"Model Train Market is Live"

[Maletrain]

I just received an unsolicited e-mail that says "ModelTrainMarket.com is Live!" with a link to their website.  The message says

Just like on eBay.... But Better!
 
Our goal is to bring you 100's of new product listings every week but with Better Prices and Better Customer Service! 
 

Having recently complained in the eBay "feedback forum" about how eBay has broken consumer trust with their efforts to block combined shipping, and posting there that they are setting themselves up for a competitor to take their business, I am wondering if I have been targeted with some sort of malware in retaliation.

So, I am asking if anybody here knows anything about this website?  Is it for real, or a phishing attempt?

[Chris333]

I don't know anything about the site.

On ebay I just add items to the "cart" and then "request total from seller" with a note asking for combined shipping.

[thomasjmdavis]

Chris,

The issue appears to be that there is something within the eBay set up procedure that defaults to "seller does not combine shipping".  When (in these cases) one attempts to contact the seller via the cart link to "request total from seller", or the similar link after winning multiple auctions from the same seller, there is a rather curt note from eBay that the seller does not combine shipping, and it does not allow one to send the request.  I have had this happen to me 3 times now.  The first time, the seller sent me a refund for part of the shipping costs, without me even contacting them, with a note that this had not been their intent, but they had received several complaints, and were refunding the overage.  In #2, I contacted the seller via the original listing, and was assured they did combine shipping, regardless of what eBay said, and they indeed did combine shipping for me via an invoice.  The third time, after winning 2 auctions for identical items, the checkout charged me double shipping, and I got a sufficiently good deal on the items that it did not bother me too much (and that one was only last week, so who knows, might still get a partial refund).

At any rate, I have encountered the practice often enough now to believe it is a thing.

[thomasjmdavis]

On the company itself, it appears real enough (although worth verifying before giving them credit card info in a purchase).  They are a big seller on eBay (15000+ trans)- they link to their eBay auctions from the site- and I suspect they are just trying to make more sales direct and cut out all the fees and hassle of eBay- although they still have more stuff on the auction site than they have on their store website, judging by wandering around their site.

[C855B]

I poked around via a "protected" browser, and "Model Train Market" seems legit. Hosted by GoDaddy and probably also using their retail engine, so no appearances of anything nefarious. Domain has been registered since the middle of 2015. The "About Us" has a phone number and e-mail, and the phone number reverse lookup confirms the name, but with an address pointing to a house in Ocala, FL, in a nice neighborhood. "New" businesses in Florida make me a little bit nervous; it just seems like an awful lot of local (STL) TV news' "investigative reports" for this scam or that fraud seem to end-up somewhere in Florida.

They're selling Athearn, MTL, Atlas, and Exact Rail, among others. They have a bunch of Athearn HO listed, so how they got past Horizon's storefront requirement is beyond me. Not a whole bunch to offer in N, however. Similar in scope to the smaller vendors you see at train shows.

Have no idea where they snagged your e-mail addy.

[Maletrain]

It is definitely an intentional eBay move to increase fee revenues, and has apparently been going on since last February in various forms.  Fees are have been charged on "shipping" as well as the sale price for some time, now.  What is relatively new is blocking requests for combined shipping on muliple items from the same vendor.  Even if the vendor refunds the overcharge to the seller, eBay still charges the seller a fee on all of the shipping charges that eBay insisted on leaving on the invoice.  The only way that a seller can get the excess fee refunded is to call "eBay" (actually a minion in the Philippines who is only reading a script) and ask for a refund on each sale. I have been told that each call takes something like 20 minutes.  Needless to say, volume sellers can't do that on every sale, so eBay simply pockets the overcharge. 

My point on the eBay "feedback forum" was that this is essentially dishonest, and thus breaks trust with eBay's customers, which is a bad business move.  The response [not officially provided by eBay, just some "anonymous" poster] is that they can get away with it and I can't do anything about it by venting, so suck it up. 

Within a day, I received the e-mail I described in the opening post.  My securinty software doesn't show that the site linked to that e-mail is known to be secure, so I have not tried to open it, yet.  That is why I am asking here if anybody knows about this place and its website.  It is supposedly in Ocala, FL.

edit: I see that I cross-posted with some folks who are already checking this out.  Thank you for your help.

[CR4100]

I received a package from Ebay sell Model Train Market which included a card promoting the new site.  I'd say the site is legit and I assume that they are trying to sell directly to avoid Ebay's fees.

