Thought I would toss out my buying experiences thus far. I just started the hobby in March; I bought a pre-designed track fastrack layout and a Legacy Diesel, transformer, etc. to get started and then began to concentrate on the operating accessories. Here are my experiences to date:
eBay purchase #1: 6-12983/12982 Culvert Loader/Unloader
Listed as “working condition”; items work fine as received, no issues.
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eBay Purchase #2: 6-22998 Triple Action Magnetic Crane
Listed as “NIB”; my strategy on eBay purchases was either to get something new or that had been verified as working. Received this guy and the motors were seized up from the hardened grease (which I didn’t know could be an issue until I researched this item AFTER I had received it). Seller “Accepts returns with the buyer paying return S&H”, which is what I elected to do. Buyer challenged me sending something that was “NIB” back but I said it wasn’t working regardless of being “New” even though this new means it had been manufactured several years ago. Buyer filed a grievance with eBay; I not only won the grievance but my return shipping was also refunded.
LESSON LEARNED: research the possible problems with older items prior to buying it. Also don’t buy anything like this unless it’s been tested and verified operational.
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eBay purchase #3: 2324 Switch tower
Listed as “operational”; received and it works fine.
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eBay purchase #4: 6-14295 Legacy CS 990
Came with an extra Cab-1 remote; all listed as tested and functional. Seller does not accept returns. Cab-1 and Base2 work fine; Cab-2 (main reason for purchase) does not. Contacted seller and seller offered to either refund fully (even though he had said he didn’t accept returns but I think it was because he actually had not tested the unit but had used it 6 months earlier and just assumed all was well) or have it repaired at his expense. Lionel fixed it for free (and turned it around in less than two weeks) so everything turned out fine. Shout out to seller dorgri2845
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Amazon Purchase: New 682013 double floodlight tower; 681063 Gateman; 612062 double crossing; 682016 oil rig; 2029240 fake news stand
These came from various sellers (some direct from Amazon, others from third party). Oil rig and floodlight tower worked fine (although I first thought the floodlight was faulty since it puts out so little light). Gateman the door opened once and stayed stuck. The double crossing only one side moved. Everything was seized on the Fake news stand.
At this point, I’m feeling a little cursed. Did some research, the double crossing has a history of being junk so that one gets returned (it was their last in stock and the box seemed like it had been opened before so I’m thinking it was a previously returned item). The gateman I played with a bit to make sure I wasn’t doing something wrong and I sent it back for exchange. The Fake News was an obvious previous return since it was missing the paperwork. It was “only 1 left” so I just got a refund. I received a replacement Gateman and it works fine.
LESSON LEARNED: Seems you have no better chance of getting a working item with the current generation of stuff as the older stuff (and from what I’m reading/learning in many cases the new stuff is inferior) although that data might be skewed if all three bum items were “previous returns”.
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eBay purchase #5: 282 Gantry crane
Billed as “totally restored and works perfectly”. Received it and it does indeed look great for its age; magnet works great, boom rotates but magnet will not go up and down. Contacted seller and he was extremely apologetic; offered to either give refund or exchange for another unit. I chose the later and asked him to verify it working before he shipped it. Got the exchange and new one works great. Seller had to jump through a lot of hoops to make it happen and it was greatly appreciated. Shout out to seller alerubin.
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Trainz purchase #1
Decided that the best route on these accessories is to buy from Trainz since they are 1) a sponsor, 2) list the units as functional and 3) do returns. Bought “like new” most modern incarnations of 6-14107 coaling station, 6-24115 log loader, 6-32996 barrel loader, 6-14000 forklift platform and various freight cars needed by the accessories. Forklift and barrel loaders worked like a champ. Coaling station dump actuator would work but elevator would not go up/down (although you could hear the motor turning). Log loader the LED’s would light but neither the dump or motor features would work. Contacted Trainz and they offered to either fully refund, let me keep them at a reduced price or for me to return and they would try to repair. I went with Door #3; sent them back and they were repaired and now I have them..took less than a week turn around. Shout out to Trainz.
Anyway, that’s my experiences to date. Thanks for reading.
michael
