AndyMac1707817969

It’s a big mistake to confuse sales with profit. Companies can have high sales but it they are not making a profit then ultimately they are doomed. Many industries in Britain had full order books, shipbuilding being a good example, problem being they lost money on every order. Counting the number of order number s Hornby goes through is misleading. One thing I have noticed when you place a preorder you get one order number, on fulfilment however a new order number is generated. Again counting orders today is not the issue, it’s what going to happen in 10 / 15 years’ time when the majority of those placing orders today may no longer be around.

Any retailer who is going to have to sell them on will need a much higher margin that the basic 14% eBay will charge. As a private seller eBay often give private sellers listing offers of 70% to 80% off fees, then of course charges are a lot less, circa 4%. Any business retailer will incur at least 10% from eBay (depending on the selling profile they have gone for) plus whatever margin they need to make, they have overheads and have to make a reasonable profit else there is no point in doing it. I am estimating most seller would not bother unless they are making between 50% and 100% on an item by the time the tax man has had his cut to be even worth their while. Larger retailers want to shift items on quickly so their selling prices are often closer to the bottom of the price range for buyers. I would say you should expect about 50% less when selling to a dealer than you could realise privately. Of course people come off with really meaningless statements that an item is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. Well different people are willing to pay different prices so it’s really depends on how much time and effort you want to put into finding the right buyer. Faster sale means lower price but if they don’t owe you anything then it’s up to you. Anyone can sell anything as long as they are happy to give it away. People are always willing to pay what they refer to as a fair price, fair to them of course normally translates as ‘as little as possible’. In any buying / selling relationship there are two people the deal needs to work for both, not just one. If you do sell on eBay avoid the 'Best Offer'. Vast majority of offers will be a waste of time, surprising how many think they deserve at least 50% off. If you are willing to take less then advertise for less. You will find anyway even not having a best offer option does not stop the timewasters sending you messages with ridiculous offers anyway.

Seen a stampeded for TVs in the local Asda several years ago. I am sure the way the TVs were being treated most were returned the next day broken. Also seen a physical fight break out in a Tescos over items on the reduced shelf. When you go into a bar for a meal, the specials are not all about giving you a good deal, often is just the food they need rid of. When sales are bad however retailers still have bills and staff to pay so they have no other option but to liquidate stock irrespective if they are making a profit on it or not. With even recently released items being marked down by 50% or more that must be very close to all the margin gone on them.

Spent all my money in Hattons Black Friday Sale R3872 Class 800 IET 5-car set 800008 "Trainbow"in GWR green with Pride markings £271 R30219 Pair of Class 43 HST Power Cars 43049 "Neville Hill" and 43060 in East Midlands Trains livery £229 R40155 Mk4 TSOD tourist standard open (accessible toilet) in LNER livery 'Coach F' - 12330 £20 R40228A Mk2F RLO restaurant lounge in Caledonian Sleeper livery - 6703 £18 R4830A Gresley 61ft 6in Full Brake in LNER Teak livery - 4247 £36 and that was just the Hornby items. In another though not good, little at the moment is selling, hard to see how companies will survive. No money from sales will mean no capital to buy new stock so Hornby will either be left with it or product cancellations or delaying production until things get better. Can’t see there being many new big announcements for 2024

Breaking bits off is hardly covered under warranty.

Peco electrofrog points normally come with wire attached. Are you trying to solder directly to the rail. If so you will need a hot iron else the rail will just conduct the heat away from the joint. I would practice on some old cheaper pieces of track as too much heat and you will melt the rai out of the plastic chairs. You need a hot iron to get heat into the rail quickly and in as short a time as possible to prevent melting the plastic bits

Numerous parts for 9Fs on eBay, maybe something like this one https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204429554051

