I can't believe it!!!!!!!!!

[ChiefEagles]

I have been keeping an eye on this for some time.  Mentioned it before.  I think this is an unethical practice.  It has gotten to the point that I think all of you need to know about it.  The Train Station offers an auction.  I hae been winning a few items at a very good price.  I've been watching their shipping costs.  They seem to be making up some money on shipping cost.  I mentioned the other day about the cost of shipping two identical box cars and a die cast hopper was less than shipping of a the same box cars a few days earlier.  Well, I quit bidding there and moved to TrainCity's site.  Received a big box by UPS yesterday from Train City with three items [one was a long ttux set with two long trailers].  Shipping $7.  Well today I got my last item [delvered by UPS] from the Train Station.  A CN box car weighing 2 lbs [per sticker] and shipping was $8.22.  There seems to be a trend, you win a bid at a good price, the shipping goes up [makes up the difference].  Buyer beware.  I usually do not post this type of thing and only inform folks by email.  I really think this needs to be recognized.

[phillyreading]

Chief,

Just who is The Train Station?  Do they advertise in CTT?

Lee

[jpelosi2002]

I've purchased quite a few things from The Train Station as I used to live about 20 minutes away from them. I've always been well taken care of in regards to customer service and they even exchanged a locomotive I was having problems with, no questions asked. I expect this service because to put it bluntly, they ask top dollar for everything in the store. I willingly paid more for the convienince of picking it up myself and the ability to hold it in my hands and seeing it run before plunking down large sums of money. If you walk in there with internet market prices on the brain you'll have a heart attack right there on the show room floor. If you don't like their business practices there's plenty of other train dealers that will be glad to have your money.

Jim  

[ChiefEagles]

I've purchased quite a few things from The Train Station as I used to live about 20 minutes away from them. I've always been well taken care of in regards to customer service and they even exchanged a locomotive I was having problems with, no questions asked. I expect this service because to put it bluntly, they ask top dollar for everything in the store. I willingly paid more for the convienince of picking it up myself and the ability to hold it in my hands and seeing it run before plunking down large sums of money. If you walk in there with internet market prices on the brain you'll have a heart attack right there on the show room floor. If you don't like their business practices there's plenty of other train dealers that will be glad to have your money.

Jim  

Exactly and that is why I wanted all my friends here to know.  This is an auction thing they run and not a store thing.

 

Philly, email me and I'lls end you some links.

[3railguy]

Often times a dealer's defense to this is a handling fee is amortized in a "good priced item". They should really be up front with this stating "shipping and handling".

[luther_stanton]

I have seen this type of thing over on Ebay quite a bit.  I now always check the shipping before bidding.  I got burned in a small positional signal auction – I won the item for something like $10 and they charged me close to $20 to ship as I recall.

 

As a side note, standard USPS Priority Mail is a flat rate $8.10 (http://www.usps.com/shipping/flatrate.htm?from=bannershippingtools&page=flatrate).  The boxes they list will hold a normal O27 car if not a typical Standard O.  Anything more than $10 or so for shipping I am very wary of.

 

Chief, you mentioned it came via UPS.  Their rates are about the same as USPS as they try to stay competitive.  I have found a lot of people will quote “shipping and handling” – the handling is the discretionary part I guess!

[cheech]

I HAVE NOTICED THE SAME THING, LESS FREQUENTLY AT THE TRAIN STATION  MUCH MORE FREQUENTLY ON EBAY.

THERE'S GROUPS OF SELLERS UNDER THE ID 'ISOLDIT.xxxx'      THEY CHARGE $18 TO SHIP...ANYTHING.... REGARDLESS OF WEIGHT, SIZE  OR DISTANCE. YOU WOULD EXPECT THEY PACKED IT WELL FOR THE PRICE. BUT THEY ARE SLOPPY AND ITEMS COME DAMAGED WITH LITTLE REMORSE ON THEIR PART. STAY CLEAR OF THEM.

THEN THERE'S THE ULTIMATE .......PATRICKS TRAINS IN WHEELING WVa.     THIS GUY WON'T COMBINE SHIPPING CHARGES, HE CHARGES $12 AN ITEM, BUT PUTS THEM IN THE SAME BOX.  THE UPS CHARGE IS $11. HE CHARGED $72 FOR THE PACKAGE......THATS THE SHIPPING CHARGE, NOT THE FULL COST OF THE ITEMS.

