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Preorder email


Hilux5972
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15 hours ago, robmcg said:

Interesting reply Mike, possibly you underestimate the number of people who pre-order with little intention of actually buying, but just to keep their buying options open. Secondly many buyers do not have trusted friend as part of the pre-order system.

I know a bit about the rate of pre-order drop-out for a couple of retailers but it wouldn't be right to discuss it here.  However drop outs do occur and for various reasons - the 'good' one being that the customer hasn't got the money to buy the model which he thought he would have when he ordered it - that is quite understandable.  Some are perhaps just a bit unsure whether or not they really want something and some order the same thing from several different retailers and cancel all but one of them when the item actually arrives.

 


Overall I would be surprised if a retailer doesn't know their average and range specific drop out figures and plan their ordering accordingly - especially if they know their market and are keeping an eye on their cash flow and profit margins.  A friend who was in the retail trade for many years could actually predict, with considerable precision, exactly how many pre-orders he would receive for new tooling r-t-r locos from the main manufacturers and he very rarely got it wrong.

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2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Overall I would be surprised if a retailer doesn't know their average and range specific drop out figures and plan their ordering accordingly - especially if they know their market and are keeping an eye on their cash flow and profit margins.  A friend who was in the retail trade for many years could actually predict, with considerable precision, exactly how many pre-orders he would receive for new tooling r-t-r locos from the main manufacturers and he very rarely got it wrong.

 

Exactly.  To succeed you need to know your market so you can order appropriately - whether you are selling model trains or clothes or food.

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On 13/02/2021 at 10:26, NoggintheNog said:

US Manufacturers tend to have a preorder period for new models, then do a production run to cover the preorders + some set amount.

 

Which seems an entirely more sensible approach.

This system is also used by a number of European manufacturers, for example Tillig use it for "specials" but not for general stock.

 

Not all European retailers even offer pre-orders.

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5 hours ago, GWR 802006 said:

I had a email from Hattons as well which they couldn't full fil my Midland Pullman HST order but I still have a order for the 88DS model I ordered from them

Had simler email both p2s ordered less than 8 hours after Hornby annouced them on the same day now canceled by retailer as they arnt able to fufil so order placed direct with Hornby how quick do you have to be makes me wonder no complaints against the retailer as they have been more than fair with me after talking to them about. 

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21 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Sensible for who ?

 

 

 

 As mentioned above, for everyone.

 

Here are two actual scenarios.

 

I want to buy two locos, the Hornby W1, from a retailer here in the UK and a UP Veranda Turbine from Athearn via any of a dozen or so US based stores who happily ship here.

 

I ordered a W1 a year ago, along with everyone else at the range reveal. I still cannot be sure I'm going to get one.

 

I ordered the Athearn model late last year when it was announced. I am guaranteed to get it when it ships in December, a 12 month lead time. 

 

The retailers know they have ALL preorders covered, no need to disappoint anyone later down the line, and they can order as many extras as their experience suggests they may need.

 

The manufacturer knows exactly how many to make, so they know in advance that the line will be profitable.

 

The only downside is that in general, if you want any specific US model these days, you have to preorder, as there are vanishingly few on shelves after a release, although Trainworld and other box shifters tend to have reasonable numbers of popular models.

 

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, benbrown said:

Had simler email both p2s ordered less than 8 hours after Hornby annouced them on the same day now canceled by retailer as they arnt able to fufil so order placed direct with Hornby how quick do you have to be makes me wonder no complaints against the retailer as they have been more than fair with me after talking to them about. 

 

 

Is it a different retailer?

Thanks

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12 minutes ago, NoggintheNog said:

I ordered a W1 a year ago, along with everyone else at the range reveal. I still cannot be sure I'm going to get one.

I dont hear of these at problems at other retailers, unless its not filtered to these pages yet.

 

just saying.

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9 hours ago, adb968008 said:

I dont hear of these at problems at other retailers, unless its not filtered to these pages yet.

 

just saying.

 

I think this is a rather key point.  It seems pointless launching into wild speculation about what Hornby should and shouldn't be doing when on the face of it, it seems a hattons issue

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I had an order for the Avanti Pride Pendolino, LNER Mk4 rake and 60095 from Hattons, ordered it straight after the announcement. All cancelled apart from the 5 extra coaches for the Pendolino. 

 

I tried ordering via a local shop but they said they'd reached their allocation for all items, so I ended up going for TMC. 

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18 hours ago, mdvle said:

 

Exactly.  To succeed you need to know your market so you can order appropriately - whether you are selling model trains or clothes or food.

 

 Yep , but you also need a reliable supplier and know that then you order it , you are going to get what you ordered.

