ebay

[RAM]

well it happened to me.  I seldom buy anything on ebay.  I bid on a spectrum 2-8-0 used and my low bid won.  Well I found out why.  I have seen this before.  Runs slow making noise and the motor sounds like it is racing.  I guess I will take it apart and see what I find.

[Jim Banner]

Ram, I am curious.  Did the seller claim it ran, or ran well?  Or did he/she claim it was untested?  I am also curious about what you find.

[rallygsc]

Sorry to hear that

sounds like a belt, I purchased a new 2-8-0 spectrum from Train world and it had a similar problem, Train world took care of it

good luck

George

[mac_daddy]

Sorry to hear of your eBay misrepresented purchase. I try to avoid eBay, but the prices are so intriguing.

So, good question would be: If I were to purchase a used loco, what would I ask and what should I check for?

Also, are there any good sites on DIY loco repair, maintenance? Like I've posted elsewhere, I just got the Digital Commander twin diesel loco set but have YET to crack the shrinkwrap. It's my kid's gift, but I want to keep it under wraps before his b-day. I am thinking I might just jump on some used trains I've seen on craigslist to practice some maintenance on.

[topsir2]

I also avoid Ebay. I got ripped off on a 2-8-0 Consolidation, listed as unused condition, mint in box. Turned out it has seen heavy use with nicks in the wheels. I only buy from hobby stores on Ebay and only new with warranty.

[RAM]

He said it looked like no or little wear.  I really should have ask some questions.

[Stephen Warrington]

I always ask a ton of questions when it comes to motive power on evil Bay. And so far I have never been suprised. Right now I am working on some old tyco crane sets to repaint off of ebay.

Stephen

[LD303]

good advice all around.....ask questions,look at the pics carefully and know what your bidding on,  never bid more than wholesale prices on a new product and never bid more than 50% wholesale prices on a slightly used product, and when bidding on ''old'', ''collectable'' or ''rare'' pieces....see what they cost new, then estimate how old they are and decide if you want it bad enough to pay the original price....but before you bid, make sure if it says ''rare or ''collectable'' it actually is and not some POS tyco stuff from a $10 train set made in 1977  lol ....these are my guidelines and they keep me from getting any ''surprises''.
  i used to be very timid about buying ANYTHING from ebay, but several hundred purchases later ive had no troubles.  i think some folks are a bit scared of buying a ''used'' loco , fearing it wont work,  in my case, i LOOK for broken and damgaed locos, i have a nice supply of parts and since a dc motor is about the simplest thing in the world, i get some really good deals on locos advertised as ''parts locos'', drive trains and bad electrical connections...all are easy to fix, and it gives you experience in troubleshooting, even the new fancy dcc locos are still basically just a dc motor and a drive train...no rocket science going on there!!! 
  if your 2-8-0 isnt working right...pop the body off and see whats going on, it probably something simple.

[caboose101]

LD303 has some good advice.  I have never had a bad experience on eBay.  I credit part of this to luck, but just like judging people you meet for the first time, you can usually grade your sellers by the auctions they post.

Some sellers don't tell you much about what they are selling.  Others become very defensive with their auctions.  They relieve themselves of as much responsibility as possible while imposing it on the buyer - not the sort of thing you learn in Salesmanship 101.  Then there are those who post ridiculously low buy-it-now prices and make it all up on shipping and handling.  I stay away from these types.

There are a lot of modelers who have neither a brick and mortar dealer nor periodic train shows nearby.  You can't always find a Varney 10-wheeler or copy of "Mixed Train Daily" at the mall.  For these reasons, eBay is a godsend.

Regards,

Bob

[lanny]

I've had pretty good results with eBay. Early on, I got ripped a couple of times, but you learn pretty quickly. What has been suggested is excellent. If you are careful, and ask a lot of questions, it can be a great place to get some really excellent deals ... on the other hand :-) .... you can get 'stung' really bad.

Be careful of any locomotive that is advertised as "I haven't any way to test if this is working" (usually means, I think, something is pretty badly wrong with it). Also, I always ask if the person has tested it, if it has any loud grinding noises, jerky movements, and if the lights work, etc. If I get 'evasive' answers to any of these questions, I;m 'outta there'  (like:' "its wrapped and i don't want to take it out of the box to run any tests, etc').

The two worst experiences I have had out of many satisfactory purchases were a P2k ICRR GP18 advertised in 'mint condition'. This was about 2 years ago when that series of P2k's were fetching a good price. I got it at 'way low' price even for eBay (which should have been a big red flag to me in the first place).

When I got it, the wheels had obviously lots of run time on them and, yes, you guessed it, the axle gears on all four wheel sets were split. The body was beautiful (I think the body was mint and the seller put a pretty well used chassis in the box with it. The locomotive motor was terrible. I tore the whole chassis apart (a great, but frustrating learning experience), rewired the motor (I use only DC/analog), cleaned the armature and brushes and got a new set of replacement wheels from Walthers (it came with the original warranty card which was, by the way, worthless).

