Hello, I was looking at many Model RR websites, and many now have a pre order option. Many brass and high Quality models are also built just to fill orders ( ie- MMI ), and I also hear it is best to pre order if you want atlas. Is this now normal?? I have never had to pre order before, but it seems all the advance reservations are taking all the stock available. I want to buy a PCM GS-4, and I ask myself, do i need to pre-order?? What do you guys think?? Is pre-ordering a good idea??
Regarding my situation (LHS better than 80 miles away)…it seems that pre-ordering, or at the VERY least ordering ASAP is the only way to assure I will get what I want.
A few times now, I’ve been left “standing at the plate” money in hand and nowhere to spend it.
Soooo…I guess I would suggest the pre-order option if you really want that particular item.
Due to limited production runs these days, pre-ordering is best. At least with Atlas you are assured of a good product.
Some others are kinda scary ordering sight unseen (and unrun).
Go ahead and buy me one of those GS-4’s while you’re at it, will you?
–Austin
Pre-ordering insures that you will receive what you want, but you’ll most likely pay full MSRP for a product that hits the discount market a few months later if you don’t mind waiting.
A member of our local HO scale club pre-ordered a Con-Cor Burlington Zephyr because he heard that it was going to be a limited run, and he wanted to insure that he had one. Two months after he received it from Con-Cor at above full MSRP, four of them appeared in a hobby shop in Tucson, Arizona for nearly $200 less than he had paid.
Needless to say, he was not a very happy camper.
wow, well, I am not about to pay above MSRP. Tonys has them for $110 BELOW msrp ( $337.50 ) , list price is $450. I think I will pre order this in a few months, because I REALLY want it, and I do not want to have to go out and buy a bachman one beause they are all sold out. I love how the PCM model will have a WORKING mars light, ESU loksound, and both horns( steam and air ). Plus a fan driven smoke unit. Thanks
Pre-ordering has been around for a number of years and reached deep into the hobby from my point of view.
At this time I have enough pre-orders at two stores to keep my hobby budget spent for the next 6 months. Part of the problem is limited run and other reservations if you want to be able to get an item.
You can say I do my shopping 6-12 months ahead of the actual product release with a small percentage for the little stuff like paints, wheels couplers etc…
For example, Bachmann is producing the 4-4-0 in the Spectrum line. Has been known for a few months and wont likely be availible until about spring of next year. Since Roundhouse already produced and released a good model I may get a copy of this one instead and let the Spectrum go because they are taking too long getting it out of the factory.
I missed a few items the first time around because they sold out very quickly and am waiting even into the second or third run to finally get a copy.
If I hear or learn about something, I usually pre-order sight unseen if it is something I definately know it has a place on the line. I very much prefer to have the item at the store so I can look it over first. But the Internet so far is keeping pace (Usually) with either video or pictures.
DCC ready? That’s the only thing that has stopped me from picking up a GS-4, I want it to be ablet o run on DCC.
–Austin
The PCM models are available with and without sound. The sound equipped models are DCC ready. I, myself have had the upcoming Great Northern S-2 4-8-4 on pre-order since it was announced-and I got a very good price relative to retail.
Actually, the sound ones have DCC onborad, with a decoder already installed. The non-sound version is dcc-ready. I heard that athearn will be releasing the daylight train in their genesis line, with F units insted of the GS-4. True?? If so, did athearn give a ETA date? I think they released this info at Ihobby, but I am not sure. Thanks for all the imput everyone!!
If ya’ll live anywhere near Douglas, it probably costs that much in gasoline just to drive to Tucson anymore…lol.
I no longer pre-order because I’ve learned an item will show up on The Net for less, either from a hobby shop or on eBay. The exception is when something comes along that I absolutely-positively have to own and I do not want to take a chance NOT getting one if I wait…like an SP GS4 with sound and matching passenger cars 
It’s a tough call sometimes.
Mac
The biggest problem with the Bachmann GS-4 is that it will not be a Spectrum and possibly won’t be DCC ready.
A member of our club has one of the older Bachmann SP Sunset Limited GS-4s and asked me to put a DCC decoder into it. The engine had to be totally disassembled to get to the motor and isolate the brushes from the split frame halves, even to the point of removing all of the side rods.
I’ve seen two or three of these cheap Bachmann engines with drive wheels broken loose from their axles, which makes them inoperative. Bachmann used a nylon axle on these models, and no glue will stick to nylon.
