FleaBay strikes again!

Wow! that's a good one...do they have the BS comment "I am not a train person" in their add?

What was the Lionel product number you thought you purchased?   That is a strange one.   Not a week goes by that I do not hear those fleabay stories.  Dennis, the best one is  "it ran great when I sent it"   I get to hear some good ones.   People get very mad at me when I tell them I will not work on anything that comes from Fleabay.  

 I feel bad for the poster as that must have floored him when he realized what someone had done to him.   I hope he makes out.  

bought car and train stuff for several years off the bad. so far so good.......

Dave, it does happen.  

rattler21 posted:

NSD,  Did you purchase this via a Buy It Now listing?  Did the tether wire show in the main listing photo?  John in Lansing, ILL

It was an auction and the photo in the listing showed what I assume to be the correct engine as there was no tether visible 

Marty, the product number was 6-38079

When in the market for a locomotive, I wont do ebay. IMO, thats good for track, switches and rolling stock, and maybe some scenery. But i wont do loco's from there, I know some have gotten some great deals on loco's from there, but i dont have that kind of luck.

A couple of years ago I bought a LV (Post War) 44 Tonner set off of e-bay. It was the same set I had when I was a kid. Everything was there accept the Port Hole caboose that was very Cleary shown in the posting.

I got in touched with the seller and was assured it was in the box when he sent it. I guess the tape fell off and the caboose jumped out of the box and then the box resealed it's self in shipping.

I had to  admit the price was more then fair for what I got so I let it go. But, that said this was my only questionable purchase I ever made. Other then the Qs1 engine that I bought that I thought was a 2.0.

Again the price I paid was fair and the engine ran great so I still have it.

In short, now I buy all my prime movers from dealers or at train shows where I can see them.

 buying trains off the internet is the same as betting at a casino only gamble what you are willing to lose

I am sorry for your experience.  While I have not bought much recently off that particular auction site, I have had satisfactory purchases all but once.  It was the "it ran when I tested it" argument yet I had to rewire the tether because the AC wire and the DC wires were reversed.  That was sometime around 2007 and the reason why I originally got on this forum.  

It seems it would be up to the seller to respond to the item being incorrectly listed.  Good luck.

It sounds ridiculous but I have actually had the "tape fell off and item jumped out of the box" issue.  A trip to the post office and some investigation by the postmaster for my area revealed a less than honest employee was at fault.  The purchase was not trains but it can happen. 

I won't say not to use auction sites to make purchases because I have used them extensively.  Mostly I buy stuff advertised as broken/not working since I love to fix things.

Rolland

Tough call.  I have heard of some good scores and I have heard some sad stories.  I buy Legacy/DCS engines that are inoperative and have no trouble doing that.  Weekly I hear from guys telling me about a great fleabay score and the only problem it does not run.   That is a big problem and it will not be my problem.  I  will buy from an O gauge forum member and not worry.   

Marty Fitzhenry posted:

I  will buy from an O gauge forum member and not worry.   

Seriously?  You think no member of this forum can cheat you, play you for a sucker, or simply think you're playing them when you let him know the thing you bought isn't working?

I've never put a great deal of money into an internet forum deal, but I have gotten hosed a couple of times, once here (for something less than ten bucks, though).

Nothing wrong with the bay if you stick to buyers that you know that are honest, it's when you go outside that circle that you take risks I buy all the time stuff that I can't get at hobby shops. Locomotives I only buy if they are really cheap (so I can fix them and not lose out) or brand new, again I know the sellers. If you buy a loco at a reasonable price and you don't know the seller, good luck, how do you know it hasn't done a million miles until you receive it!

ebay is great but you have to be as cunning as the seller, don't take risks, weigh up the odds, plenty of items around, I'm waiting for an answer at the moment from a seller if he doesn't give the right one I'm walking.

Roo.

With EBay, you have recourse on a bad deal. Send it back and get a refund. No big deal.

Have a problem with something purchased here.... tough.
OGR does not get involved, and you cannot even discuss the issue here.