Absolutely no point in having a bricks and mortar shop unless you rely on passing trade. Anywhere that have enough modellers locally will have expensive rates, there is just not the customer density anymore. You don’t need the hassle, high rates, theft, customers breaking stock, time wasters who never buy anything, having to man it every working day. Selling online is much easier, yes to get the odd problem but the savings far outweighs the cost. You can ignore the timewasters and tire kickers who send endless emails asking for pictures because they seem to think Hornby or Bachmann made yours differently than ever other one. As for marketing, why bother, you just go to where the customers already are and that is eBay, you can promote your items through there if you really want to waste money but at the end of the day everything sells, the cheaper an item is the faster it will sell, they all still sell. You can run it all from a spare room in your house and even offset that against tax. Risk is a lot less than the upfront cost of signing a lease and fitting out a shop. All you needs a phone or tablet, you can sit in the bar or coffee shop. You can still have a normal day time job and pack the stuff at night. The secret of course is not to compete with everyone else, if you are selling the items no one else has or few other have then they sell themselves, you generally have to put very little effort into it. Skill of course is getting hold of rare items. An awful lot of models shops do sell on eBay, not always under their real names. Costs are a fraction of running a real world shop. Restricting yourself to selling in a small locality when you can advertise and sell worldwide for next to nothing. Its a no brainer. Problem with this thread, most look at it only from the point of view of a buyer, many living in the past. Trying looking at it all from the side of the seller / retailer. Only reason most buyers want a real shop is to go in and poke and see and item and then go and buy it online where its cheaper. its cheaper online because the overheads of much less.

Was that not one of the reasons for cab forward locos, to make long tunnels more survivable for crews especially when there were no ventilation shafts? In some cases crews were issued breathing apparatus.

It benefited neither party, rattles have been put back in their prams.

They have been on eBay for several weeks, this one I think started at over £500. Currently selling for around £150 though at least one failed to sell for that.

What is the cost to benefit ratio for such as service? How much would Hornby have to add to the cost of each product to pay for this? Customers generally have no end of ideas as to services companies should provide ‘free of charge’. Seems to go over many people’s heads that someone has so pay for this. At the end of the day companies get their income from customers so the paying customer foots the bill one way or another, there is no free lunch.

Considering so much of the rest is the same I am pretty sure Hornby will produce this loco in all its guises to maximize the investment they have made in it. Doubt the models currently announced will be the only ones. Quite sensibly they are not attempting to produce everything in one go when they can have several releases over a number of years.

The R2199M Coronation Scott Limited Edition I believe was only orderable via mail order and never appeared in the Hornby catalogue. The additional coaches witch I also think did not appear in the catalogue were R4141 and R4142/A were available from Hornby Stockists. There was also the Hornby R2661M Bournemouth Belle Train Pack Hornby are currently selling R1255M Flying Scotsman Train Set but others are selling R1255 apart from hattons that are selling R1255M Hornby have quite a few M items R1279M, R1151M and R1285M, Hattons do have this rather odd page https://www.hattons.co.uk/stocklistdatabase/198316/hornby_r1151m_caledonian_belle_train_set_with_0_4_0_steam_loco_in_blue_with_4_wheel_coach_ope/stockdetail

What is the difference between the R1230 and R1230M? A quick search shows both in stock with various retailers https://oliviastrains.com/product/hornby-r1230-hst-starter-set-gwr-railroad/ https://www.thelocoshop.co.uk/products/r1230m https://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/p/61907/R1230-Hornby-High-Speed-Train-Set---GWR-Green

Says Spring 2024, you can still create a stock alert https://uk.hornby.com/products/br-a3-class-flying-scotsman-steam-generator-diecast-footplate-flickering-firebox-era-4-r3991ss

Business have to make money where they can to pay for the times when they can't or part of a business that is failing to make money. You just can't look at a single item in isolation. Not all products are successful so the successful ones have to make enough to cover the unsuccessful ones. Yes people might complain about companies such as BP making huge profits one year but ignore that the same company posting the biggest loss in corporate history only 2 years before and on top of that having to write off 10 to 20 billion from investments in Russia. Companies have to make profits else what is the point of being in business and indeed if they don’t then they won’t be in business for long. There are two parties in any buying / selling transactions, not one so it’s up to both to decide on a fair price. Buyers seem to think they can dictate this, if buyers are allowed to do this on their own then you will just end up with a very unfair price for sellers. Was always taught both the buyer and seller need to go away from a deal happy else one will not be back. You see what happens in the renting market when too many laws are made in favour of just the renter. Landlords walk away from the market, number of available properties falls and prices go up, no party wins. Fair has to be fair for both

