I bought a Lionel 217 ALCo off of the bay. The photos weren’t fantastic, but it seemed alright. They said there was a minor repair to the roof, but that everything was in very good condition. I guess I should have noticed a red flag- they said that the front apron was unbroken, but it was clearly broken, only the metal support bracket that fits in behind it was remaining. And there was, rather suspiciously, no good view of the top of the unit. When the units arrived, I discovered that the “minor repair” actually was a nasty roof-crunch that had been “repaired” with a bit of glue, and some melting of the roof, and it looks really ugly! I know not to ever, ever trust the average seller when they say a train runs, or runs well (it actually runs decent, just needs the usual routine servicing, and the E-Unit actually cycles properly), but it looks like I just can’t ever seem to trust anyone’s visual grading, unless they’re a premium seller. I’m going to try to sort it out, but I have a feeling I’m not going to get anywhere with the seller. It’s as though people assume “no returns” means you can just make a sale and then it’s not your problem if you weren’t entirely honest in your listing. I also noticed they overcharged for the shipping. I have a bad feeling about this!
I’ve noticed that most people selling trains on Ebay these days, unless they’re actual well educated, proffesionals, who sell, repair, and deal in trains for a living, the prices they’ve slapped on the items are premium prices, and the items themselves are in poor or simply unremarkable condition. I paid about $85 for a set of equipment that I was expecting to be in good operator’s grade condition. Worn paint, a few scuffs, but nothing inherrently wrong with it. But the damage to the roof goes way beyond a basic repair job.
"Unless bought from a known and trusted dealer who can vouch otherwise, assume every train for sale requires servicing before use"
I would have asked for more pctures of/about the roof before bidding, but that A-unit looks pretty rough in the auction photos even before getting to the roof issue.
Rob
you can always complain to Ebay. Most likely get a full refund including shipping, and seller will have to pay for the item to be returned to them. I don't like going this way but sometimes you have to. You have ones on there that will butter coat an item to sell it.
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
That's why I'm hard-core old-school. Before I buy it I want to see it up-close and personal. Maybe I miss out on some things but I can live with that.
Not having certain articles I'm looking for (or not) won't kill me.
I've bought nearly 1500 items through ebay. The few times an item's description didn't match what I received, the seller or ebay immediately refunded my money. All I needed to do was take pictures of the item to show how the condition didn't match the description. In some cases, I was even told I could keep the item.
From my experience so far, I feel very confident I'll get what I ordered in the condition described. I'm always careful NOT to assume anything about what is being auctioned. If the box, wrapper, or blister pack condition is important to me, I always ask about its condition. Is there any damage? Any tears, holes, clipped corners, markings of any kind, and/or indentations? Are there any missing pieces, pages, and/or packaging materials? I think ebay will side with anyone who has asked questions such as these and has received an item whose condition contradicted what the seller stated. Problems are resolved quickly with refunds being issued within very short time frames. ebay does advise sellers and buyers to try to resolve any problems first amicably. If both parties can't come to an agreement, then ebay takes over and resolves the problem(s) quickly.
I’m very glad to note that this seller was very nice, and offered me an extremely reasonable partial refund. Case Closed, and a happy ending!
I should note, the crack near the cab window was not the mainissue, that I could fix. The problem was the plastic was actually somewhat melted on the top, and there was some questionable patchwork. I will try to repair it, but the scope of the damage was larger than you can see from looking at the cab window. I think the glue used in the ‘repair’ must have partially disolved the plastic around it, or something.
also, of note, strangely enough, the unit is in rather good shape under the hood. it’s just the shell that looks roughed up.
this is much better than the time I bought a 736 from a seller with a lot of goid raitings, and recieved a very rude response, despite a slip of paper in the package incouraging me to try to resolve any issues I might have, with the seller. Funny how these things are sometimes.
My favorite trick is when they post a low "buy it now" price then jack up their "handling charge" WAY WAY WAY beyond reasonable. This is very common with Disney Monorail sets I've noticed. On average they sell for $100 with an average $12 shipping charge. But some sellers have a BIN of $50 and try to charge $62 for shipping, hoping you'll be taken-in.
However I've only been burned once. I bought a Lionel Type B transformer that never arrived and the seller dissappeared.
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Lever my contact is in my profile, contact me, I might be able to help you out on the shell.
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