Possible price increases?

[TravisM]

I really hate to ask this but with sterling’s value almost in free fall, are Accurascale hoping to honour their advertised prices?  Obviously nothing can be guaranteed but with the cost of living and now sterling having a wobble, people must be reconsidering or holding back in making pre-orders.

 

I’m seriously hoping that these financial difficulties will soon ease, life return to normal and Accurascale continue’s to go from strength to strength.

Edited September 26, 2022 by jools1959

[McC]

16 minutes ago, jools1959 said:

I really hate to ask this but with sterling’s value almost in free fall, are Accurascale hoping to honour their advertised prices?  Obviously nothing can be guaranteed but with the cost of living and now sterling having a wobble, people must be reconsidering or holding back in making pre-orders.

 

I’m seriously hoping that these financial difficulties will soon ease, life return to normal and Accurascale continue’s to go from strength to strength.

we always have. The deal if you preorder is that you lock in that price. We’ve never changed the price of anything with the sole exception of the class 92 which was changed to cover two working pantographs and to make room

for retailers. 

[TravisM]

13 minutes ago, McC said:

we always have. The deal if you preorder is that you lock in that price. We’ve never changed the price of anything with the sole exception of the class 92 which was changed to cover two working pantographs and to make room

for retailers. 

Thank you for that, it’s much appreciated in these uncertain times.  Like I said, I hope sterling makes up ground and stops giving everyone the jitters.

[Hal Nail]

9 hours ago, jools1959 said:

Like I said, I hope sterling makes up ground and stops giving everyone the jitters.

 

On the bright side ive been sat on some dollars at work for years because i couldn't be bothered to sort them and can offload them now and still realise a gain after the bank take their massive cut!

 

[Bernard Lamb]

10 hours ago, jools1959 said:

I really hate to ask this but with sterling’s value almost in free fall, are Accurascale hoping to honour their advertised prices?  Obviously nothing can be guaranteed but with the cost of living and now sterling having a wobble, people must be reconsidering or holding back in making pre-orders.

 

I’m seriously hoping that these financial difficulties will soon ease, life return to normal and Accurascale continue’s to go from strength to strength.

Normal?

In the UK at least, this is the new normal.😀

I do agree with your last point.

Bernard

[Graham108]

28 minutes ago, Hal Nail said:

 

On the bright side ive been sat on some dollars at work for years because i couldn't be bothered to sort them and can offload them now and still realise a gain after the bank take their massive cut!

 

Why don';t you treat yourself to a holiday somewhere that accepts USD, then there's no exchange rate charges

[adb968008]

12 hours ago, jools1959 said:

I really hate to ask this but with sterling’s value almost in free fall, are Accurascale hoping to honour their advertised prices?  Obviously nothing can be guaranteed but with the cost of living and now sterling having a wobble, people must be reconsidering or holding back in making pre-orders.

 

I’m seriously hoping that these financial difficulties will soon ease, life return to normal and Accurascale continue’s to go from strength to strength.

There is seriously a case for trying to make a deal with Chinas factories in Yuan rather than USD.. whilst the £ is down 21% on the dollar, its only 12% off the yuan.. China is benefitting off the dollars rise quite nicely…you could argue giving them yuan instead of dollars makes it easier on them… i’m sure trading in USD for parts in China is hurting them locally too.

 

The odd thing right now is the shift to dollars, usually its a shift to gold… but in the last 3 months the gold price is down against the dollar, but relatively in relatively stable bands to several other currencies… i’m going to guess its oil thats the issue.. higher prices needs more USD to buy it and stockpiling  usd reserves.

Edited September 27, 2022 by adb968008

[Hal Nail]

7 hours ago, Graham108 said:

Why don';t you treat yourself to a holiday somewhere that accepts USD, then there's no exchange rate charges

Its not my company, so I could but would probably have to be a one way trip!

[Accurascale Fran]

Hi everyone,

 

Just a bit of "devils advocate", and probably something the OP can only really answer, but would be keen to get wider thoughts...

 

Why was this question posed to Accurascale specifically, and not to any other manufacturer on the forum? 

 

This is not calling it out, at all. I'm just curious!

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

[phil-b259]

28 minutes ago, Accurascale Fran said:

Hi everyone,

 

Just a bit of "devils advocate", and probably something the OP can only really answer, but would be keen to get wider thoughts...

 

Why was this question posed to Accurascale specifically, and not to any other manufacturer on the forum? 

 

This is not calling it out, at all. I'm just curious!

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

 

Possibly because you have a history of not raising prices, unlike say Hornby who frequently raise prices before delivery ....

 

But given the plummeting exchange rate its perhaps only natural to wonder whether manufacturers such as yourself will be financially secure enough to not have to 'do a Hornby' so to speak...

[Ian Hargrave]

31 minutes ago, Accurascale Fran said:

Hi everyone,

 

Just a bit of "devils advocate", and probably something the OP can only really answer, but would be keen to get wider thoughts...

 

Why was this question posed to Accurascale specifically, and not to any other manufacturer on the forum? 

 

This is not calling it out, at all. I'm just curious!

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

I’m m not really involved in this debate but I’d hazard a guess that it’s because you’re open and approachable and have involved yourselves with this forum since you hit the ground running and keep in touch several times a day.

 

[Accurascale Fran]

7 minutes ago, phil-b259 said:

 

Possibly because you have a history of not raising prices, unlike say Hornby who frequently raise prices before delivery ....

 

But given the plummeting exchange rate its perhaps only natural to wonder whether manufacturers such as yourself will be financially secure enough to not have to 'do a Hornby' so to speak...