You also have to realise the estimated delivery is always based on not 'days' but 'working days' so it does not include weekends, public holidays etc. The first notification you get from DPD will be to say they have been notified by Hornby there is a parcel ready to go out, not that it is in their actual possession. It also worth pointing out that a service such as delivery that most people nowadays don't even think they should pay for is always going to be a compromise. Free shipping usually means it going to be by the cheapest option. Hornby used to give an no free express delivery option but as you find with most things people pick the free option and still expect the express delivery. Ebay’s estimated delivery is based on the delivery time of the courier and the dispatch time the seller sets when listing the item, Sending an is tem second class post (estimated at 3 days) plus setting a dispatch time of 4 days will mean the buyer gets an estimated delivery time of 7 working days. Working days go straight over the heads of many buyers as does the word ‘estimated’. Always better to set along dispatch time and the item arrive before the estimated date. If you don’t you will have buyers who open cases for missing items 1 minute after midnight. Ebay buyers also seem to think that private seller have some hotline to Royal Mail where in fact they can see nothing more than the buyer can so there is no facility to chase missing parcels. Royal Mail will not accept a report for a missing parcel until X working days after it was due to be delivered. At that point you fill in a form and Royal Mail promise to get back to you with an answer within 4 weeks. Ebay gives sellers 9 days before refunding. You can of course phone Royal Mail, last time I did this I was in a queue for over an hour at which point they tell you nothing they can do things will just take their course. On that occasion it was a lost next day Special Delivery item worth £800 which they eventually found after 3 weeks and delivered to the buyer even though they had been told to return to sender as the buyer had been sent a replacement. Lucky I had an honest buyer who sent the additional one back. What I have found with Royal Mail, filling in the claim online form before the set period has expired, you get to near the end when it then tells you that you can’t proceed as the necessary wait period has not elapsed. I used to think this a waste of time, but on nearly every occasion I have done this the parcel turns up next day so I think they do use it as a nudge to let them know there is a potential problem and the reason why they ask for all the details before telling you you are not yet eligible to claim.

I don't see what is dumb about advertising items you intend to produce to potential customers. The comparison to the car industry is just not realistic. Not waiting 6 months for a particular car because you need one now and any number of other models will do the same job so you buy one instead. You think it’s better that not knowing Hornby is say producing a specific model so you go and buy one from another manufacture only to hear weeks or months later Hornby now produce one. Is this preferable to being told what is on its way and you could have made and informed choice to wait or not. Makes no sense, I also did not know marketing had rules to cheat from. Never been on any marketing course where 'secrecy' was promoted as a good option. Hornby not including pre-orders on their stock is exactly the same as you choosing the ‘Show only items in stock;’ option. Same results so why don’t you just use that option. You will therefore not know what is on its way exactly the same as if Hornby did not tell you in the first place. Would this not make you happy and the rest of us can be left looking forward to, planning ahead and budgeting for what we want. Comparing the above to Bachmann / EFE Rail who now just tell you what is about to arrive in the shops. Of course that policy goes straight out the window in cases such as the Newton Chambers Car Transporters recently released by Heljan in a bid to stop anyone who wanted them from buying from the competition.

