I agree that buying on eBay is smart. Just had 14 Walthers replacement loco P2K wheelsets delivered from a seller. Usually I just replace the gears, but this auction ended up being 15 packs of new wheel sets for $20.15usd. That is $104.70usd worth from Walthers.
I have had a hit-or-miss relationship with eBay. Most of my bad experiences come for the big sellers with 2,000+ feedback. I gues those guys don’t have the time to make an accurate description or test everything.
.
The small sellers, probably just guys selling off surplus, seem to do a beter job with things.
.
-Kevin
.
I’m an ebay buyer. 99% of all of my train items came from ebay. I have to admit however that I do miss the old model train shop but it was over 50 miles a way and a pain in the neck to get to…
This will probably evolve into yet another eBay bashing thread, but FWIW,
Gerome:
That was a nice catch!
I have purchased most of my rolling stock collection from eBay (20+ locomotives and 200+ cars bought on eBay) and I have had almost no problems. The problems I did have were very minor (i.e. broken stirrups, probably from poor packaging). I have never had anything not arrive, although some stuff admittedly took its royal sweet time to show up. The only item that I could label as “not as described” was a Bachmann TTC trolley car which was supposedly dead on the tracks. It ran fine! I can take that kind of mistake any day of the week!
EBay is fine as long as you know what the item that you are bidding on is worth, and the shipping charges are reasonable. Being in Canada means that anything being shipped via the Global Shipping Program gets disregarded immediately (American sellers, are you listening?). I will not pay for USPS Priority Mail either, except where the package size requires it.
Dave
Maybe I am (or was) lucky - so far. None of my Ebay purchases turned into a lemon, all of them were as described by the seller. None of my purchases was a real bargain, either, but most of them had a fair price.
The only item of concern is shipping charges. While none of Ebay´s direct business, I think they should monitor what sellers charge.
Kevin,I perfer to buy from a B&M hobby shop e-Bay store since that helps a mom and pop hobby shop to stay in business.
I deal with three of those shops direct through their web page.
I just recently joined the eBay buyers, and got decals. After walthers messed my order (ordered the old Wheeling scheme, but sent the modern scheme,…not a complete loss since I can always use those), I needed a set quick. Spent 9 bucks for the sheet and shipping+ handling
Hello all,
GREAT FINDS!!!
I too shop through eBay.
Just like any other shopping outlet, education is key.
I live about an hour and a half from the nearest hobby store (Caboose in Denver). There are two major train shows; one in March and one in December, and a few smaller ones through out the year- -again about an hour and a half away.
Sometimes I get the “Find of the show” and sometimes I walkaway empty handed.
When buying from eBay I always have to balance cost of the item versus retail, shipping costs (if any) and convenience; do I have to have it now or can I wait until my next trip to Caboose and availability of said item, is this still manufactured?
I just purchased several small laser cut kits on eBay. One of them wasn’t packaged as well as it should have been and arrived damage. I contacted the seller, communicated my problem and sent the item back (yes, on my dime).
A week later the replacement arrived in better packaging and undamaged, on the sellers dime.
I have bought from this seller several times, mostly electronic components, and will continue to based on these positive experiences.
Unfortunately, I have had buying experiences through eBay that I will NEVER do business with certain sellers again, PERIOD!
Over all I’m satisfied with shopping on eBay but “Caveat Emptor”!
And, again, congratulations on the great finds.
Hope this helps.
I have a dozen Santa Fe Intermountain stock cars because of ebay. Always looking for more of them, especially the double deck sheep cars.
I say if you can’t find it on Ebay wait ,you will eventually. How long have Modulars been discontinued from Walthers in HO? Well I got some kits that I was looking for at a very reasonable price just waited a few months and found them. Wishing all experiences were like that. Broken CD jewel cases, Bachmann steam engine with cracked drivers ( seller had no idea,right )and a sign that showed a advertisement I was looking for but sent another instead. Sent those last two back.
Steven
I have had mostly good results with ebay. 2 times sellers did not list the scale so I got n scale cars instead of ho. I also just got 2 boxcars that were very poorly packed and the couplers were damaged during shipping. Its not a big deal to fix but still.
I have gotten lots of great deals on eBay through the years but I prefer going to a local hobby shop or train show so I can see the items in person. You don’t have to pay for shipping and you know what you are buying. However all of my favorite hobby shops have closed. I like buying from reputable dealers and have never had trouble with on-line stores like Train World.
What I find on eBay is that some sellers are very good and honest while others are the typical, any lie for a dollar sort. I find that model railroaders who are selling items from their own collection tend to be honest while second hand stores are not so much. I recently bought a locomotive which was listed as NEW having confidence that it was because the used car dealer, housefulloftoys, had 100% feedback. There was only one picture of it in the box and the picture was low quality.
When I received it I instantly noticed that not only was it used but it had missing pieces which were broken off and not in the box. The wheels were dirty and one of the mounting screws was damaged by the wrong size screw driver. The seller offered returns but I would have to pay the cost of shipping to send it back and not be refunded the shipping cost I already paid for.
When I complained because I didn’t want to pay for shipping to return an item that was listed as new but wasn’t the seller just acted like, “oops my bad, I will refund part of your money and you can keep the item.”
I agreed because I would have lost more money by returning it. Now I’m stuck with a model with missing pieces that I can not replace because some greedy businessman used car dealer wasn’t honest. Unless he bought it from a wholesaler he should have listed it as used.
Sorry for the rant. I’m still feeling the eBay burn. I wonder how many others he has burned.
Nothing worse than getting burned on an Ebay purchase. Recommend looking at buyers feedback if your not so sure how and what your going to get and if the package is acceptable for shipping items undamaged. Case in point for me when buying music CDs see if they are sending it in a cardboard sleeve that is larger than the jewel case they come in.A billowy white plastic bag just won’t cut it for a jewel case. The plastic always gets cracked at the hinge or face or both. Must have gorillas handling things during shipping ! Luckily having bought like six hundred items through Ebay I’ve only had 5 problems all rectified through the seller.
Steve