If I buy on ebay and have a question which is not sufficiently answered by a reply email, I'll ask for photo's. The best thing you can do about that is give neutral feedback. A negative feedback results in a negative feedback for you, but a neutral feedback with the good description (item worse than advertised/ seller not honest about condition/ etc) will do the trick.
Normally I browse through someones reputation first, because for me a return is not possible. I've bought a fair amount of trains with ebay and my experiences are mainly very positive.
If someone is not clear about it, doesn't give sufficient information, can't give more photo's, etc, then leave it!! You can ask in advance, and form an imige of the sellers behaviour (with help of the feedbakc) before you make a bid. If you don't feel right, don't buy.
I had a steamer in mind, asked which sound system it had and the answer was: "I think it has railsounds" Yeah, of course. What are the sounds in the railsounds I asked. "A bell and a whistle I guess" came back. With these kind of answers you CAN expect a signalsound or mechanical whistle. Obviously I didn't make a bid.
On one picture of another item I found a blurr on a truck. I asked if it had any damage or rust, because of the blurr. "I picked the foto from somewhere on the internet, I don't have a camera of my own, but it's exactly like it and it has no damage". Well thanks, but I'm not bidding.
It's sometimes hard to let something go, but there hasn't been any item that didn't show up in another auction later on.. Sometimes a bit of damage does the trick; I picked up a observation car for my postwar santa fe set, without scratches or dents and without missing parts apart from the nameplates, for $36.. (and that is the original aluminium silver dawn observation car)..
Keep your eyes open and read carefully before you buy and don't make a bid unless you are satisfied with the information supplied! (And ask shipping charges is andvance!)
I like to buy old marx trains on ebay. The way most sellers seemed to operate years ago was to try and describe the condition of an item, and tell you the flaws. They often took 4 or 5 pics, to show the item from all views. If they took only one pic, they at least showed you the worst side.
Not any more. I have noticed a disturbing trend, only one picture, the best side, often blurry. A vague description of excellent, or good for the age, or played with condition. When you email to ask questions, they will act like they know nothing about trains and give answers which can be taken more than one way. You may ask about 3 or 4 aspects of an items condition, only to be bitten by the one problem you did not think of. And they usually charge a lot for the shipping, which discourages asking for refunds on inexpensive items. It seems to happen a lot these days. oh well, caveat emptor.
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