eBay: Model Railroader magazine - 1-year subscription, $15.99

Wow, that will save me 90%?? Has MR gone up that much that it is now over $150 for a years subscription?? Now, that's what I call inflation!!

Most likly a scam of some sort. MR does not sell subscriptions this way or thru any of the subscription services.

Howard Garner

Did you notice that with "shipping costs" it's 22 bucks?

. . . and the delivery will be delayed by one year . . . and the front covers will be missing . . . :-)

Peteski

You are right, and as a matter of fact, I periodically receive letters from Kalmbach Publishing alerting me to unauthorized subscription services.

I would not trust these so called "vendors"...likely you won't see your money. And once they have your credit card info...well, you know the rest.

snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

My wife bought a subscription to Model Railroader here last year, I have had no problems whatsoever. About a month ago, we received an offer to renew the magazine for $15.95 from this same website.

She has many friends who buy their magazine subscriptions through mags4cheap, and no one has had anything adverse to report.

covers will be missing . . .<

A vendor who does not sell all of a month batch of magazines will return the front covers for credit. What this means is that person has had MR give him full credit for the magazines and then he is trying to make extra profit by selling the magazines he is supposed to throw away.

I'd be a whole lot more impressed by "Jungle Jim's" endorsement of this spectaclar offer if I recognized "Jungle Jim" as a poster to this group.

"jJim McLaughlin" wrote

He shoots................he scores!

jJim McLaughlin wrote in news:2dSdnRZq36sbfqHanZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

I'm a poster but very infrequent. I am a nearly everyday reader of the group. I am trying to learn about the hobby now as a grandfather and how it has changed since I was a boy in the 50's. I don't usually post unless I feel I can contribute something to the group.

I can assure you that the mags4cheap is in fact a legitimate site, and the renewal price is correct $15.84 (not $1595 as I stated before) was my renewal price at a %5.00 discount.

I wonder if Kalmbach Publishing has actually authorized this vendor? I don't see HOW they could sell the magazine this cheap, compared to ordering it direct from the publisher...sounds like some kind of scam. Don't know what, how or why...but the old adage comes to mind...

If it seems too good to be true...it probably is.

Cover price on MR is $5.95. And you get a subscription for 3 times one issues street price?

The subsciption rate direct from Kalmbach is 42.95 (if memory serves) which is a tad more than seven times one issue street price...which means basically you are paying for seven issues and getting five for free when ordering direct from Kalmbach.

I can't imagine that Kalmbach could offer even bulk quantities to a

3rd party magazine vendor for a price that is less than half their normal subscription rate.

Oh, I just checked the website and they say 20.84 is their rate, and they say that 80.00 is cover price, which isn't entirely accurate as

12 issues times 5.95 (street price) would be 71.40

Oddly this same website wants over 30.00 for Railroad Model Craftsman (which is Carstens Publishing) , and over 50.00 for Trains magazine (another Kalmbach magazine), as well as 29.99 for Railfan and Railroad (another Carstens magazine).

This may be a legitimate magazine vendor, but I have to wonder. I also wonder do you get the magazines at the same time they are mailed out to regular direct Kalmbach Publishing subscribers?

I also wonder, if you subscribe through this service...are you entitled to the online extras that you get as a regular Kalmbach subscriber?

Yes, many people may wait a few weeks extra to receive a discount, and also may not care for the online extras...but still something just doesn't seem right.

I recall as a school child (and I also recall as a parent of school children) whenever the school has a fundraiser selling magazines, the magazines are usually the same price as a direct subscription, or possibly slightly lower, but not generally 1/3 of the regular subscription price.

Say for instance a magaze was 24.95 a year direct, it might be 19.95 through a fundraiser, or something along those lines.

While I don't know if the site is ok or not I can see Kalmbach doing this. The reason is their numbers are down, way down. Well, so is everyone else but I guess they consider they shouldn't be following the pattern. It's one way to get new subscribers and I think Kalmbach is doing everything they can to do that. Notice that you can't get 3 year subscriptions!

Here's another one for $19.49:

Don't go to these. Here is what Kalmbach wrote in response when I inquired if these were on the up-and-up:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for the inquiry regarding Model Railroader subscriptions for sale on Ebay. There are hundreds of companies and people that act as subscription agencies; however, these companies are not affiliated with Kalmbach Publishing Company. Traditionally, the agents that are authorized to do business with us are typically those that promote through schools and different fund-raising programs. Unauthorized agents most of the time are those that are online. We continue to make every effort to stop unauthorized agents from promoting our magazines.

We strongly recommend you do not remit a renewal payment of any kind to this company and renew directly through the publisher, Kalmbach Publishing Company. We will not be responsible for any renewal payments sent to Ebay, as they do not represent our company in any way. If payment was remitted to this company, we would strongly recommend contacting them immediately by mail requesting a full refund.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you do some searches on the Internet, you'll see unpleasant comments about these types of services. Just Say No!

OK...here's what MODEL RAILROADER sent to me when I inquired about this:

Thank you for the inquiry regarding the Model Railroader online notice you received from Mags4Cheap. Please note, Mags 4 Cheap is not affiliated with Kalmbach Publishing Company; however, we have received payments collected through their organization in the past. Payments through outside agencies can take upwards of 6-12 weeks to arrive and if for some reason they would not remit the collected payment to us, we are not liable to credit your account. While agencies such as this offer lower rate offers, you take the risk of potentially not having the publisher receive your order/payment or a delay in service due to the amount of processing time it takes them to remit payment to the publisher.

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so apparently this place does legitimately sell the magazine, but you see what they say regarding Kalmbach's liabilities considering. I guess it's worth the risk. Maybe.