Thomas train pieces on ebay?

[tarahsolazy]

So I've started looking at trains for Christmas... There seem to be a lot of ebay sellers that sell NIB Thomas stuff that isn't boxed. I think they are buying the really huge sets and reselling the pieces in smaller lots. Is this a reasonable way to buy stuff? I will probably get a figure 8 set, but it seems that these piece-broker people have reasonable deals on the buildings, like the aquarium, etc, and on misc lots of track.

Anyone buy from an outfit that does this?

[brittone2]

I haven't, but in reading here on the topic in the past, I think that the consensus (could be wrong) is that with the 40% off coupons at AC Moore or Michaels, the prices are often less than ebay. I haven't looked around much at ebay for Thomas stuff but we have a lot of Christmas shopping for DS finished already and we used a lot of weekly 40% (and the occasional 50% off) coupons to buy train things for Logan.

THe retail price is pretty set, so take 40% off of that and also consider no shipping (although you'll pay tax) if you can get them at AC Moore or Michaels in your area. Not all stores carry them. Also, www.trainsgalore.com and www.creativetrains.com often have good deals. Usually 25-40% off. Creative Trains has a "train deal of the day" you can get emailed to you and those prices are often 30 or 40% off the retail and they have a pretty low minimum for free shipping I think. I haven't ordered from them but other mamas here who have said they are great companies. I look around quite a bit at www.kidsurplus.com and they usually have stuff around 20-25% off. THere are better deals out there but it is another company I'm familiar with so I thought I'd mention it.

I'm sure you are right...they are probably breaking up bigger sets. I wouldn't have a problem with this personally as long as you are happy with the price :) The bigger the set, the less expensive the individual items tend to be...

Do you have an AC Moore or Michaels store nearby that sells Thomas? We have an AC Moore that does but the Michaels here doesn't...vice versa back in PA when we were living there ;) Oh, and if Thomas is on "sale" the coupon can't be used (although the competitor will accept the other store's coupon). I've seen AC Moore has had Thomas on sale a LOT lately here for 25% off. I wonder if they do this a lot before Christmas to prevent people from using the coupon on it? We shopped for a lot of things this summer so it isn't an issue but it is something I've been wondering.

ETA: last year around Christmas (I think?) there was someone who had a spreadsheet with prices of various retailers on various pieces, and it took shipping, tax, etc. into consideration. They emailed it to a few people...I'm not sure if they included the info in a post or not but I remember it being mentioned.

[tarahsolazy]

I live in the boonies, no Michael's or AC Moore. Just one lone toy store. I think Creative Trains is probably my best bet.