I've purchased plenty of stuff in the years I've been on EBay.
Yes, there have been a few times I've had to contact the seller to get an adjustment or refund.
I've purchased a few items here, and got burnt on one. My loss.

We like to think everyone on the OGR forum is honest as Abe...  As others stated you have to be careful when you buy here as there is really no recourse.  OGR will not get involved, which by the way I have no issue with.  Ebay does do a fair job at settling issues.  I have fine results on either venue.  Again it is truly "Buyer Beware" but don't let anyone tell you that an OGR member automatically makes them OK.

If you're like me, and only buy junk on ebay, you are never disappointed.

Jim

Dennis Holler posted:

Wow! that's a good one...do they have the BS comment "I am not a train person" in their add?

That's not necessarily a bs comment.

You gotta do your homework on ebay. Read through the sellers reviews even if they're all positive.

Ask yourself/research what does this seller typically sell. Doll clothes?? Antique China etc. Or trains.

I avoid sellers who have "mixed bag" estate sale type of listings.

I like to hold in my hot hands something I am thinking of buying. Have had decent luck on the Forum, gave up on deBay a long time ago.  In the early years de Bay was fun but that went out the window when people started  supporting themselves that way.  What ever floats your boat.

There are the uninterested loose in the environment who think any "electric train" is "Lionel", a generic term. Caveat emptor!

Been lucky I guess so far with Evil Bay. Most of my stuff is older conventional equipment at good prices so if something arrives broken, I fix it (half the fun of trains). No, I would not buy a $500.00 DCS equipped diesel unless I know the seller. Agree with previous posts, do your homework on the seller before hitting "Confirm bid".

Looking at recent completed listings of Lionel Scale GS2s show they have been sold by train stores who likely had both Lionel and MTH versions. Given some of their histories its most likely a packing mistake. I suspect odds are good you will be able to exchange it without much trouble.

Pete

"Only junk on eBay, no one should ever buy anything that way, same for train shows it is all just rusty junk with sellers looking to take advantage whenever and wherever they can, just a pack of thieves, all of, same on the buy / sell forum here....." -- the perfect quote from a train shop owner

I've had just as many problems with engines bought from LHS dealers as I've had from EBay, which have been few and all were easy fixes.

Of the 20 engines I have, only 3 have been purchased from a LHS or manufacturer, the others came from EBay or forum members, none of which I really "know".

I suppose we've all been bit by the Flea...Bay.  There is a risk, for sure.   But sometimes lemons can be made into lemonade...

After the Daylight 4-8-4 came to mid-Michigan several years ago, wife and I decided we should have one in our roster.  We saw a Williams brass one on d'Bay that read well and had a good collection of supporting photos.  It was supposedly as-built....no sound.  Well, it arrived in excellent cosmetic condition....except for one missing cleanout plug in the boiler...yep, on closer inspection of the photos, there it is.   My miss.  

Anyway, put it on the track, applied power, and.....What's this?....Sound?!?!?  The ol' compressor sounds are panting away as it sits there idling.  Bonus!???   So, I flipped the direction switch to move her out....'Clunkety, clunkety, CLUNK!'......and we're totally dead.    No sound, no lights, zip, nada, ....poopie.   First thought: .  Second thought:   Third thought: Let's look inside.

And, lo and behold, although the motor was connected to the drive gear tower, it was lying loose on the frame, not fastened with its two screws to the mounting yoke!!.....screws nowhere to be seen.  In firing it up, the motor had spun around, twisted the feed wires until one of them let loose.  Soooooo, we found a couple of appropriate screws in the miscellaneous-screw-box-that-collects-all-the-orphans-from-who-knows-where-to-be-used-in-who-knows-what (We all have one, don't we???), refastened the motor to the yoke, resoldered the feed wire, put it all back together, fired it up....there's the sounds that I wasn't supposed to get!...flipped the direction switch, and.........Pure M-A-G-I-C!

Oh, yes.....the washout plug?  Precision Scale makes them.  Bought a set. CA'd it into the hole.  A tad of gloss black paint.  Done.