I LEARNED THE HARD WAY. NO MORE AUCTIONS.

RALPH

[More to restore]

Indeed, Luther, the handling bit is the margin!
I have imported more than 50 Lionel cars from the USA to Europe by bidding on Ebay in the last years and have quiet some experience with the additional income named "handling costs". The majority of Ebay sellers have treated me great and I have just payed the plain USPS rate, anywhere in between 11 and 20 USD/Lionel car. The best one was <Engineer77> who underestimated the shipping costs and never wanted compensation for that, because it was his mistake.
A less nice experience was <Trainz> who have the policy to only use Fedex, and therefore the shipping costs turned out to be a multiple of the Lionel car price.
There have been a dozen that used a 2-5 USD handling margin on top of the shipping costs. I do not have problems with 1-2 USD margin, that can be justified if decent packaging materials are used, but when this margin grows to 5 USD it is not justifiable anymore. I never do business with these blokes anymore.

BTW Chief, surprisingly, I was looking on the Train Station website yesterday and noticed several attractive pieces of rolling stock and books. So, I was about ready to register and saw that I had to fill in my credit card details upfront. I did not trust that, and therefore surfed on. Does Traincity have the same policy?

Best regards

Egbert

[luther_stanton]

ISOLDIT was who got me on the high cost of shipping.

However, the majority of Ebay purchases, especially around trains, have been up front and honest charging only the base shipping costs or a few cents over.

[Poppa_Zit]

I HAVE NOTICED THE SAME THING, LESS FREQUENTLY AT THE TRAIN STATION  MUCH MORE FREQUENTLY ON EBAY.

THERE'S GROUPS OF SELLERS UNDER THE ID 'ISOLDIT.xxxx'      THEY CHARGE $18 TO SHIP...ANYTHING.... REGARDLESS OF WEIGHT, SIZE  OR DISTANCE. YOU WOULD EXPECT THEY PACKED IT WELL FOR THE PRICE. BUT THEY ARE SLOPPY AND ITEMS COME DAMAGED WITH LITTLE REMORSE ON THEIR PART. STAY CLEAR OF THEM.

THEN THERE'S THE ULTIMATE .......PATRICKS TRAINS IN WHEELING WVa.     THIS GUY WON'T COMBINE SHIPPING CHARGES, HE CHARGES $12 AN ITEM, BUT PUTS THEM IN THE SAME BOX.  THE UPS CHARGE IS $11. HE CHARGED $72 FOR THE PACKAGE......THATS THE SHIPPING CHARGE, NOT THE FULL COST OF THE ITEMS.

I LEARNED THE HARD WAY. NO MORE AUCTIONS.

RALPH

One of my friends won an auction from an "ISOLDIT" dealer. Got charged $35 for shipping an early 1950s A.C. Gilbert American Flyer set in the original box. The eBay listing claimed it would arrived "professionally packed and shipped."

The morons shipped it in the original box -- which wrecked about one-third of the value, as it was a fairly rare set. They threw in a handful of styro peanuts and slapped brown plastic shipping tape all over the original box -- label, box markings, etc. Of course, it caught a further beating by UPS.

So as a rule, I stay away from auctions that originate with those dealers.    

[Fred Bear]

Wow, Patrick's Trains is local to me here, and they are about the kindest people in the world! Was this a one time blunder maybe? It doessn't sound like the way those folks do business, they've been nothing but square with folks everywhere as far as I've ever known. Jerry Andrews from Moundsville, West Virginia

[ChiefEagles]

BTW Chief, surprisingly, I was looking on the Train Station website yesterday and noticed several attractive pieces of rolling stock and books. So, I was about ready to register and saw that I had to fill in my credit card details upfront. I did not trust that, and therefore surfed on. Does Traincity have the same policy?

Best regards

Egbert

Nope, seller and buyer has to make their own arrangements.  If it is a Train City item, you can call and make arrangements.  They do have my CC on file as I have had excellent results with them and their quality. Link:

http://www.choochooauctions.com/cgi-bin/ua/main.pl

BTW: the thing I noticed with the other place was, packages weighing more cost less to ship than the small ones.  One weighing 3 lbs costs $10+ and the one weighing 6 lbs was $8+.  It sure was funny it seemed to go with the purchase was a real steal and the shipping was more.  I've been tracking it and keeping the sheets for a couple of months now.  I just wanted to give a heads up.   

