Most people especially me have used a site we all know about called Ebay which originally started off as a site to buy items at a good cheap price and sellers would be people who wanted to get arid of items and not worry about huge profits. Today as I shop around on Ebay there are less and less people who are selling good used trains. There are more and more Ebay stores going up which sell new trains. There have been generally about 500 USA Trains listed on Ebay in the past month and I would say 95% of those listed were new items listed by Ebay stores. The problem I seen with these Ebay stores is that most are not a USA dealer as well as other manufacturers so now they have become a 3rd party train store. What I mean by that is they buy the trains from a retail hobby store who which the retail hobby store bought them from the manufacturer, so now we have 2 price mark ups before it becomes available to you. One example would be I often see USA modern tank cars listed o ebay for $129.00. The $129.00 is the suggested USA Price, but you can buy this same train car from a retail hobby store for only $90.00. Sometimes however so many 3rd pary stores have bought the same item, the factory runs out of that item and then you have no choice but to pay the outrageous price from the 3rd party stores. It has been harder for me to find any kind of deal for G scale trains and I think the Ebay concept went into the wrong direction. When I go to the ECLS Train Shows I get mad when I see the same trains cheaper at the show than on Ebay by alot. Ebay was once a place to go for cheaper prices, but not any more. It's still ok to try and fid that rare piece that someone may be selling used, but not for new items. My suggestion if you want a train still in production, buy it and support your local hobby store retailer. Make sure they are a authorized dealer of the train manufacturer you want to buy or you will still be stuck with 3rd party pricing. For me it has been cheaper to buy from a vendor from Illionios and Nevada than on Ebay.
Because Dealers want to buy cheap stuff and make you pay higher prices. It's sad really. People don't have the money in today's economy to purchase even used trains at high prices. So somewhere down the intelligence line some rich dealers who haven't suffered at all in the bad economy said "People are broke. Let's make them pay higher prices." Okay, no thanks. I just lost a Great Northern Show Car to some dealers. Oh well. This is why I stick to the local train shows and swap meets. If I'm going to pay 60 bucks for a car, I'd rather pay it to a person who isn't trying to rip me off. Good example, An out of production Great Northern Aristocraft Long Steel Caboose. Aristo's MRSP is 110 on that. Which is what ebay dealers charge. I can go to my local hobby shop (L&B Hobbies) and they'll sell me that same caboose for 75. Go Figure.
Big E I try to avoid the retail stores on The e way. But the problem of the individual sellers, is many of thier inflated ideas as to what something is really worth. I realize one wants to get at least a certain amount....but be realistic. Then again, an item is only worth something if someone wants it. Im finding it harder to get a really good deal, as well........so I am being much more picky. Happy bidding......... Darryl
Vintage LGB Sightseeing car. I have one. It was dusty but still NIB. I got it at the local train show for 30 bucks. This guy's an LGB Expert and that's what he said it's worth because it was a common car. I see this thing on ebay for over 120 bucks. Not worth it. 70 bucks value for vintage Made In W.Germany? Maybe. 120? Nope. And people will tell me "Sell yours! Make money!" I refuse to rip people off. I want to sell this car and make a profit, but not if it means taking someone's wallet to the bank you know. I hang around eBay a lot. I see things over inflated that shouldn't be. It's pretty sad. eBay caters to the retail store, and they are perfectly okay with that.
A certain vendor who I can't metion on Train Board due to rules about vendor listing, but lets just say they have two stores, one in Nevada and one in Illonios has been playing around with the idea of actually hosting thier own auction for large scale only. We do need to have a back to basics auction for used trains and not some site with 3rd party stores and inflated prices. Shows and Hobby shops are still the way to go now unless a estate auction comes along. The problem with a estate auction sometimes is that people have a notion that trains are worth lots of money and you still don't get a deal.