Whatever the price difference is between the Bachmann and Precision Craft models, the Precision is worth it because the Bachmann is likely to still have mechanical problems.
Mac: Sierra Vista is 60 miles closer to Tucson than Douglas. Con-Cor’s offices are in Tucson, so when the Zephyr’s motor burned up after moving the train less than 10 feet, it was taken directly back to Con-Cor’s headquarters. That’s when he saw them at Ace Hardware and nearly fainted.
Some of these so-called “Limited Production” models, such as the Con-Cor Burlington Zephyr, are not really limited. In fact, Con-Cor has announced that they are going to have a second run of them, so people who paid a premium when they pre-ordered, thinking the models would become instant collector’s items, got ripped off.
It may depend on who you are pre-ordering from. Since I don’t have a hobby shop anywhere near me, most of my locomotive purchases are done from train shops that deal over the internet. The one I use the most offers significant discounts from msrp. In fact, they offer an additional 5% off their already good discount on all reservations.
Regards
Ed
Well, you are half right. It WILL NOT be spectrum, but WILL have a decoder already installed. But it one of those cheap decoders… there will also be a version out with a 8-pin plug in the tender. Other than those improvments, I don’t think it will have good detail, and will be a joke compared to the PCM version. You are right, PCM is worth the money.
Hardly, every time I’ve pre-ordered something I’ve regretted it either because 1. I paid too much. (Proto Heritage 0-8-0s). 2. The product was not up to advertising (Athearn “retooled” PAs, Genesis 4-6-6-4). or 3. Something else I wanted more came out (or was announced) in the mean time.
In my opinion the pre-order and “limited run” deals are a way for the vendors to reduce their costs, raise their prices (hence profit), at the expense of hobbiests who have been made to panic by making them think they are going to miss something. Seems P.T. Barnum allegedly had something to say about this.
I have never been deprived of something I really wanted by not pre-ordering. I always find the product was not as popular as the vendor thought it would be, and so it ends up sitting on the hobby shop shelf at a lesser price. Or I find the product on e-bay or at a swap meet. Once it took two full years, but I still got the same thing for less than half the price it would have been to pre-order.
Only part of TZ’s statement I disagree with is the part about “never being deprived”. I’m guessing here, but I think most manufacturers make a certain percentage of a run above the number of pre-orders, rounding up to the nearest hundred (for niche scales, rounding up may be to the nearest 10 or at most 50). The typical shallow V-shaped price curve seems to hold true IF the manufacturer guessed reasonably.
Price starts out at MSRP, with a discount for the paid pre-orders. After the initial buzz and purchases are gone, the extra production sees some pretty hefty discounts. The manufacturer is not losing as long price stays above p
I agree with Fred and TZ. I’ve been disappointed with the “pre-order” process and won’t do it again. The only way it won’t continue, of course, is if we as modelers don’t participate.
I use pre ordering occaisionally for those items I really want, that might not be produced in quantity. Being in a smaller scale (S), many items are small runs that are seldom repeated. Blow out sales (i.e. 40+% off) only occur in a very few cases, usually the product sells out and is not repeated if sales took awhile.
Enjoy
Paul
To answer the original question, yes it appears to be the new norm.
I’m telling everyone who comes in that if you see it, you better buy it now.
Not because of higher profits for the manufacturers, but because you would be amazed at the number of “if I’d only gotten it when…” that I hear. No one wants to see a modeler disappointed. I see it all the time. Maybe some folks are not as lucky, skilled or patient in finding out of production items later on for a lower price.
Fred W. nailed it on the head with the last three paragraphs of his post. You are preaching to the choir here brother Fred.
Some shops, maybe most, are just not big enough to warehouse these releases. But that’s what some manufacturers want. They don’t want to pay inventory taxes. Distributors can’t be stuck with inventory that doesn’t move.
Guess what? Train shops don’t want to pay inventory taxes either. Nor do we want a bunch of unsellable merchandise.
When I ask if there is not a better solution than what we have, it’s blah blah - made in China - blah - manufacturers don’t care about the shops - blah blah…
On the other hand, we sure have way more new and better products than we have ever had. And new product is what drives this business.
I see the problems with the pre-order system. Some don’t. Walthers seems to be able to keep new items in stock after the initial selling frenzy, maybe some other manufacturers need to ask Phil for some advice.[;)]
Mabey it is because walthers sells at MSRP. Even I wouldn’t buy from walthers. Tony’s has them for ( GS-4 ) $340, thats $110 below MSRP.