is this a good deal (used Thomas)

[♥ms.pacman♥]

found this on local CL...20 Thomas & Friends trains (18 wooden railway, 2 metal) for $65. All in great condition (not chipped etc) and are the more popular characters. 6 of them are big trains with tenders (James, Gordon, Emily, etc) Is this a good deal? I know the bigger trains are usually $20 retail ($15-$17 on amazon) but not sure there any better deals out there for new ones..

I know there are lots of other CLs deals out there with tables, tracks but mostly just wanted the trains...i was able to buy Thomas tracks for free with amazon points, plus we already have an imaginarium train table and accessories from previous CL purchase.

[KrisM]

Sounds good to me.

I used to buy trains at Michael's with the 40% coupon. So, a $20 train is $12. I don't know if they still carry them or not.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

thanks for the reply! yeah i looked into the michael's thing, and only one store near me carries Thomas. i guess i could get big trains for $12 with 40% off, but then i'd have to pay tax, so it's more like $13. i guess with 20 trains for 65, it is like a little more than $3 a train which i guess is still pretty good.

i had no idea Thomas trains were so expensive. since dh was traveling for so long while he was working last week he went to Target and got the aquarium trains to bring home for DS. he didn't look at the price and just assumed they were under $10. when he came home he showed them to me and asked him how much they were. he just shrugged and said he thought they were $10. i made him dig around and find the receipt.. turns out they were $20.99. :eek: i nearly fell over! DH wanted to let DS keep them, so i agreed but then made it my mission to get a good deal on these on CL. i think DH would be okay just buying a few here and there over time, but i know he doesn't use coupons or search for deals and i didn't want to pay so much for them.

[ThreeofUs]

You know, I think different cities have CLs that are really different.

I bought my son's Thomas set (over 100 cars), a box full of track, a box full of bridges, etc., and a train table for $75.

I see sets like this all the time up here. But then I don't see fun things that other folks see.

If you've been watching your CL and that's what you have, I'd say go for it.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

You know, I think different cities have CLs that are really different.

I bought my son's Thomas set (over 100 cars), a box full of track, a box full of bridges, etc., and a train table for $75.

I see sets like this all the time up here. But then I don't see fun things that other folks see.

If you've been watching your CL and that's what you have, I'd say go for it.

100 trains??? and the train table & accessories?? WOW. That is a steal!!

I must either be not that great at finding really good CL deals, or there just aren't that many on my CL right now. I've been stalking Thomas stuff on my local CL for the past few months. Stuff like you describe (train table, tracks, and several trains) is at least $200, usually more (and is often in used condition). IN the past weeks, i've been using a CL Notifier app on my Droid phone, so it notifies me whenever there is something new in my search.

The best Thomas deal i ever saw was a train table, tracks, a few Thomas accessories (cranky the crane, a water tower, etc), and maybe like eight trains, plus a few Thomas DVDs. They were asking $75. it was sold within a few hours (i emailed the seller but it was too late). I can't imagine 100 Thomas trains plus tracks and accessories, that is probably like $2000 worth of stuff!

[ThreeofUs]

Check this out - $50. I'm telling you, I live in a mecca for this stuff. It's being in the frozen north and needing indoor activities for the kids.

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/tag/2528724069.html

[♥ms.pacman♥]

wow, that is a really good deal!

i got a train table and tracks, trains, accessories (bridge, etc) for $50 off CL, but it was mostly the Imaginarium brand stuff (came with trains, cars, planes only 1 Thomas accessory and 1 thomas train), and stuff was well-used and there were a lot of missing pieces. I figured it didnt' matter though, my DS is not even 2 so he's not old enough to really notice or care. I might stalk CL for a nicer set once he's 2.5 or something if he's still in to that stuff.

anyway, i picked up the set of 20 trains this morning. i had priced it on Amazon (which is usuallly the cheapest you can get some of these) and it came to $250 so i figure at 25% retail it's pretty good..i can always resell in a few years and get a lot of back.

i let DS have Thomas, Annie & Clarabel and i will save the rest for Christmas. he was very happy to get Annie & Clarabel, didn't want to put them down!

[larig]

DS loves annie & clarabell too. Nice score!