Once I put everything back together, with the new wheel/axles it runs beautifully. In fact it's one of my quietest, smoothest diesels.

The other one I got 'stung' on was the Bowser 2-10-0 kit that was advertised as 'mint'. However I didn't realize that there was an old style and a new style. Again I got a great price, BUT ... :-)  (1) Someone had already worked on it and it was not 'mint'. No big damage except a couple of drivers were messed up. I solved the problem by having an 'expert builder' put the chassis and valve gear together, with a Helix Humper motor. It runs like a dream. (2) Being the old style, it's boiler is the very heavy and very soft white metal. Nothing I have comes close to hauling like it can ... but the details, cast on for the most part, are very far from Spectrum quality. It did come with a 'super detail kit', but I'm really not too impressed even with its quality. The running quality, however, is incredible and the HH remotoring job is now very quiet and smooth (and insulated for DCC if I ever convert).

have fun, but be careful, on eBay

lanny nicolet

[Jim Banner]

I have found you usually get what the seller claims he is selling.  But you have to read exactly what he/she says.  I bought an Atlas/Kato RS-3 advertised as "new in the box, never run."  And that was exactly correct.  The motor had a burr in one of the brush holders which prevented that brush from touching the armature.  It had never been run, because it could not run.  A few strokes with a round file fixed the problem but I am not sure most buyers would have been willing to take the motor to pieces to be able to do the filing.  I emailled the seller about this, and he was immediately willing either to refund what I had paid him plus shipping plus return shipping or to give me a good break on the price.  I did a little soul searching, decided I had a brand new 25 year old locomotive in exactly the colours I wanted, and that the fellow had acted in good faith.  In the end, I told him to keep his money and I gave him positive feedback.

I have even had a seller wait six weeks for my money order to show up.  I am sure part of his patience was my keeping in close contact by email, and even offering to send a replacement money order after about 3 weeks. 

[LD303]

caboose got the shipping gouge angle right  for sure!! 
      i saw a really nice rs-2 ''mint-in-original-box'' advertised at the eye catching $10 buy it now, well upon reading the description, i saw that the s&h was $25....$35 for an old model power rs-2??  no way! not even if it is ''mib''! [ i had bought one from a nice lady just 2 weeks before that was ''mint-in-original-box'' for $6 and $3 s&H],   so i added it to my watch list to see who bought....sure enough some guy with only 2 previous buys bought it. gotta watch the shipping!!
   

[Jim Banner]

Right on.  You really have to watch the shipping.  I was looking for a scan of the repair manual for my oscilloscope.  One seller had them on CD for $.01 while another had the same for $10.00  I asked the $10 guy why his was worth $10 and he told me to email the $.01 guy for shipping charges and at the same time ask for a sample of the scanning quality.  He also emailled me a scan of the operating manual, which was indeed a good quality scan.  The $.01 guy quoted me $18 shipping and refused to send me a sample of anything.  In the end, I paid $10 plus $1.50 shipping and got a good, useable manual.

Just goes to prove the old adage - if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

[lanny]

My 'two cents" or "one cent' on eBay shipping. Total agreement with what has been posted. I know mail rates are high and on May 14, 2007 in the US, they will go higher. But I also know very well what it costs me to ship a very well packaged item, weight, etc. to any location in the US. If someone advertises an item I would like, and the auction price is right, but the shipping fee is way out of kilter based on my shipping experience, again, "I'm outta' there".

I try to keep my shipping fees very close to actual cost, and do not charge for packing, etc. Not infrequently, I have had to add .10 - .20 cents of my money to the shipping fee I charged. But the I receive postitive feedback is important too, and worth the one or two dimes I paid.

One other thing for those who are 'selling' on eBay ... I know it costs extra... but for US shipments, "Delivery Confirmation" is worth the .60 (.50) extra. It's not insurance, but it is proof the parcel was delivered to the person. I also think it helps when selling to mention in the item description that the 'flat rate fee' charged includes delivery confirmation.

I sometimes wonder if the USPS might tend to be a bit more careful in handling those packages that have the green and white 'Delivery confirmation' label on the parcel (just a guess)?

lanny nicolet

[r0bert]

well it happened to me.  I seldom buy anything on ebay.  I bid on a spectrum 2-8-0 used and my low bid won.  Well I found out why.  I have seen this before.  Runs slow making noise and the motor sounds like it is racing.  I guess I will take it apart and see what I find.

ebay aside,
I think you will find the problem is not the belt, but that the flywheel glue has failed.
put a "TINY" spot of super glue on the end of the motor shaft and replace flywheel, and all should be well again.
the glue is brittle and can fail under sudden load.