Sales When I first got onto Trainboard, I looked at the for sale area......and even tried to contact a couple people about their ads........but alas............no responses. I was used to my rc airplane site that has many more posts for sale items. Our choices are indeed few for decent priced items. Not sure If I like the idea of the one vendor starting their own sale site........one would probably have to join their "team" to gain access........and that defeats the idea. D
Low Prices, high shipping cost, caution It seems like Ebay people are yet trying another type of scam. The put low ball auction start prices such as .99 making you think you probably will only pay $1 for that item, but if you check out the shipping price before you bid, it's usually enough to make up the difference for what they want, I have seen shipping prices as high as $40. So always check the shipping cost before you bid on that No Reserve low start bid item. Also another vendor who is a auction place, so now we have a auction withing a auction seems to have outside people bidding up a item or a program that does it for them. They will have a train for example that has no reserve at $1 and low shipping cost at $15 and at that time there is no bids. So you figure, hey I will bid on this one, as soons as you do you have been all of the sudden out bidded. Stay away from any auction that has no bids and then suddenly after you place your bid you have been instantly out bidded, it's another scam to get you upset and to keep bidding, it plays on your feelings of I have to have it and sometimes it works with certain people who have no idea whats going on. Now for the final scam I found. Alot of Ebay stores as you know are not dealers and most are even 3rd party retail sales which means you pay a higher price. Here is the worse part. 90% of these 3rd party stores on ebay have no real store and on top of that they are auctioning off items that they don't even have. They end up being a person like John Smith who sits in his under wear drinkning a cup of coffee behind his laptop eating a slice of toast who orders stuff from the factory and has it direct shipped to your house. So now we have a lazy guy who is laugihing about how he has to do nothing and just made a ton of money off of you. Be careful of any auction that claims they have to direct ship to you, some don't even mention it. This happened to me, I thought ebay rules stated you had to have possesion of a item berfore you can sell it, I turned the matter in and it got nowhere because I finally recieved my item which ended up on back order and thats how I found out about this situation, the person still got a negative from me. There are hardly any honest people left on Ebay which originally started out as a site for people to sell off items they have that they no longer want, no it's turn into a 3rd party retail outlet. I myself have stopped using ebay, at least for now until I see some major improvements. I sure would like the e-store here to take off, lets get the hobby back to the people who care like us and get the prices back down.
The Big E EMD, AMEN!!! As in any auction, be it in person, or online, one has to be VERY carefull as to not get ripped off! I hate the ones, like u mention, that charge an arm and leg for shipping! Come on.......do u think we are stupid?? I sell a lot of R/C items on another board, pier to pier, and have to say it is WAY better than ebay.........and I KNOW what it costs to ship things. Thats what gets me ticked, quick. I wont even consider bidding if shipping is outrageous. I, too , stay away from 3rd partys, or stores. They almost always have the prices jacked. Having said this, I did recently get a great deal on a steam engine.....well....I hope it its.......hasnt arrived yet, but tracking says it shipped. My general rule of thumb, is that if the item is a "collectable", then expect to pay full price or more. If it is just a regular, day to day used car or what ever, I wont go over %75 of new retail. In fact, it would need to be a really unique thing for me to go much over 50%. Thus, I dont win many, but I dont get ripped off much either. I too, would love to see our online sales forum take off.............it is much better to sell to other modelers, than to buy from "sales" people looking to turn a quick proffit. Ok, Im down off the soap box. Darryl
eBay rules do state you have to have the item. During the PS3/Wii launch ebay said "You must have the pre-order receipt photographed in the auction listing and the listing cannot be more then 2 weeks until launch." That meant that if you listed an auction and you didn't have the PS3 yet because of the midnight launch, your auction got removed. This came about during the XBox 360 launch and all the scammers ripping people off. I should think that eBay is policing people, but then again, I highly doubt it. But what irks me the worst is when they use a product image from say.... Aristocraft. AC states that their images may not be re-used w/o authorization. Photographs of the item in your possession are more likely to attract customers then stock ones. Although USA Does have beautiful stock photography.
DragonFyreGT, You are right. most of these 3rd party stores on ebay use the same photo, they all do and 9 times out of ten it's a stolen photo from the manufacturers website. Not to bash all vendors on ebay, there is one I have dealt with that doesn't have a real store due to closing because of economy, but they are still a official dealer and have trains on hand. They also hold true honest bidding, items only seem to get bid up only when someone else bids on them and most of the time shipping is reasonable. I can't mention vendor names, but they are from California.