 

Hi @phil-b259,

 

Some valid points there. We do work our hardest to stay lean and keep the prices keen, but we would never do it to the detriment of our viability. The exchange rate is indeed something that was not helpful this week by any means, but it has improved a little today and hopefully some fiscal sensibility will be injected into the mix for everyone, not just us small model railway manufacturers! 

 

5 minutes ago, Ian Hargrave said:

I’m m not really involved in this debate but I’d hazard a guess that it’s because you’re open and approachable and have involved yourselves with this forum since you hit the ground running and keep in touch several times a day.

 

 

Thanks @Ian Hargrave, a good point, but we arent the only manufacturer who participates on RMWeb. Maybe we're just more approachable lol. 

 

Cheers!

 

Fran  

[Roy Langridge]

1 hour ago, Accurascale Fran said:

Hi everyone,

 

Just a bit of "devils advocate", and probably something the OP can only really answer, but would be keen to get wider thoughts...

 

Why was this question posed to Accurascale specifically, and not to any other manufacturer on the forum? 

 

This is not calling it out, at all. I'm just curious!

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

 

Exactly my thought when I read the question, although looking back, quite a few questions get posed to you that I often feel are equally valid across a wider set of manufacturers.

 

Roy

[TravisM]

4 hours ago, Accurascale Fran said:

Hi everyone,

 

Just a bit of "devils advocate", and probably something the OP can only really answer, but would be keen to get wider thoughts...

 

Why was this question posed to Accurascale specifically, and not to any other manufacturer on the forum? 

 

This is not calling it out, at all. I'm just curious!

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

 

The reason I posed this question with Accurascale is, as @Ian Hargrave pointed out is that your very approachable and give a very open and honest answer.  Also, as @phil-b259 said, the likes of the other big manufacturers tend to spring price rises prior to delivery claiming economics, transport costs and currency fluctuations, so it's a breath of fresh air to hear that Accurascale are prepared to honour pre-ordered prices, well done.

Edited September 27, 2022 by jools1959

[cessna152towser]

A sigh of relief and a big thanks to Accurascale as I currently have wagons and coaches on pre-order and pre-paid.

My only pre-order which I still need to budget for is my Accurascale 37 which I had to order from Rails as the version I wanted was sold out on Accurascale website. 

 

[Phil Bullock]

Another reason for asking could well be the pricing of Accurascale models…. Certainly at the most cost effective end of the market.

[adb968008]

Accurascale is the only one most people seem to care about buying from currently.

 

must be humbling to be sitting in number 1 spot, and not recognise that you are sat in that top spot.

Edited September 28, 2022 by adb968008

[Hal Nail]

Something I find interesting and concerning really, is that we seem to collectively recognise when the UK economics are not in great shape, but somehow we are supposed to be individually immune to this and it should be others who suffer.

 

eg yes theres a war going in, we've had unprecendented spending on a pandemic, its harder to exploit cheap labour elsewhere and arguably the worldwide public are finding it increasingly hard to work out the least bad leadership candidate - but nevertheless it would be really gutting if a model wagon went up.

[Neil]

17 minutes ago, Hal Nail said:

Something I find interesting and concerning really, is that we seem to collectively recognise when the UK economics are not in great shape, but somehow we are supposed to be individually immune to this and it should be others who suffer.

 

eg yes theres a war going in, we've had unprecendented spending on a pandemic, its harder to exploit cheap labour elsewhere and arguably the worldwide public are finding it increasingly hard to work out the least bad leadership candidate - but nevertheless it would be really gutting if a model wagon went up.

 

Agree, we do seem to be sweating the small stuff.

[Phil Bullock]

Perhaps we are extremely fortunate to be vexed by trivia when others are challenged by survival ….

[Oldddudders]

1 hour ago, Neil said:

 

Agree, we do seem to be sweating the small stuff.

But at the other end of the telescope, it seems the IMF, no less, has issued an unprecedentedly negative critique of What’s Going On in UK plc. That is truly scary.

[Ouroborus]

14 hours ago, Accurascale Fran said:

Hi everyone,

 

Just a bit of "devils advocate", and probably something the OP can only really answer, but would be keen to get wider thoughts...

 

Why was this question posed to Accurascale specifically, and not to any other manufacturer on the forum? 

 

This is not calling it out, at all. I'm just curious!

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

 

Following on from the other replies, for my tuppenth, I can understand the strong dollar causing problems, it wouldn't surprise me if prices went up.   

 

If Accurascale were forced to raise prices, i would expect it across all the other suppliers as well.  But not the other way around - some of those other suppliers have demonstrated that they're opportunists. 

 

You're something of a Bellwether - take the compliment!

[Neil]

3 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

But at the other end of the telescope, it seems the IMF, no less, has issued an unprecedentedly negative critique of What’s Going On in UK plc. That is truly scary.

 

Yes I've seen reports of that too. If things continue in the current direction then the cost of our hobby will be the least of our concerns.

[Michael Hodgson]

14 hours ago, Accurascale Fran said:

 

Some valid points there. We do work our hardest to stay lean and keep the prices keen, but we would never do it to the detriment of our viability. The exchange rate is indeed something that was not helpful this week by any means, but it has improved a little today and hopefully some fiscal sensibility will be injected into the mix for everyone, not just us small model railway manufacturers!

 

Fran clearly has a better grasp of econmics than the Rt Hon gentleman at No 11. 

I'd nominate him for Chancellor but who would supply our new models ?  🙃

[Legend]

5 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

Fran clearly has a better grasp of econmics than the Rt Hon gentleman at No 11. 

I'd nominate him for Chancellor but who would supply our new models ?  🙃

 

But in fairness I think I've got a better grasp of economics than the current incumbent . Where's Diane Abbot when you need her ? Keep Fran where he is .