[Point353]

Seems as though a shop called Dan's Train Depot sells/sold both plastic and brass model trains:
http://stores.ebay.com/Dans-Train-Depot

Brass models are handled through this business: https://www.brasstrains.com/

The plastic models will now be sold via Model Train Market, which apparently is run by a former employee of Dan's:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-soard-67b2534a

[C855B]

Ah! Dan's is a pretty big deal, and has been around for several years! He appeared to get his eBay start by liquidating estates with a lot of brass. For a long while I was surfing for specific HO brass and ran across his auctions regularly. His presentations were invariably excellent and he got high dollar for what looked to be quality stuff in top condition, which of course meant I couldn't (or wouldn't) afford to win any of his auctions.

Good luck to Doug!

[ek2000]

I checked out the site, seems legit. Also wanted to share the news about another new online train store upstart, Geoff's model trains. Geoff is fairly well known in the world of eBay N scale Model train market and I've purchased many items from him before.

website: https://geoffsmodeltrains.com/

[jmlaboda]

When (in these cases) one attempts to contact the seller via the cart link to "request total from seller", or the similar link after winning multiple auctions from the same seller, there is a rather curt note from eBay that the seller does not combine shipping, and it does not allow one to send the request.  I have had this happen to me 3 times now.

Never ran into that problem... even getting to send the message for the first purchase (and the sellers replied quite quickly)... not sure what the story has been for you...

[peteski]

Never ran into that problem... even getting to send the message for the first purchase (and the sellers replied quite quickly)... not sure what the story has been for you...

I ran into the refusal (by eBay, not by the seller) to combine shipping costs few times.
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=41039.msg510264#msg510264
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=36440.msg432488#msg432488

[pmpexpress]

Chris,

The issue appears to be that there is something within the eBay set up procedure that defaults to "seller does not combine shipping".  When (in these cases) one attempts to contact the seller via the cart link to "request total from seller", or the similar link after winning multiple auctions from the same seller, there is a rather curt note from eBay that the seller does not combine shipping, and it does not allow one to send the request.  I have had this happen to me 3 times now.  The first time, the seller sent me a refund for part of the shipping costs, without me even contacting them, with a note that this had not been their intent, but they had received several complaints, and were refunding the overage.  In #2, I contacted the seller via the original listing, and was assured they did combine shipping, regardless of what eBay said, and they indeed did combine shipping for me via an invoice.  The third time, after winning 2 auctions for identical items, the checkout charged me double shipping, and I got a sufficiently good deal on the items that it did not bother me too much (and that one was only last week, so who knows, might still get a partial refund).

At any rate, I have encountered the practice often enough now to believe it is a thing.

A long standing issue (i.e., for several years now) when a seller has not set up any shipping rules under "Account preferences", "Shipping preferences", "Offer combined payments and shipping'"

When no rules have been set, a default error code 80016 with a message stating that "The seller does not offer combined shipping discounts. The seller has disallowed combined payments and shipping discounts. Please proceed to checkout and complete your purchase." appears.

Certainly not a buyer friendly way of consummating multiple item purchases, the following workaround should be utilized when eBay's shopping cart prevents you from making an invoice request:

While this method will not work for post-purchase "Buy-it-Now" listings, when an error code 80016 appears because there are no seller established shipping rules, use the eBay Message Center to ask about combined shipping and include an attached screen-shot image of the error page (i.e., shown below).



Buyers can help themselves and any sellers that they are dealing with by attaching a copy of the aforementioned error code with their messages.

Even though their listing descriptions may state that they offer discounted, combined shipping discounts, astonished when they are advised of the issue, many sellers are unaware that buyers have seen eBay's 80016 default message because no shipping rules were created.

Should error code 80016 appear while you are checking out an eBay shopping cart with a number of Buy-it-Now items in it, simply use the eBay Message Center to ask about combined shipping and include attached screen-shot images of the error code page and your shopping cart page.

Have only had one seller refuse to work with me on adjusting the shipping cost because the sale wasn't deemed big enough to warrant the trouble.

Immediately went to another seller and completed my Buy-it-Now purchases.

[peteski]

Thanks for the explanation Neville!  Now we know exactly why this problem occurs. I agree that while it is an oversight of the seller, eBay is really to blame for poor coding of their interface, allowing this problem to occur.

[Philip H]

I am not sure why or how a new seller would miss the shipping rules - you have to at least click past them to complete your profile.