Today, after lossing yet another locomotive on the bay, I am wondering where else to buy. I am looking for moderatly priced, used or new locomotives, in D&H paint.
Thanks,
You’re only losing on ebay because somebody else wants it more than you. [swg]
Ebay is still your best option for selection. Sometimes you just have to be patient. I’ve been wanting a Providence & Worster RS3 for ages, but every time one came, it sold for silly money ! After YEARS of watching, one came up a few weeks ago and I snagged it for $50.00 ! Couldn’t have been happier.
Aside from ebay, if you are on Facebook, there are all kinds of buy/sell/trade groups that are very active.
Mark.
This is a good place:
https://groups.io/g/HOswap/topics
It’s free to join, just have to set up an account at Groups.io This group used to be in Yahoo, and I think there still an HO swap in Yahoo, made up of members that didn’t go with the main group.
I’m sure there are other sites like this.
In Ebay, you got to be like the rest, and YOU be the guy that jumps in the last second.
Mike.
I have a treat for you. Don’t give up ebay yet, because you can sign up on this free website:
https://www.gixen.com/index.php
You enter in your ebay account and then tell it what auction you are wanting. Then you punch in your max bid and as long as the auction bidding doesn’t exceed that, you will guarunteed (unless something goes wrong or I misread) get the win. Sounds good, doesn’t it? I signed up, but I have yet to try it. My budget is measly.
You can do the same thing through Ebay, enter your max bid, Ebay will bid for you, until your max is reached, and if your not there when your max is reached, too bad, unless your max is your absolute max, and you are not going higher, than you still loose.
Bidders can still jump in in the last few seconds, and easily bid over your max bid by very little.
As far as a guarantee, the only guarantee is when you are there and watching the bidding, and be able to move within a few seconds.
Yea, I’m one of those bidders that jump in at the last few seconds. Bought lots of stuff that way.
Mike.
Facebook has a few HO yard sale groups that I have used. Most run on paypal. I have good look, never had a bad transaction as of yet. It has pretty much replaced my ebay although I’m not usually looking for something specific.
I use a different sniping service and don’t always win. Maybe I should switch to gixen.
I’ve been wary about Facebook and don’t see a lot of bargains. While sometimes things on ebay seem to fly under the radar, especially if there is a mis-spelling or mis-identification of the project.
Locally, my neighbors tell me that Craigslist scammers have rendered the site nearly useless for buying selling or renting and they use Facebook for yard sales.
The sniping website I use charges 1% of the final selling price - i.e. if I win. So, if my winning bid is $100, they charge me $1 for their service. I think that’s a pretty fair price and I have won more times than not.
Essentially they place my bid the last 6 seconds of the auction. If my maximum bid for the item isn’t exceeded, I win the auction. If it is exceed, I’m not charged anything for the service.
Tom
I have used ebay for quite awhile and have won and lost. I have several items on Saved Searches, so I get a daily notice of items within the search. I look over the items and decide if i want to bid or not. Sometimes when I submit what I feel is the maximum I want to pay, it will tell me that someone already wants it more. There is usually about a week before the auction ends (unless there is a But It Now option) and I think about it over the next few days. On more than one occasion it looked like I was going to get the bid and when I check later I see there was a sniper set up and I lost. I have held out for quite a long time looking for specific items in my price range, but was eventually successful. Oh yes, ebay will tell you when you are outbid too. I don’t bother with setting up a sniping account, just figure my limit and go with it.
Set up a saved search for “HO, D&H” then you will be notified daily of all D&H items that come on ebay; locos, rolling stock and any other D&H items that should come along.
I’ve seen some items go unreasonably high priced for one or two of them, then suddenly one goes for a modest price. The people that really wanted them got theirs (for a high price) and the price dropped back to reasonable for the rest of the bidders that follow. It will bounce back up if there are two bidders that really want something at the same time. From the sellers standpoint, they see an item going for a high price, the hungry bidders have bought and either your item doesn’t sell or sells at a disappointing price. The whole auction thing is sort of a crap shoot, for buyer and seller.
You can also keep checking Modeltrinstuff, Trainworld and other discounted dealers to see what they have. I have found things on sale and if you sign up for their emails, they notify you when there are items on sale. Tony’s Train Exchange in Essex Jct occasionally h
Just keep trying.