Well, I had to give the seller a petite ration of marshmallow poopie for the shortcomings in his auction description.  As it turned out, he had bought the engine from someone else with the intention of displaying it, only, never running it himself.  So, in a sense, we had both been 'bit' by the original owner, twice removed.  The price I payed, however, as others have stated in above responses, was more than fair for what I now had on my roster.  Lemonade!

---------------------

Second one.  A K-Line Coffin-style water heater 2-8-4 Berkshire in ATSF markings.  Again, plenty of description, strong feedback numbers, lots of photos....except for one missing view, which I had overlooked and not asked about.  I won it at a very fair price......bidding was curiously very light.  It arrived well packed.

But as soon as I took it out of the box I knew we were in trouble.  The engine had taken a fairly good 'hit' at the front end....the pilot was severely bent downward.  Yep, the several auction photos had been shot at angles which belied this condition, and a photo of the front end of the engine was absent....I missed that....my 'error'.  

However, upon closer inspection, I noticed that the pilot casting was easily removable, and might be carefully straightened.  I communicated my  to the seller, who had made no mention of the front-end condition in his description.  His response was immediate and apologetic....and he offered nearly 50% of the selling price to settle the matter!....which I accepted.

Short finish to the story: The pilot casting was nursed carefully back into alignment, other loose parts on the front end were re-attached.  It runs like a champ, AND PULLS LIKE AN OX!!.......more lemonade!

------------------

But, I've bought much more on that auction site that has met or exceeded expectations.  It's life.....you do the due diligence as best you can, you weigh the choices, you make your decision, you communicate the anomalies, .......you try to make more lemonade than leaving lemons to rot.

But, that's just MHO.

KD

Jim Waterman posted:

If you're like me, and only buy junk on ebay, you are never disappointed.

Jim

I buy low cost prewar cars and engines on eBay and as Jim stated they are to be considered junk.
Usually they need to be re-wheeled/new pickup/item need new paint as the item has been repainted poorly.
Always received item quickly and as advertised

No matter where or from whom a train is bought the buyer needs to be aware of what they are buying. Ebay provides options for resolution of mislabeled or damaged items. In my earliest days, I was fleeced by a brick n mortar store but Lionel made good for me. The buyer has to remember to look for what they can't see in EBAY pictures and look at the pictures carefully as on-line auctioneer Ambrose-Bauers clearly states. And yes, "I don't know anything about these", should be treated as a warning sign. But even at a train show, where you can see and handle the product, you need to know what you are looking at and touching. I watched someone pay a high price for an Ives engine that was missing railings and had an American Flyer coupler.

I have bought and sold trains items on eBay for almost 20 years now.  Only had one bad experience, and that ended up getting covered by Paypal protection.  As other OGR forum members noted above, you have to do your research,  Read the Sellers Feedback.... 

RickO made a great point.... Note what they typically sell....  When someone who obviously sells alot of train items, says in his eBay auction:  "I am not model train expert, and don't know any details... I just move on....   I almost never buy from anyone with less than 100% feedback.   

As Marty noted,  don't assume that someone selling here on the OGR forum is automatically an angel.... Again, I have had only one pretty bad experience in 10 years buying from an OGR member and he's still out there peddling items with long comment strings in his for sale ads about how wonderful, blessed and honest he is....  When someone has to self promote in what's essentially a "classified ad", buyer beware... 

P51,

My luck buying trains here has been good.  When I post that I am looking for inoperative trains, that has always gone well.  I fix the trains and stand behind them when I sell them.   Some I keep.  I have purchased trains that are in operating condition with great luck.    I have not been played for a sucker here and not to say someone could give it a try.  I like to think I have good radar regarding this situation.  Like anything else in life, be aware of what you are involved with.

I wish everyone good luck in buying and selling.