If you have boxes then they should have part numbers (Hornby will begin with an R). If you type these along with the make into searches on eBay they should show you what should be in the box, you can search completed listings as well as active ones. One thing to note though is Hornby did reuse R some numbers. Most people use eBay to value items, nowadays everyone knows what everything is worth because of eBay. Whatever fees eBay charge will be small when it what dealers and auction houses charge in commission. Fourteen percent all in is a lot less than people like Vectis will charge. Dealers will only give you probably less than half of what they would achieve on eBay but the problem is with eBay you really have to know what you are selling, its condition and how well it runs, selling ‘sold as seen’ will just mean it be assumed not to work well or at all and will guarantee a rock bottom price. It does not matter that you a private seller who may not know about the items that will go straight over the heads of many buyers who especially at the lower end of the market want to pay as little as possible and don't take into account its age. If you have never sold on eBay before, if the buyer has a problem with an item then eBay’s solution is always to reverse the transaction, you get the item back and the buyer gets their money back, you pay all the postage there and back. You get no say in it, you are responsible for damage in the post etc. It’s like if you purchase something and it does not arrive as you expected then your buyers too expect you to sort it out. There is none of this ‘it’s not my problem’. You need to read eBay’s terms and conditions carefully, any disagreement and they virtually always come down on the side of the buyer irrespective of what some sellers put on their listings, such as ‘my auction my rules’, well it’s not its eBay’s rules. You can contact the big dealers such as Hattons or Rails of Sheffield. They will ask you to photograph what you have and send them the photos. They will give you an estimate of what it’s worth. This does not cost anything but it will be a cautious estimate as they have to make money else there is no point in doing it. If you decide to go with them then you generally pack the stuff up and send it off and once they check it and if the items are in a good working condition they will make a final offer. People have a tendency to collect things from their childhood so stuff from the 1950s and even 60s nowadays is getting worth less and less as there are fewer buyers. It is unlikely to be worth a much as you think it will be, condition is everything but again if there are a lot for sale on eBay then it’s a buyers’ market. Again if you can find the items on completed eBay listing it will give you an idea of value. If the track is old steel track (try a magnet on it), many people will not touch it, as it’s already been said its more trouble than its worth to most people.

I don't think its rocket science to understand that cash flow in a business requires that the stock you currently have you money invested in needs to sell to bring in money to allow production of your next planned products to proceed. Clearly with just about everyone offering sales left right and centre turnover is probably poor and thus future products have to be delayed until the money is available to start the manufacturing process. Hornby is hardly a cash rich business, the first rule of any business, it does not matter what orders you have, what stock you hold, if you run out of cash that is the end of the business. You have to look at these things from the point of view of a business not that of a customer. As to price, you might have noticed that the cost of everything is increasing, it might be popular with the public that those out on picket lines should get the wage increases they are asking for while at the same time appearing to be complexly devoid of any ability to link what someone is paid to the cost of the item or service they provide. For most business the largest day to day costs by far are wages. Considering other factors like exchange rates and shipping costs along with workers in China inconveniently no longer working for the peanuts they used to. I guess Hornby will continue to honour pre-order prices as long as they are still making more money than they would selling it at trade prices to dealers. They probably take this into account when setting the pre-order price. Pre-order has lots of advantages for a business like gauging actual demand and production runs where people at least make some commitment to purchasing the item. A lot more accurate than the alterative ‘Yes I would buy one and so would my wife’ market research.

The Really Useful Storage boxes I get from Argos or Homebase who stock them. Unlike many of these storage boxes they are stackable and the mechanism that keeps them shut do not rely on using bent plastic as hinges that will eventually suffer from fatigue bending.

Did the old Lima tooled ones not have the buffers moulded as part of the body while the Hornby ones were separate and could be removed.

Probably the way things are going in general especially in this something for nothing culture within the UK. I seem to remember reading that in Britain 75% of people involved in a road traffic accident put a claim in for whiplash, in France its 3%. UK holidaymakers put in more claims for food poising in hotels etc than the rest of Europe put together to a point where some hotels where refusing to accept holidaymakers from the UK.

This is not really about preventing stup*d people doing stup*d things. It about safeguarding companies who will be held responsible for the stup*d people being able to do stup*d things. It was fine back in the day but now where there is no longer the concept of personal responsibility, only those who you can extract money from are now ever responsible for anything.