buying plarail

is amazon (new) and eBay (used) the most cost effective way of buying - charity shops being too hit and miss for me.

It really depends what it is you want, if you want Tomy blue rail new releases then you need to source it from Japan somehow, Amazon is one route to go down and avoids the pandora's box of the Jauce etc... auction houses.

If you are ok with used, the sure eBay is an effective way of getting a fairly big collection fairly quickly/cheaply, but be aware you may find some loco's will need a bit of tinkering to get them running or wagons need new connectors or whatever. But for some that is part of the fun, buying cheaply and restoring things to a useful state

If you're after trackmaster (yuk) then just hit your local Toys R Us or Walmarts etc... if you're in the USA

[ripley802]

is amazon (new) and eBay (used) the most cost effective way of buying - charity shops being too hit and miss for me.

In my opinion, both. It really depends. If you are patient and persistent you may find a better deal at one or the other sites. For me I have found some things on Amazon like the OT-xx (50 phrase) range Plarail trains that were cheaper than sellers on eBay. Typically I have found both specialty track and accessories cheaper on Amazon. EBay is still my favorite of the two, well other than Japan Auctions... . I have found some of my best deals on eBay, like TnA (Talk n Action) D10, Toby, and James for ~$30.

Good luck.

ebay ebay ebay! and amazon too and....

[Super]

There really is no definitive answer because if there was we would all be doing it. The best advice is to diligently monitor the sites and research the trains you are looking for to know what the going prices are. Then when you do see something somewhere you will know if its a good deal or not.

great answers - i'm not personally that keen on the trains and trucks with faces

this means plarail, there are cool freight and express trains plus nice wagons and coaches

i thought maybe i was missing something, do any of you use other sites like gumtree?

there doesn't seem to be much buying and selling on this forum, again, am i looking in the wrong place please?

most of us here tend to hold onto our trains with extremely tight fists, lol.

when i have the money to spare, i use jauce, which is a japanese third party website. you have to load money to your account before you can bid or buy, and the fees and shipping can be killer if you arent expecting them. when you buy, the seller then sends the item to the jauce warehouse, where it can be held for you for a little over a month, during which time you can add more items before getting them sent on to you.
you can find both used and new.

there are others, like fromjapan, but i have no experience of that.

for brand new, many of us use hobbysearch. they do pre-orders/reservations for new items, as well as sell previous releases. again, the shipping can be high, but worth it to not miss out.

thanks sunhuntin

i think maybe that i am rather a low key cheapskate as opposed to you more serious collectors haha

still. we do share that appreciation of what is really a well designed product which is great fun to own.