Marty

I bought a Premier PS3 Union Pacific modern diesel that was being sold from an estate "as is".  The seller said it has lights and sound but will not move.  So I paid $120 for what I thought was going to be turned into a dummy engine.  But when I got it, it was in MINT condition.  I put it on the track, discovered it into the DCS system, and it took off right away.  Everything worked!  I contacted the seller and told him and he said "well I'm selling my father's collection as he passed away and I put it on the track and the Lionel transformer wouldn't make it go so I figured it was broken".  I asked him if he had any more engines that were "broken" and he said yes three more.  Ha ha.  I did the right thing and told him to list them as "not tested" instead of "not working".  

BUT..... then once I sold a flat car with two military trucks on it.  I said it was custom, built by me, and made sure to take good pictures and all.   So when the guy bought it for less than the value of the trucks alone, he sent me an email saying he wanted most of the money back as he took it to his train shop and they guy there told him the vehicles were mounted wrong, and that he would "correctly" mount them with screws and new holes in the deck like they were from the factory (mind you this was a completely custom job).  I used wire in order to hide the mounting method to make it look better.  Screws can be seen under the vehicles.   In order to get good feedback I refunded a good portion of the money.  So yeah, Flea Bay has shady sellers AND buyers!   

 

I avoid sellers who have "mixed bag" estate sale type of listings.

Gotten some of my best buys from these sorts; generally not knowing what they are selling, described wrong, wrong title, and listed in the wrong category so no one else seems to locate them.

tackindy posted:

In order to get good feedback I refunded a good portion of the money.  So yeah, Flea Bay has shady sellers AND buyers!   

When I encounter this kind of issue, I just insist on the buyer sending the item back and I'll refund his money.  I've never gotten anything back, when they realize that I'm not going to be scammed into refunding for a BS issue, they move on.

On my request to buy inoperative engines, I get a few that are five minute fixes and always offer them back if the seller wants them.  This is the right thing to do.   

gunrunnerjohn posted:

tackindy posted:

In order to get good feedback I refunded a good portion of the money.  So yeah, Flea Bay has shady sellers AND buyers!   

When I encounter this kind of issue, I just insist on the buyer sending the item back and I'll refund his money.  I've never gotten anything back, when they realize that I'm not going to be scammed into refunding for a BS issue, they move on.

Exactly - simply invite them to open a "not as described" claim with eBay - more often than not - you never hear from them again!

Which is what the buyer in the original post should do...open a claim - DO NOT negotiate OUTSIDE of the claim process.

Looking at some of the recent sold listings for the item in question - hard to see where it went wrong - I can't seem to ID a listing that might fit this situation - so I might go out on a limb and suggest the seller used some stock photos - not realizing his piece was not Lionel.

People make mistakes - and as long as the seller follows through on the claim a returns your money - I would still leave positive feedback for being a good egg.

mwb posted:

 

I avoid sellers who have "mixed bag" estate sale type of listings.

Gotten some of my best buys from these sorts; generally not knowing what they are selling, described wrong, wrong title, and listed in the wrong category so no one else seems to locate them.

Shhhh! Dont give away all the secrets!

Agree with the ( note) on  completed sales of past 2 months, and the choices are pretty easy to see where the loco came from,

seems like just disappointment of sending the thing back, ur protected by Ebay, and that seller !!!!!!!!!  and try again

out the shipping charges,..... 

out the shipping charges,..... 

It's my impression that when an item isn't as described, a case is opened, and EBay finds in favor of the buyer, that the shipping charges for both ways are paid by the seller.

NSDTrains .... did you get a response from the seller, yet?

Honest people make mistakes. I once sent the wrong HO locomotive to my eBay buyer.

Guess its harder to make that mistake with a large, expensive O scale engine, though.

Sorry to hear that you guys have had so many problems with eBay train transactions. I sure haven't. I find that "train" people seem to be honest people, compared to some of life's other endeavors. Though, there's wack-jobs in all walks of life. lol

Just received an EBay MTH Erie Triplex from Trainz. Thought I would take a chance because they offered a free shipping return label. The loco does not work, so repackaged it and back it goes today. EVEN when the seller is reputable, it is not worth the work.