Not a totally bad running loco but not worth that price unless you have three or four more laying around as parts sources as there is no parts support since LL was absorbed by Walthers. Much better choice would be to buy the Atlas version and end up with a much better loco all around plus at least a source for parts.
I know there were and still are folks who swear by these LL units. However, I certainly agree with your logic.
I have two sets of SD7's,a custom painted pair of PC Life Like's,and an identical set of custom painted PRR Katos,the Katos have the later Atlas bodies with the filled pilots.They run about identical,the Life Likes will pull the paint off the wall.
While the price is certainly not a joke, one has to wonder if they have ever heard of the phrase "zoom in".
I wasted a few minutes and looked at the seller feedback. Wow. Not thrilling. A lot of "not as described" showing.
I have a habit of trying to tell sellers when they grossly miss describe an item..You know,selling something HO as N,wrong manufacturer,ETC.I saw a nice Arnold GP7,guy was selling it as a Kato..I told him exactly what it was,and look on the bottom of the tank,it's says Arnold Rapido,Germany,I got back a song and dance about how he bought it in the 80's,the box says Kato,and he's pretty sure I'm stupid..
My god..How do you get a 257,000 rating?? You know,if you look at a lot of those not as described items,it's pretty clear the complainers are just optimists that don't look at the pics..
Well, I don't actually believe that "rating" is the appropriate word. I look at the positive feedback percentage as the actual rating. 99.2% means that just shy of one in every 100 is a unhappy. Which is over 2500 non-positives. I know sellers who have much higher positive feedback totals, with only a mere hand full of non-positives. Thus I believe 2500+ to be a worrisome number. The complaints I read were a lot of not as described. But there is also showing a quite large number of poorly packaged, broken and no communication comments.
Originally Posted by John Moore "Much better choice would be to buy the Atlas version and end up with a much better loco all around plus at least a source for parts." Well I am a fan of the LL locomotives albeit the split frame variety but I do have four of the SD7's, four of the FA/B2's and two GP18's with the plastic frames. The parts issue is a problem I admit but mine have shown to be rather robust. At the ridicuously low price I paid for them I am very well satisfied. Still as I convert over to DCC these will not be getting a decoder. Just a matter of having way too much to run and needing to cull the herd. Got some grandkids who would appreciate them.
When someone is selling a lot of used stuff,I think one out of 100 is probably a decent number.I've owned and run a few businesses over the years,some people you just can't deal with.No matter what you do for them,it's NEVER good enough..Their hobby is making other people miserable..This guy we're referring to,with the 257,000 rating..If you look at the very first neutral he has,it's a banged up pair of FA's..It's more than obvious they're junk if you look at the pics,yet the buyer complains:"they're damaged more than he led me to believe"..Sorry,they look like a pair of two year old twins got them for Christmas,they played with them outside for ten years,then both their kids got to play with them..How much past junk do they have to be?If you look,bet that buyer left a lot of feedback like that to other sellers.Just recently,I bought a VCR head cleaner.It arrived destroyed..Instead of jumping right on the computer,and leaving a negative,[5 dollar item..]I contacted the seller,had a new one in two days.Bought a dog training collar two weeks ago.It's not really working right.I narrowed it down to a bad battery in the transmitter..Been three weeks since I bought it,asked if could buy a battery..Two day later,got a whole new unit,"keep the other one"..I find that on Ebay,you get what you give..Treat a seller like a dog,get nothing.Treat them like you want to be treated,they'll bend over backwards for you..I always wait a while before I leave feedback,these guys get great feedback from me..
I'm going to disagree. As I noted previously, I know sellers with much higher feeedback numbers and only a mere hand full of negatives. By this I am talking maybe one non-positive in tens of thousands. Reading the types of complaints shown in this instance, for me it shows a sloppy operation. In over 17&1/2 years, I've only had a few thousand transactions, with zero negatives or neutrals. It's not really hard to achieve. Communications is the key. I've started four, plus buying a fifth. (Included owning a successful hobby (trains!) business.) Plus top management at several others. I know all about these things.
And yet,I have leftover negatives on my rating as a BUYER in the old days from people who were just idiots.I buy bades on the item,not the seller.If I get something that's way out from what he advertised,it just goes back,and after 14 years on Ebay,I've never really taken a loss other than a package that was actually stolen..I'm usually buying brand new stuff that's WAY cheaper than I can get it locally,or oddball stuff I can't get anywhere else.The oddball stuff,you buy it when you see it..The sellers rating means nothing to me unless he has a REALLY bad rating.. My ex partner sold a lot of odd stuff,old tools,postcards,stamps,dishes,ETC.He sold usually cheap,odd stuff,and that was just the kind of buyers he attracted.I saw him every day shipping stuff,packaging,answering tons of E-Mails,[While I screamed at him,because he did that instead of fixing motorcycles,on MY time..]As hard as he worked,he had a HORRIBLE rating,because the type of stuff he was selling drew the type of people that wanted something for nothing..
You know, if you are going to try to resell something at a profit, it helps to remove the old price stickers. Note: those prices on the stickers are in Canadian dollars.
I look at seller feedback. If they have poor communications, items not as described, and especially poor packaging, I would avoid unless they have something I really want. For a professional seller to have those kind of comments shows shoddy business practices. E Bay has made it much harder to research sellers and buyers by not letting us see what they sold or purchased. Plus they now show feedback left as "within one month" or "within 6 months". It's like they want to give us less information.
Yup. And the seller of point here has that type of information showing. It makes no sense. Anyone who has ever been to a live auction gets to know who they are bidding against, the tastes of those others, their tendencies in what they'll spend, their integrity, etc. Making all this stuff secret is a turn off.
eBay seems to be doing its best to drive off customers... not so good for sellers. I think they're becoming more afraid of the competition. Withholding information doesn't make me more trusting. I would imagine that they have some interesting excuses... I mean, reasons why these changes were made to serve you better.
I know a lot of sellers who have dumped using them. Including a MAJOR sports memorabilia dealer. As I've noted previously, I have my own web site, and thus eliminated all the meddling and extra costs. Indeed. Myself, I become more cautious, more skeptical. Less inclined to participate. They seem to be run more by lawyers and people with weird imaginations, than by business people.