[csxt30]

Train City will even let you pick it up & not pay shipping at all, but then you do have to pay the Pa. sales tax, which still is much less. Of course I live only 30 miles from them & do other shopping in Erie. Also, if you purchase clothes in Pa, there is no tax !! Oh, there's another train store in Erie, also !!  

Thanks, John 

[rlplionel]

I have been keeping an eye on this for some time.  Mentioned it before.  I think this is an unethical practice.  It has gotten to the point that I think all of you need to know about it.  The Train Station offers an auction.  I hae been winning a few items at a very good price.  I've been watching their shipping costs.  They seem to be making up some money on shipping cost.

Agree with your assessment, Chief. I won a Polar Express set from The Train Station on eBay earlier this summer. Before I put in my final bid, I checked their shipping calculator for sending the set to my location. The shipping seemed high, so I took that into account when I bid. I ended up winning the auction, and even with the high shipping charges, thought that it was a good deal. Would recommmend that everyone take into account a seller's shipping charges prior to making a bid on eBay.

[Brutus]

Right - I've always calculated the shipping in with the bid to determine what kind of deal I was getting.  I just won 2 cars from trains for about the cost per greenbergs of one of the cars.  S/H for one car was $8 and the additional car was $3 (I think).  Showed up via Fedex today, so no complaints from me!

[ChiefEagles]

Two cars delivered UPS from Train City, $7.  HUMMM

[ben10ben]

"THERE'S GROUPS OF SELLERS UNDER THE ID 'ISOLDIT.xxxx'      THEY CHARGE $18 TO SHIP...ANYTHING.... REGARDLESS OF WEIGHT, SIZE  OR DISTANCE. YOU WOULD EXPECT THEY PACKED IT WELL FOR THE PRICE. BUT THEY ARE SLOPPY AND ITEMS COME DAMAGED WITH LITTLE REMORSE ON THEIR PART. STAY CLEAR OF THEM."

ISOLDIT is a franchise company, and, like many franchises, I think that they can be good and bad. I bought something from one out in Illinois, and I was very pleasantly surprised at how well it was packed. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from this one again. I too have heard some horror stories about some other ISOLDIT franchises.

[Warburton]

I can believe it. My wife sells on ebay all the time and she has been telling me about this practice for a long time. Sellers often charge ridiculous shipping and handling so they can ensure their profit if the item goes for less than they're looking for. Also, this allows them to start their auction at a ridiculously LOW price. Say, a fair price for something is $25. They will start at $5 but put shipping at $15 so they know they will come close to getting what they want. They want to get the bidding going with a low price but cover their rears at the same time. ALWAYS check the shipping policy before you buy. btw, my wife charges actual shipping only unless the item requires some special extra boxing or wrapping and she has to buy supplies for it, in which case she just adds her exact cost. Wish more folks would do that!

[GPJ68]

"If a buyer wins multiple items, and these items do not attain a final price of market value, there will be ebay charges added to S&H and shipping costs will not be divided between items." and "Ebay ending fees sometimes apply."

The above is quoted from an ebay listing I found today (for a Lionel PostWar car) - at least the seller is being honest about tacking on a bunch of additional charges if he's not satisfied with the final price. He also states he'll only quote shipping costs to the winning bidder!  So bid, win, and only then find out how bad you'll get hammered, if the "market value" hasn't been reached!  Naturally he doesn't state what the assumed "market value" is, nor what "market" he's using to assume that "value".  He also adds a $1 for PayPal users if the final price is less than $25 (which is a practice I thought ebay frowned on).

Now this seller may actually be a reasonably decent person, but it's auctions like these that make me hit the "Back" button fast.  Why would anyone bid on an auction with these "terms" (and there are several more)?   Perhaps they REALLY want that particular piece at any cost?  Or do enough people not bother reading the entire description that sellers like this continue to be successful?

Like I said though, at least this fellow is honest about his desire to rook more money out of a successful bidder if he's not happy about the final result......

Oh, and one final quote:   "Type A persons should not bid."  Now I wonder why......