Pre-War Lionel

Honestly, I use ebay to follow certain items, including prewar items

be sure and check the buy/sell form here. ebay is good, follow the sells with close to 100% positive feedback, and watch the shipping charges. troll for a while and compare prices.

When you are looking around, remember, people can ask whatever they want. That doesn't mean they'll get their asking price, or that the item is worth what they are asking. And completed doesn't mean sold. EBay does have options to look at completed or sold auctions.

In addition, Stout auctions allows people to look at past auctions, including the sales price. I don't recall whether the prices listed includes their surcharge.

In all cases, remember to include shipping.
And if you do buy make any purchases through the internet, remember to consider shipping costs. It can be expensive. I just paid over fifty dollars to ship a single carton. Had the destination been in California, it would have cost over ninety dollars.

The OGR For Sale/ Trade is the best place to watch.

Stout Auctions is getting ready for another auction and it is always fun to see what they are offering. 

https://stout.infinitebidding....atalogref=CVSB1YWXOP

eBay is one of the largest and can be a good barometer on price and availability.

If you want to know what a particular eBay item has actually sold for, you can search for that item, and then check the box on the left side that says "completed items" and that will show you all the ones that have or have not sold and the price they did or did not sell for.

That's a good way to familiarize yourself with going prices.

I like search eBay for train stuff that interests me and when I find something I add it to my watch list. I do this as research as I follow the bidding to see where the stuff finally is at when the auction ends. After a few cycles of this you begin to see trends. Then I am ready to start bidding.

All of the better auctions have been mentioned. As CW said earlier always watch your shipping. The way things are these days a good deal can become a nightmare real quick just based on shipping. If you shop on the bay, look for sellers that charge actual shipping or free shipping. These are the sellers that have learned ways around the bay's up-charged shipping rates.......GOOD LUCK!

stout auctions, the best for prewar I've found if you are not attending. Quality is always much better than I've found on the bay.

Yes, shipping will cost you. But these guys are pros, so packing will be good.

ebay, is OK for the more common stuff, though there are just tons of stuff with outrageous starting prices, so just avoid them, along with any blurry photos or vague descriptions.

Not sure how the TCA meets are down there in TN, but I've seen some pretty nice prewar at the NETCA meets, prices vary by seller quite a bit.

Tim

and if you loose, be patient, there's usually another one at a better price.