i think the last person that bought a brand new block was redlineracer12. he said it was under 1000 for the shortblock brand new after the core charge. and his car produces numbers.
don't buy new unless you have money to throw around!
Hey newbe - a little search for prices would have found you a lot of good info. 18k '05 Taurus 3L $350 delivered. Car-part.com
Check out my build thread, I have a lot of prices listed.
You'd be hard pressed to find one that cheap delivered. Delivery is about $200. There aren't any listed for $150.
Expect to pay at least $450 delivered for a used motor and a bit more for one with low mileage. You could go with a 3L Escape motor to save some time on the prep work but you'll pay a lot more for one.
My 3L supplier delivers my 3Ls free of charge.
We burned through all the local 3L's a few years ago. Anything left is overpriced or too high of mileage. I'd assume yours are local or for some reason you have a nice shipping hookup. Either way for the normal person purchasing a motor expect shipping to be about $200 if there isn't anything local. Shipping is normally setup so it goes to the closest terminal so you also need to have a truck to pick the motor up.