I agree with Ed Rappe. I bought a US Hobbies H10b 2-8-2 for $871 in November 2005. It was my first eBay purchase. Since then the lowest H10b price I have seen is $480.99 in Jan 2012. On the other hand there was an H10b sale for $1009.99 in Dec 2011. However, the median price for 12 sales between Nov 2007 and Jan 2011 is $704.40. I bought a US Hobbies PRR L1s 2-8-2 for $733 in December 2007. Since then the lowest I have seen is $532 in July 2009. The highest L1s prise I have seen was $1155 in May 2009. The median price for 17 sales between Dec 2007 and Dec 2011 is $639.99.
Although I don't buy that often, I look at eBay almost every day. My impression is that prices vary a lot for freight car kits, ready to run freight cars, and other O scale items but that the trend for used stuff has been downward recently.
Regarding the exchange rate, the most relevant exchange rate for new equipment is with the Chinese Yuan. This exchange rate is controlled by the Chinese government. See:
http://www.oanda.com/currency/historical-rates/
Note that the rate remained constant between July 2008 and July 2010.
Larry Kline
