Re: To Buy or Not to Buy (in UK)
Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 11:49 am
Personally, I've found that advance-ordering from US-based dealers like Toy Train Heaven, where they give quite big discounts, is the cheaper option of "buying new", despite the subsequent ghastly custom charges. As an example, I advance-ordered two Athrearn SP GP9s last year. I had them in my hands in early January 2013, three weeks after they were released in the US, and paid, including postal and customs, just over £250 in total. UK dealer ModelJunction had them advertised at £135 each, not including postage, and they were still "in transit" to the UK in mid-February. So to get these same two locomotives from the UK, and much later after their release, I'd have had to pay £270 plus postage.
The place I buy stuff most often from is UK eBay, and I do a few searches of my interests every week, always limiting them to "auction" and "UK only", as money is very tight just now, but there's still a few items I manage to pick up each month: even in the last two months I've won some really specialist scratchbuilt models someone else was disposing of (completely "signature" for my SP 1954 layout), a few boxcars and tank cars (Proto 2000, Red Caboose, IM) and some decals. Patience is the watchword.
In the past, I bought a lot of stuff from US eBay, and many of the dealers are happy to... cough... put the "value" of the goods at a lower amount, to save you on import duties.
You can also get some good deals from UK dealers. The NMRA(BR) convention is the best place by far to pick up really good bargains on the Saturday tables, much of it almost brand new. Most of us have got far too much stuff, and many will be disposing of big quantities of unwanted stock, either because it doesn't fit their needs, or they're replacing it with better quality.
The place I buy stuff most often from is UK eBay, and I do a few searches of my interests every week, always limiting them to "auction" and "UK only", as money is very tight just now, but there's still a few items I manage to pick up each month: even in the last two months I've won some really specialist scratchbuilt models someone else was disposing of (completely "signature" for my SP 1954 layout), a few boxcars and tank cars (Proto 2000, Red Caboose, IM) and some decals. Patience is the watchword.
In the past, I bought a lot of stuff from US eBay, and many of the dealers are happy to... cough... put the "value" of the goods at a lower amount, to save you on import duties.
You can also get some good deals from UK dealers. The NMRA(BR) convention is the best place by far to pick up really good bargains on the Saturday tables, much of it almost brand new. Most of us have got far too much stuff, and many will be disposing of big quantities of unwanted stock, either because it doesn't fit their needs, or they're replacing it with better quality.