[Bryan Moran]

I have been a loyal and active buyer on the Cabin Fever Auctions site purchasing over $1500 this calendar year alone. One reason I kept buying was the shipping charges, which while always unpleasant to pay, were reasonable.

That has now changed. I had a Lionel E6 A A set mailed to me for about $40. Kind of heavy and odd sized, I considered this reasonable.

Two recent auctions - one had that MTH High Wire pole set (not sure what it is called) and a building and shipping is $120.15. A more recent auction for 3 more buildings is $134.00. So - add another $260 to ship. They are saying they are at different sites so they can not put them together.

Further the guy that responded to my concern over the shipping cost said they could put the items back in inventory to save me the cost of shipping! No return on my purchase of course, they keep the items and resell!

They made the claim of higher shipping costs, which is true - but this was a HUGE jump from just 6 weeks ago when I got my locomotive set. I am a frequent seller of items on ebay and typically use USPS or UPS to ship out and I am not seeing this huge jump of 200% + in just a months time.

Trust me - I lose on most of my Cabin Fever auctions then look at the ending prices with raised eyebrows, "wow it went for that!" So I think the auction site is doing quite well. Most of their auctions are Lionel Post War and their lots are not easy to see what you are getting.

I will hit pause on purchases from Cabin Fever and the shipping charges are the final straw.

 

[MichaelE]

Wow. It only costs me €27,50 for any size or weight from Europe for my train orders with UPS Global Express. Door-to-door service.

You should have seen the size of the box the ABe 8/12 arrived in.

What Cabin Fever is charging is robbery.

 

[Millstonemike]

...

What Cabin Fever is charging is robbery.

And you would think they have (or should have) a commercial account or a least use a service for least price shipping.

 

[Bryan Moran]

I hate to say it but I think they figured out a business model where if you don’t want to pay the shipping they keep the item and your money.

 

[Millstonemike]

I hate to say it but I think they figured out a business model where if you don’t want to pay the shipping they keep the item and your money.

Like a dentist. They take your teeth and your money

 

[HARMONYARDS]

As long as you keep your mouth shut, and just pay all is good with that place, ….the second you make a mistake, or have a question, you get threats and ultimatums like Bryan got,……that fella sure has an ax to grind,….I witnessed this first hand, ….and bailed out like a hot potato,….clearly my money wasn’t green enough for that guy!….

Pat

 

[RedJimmy1955]

Same....same experience as Harmon Yards noted. I won a $60.00 auction. Just one RailKing car. With shipping the total came to $85.00 at least, IIRCC! Forget those guys. And the rudeness on their end when I called. I think they don't want customers!

 

[Bryan Moran]

The weird part for me is that I had several won items that I thought the shipping add was reasonable -and then all of a sudden back to back way too high.

 

[OilValleyRy]

It is my understanding that if someone keeps an item you paid for, and the money you paid, in order to sell said item to someone else, is called Larceny. It also applies to stolen items… An item you paid for, received, was later stolen and resold with no compensation to you. There is a maximum amount though; above that threshold it is called something else and goes from civil infraction to misdemeanor or felony depending on factors(?).

 

[HARMONYARDS]

Here I thought it was just me, and maybe I just happened to rub the guy the wrong way,…..not that I’m glad for the others with a crummy experience, but for the owner of Cabin Fever it goes like this: play stupid games, get stupid prizes….😉

Pat

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

And I'm perfectly happy never having bid there and never planning to. When I buy something, even if it's overpriced, I want to know the final cost, I hate surprises, especially bad ones!

 

[HARMONYARDS]

Fortunately for me, I bailed before the word go,….we fired off volleys right out the gate, ….I let that fella wither on the vine ….he kept on firing malarkey for a right good while, but y’all know all an empty can does is rattle…..🤣🤣🤣

Pat

 

[87smokemetalic]

Not to get off subject with others. The auction from Stout wasn’t much better! I just received an invoice for the shipping of a MTH premier diesel at 37.45 they charge you for the packing and the box . Totally understand it’s a business and they have to pay people, but with a 19 percent buying fee…
My local hobby shop said he hears guys complaints all the time and says stay away. He said look are you buying collectibles or looking for trains to run? Collectibles come with a price and if you want it ,you’ll have to pay. I’m going to stay away from these auctions. I missed the York show so I took in consideration the money I would have spent on gas and a hotel.

