the only LHS is Hobbytown?) and I have over 1400 transactions, mostly selling though. I usually wait for the right price for an item (loco) and then only bid a max that I am willing to pay. When I win, I get a good price. I have had a couple of bad purchases but made good on them when reselling. One of the most important things to remember is that good quality photos can sell an item much faster and at a higher price. I recently bought a ‘lot’ of about 8 engines and one was a Big Boy. Well, it turned out to be a Monogram plastic model without a tender. I painted it, weathered it and resold it for over $100. Making lemonade out of lemons! As most will advise you though, buyer beware!
However tedius, this is how I support my hobby. But, I always provide full disclosure on items I sell. I don’t want to be one of those sellers on Ebay that constantly has feedback issues!
-Bob
that’s what doesn’t make sense to me.
I ignore the sellers with robber baron shipping prices like that for one car after seeing a P2K HO engine shipping for $6.95.
I think these over chargers try to recoup some of their e-Bay/Pay pal fees with unrealistic shipping charges…
I purchased two Athearn locomotives in a set advertised as new. When they arrived they did appear new but had only about a third of the railing and other detail parts. I asked the seller for a $20 credit to purchase a complete set from Athearn at which point the seller cancelled the sale, filed a complaint against me and demanded I return the locomotives the real reason being that I got them at a much reduced price from retail and they felt they were losing money on the sale. Long story short; I kept the locomotives and paid the $20 for new railings which made the good deal only a fair deal. Other than that one time I have purchased at least 100 other train items off of Ebay with no disappointments. I do agree that some sellers are charging extreme shipping charges in case the item sells at a lower price than they desire to recoup part of their loss.