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On 13/02/2021 at 18:21, Hilux5972 said:

The problem with that is their postage costs, which I might add have recently gone up it seems. I checked out of interest, and to get a coach direct from Hornby shipped down to us in NZ, there is only 1 option and that is DPD at £50. £50!!!! The bloody coach was less than that! If they want direct purchases then I should think they need to look at their costs. 

I recently purchased a Bachmann Midland Pullman set from Cheltenham Model Centre. I requested that they obtain a quote for postage from DHL as I have found their service of late to be fantastic, with items from England usually arriving within 5-6 days. They came back with a quote of £40 ($75-80AUD depending on exchange rate) and was perfectly happy with this. The money was duly paid and 6 days later a nice new train was in my possession. 
 

A few months ago I was looking to buy some Tri-ang parts to keep my supply stock up, my usual go to for this is normally Peter’s Spares, but at the moment they’re charging a flat rate of £39.99 for any order going to Australia no matter you buy, a single pair of carbon brushes for example which weigh next to nothing would cost around $90 landed on my doorstep. 
 

I should mention (I guess I have to keep on topic for this thread) that my order for the HST Midlamd Pullman set & Tri-ang conflats was canned by Hattons. Since then other retailers have taken my orders for these items so thankfully all is well there. 

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3 hours ago, aaron3820 said:

I recently purchased a Bachmann Midland Pullman set from Cheltenham Model Centre. I requested that they obtain a quote for postage from DHL as I have found their service of late to be fantastic, with items from England usually arriving within 5-6 days. They came back with a quote of £40 ($75-80AUD depending on exchange rate) and was perfectly happy with this. The money was duly paid and 6 days later a nice new train was in my possession.

And how much was the train pack? £400 plus? Makes a bit of a difference if the postage is around 1/8th or less of the price of the item. With a loco from Hornby, removing VAT, that would make postage more than 1/4 of the price. 

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Just now, Hilux5972 said:

And how much was the train pack? £400 plus? Makes a bit of a difference if the postage is around 1/8th or less of the price of the item. With a loco from Hornby, removing VAT, that would make postage more than 1/4 of the price. 

The set ended up being £417. I was happy to pay that postage as I knew the set would be quite bulky, and indeed it was, but paying the same price for some brushes wasn’t gonna happen!

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12 hours ago, cbrooks122000 said:

I think there may be others, I do know that a lot of people got disappointed with orders of Duchess of Atholl. The thing I cannot understand, if you look up certain Hornby models on "preorder" at Hattons you will see the message "Sold out on preorder" so obviously they do set a limit. So does that limit change once Hornby decide to make it.

 

That suggests to me miscommunication between Hattons and Hornby, I doubt we will ever know which side was culpable if indeed there is any sensible way to lay blame. My suspicion is that Hornby did not make it clear to Hattons that their share of the 500 would be small.

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Well I was pleasantly surprised to wake up to an email reply from Mr Hornby himself. Simon basically said what others on here have speculated at. Each shop gets a certain allocation and they may well oversell their allocation before it is confirmed. 

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2 hours ago, Hilux5972 said:

Well I was pleasantly surprised to wake up to an email reply from Mr Hornby himself. Simon basically said what others on here have speculated at. Each shop gets a certain allocation and they may well oversell their allocation before it is confirmed. 

And after 7 pages, this issue only seems to drawing out 1 retailer.

Are all the others fine ?

 

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2 hours ago, adb968008 said:

And after 7 pages, this issue only seems to drawing out 1 retailer.

Are all the others fine ?

 

does appear that way, i've not had any cancellations from derails/colletts/Jandlam/kernow/my local shop (like to spread my money around to support as many shops as possible), said retailer does have a track record of this from years gone by.

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14 minutes ago, spamcan61 said:

It would be sort of interesting to know if anyone who pre-ordered from Hattons hasn't had a cancellation email.

 

In general, or for any particular specific Hornby product? 

 

On 12/02/2021 at 11:15, 3rd Rail Exile said:

Yeah, ordered R3996 (72009 Clan Stewart) and R3987 (92194) on 5th Jan and not had cancellations yet... 

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2 hours ago, adb968008 said:

And after 7 pages, this issue only seems to drawing out 1 retailer.

Are all the others fine ?

 

 

Wouldnt that be simply down to them being the more popular "go to" retailer --  Even if they always allow the same % oversell as everyone else its going to affect more people (especially more forum people) just due to the higher numbers

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2 hours ago, adb968008 said:

And after 7 pages, this issue only seems to drawing out 1 retailer.

Are all the others fine ?

 

Does look like it. I bought my A2/2 from CMC, who tested it first, wrapped it very well, arrived in perfect condition and excellent runner. If they hadn't had them then kernow had A2/2 s in stock to order, and someone on here purchased one from Bure Valley.  So there's 3 shops that had these locos for sale found very easily. Others have been mentioned on here.  If one shop hasn't got an item, surely best thing is to buy it from another.

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