Where do you purchase mostly?


I go to the lhs when I need help or need small stuff like railjoiners, kadees... where the markup is a few bucks an order but big purchases I buy on the net to save $. There are 7 train stores close to me.
30% lhs
60% ebay
5% other online
5% train shows
 
Larry said:
The only thing I find in yard sales is; 027, O & S. Never find HO or N.
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I've found LOTS of stuff at yard sales. From a pristine Varney docksider with 4 cars, to one guy who sold me 3 cases of locos, rolling stock and structures for 30 bucks. I picked through the lot, kept the best, and resold the rest for a very tidy profit! But, you got to get up early to get the stuff 1st!

I would say that probably 80% of my stuff comes from <insert shameless plug here> a LHS called The Moose Caboose. Anything he doesn't have can be ordered , and everything is discounted, plus it's less than 15 minutes from the house.:cool:

The rest is ebay, yard sale and trolling the local train shows for "oddball" stuff to add to the collection.
 
80% 3 Distributors
10% Internet
10% LHS's

Most of the shops in my area are either retail or dont stock items that I am looking for so I go directly through distributors and get 40% - 55% off retail.
 
I'm a pretty good mix of LHS, ebay, and online stores. However, recently I found two Atlas 8-40C undec's on the yahoo! group HO Yard Sale. Great price, fast shipping, and still factory sealed.
 
I buy 90% of my stuff on Ebay and about 5% LHS and 5% hobby shows. I build mostly out of production wood structure and rolling stock kits, so Ebay is the only way to go for me. Also the LHS are so pricey with items ticketed at 50% or more above Walthers prices so only buy what I have to from them.
 
60% LHS
35% online
5% train shows

My LHS is 100% retail, but even with that, sometimes it's not that much more than online when you factor in shipping. I don't usually buy a lot at any one time, so those shipping charges can really make a difference.
 
50% LHS
50% online

I found a Hobby shop online hobbyspeed.com. He has some really good bargains. Also have a local hobby shop that seems to be inline with most of the prices that are in the catalogs. But still enjoy looking online then comparing prices in the area.
 
GWT&P said:
60% LHS
35% online
5% train shows

My LHS is 100% retail, but even with that, sometimes it's not that much more than online when you factor in shipping. I don't usually buy a lot at any one time, so those shipping charges can really make a difference.
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Gary, don't forget your local taxes. My local tax is 9%, or $9.00 on $100. Since all the online stores are in different states from mine, that savings covers all or most of the shipping by itself. I always wait until my list is near or over the $100 total, then order.;)
 
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Yeah, Rex, I figure in the local tax as well. Mine is 8.25%. I usually can't wait til I save up enough to order online. We're on a pretty tight budget, so I can only put back a little at a time. I figure I usually break even around $70.
 
Yeah, $70 is about the point of doing some tight figuring. Where most all my purchases are online, I do use an LHS for small MR items that you need in a hurry. The difference on items under $15 is not that big of a deal when you need them now. Ordering a small item would be foolish, e.g. $2 thingy and then pay $9.50 shipping on top of that:eek::D.
 
Rex is really lucky to have a decent hobby shop not too far from him. When I was up at his place for the ARG meet, a couple of the guys were kind enough to show me the way to the hobby shop. I dropped a couple of hundred while I was there, including detail parts that were one off kinds of things that are way too expenisve to ship. Even with the tax, the prices were OK and I really like to hold things a look at them before I buy them. Although Rex is a nice guy who I'd like to visit more often, it's an hour and a half drive from my house, mostly on a two lane road with log trucks trying to run me over. :eek: I'm just stuck in an area where running out to a hobby shop just isn't possible and I live 10 minutes from the state capital. If you're outside a major metro area, you choices other than ordering on-line decrease rapidly. :(
 
Jim, didn't know you went to one. Where did you go, MAC Hobbies? He was 95% R/C except for little MR items and sold MSRP to someone off the street plus 10%. Then he would give you a 10% discount to make you believe that it was a bargain (plus what he could sneak on top of that). I confronted him with it and don't deal with him any more.

The best fully loaded store is in Pelham at Oak Mountain Hobbies.
 
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Rex, I went to Oak Mountain. I was surprised how close it was to Tuscaloosa, or at least close compared to the drive from Prattville. :)
 
Haha! Yeah, well Oak Mountain is still 60 miles from me or about 7 gals of gas. They do have a lot of goodies there.

MAC Hobbies is one of two LHS we have here in T-town. I already said why I didn't trade with MAC and the other guy is in a garage and all of his stuff would be good if we were living in 1970. :D
 
We had a hobby shop in town just a block from my house. Unfortunately, his train stock was limited to a few starter sets. He was mostly a model rocket, and plane kind of guy. I don't even think they are open to the public anymore. Guy was nice enough, but the rest of his employees (wife and daughter) always had that annoyed why are you here attitude.

We have a couple other places, but anything close is all retail. I have bought a few things, but anything big I will likely be ordering from online.


Also, when I travel out of state, and they have a railroad museum, I find time to go there and see what they have. I got a beautifully weathered box car from the museum in Carson City, Nevada. It only cost like $5, with kadees and metal wheels and the weather job. All the money went to the museum.
 
Boy, Rex, it didn't seem that long from your place but maybe I was just excited to go to an actual hobby shop for the first time in two years. :) They had a good selection and the owners will order anything from the Walthers catalog at 20% off. Nice place to shop and one of the best Woodland Scenics selections I've seen in a long time.
 
Well I finally went to the last shop in my area in decent driving distance and it is a nice shop. Still mostly retail unfortunately, but the best shop for trains out of all of them. Very nice selection, I can totally see myself buying most of my track and supplies there, and may pick up a used train or two. Very happy with the shop, just wish their prices were a little better.
 
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