A Lionel Reading T1 4-8-4 18006 for $202.+$45. The $45 shipping seemed excessive to me so I requested if he could ship it lower to my zip code. As far as I know this is the lowest price, they usually go for $350 or more. Patence, luck and keep trying I have gotten really good deals. I also have the very similar NYC Mohawk that came out around the same time. I paid $945 for it near the end of the days when these trains were thought to go up indefnitatly. Needless to say I cringe when I see the prices on eBay now. The only way I would buy a new engine now is because I just have to have it now.
Also won a postwar GP-7 repainted to Southern Pacific, My favorite. It was in Calif. so I thought I would have to pay sales tax which here is rediculus. But PayPal diden’t say anything about it. $71+ $10. These two auctions ended during a work day.
As far as the $45 shipping charge goes, I don’t know where the seller was shipping from but that seems excessive to me too. Could you tell in advance that shipping was going to cost $45? Often, the shipping charges are stated or calculated in advance based upon location.
The seller was probably countering the percentage charges that Ebay adds to the seller’s fees for both the item and the shipping. Buy it now if I recall correctly has a higher fee, while bid items are somewhat lower as far as seller fees. No one is really “happy” about this fee on shipping.
On the T-1 the seller has to pay $18. for using ebay so after that its leaves like $27 to ship and don’t forget Paypal will also get about $5 so now your down to about $22 to ship all these fees are a killer I try to take this into acount when I buy an item from ebay and when I sell I try to account for that when I list an item so I basiclly know how much I’ll have left if it sells. I really don’t like the rule you have to use paypal or another electronic way of taking funds I never had a problem from a check or a money order from an indivual as I stated and I held all shipping 10 days to ensure it cleared my bank.
also its not up to paypal to collect sales tax its up to the seller so the seller didn’t put it in.
Sounds like you got a couple of nice engines thou.
Oh yeah buy it now doesn’t cost the seller anymore now.
The Paypal rule is there to protect the buyer, not the seller. According to what’s been posted on one of the other boards, a new Paypal rule has kicked-in. Sellers do not get their money until either positive feedback is posted, or three weeks go by. (I assume neutral feedback also releases the money).
As far as the original poster’s comment about shipping goes:
If the seller described the shipping cost in the auction, then the buyer should just pay it. When I bid on an item, I include shipping in my total cost, and adjust my maximum bid accordingly. I cannot imagine anybody doing anything different.
I paid 53.00 shipping on a Lionel ABA El Capitan set but I won the set for 149.00 brand new so 53.00 was not unreasonable over all considering the deal you can some times get. Sometimes if you see the shiiping is to high contact the seller and ask to see if they will give you a break on shipping. I did this twice and ended up with free shipping they especially go for it if you use the buy it now option. Try it out next time and you may get lucky.
If I think the shipping is out of line I contact the buyer first and if not willing oh well then theres cases and this is why ebay now charges fees for shipping too so my statement befor was low as I forgot to add the cost of shipping into getting the fee so it would be like another $4 so there is a lot of fees for the seller.
I had ebay/paypal hold my funds till the seller left feedback when I had a new account but my main account no they don’t as they know they would lose to much business folks wouldn’t go for that as a lot sell as they need the money fairly quick not 3 weeks down the road. they did it once and i questioned them about it noting I had another account at the time with over 800 positive feed backs and no complaints they dropped it and issued my money. At times I understand where there coming from but they go overboard doing a lot they do.
You have to take the good with the bad on eBay! The Good is you got a great price. The Bad is you had to pay excessive shipping,[tdn] but that kept a lot of people from bidding.[:D] The way I look at it you got a great deal…way to go![tup]
The $45 shipping on the T1 might not be unreasonable. It depends on the destination, weight, and size and shipping service. When I was selling on ebay, I sold a 2000 reissue of the 356 freight station to a guy in CA, and I used the smallest possible box. The cheapest rate USPS had was $30 to get it from SW PA to CA. At the time, I was chraging a flat rate of $10 for shipping eveything excluding smalls, which would be less. I learned my lesson with that.
When I am buying or bidding, I make sure to take the shipping cost into account before making my decision. If it seems excessive, I walk away.
I am the OP. On the T1 4-8-4 he returned $22 so shipping is acceptable $23. The GP-7 repainted to Southern Pacific arrived today, very fast shipping and runs perfect, looks good.
I won another SP today Lionel GP-20 $72 + $11. I feel a little guilty as I have been buying a lot lately but that won’t go on foreaver.
I just sold 2 boxcars so I bought a dinning car and combo car in NYC by MTH there 18" long and suppose to run on O-42 track. I have O-42 and O-54 so I’m good there probably put it behind my Lionel PA-1 and PB-1 that I won about a week and half ago which are suppose to arrive Monday. so I now will be able to have A-B-B-A in PA/PB’s all in NYC grey. Now I will be able to see the piece that Lionel never sold as a separate sale item so I can make 2 for the PA-1 I have already its the piece in the nose which actually holds the number boards. Also with my idea of renumbering them I think I will be looking into maybe having some rubber stamps made to do it. and this way I can number them with true NYC numbers from the 40’s - 50’s [:D]
Dennis that is a great price for that Lionel Reading. I use Ebay quite abit and patience does pay off as deals always pop up. I recently picked up a Texas Special for a great price as I found it accidently listed under somethong funny like Texas Trains! Even better it ran like a champ w/working horn…which is rare on Ebay w alot of postwar gear.