Train tickets, when to purchase

If you wait till you arrive in Italy you will pay the base fare - that is the standard, walk-up fare. If you buy in advance on the web site trenitalia.com you MAY find discount tickets available -- two levels - Super Economy and Economy. There tickets will come with restrictions - no change, no refund, but the savings can be significant if you agree to the terms.

What is your problem with the DB site? It is generally very easy to use.

On the DB site, where do I tell it that I have a Eurailpass and only need a reservation?

Hang on, the other thread, posted by jraiche123 is traveling an identical itinerary, Are you two together? The same person?
Why do you want to do a 2-country Germany-Austria Eurail pass. For that amount of travel, it really does not make sense. Salzburg to Vienna can be done with a cheap Westbahn ticket and Vienna to Munich also with a combined Westbahn/Meridian Ticket. Munich-Belfort is already getting complicated trying to use a Eurail pass for just the German portion.

See my latest reply on the other thread. If you two are traveling together, you should also be reserving together.

For Innsbruck-Salzburg-Vienna-Munich-(Mannheim or Basel Bad), seat reservations are optional and I personally would not bother. That's part of the flexibility benefit of the pass. The DB web site can only process the reservations from Vienna to Munich and from Munich to another stop within Germany (like Mannheim). The Austrian web site has enough hassles that I would not recommend it to you. Seat reservations are also sold in train stations for about €4.

Additional: This thread says you're traveling Belfort-Paris on June 1 while the other thread says Munich-Belfort on June 1. Be careful with dates when booking these tickets because many advance-discount tickets for France (or Italy) are nonrefundable and non-changeable. Belfort-Paris is one of your longer routes, so I would buy that from Rail Europe in the same shopping cart that you buy the other French tickets (if booking the TGV from Mannheim). They'll also sell you reserved Italian tickets for just a few dollars more than the Italian web site.

DB is the best web site for complete train schedules, but it can't sell everything that it shows. Other sites don't show what they can't sell.

On the DB site, where do I tell it that I have a Eurailpass and only
need a reservation?

First, with a Eurail pass, in Germany, you never need reservations. Unlike some countries, all German Rail trains are rideable without reservations. If you have a Eurail pass and want a seat reservation, on the opening page of the German Rail schedule webpage, at the bottom, there is a link for "seat only, no ticket". Follow it.

I have been trying to use the point to point site on Rick Steves but
then other people say to use the DB site. I am having trouble
navigating the DB site. Why should I not use the site on Rick Steves?

Are you talking about the sketched map the purports to show the cost of travel between points. It's not very accurate. First thing, it's in US$ and the exchange rate has probably changed since it was published. Second it is for full fare tickets on the most expensive trains, the highest fares; there are lots of cheaper fares. So, as a last resort, it's a SWAG guess, better than nothing, but not much better.

Lee,

What I mean when I say the Rick Steves point to point, it is really RailEurope in partnership with Rick Steves.

Lee, please see the rest of conversation on the other thread, where most of these questions have been answered. The OP has purchased a pass. I think she doesn't need any more confusion added to the mix, at this stage.