Sometimes people don’t know what they have and list stuff “buy it now” for cheap. If you search every day, and happen to check late at night, after most people are asleep, or early in the morning, sometimes you can jump on a “buy it now” deal and scarf the items for less than other people have the starting bid at, for the very same item.
The key is to be persistent and not give up. Also–go to shows like Timonium–there will be D&H stuff there and sometimes it is affordable because you are a little “out” of the regular D&H territory.
John
I have found many bargains this way. It helps to learn how to use the “Saved search” feature and choose email alerts. I did this recently for some old Proto 2000 Mather box cars, both kits and RTR. The box cars didn’t seem to be made in the same large numbers that some other P2K cars were. Not long after, I was notified of ones that were listed at $10, buy-it-now with free shipping! [:)]
I would get alerts any time one was listed. Sometimes they were stock cars, as John says these are sometimes listed by non-RR people. I also have advanced saved searches that I like to check every now and then. Use key words and the minus sign to eliminate words you don’t want in the search, for instance, Lionel, if you are sure you don’t want those included in the search.
Make the system work for you, it can pay off.
Me too. It’s the last ten seconds that count. I can’t understand why bidders will ratchet up the price so fast when there are several days until the auction end. It is good for the seller, though.
Good Luck, Ed
Or, the first bidder who will plunk down nearly the Buy It Now price at the get-go. Yea, those mystify me, too, Ed.
I’m also one that hunts down Buy It Now bargains via saved searches. Even then, saved searches don’t catch them all because of how the item is described by the seller and I manually search for an particular item anyhow.
Even if I don’t win every bid, the hunt can sometimes be as much fun as bidding. And sometimes I’ll place a watch on an item just to see how much it will go for at the end of an auction. I recently saw a BLI 4-8-2 L-4 Mohawk go for over $1,100. Glad I picked both of mine up for MSRP or less.
Tom
I’ve not been buying D&H, but for modestly priced locomotives and rolling stock, I’ve been doing well with a combination of train shows, train forums (Tyco Depot, Model Train, Trainworld, etc), Cragislist, Trainworld and ebay.
The key seems to be patience. If I want long enough it seems that things I am interested in show up. I’m not sure there is a solution for folks who don’t enjoy the hunt.
Thanks for posting that group. I just signed up and it seems to be quite active. Will definitely be looking forward to seeing what pops up there.
You should sign up for the emails that trainworld sends out. They get closeouts from various companies and then sell them at very low prices. www.trainworld.com
I have bought quite a few engines from them as I could not believe the prices!
Disclaimer-I am not affiliated with them, just a hobbyist…
Neal
Count me in for the HO swap site mentioned earlier. They sell so many different reporting marks of freight cars and locos. I’ve had a lot of success.
With so much riding on the locos, I much prefer buying them new. I know that’s more expensive but why have a loco just sit there? Perhaps my bad experience buying a used car turned me off of buying anything mechanical pre-used.
I have been hunting on eBay for rare brass items since 2 years ago but for new release non-brass item, I usually bought them from Train World or local hobby shops if it is available in my country.
The trophy of my last battle on the bay was an NJ Custom PRR Q1. I am lucky enough to lose an ALCO brass streamlined PRR K4s not long before Bachmann announced to make a plastic one with 4 numbers (it’s for display only so no big deal). Sometimes losing a bid on the bay can be a blessing in disguise. [C][swg]
Harrison, eBay is your best bet.
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Decide what reasonable price you are willing to pay, then be patient.
.
I have been on eBay since 09/SEP/1999, and I can tell you this… If it was mass produced, and you are willing to pay a fair price, you will eventually get it for the price you are willing to pay.
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If you need it now you will pay more.
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-Kevin
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I’ve noticed that buyers tend to push the prices up on D&H painted locos on ebay. I think you simply have to bid high. Maybe discount stores have competitive prices, but the popularity of the paint scheme probably means they sell out quickly too.
Doesn’t make any difference to me. Just a few minutes ago, I put my max bid on something that’s six days out. I’m not willing to spend more than $30 on the thing. If someone’s going to spend $31+ on it, I’m going to lose in those last ten seconds anyhow in a sniper’s duel.
That’s the trick, you put in your highest amount, and forget about it. That’s fine, I also have done that, and I’ve been surprised at some of the stuff I’ve won, for a little amount.
But if it’s something you really, really, really want, your going to be watching and waiting with fingers ready to move. [oX)]
Mike.