Each hobby seems to have a short list of preferred mail order hobbly sellers. What are the best ones as far as reliability, service, prices, and availbility? Mainly I'm looking at all items for N Scale including track, locomotives, and rolling stock.
I prefer new over used stuff on eBay.
OS
OldSailor wrote: Each hobby seems to have a short list of preferred mail order hobbly sellers. What are the best ones as far as reliability, service, prices, and availbility? Mainly I'm looking at all items for N Scale including track, locomotives, and rolling stock. I prefer new over used stuff on eBay.
---------------------------------------------------------- My favorite is Brooklyn Locomotive Works:
Bill Bill's Railroad Empire
One of the best is Big Al at:
I'm kinda new at online model railroad sources myself, but have been around eBay for awhile: Do keep in mind many things on eBay are brand new and many small shops sell new items via auctions or eBay stores including model trains and accessories. The description sections will let you know if it's new or used (and make sure you buy from someone with a high feedback rating which indicates good service and products). You might not find everything there, but it's worth a look sometimes. :)
~Brad H.
While I agree that these "eBay stores" sell new merchandise, by the time you add the high postage rates these guys want, it's usually cheaper to go to the hobby shop or mail order. really irks me to pay 4.95 postage and get a box with a 2.00 stamp on it. Say what they want about handling costs, etc, that's the price of doing business...
Do you know anything about his weekly specials? Are they new or are they returns which were previously rejected or refurbished?
OS
Roger King spake thus:
"Handling charges" are BULLSHIT. Period. If they want a couple bucks more, just should just increase the starting bid price instead of nickel-and-diming the buyer with bogus charges.
(And I'm an eBay seller, not just a buyer.)
They have been new in the box.
Al let's you know if an item is new or not. Most are new,90%. Now and then he sells something that was damaged in shipping or the like but he tells you in the discription. I've made several good deals that way.
As far as I know when he sells something that is damaged it's the box, not the contents.
J. Bright
Well I get irked the same way, but when you consider the cost of postage, cost of envelopes and containers, a trip to the post office with gas at 3 bucks a gallon, not to mention time, sometimes the postage and handling is worth more than the merchandise. What stupifies me most is that sometimes the bid price is much higher than the "buy now" price.
I prefer dealers with a phone number and good service. Usually their shipping rates are reasonable and they make good on problems.
I have bought and sold through eBay, but am not impressed either as a buyer or a seller.
OS
On the eBay subject; I didn't mean to suggest everyone in there has good deals. Just like online stores or even walk-in stores, it's a place to shop for things and there will be good and bad to watch out for. And of course the maximum bid, shipping, and feedback rating should all be taken into consideration as to whether or not an item is a good, safe buy.
I've done a lot of buying and selling for 5 years now with a lot of good results (and honestly only a handful of disappointments). Obviously way too high shipping charges by some (but not all) sellers are annoying but only if the item price is near what you could get it somewhere else. For example if an HO boxcar was worth $30, final bid was $10, but shipping was set even at a high $10, you've still saved $10.
I haven't checked for awhile, but one reason some (but not all) sellers set a high shipping charge is to offset a low starting bid. If it's still like it was, the higher the starting bid, the higher your insertion fee. But if you keep your starting bid low and raise the shipping cost you still keep the fee low while covering yourself a little from actually losing money on an auction if the starting bid is all you get out of it. EBay still gets a percentage out of the final bid so I don't know why they charge extra for higher starting bids and leave a loophole with the shipping.
Having said all that, I don't see myself buying anything expensive like a current locomotive, but accessories wouldn't be out of the question. Even then I'd rather go through my local hobby shop if possible. The one here sells at a discount anyway (got the 0-4-0 Porter for $49 which I thought was pretty good).
Anyway, I just wanted to put a couple more positive cents in about eBay. I know it can be a pain at times but if you can navigate through the bad stuff, there's treasure to be found there. :)
~Brad H.
SNIPS
Of course, the Post office will pick up packages at your door, whether a residence or commercial. No extra charge. And postage and shippig labels can be obtained from the PO on line from your location, again, no extra charge by the PO. Package tracking can be set up from your site. If the shipment is a Priority Mail shipment, the PO will even supply, free, no charge, both the boxes and he sealing tape, though you have to pick those up at the PO.
I have no sympathy, zero, for the sellers who moan about how hard and expensive it is to ship. If its too hard, stop selling.
