Welcome to the forum. You will need to spend more than $300-500 for a decent new starter box that is not made in China. Weltmeister and Gabbanelli have good starter boxes for $1000 - $1200. Check eBay for used boxes. Craigslist is also a good place to look. This forum is probably the best place to find a good new or used box to start with. When you get your box, get Big Nicks instructional DVDs to learn how to play. It will be money very well spent. Good luck.

Andrew - try putting beginner into the search box above. This question comes up fairly frequently, as does the answer.