# An Awesome Ebay Experience



## Tom Parkins (Jan 2, 2008)

Ebay and Awesome Experience??????? Isn't that mutually exclusive? 


I bid on and won a run of the mill Bachman Hopper car. In checking the dealer I noted that it was about 15 miles from me. So I contacted him and he said to come by and pick it up. I drove to his house and he was outside when I arrived. It was an absolutely delightful exchange. He invited me inside and had the car extremely well packaged, but I just took the car. We then went down the stairs to his basement rec room. He had a very simple 2 track loop going around the ceiling. Pretty good size room so he had a pretty long freight. Nothing really spectacular. I spent a good 30 minutes just chatting trains with him and his wife. He was just the nicest guy to talk to. 

It has been a crazy week and this 30 minute diversion was exactly what I needed. It just felt so good to watch and talk trains. Thank you Ebay. 


We now return to our normal ebay bashing......


----------



## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

We now return to our normal ebay bashing...... 
Tom - it would be no fun if all we heard were the nice stories. There's nothing controversial in your post, no excuse for name calling, - nothing! 
Thanks for reminding us the eBay isn't all bad. 

P.S. I have also had positive experiences on the Aliexpress site - that's the Amazon of China, owned by Alibaba. (http://www.aliexpress.com/) While the English can be a bit tiresome, and the repeated "excellent" feedback is clearly fake, the prices are right and usually the shipping, by China Post, is free. (They warn you 7-21 days, but my experience has been less than 7 days.) 
They sell everything, including regular items you find in the USA as 'Made in China', at China prices. Trains too!


----------



## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Well I'll have to admit I also had a good experience with e-bay. Actually I never buy off e-bay but I had a freind of mine do the bidding on an item that I have been looking for for 30 years. We actually got the item but was Leary as the pic did not quite look correct but when it finally arrive I about fell over. It was as advertised as new and original and it was. Reproduction of this Item wen't for just a few more dollars. So I guess is all not bad. Later RJD


----------



## JEFF RUNGE (Jan 2, 2008)

Pete, glad you found a way to spend your money and not participate in the US economy. We should ALL try to do that... It won't be long before the Chinese find a way around our emission and safety standards for cars and start shipping them over here, and next they will be building homes using cheap, substandard materials. ( I suspect they are already doing this as they own a lot of real-estate here )


----------



## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Careful with the political posts, folks. 

Later, 

K


----------



## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Thanks for sharing your experience Tom. 

I've had plenty of good deals via Ebay, generally w/ US individuals (vs. "Ebay stores").


----------



## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

glad you found a way to spend your money and not participate in the US economy. We should ALL try to do that 
Jeff, 
Where were all your steam engines made, pray tell ?


----------



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I do both selling and buying on ebay, and I have had very few bad experiences. I've received a couple things that were packed like crap, but that's about it for bad experiences.


----------



## JEFF RUNGE (Jan 2, 2008)

Pete, JAPAN, purchased through an importer, or dealer who made a profit and paid income tax (fed & state) on it, that help pay for the infrastructure that got it here.


----------



## JEFF RUNGE (Jan 2, 2008)

Kevin, trying hard to keep politics out of this. Had there not been a direct link in Pete's post I may not have responded. Have no problem with ebay, or buying there.


----------



## catherine yronwode (Oct 9, 2013)

I love ebay! In fact, i buy a lot of American 1:1 rural stuff from WWi through WW II on ebay, like old cast iron tools, pottery, furniture, dinnerware, books, and what-all -- and the biggest problem i have had is when rare fortune-tellers' tea-cups from the 1920s get broken by people who are clueless packers and it is a hassle to get the money refunded. 

Being new to garden railroading, i have started buying on ebay and have so far done pretty well on used rolling stock and painted people, especially with the help of old hands here and at LSC, who have identified items that were being falsely (probably innocently) advertised as "large scale G-Scale" but were actually HO scale and photographed without size context. Their help prevented me buying useless out-of-scale pieces, and saved me money. 

The biggest lack i see at ebay is on structures -- not much choice there unless you want a bright turquoise blue Piko general store -- and in fact i have not yet purchased a single building via ebay. I suspect that one reason for this is that people tend to take the trains inside to keep them nice, but the buildings that stay outdoors do get run down and are not considered resalable -- or the shipping costs will be very high, due to their size. 

As for politics, all i can say is "don't show me yours and i won't show you mine." I am old enough to have been raised around trains, rural enough to have always kept a garden, and i vote accordingly.


----------



## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Well said Catherine. 

BTW, given your range of interests, and if you've not heard of it before, you might try Proxibid.com. Real auctions, via real proxi bidders, in real time. LiveAuctioneers is similar, and though not as many auctions, they seem to me to have more of the LS listings.


----------



## adir tom (Dec 4, 2011)

Cat, 
As for buildings, Colorado Structures has a lot of cheap styrene put together structures. They are a great starting kits for kit bashing. I mix and match structures, and add lots of gingerbread. ie. interiors. signs, window boxes etc.. I place mine on cement board, paint in streets, glue on people, animals etc. I do this as I live in the snowy Adirondack and by being on a board, I can take them in over the winter or move then around as I get bored with the layout. Their buildings are the 40's era. approx. 1:25/1:29 scale.


----------