 

[Millstonemike]

Not to get off subject with others. The auction from Stout wasn’t much better! I just received an invoice for the shipping of a MTH premier diesel at 37.45 they charge you for the packing and the box . Totally understand it’s a business and they have to pay people, but with a 19 percent buying fee…
My local hobby shop said he hears guys complaints all the time and says stay away. He said look are you buying collectibles or looking for trains to run? Collectibles come with a price and if you want it ,you’ll have to pay. I’m going to stay away from these auctions. I missed the York show so I took in consideration the money I would have spent on gas and a hotel.

On a much smaller scale, I only go to a small local train show. $10 bucks in gas and $6 entry fee. I could pay that in shipping & sales tax for the parts I pick up at the same price online. But spending a few hours at the show also has entertainment an factor you don't get perusing potential acquisitions online.

 

[Lehigh74]

Douglasville is 44 minutes from me and Parker Ford is 38. I’m retired, so if I actually win something, I can go for a drive in my car and pick it up. My complaint about Cabin Fever is that people put in crazy high bids so I rarely win (unless I put in a crazy high bid).

 

[Midnight Goat]

Thanks for posting, I had my eye on quite a number of auctions but was gun shy because of the unknown shipping costs. Now I know to stay away for multiple reasons!

 

[Bryan Moran]

Not to get off subject with others. The auction from Stout wasn’t much better! I just received an invoice for the shipping of a MTH premier diesel at 37.45 they charge you for the packing and the box . Totally understand it’s a business and they have to pay people, but with a 19 percent buying fee…
My local hobby shop said he hears guys complaints all the time and says stay away. He said look are you buying collectibles or looking for trains to run? Collectibles come with a price and if you want it ,you’ll have to pay. I’m going to stay away from these auctions. I missed the York show so I took in consideration the money I would have spent on gas and a hotel.

1st, it's nice to get a different perspective from someone I don't see on the forum as much. Perhaps we run in different interests in O Gauge/Scale but welcome and chime in more often.

2nd - So far I like the Stout experience. I mailed in a check and saved 3% which was about $25 on my $425 win. I am building a layout so whatever I buy won't be run right away anyway.

3rd - I will run what I buy. I am not a collector out there to put items on a shelf. When not in use, they are boxed in the mechanical room, provided they came with boxes.

I expect about $35 to $40 to ship my Stout auction win. I am still done with Cabin Fever.

The demise of O Scale is greatly exaggerated. There is a lot of money out there buying everything in sight. Stout, Cabin Fever, eBay.

I have my CB & Q E5 Lionel set on ebay now and it's crickets. But when you look down through SOLD and COMPLETED auctions, there are some eyebrow raising prices paid. I don't get it.

TRAINZ is dumping a lot of inventory at least in my road names on eBay right now - a lot of good prices, some a bit too high - but they are selling some.

 

[Old_Hobo]

The weird part for me is that I had several won items that I thought the shipping add was reasonable -and then all of a sudden back to back way too high.

That’s the age old trick….they get you hooked, then they stick you and hope you can’t go cold turkey…

 

[87smokemetalic]

I have scored lots of deals on trainz also ,and by no means am I posting to discredit any auction just sharing my experience. Also I’m responsible enough to know when something is more than I think it’s worth, to call it quits. Unfortunately I’m late to the hobby as I haven’t had trains since I was a early teenager and at 48 trying to play catch up and learning from mistakes. On another note I did see some items go at decent prices on the Stout auction.

 

[beachhead2]

Stout is above board in my experience (always have to add that). I've won several auctions from Stout and some BIG tinplate stuff. Everything arrived in the condition described and shipping was fair. I have never purchased from Cabin Fever but that is by design. I've heard too much bad stuff like in this thread. I also don't like how they provide next to no description. So I don't even look. I've had good luck with OGR and ebay.