I am amazed that what seem to be intelligent people don't think a dealer should charge handling.The dealer has to pay for the box, the packing materials, tape, labels, tracking number, gas to and from the post office and their time. Yes, their time. Why shouldn't they be compensated for their labour in packing your item? Would you do your job with no pay? Then why expect them to do the same? Handling is a cost a dealer incurs and should pass along to the buyer. In a storefront shop the rent, utilities, advertising and time are all factored into their price, you just don't se them enumerated like you do the handling fees, so why gripe when the"hidden" costs are out in the open? Admittedly some merchants charge exorbitant fees (like$20 on a few ounce item) but they are like those overpriced stores you find anywhere. the solution is simply do not buy from them. In fact on eBay you can contact them and see if a more rational fee can be arranged. Overall I have had very few problems on eBay as dealer or buyer (I have even bought 3 cars on eBay and am delighted with them) Like any shopping experience, eBay is what you make it.
cat
On Mon, 3 Apr 2006 09:40:36 -0700, "Jim McLaughlin" purred
Great..if you are not working. However, if you are at work you must make time to go to the post office since their pick ups are done solely during the hours most of us are at work.
Indeed they do. For most casual dealers the 2-4 week lead time before receiving the labels is a problem. Unless you use the online label printing (which does NOT work with some merchant accounts) there is still a charge for tracking.
You can get the boxes (with the same 2-4 week lead time) online however it still costs gas and time to get the "free" boxes at the PO and they do NOT offer free tape. Priority mail is costly and that raises the shipping cost to the buyer, especially on things like books and DVDs
It isn't hard but it does have costs and those costs a merchant should be recompensed for.
cat
What part of this don't you understand:
The Post office will pick up packages at your door, whether a residence or commercial location. No extra chrge.
Postage and shipping labels can be obtained from the PO on line at your location, again, no extra charge by the PO.
Package tracking can be set up from your site, you don't need to go to the PO to do it.
If the shipment is a Priority Mail shipment, the PO will even supply, free, no charge, both the boxes and the sealing tape, though you have to pick those up at the PO unless you are getting quantities in excess of 500 boxes. For that, the PO will deliver to your location.
Handling charges are ok. Packing peanuts, if lou have to buy them, and time might be the only real costs that should go into "handling charges" if one is shupping through the PO.
And if you are smart, you can rdce the "packing peanuts" costs to almost zero by using shredded newspaper. Newspaper / newsprint is a trash item in almost any hoe or business. The time to shred it is the only cost.
But far too many vendors over charge on "handling" to pad trheir oer item prfit.
What, no post office service where you work?
Ever left an outgoing pece of mail in you mailbox as you went off to work? Those don't get picked up by the mail carrier?
No Saturday postal service at your house?
Huuuuuuhhh? What lead time? What problem?
I print off the labels and the postage on my printer with blank label stock, all generated with FREE software from the PO.
Even if there were a "lead time" whats the big deal in planning in advance and getting a stock of labels as you organize you dealing business.
Unless you use the online
Never said there was not a charge for tracking. The point is that you don't have to go to the PO to fill out the tracking form and get a tracking number assigned.
So what? You go once every six or eight weeks. No major cost for gas or time. You pick up a large supply.
I have about 3, no 4 rolls of the priority mail tape sitting right here. I get 'em for free at the PO.
So, should the merchant add on to the cost of each item a separate line item for electricity? For a web site? For advrtising? What makes "handling" any more a protected spoecies of cost compared to electricity, or ballpoint pens or whatver else? Nothing ! There is no logic to the add ons for "Handling" Its only the greed of the sellers and the padssvity of the buyers that les sellers get away with the huge handling charges.
This is now far off topic. We obviously disagree. I'm not going to change your mind and you are nt going to change my mind. I'm dropping this part f the thread and will not respond or participate further.
Jim McLaughlin spake thus:
You'd have to be an idiot to do this where I live; you'd never see those packages again. Anything left outside around here is fair game.
cat spake thus:
I suppose you have a point, in that it costs the seller something to ship a package above and beyond the actual shipping charge. But there's at least one other way to look at this, which is to say that those expenses can and should simply come out of the profit made by the seller. That's the way I look at it, anyhow. I think I'm not unlike a lot of eBay sellers in that I'm not really running a business: I don't keep books, pay employees, and perhaps most importantly of all, *I don't pay taxes*--something any real business would have to do. So instead of looking at it as if I were being cheated by not explicitly charging for all that you mentioned (including the one thing you're supposed to charge for in any business: your time), I just see it as being covered (one hopes, anyhow) by my profit.
That's true, and I've done just that and gotten excessively high shipping costs reduced. (One seller even thanked me for pointing out the actual cost to them.)
Well, yes and no: I suppose if you're a diehard libertarian, then to you eBay is just one more shining example of the "magic of the marketplace" at work. I don't see it quite that way: in fact, eBay is a disruptive economic influence on many other businesses because of its size and power. Try telling that to the thousands of collectors, for instance, who have gone out of business thanks to eBay. (I know one around here who now sells on eBay, but no longer has a store, which is a loss both for him and for me.)
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