... I really need a 'bunch' of n scale track and switches and I'd like to save some money. Is there a place online that really IS less than retail prices? I do buy locally but I need to save a little money on this purchase. Thanks!
Kevin Miller
=>.... I really need a 'bunch' of n scale track and switches and I'd like =>to save some money. Is there a place online that really IS less than =>retail prices? I do buy locally but I need to save a little money on =>this purchase. Thanks! =>
=>Kevin Miller
Well, after you've paid shipping and handling, the "cheaper" price may not seem to cheap anymore.
Ask the local shop to order it in for you. Since it will be instant turnover, they should be able to offer you a discount, especially if the order is fairly substantial. Don't be shy about asking.
Wolf Kirchmeir wrote: Ask the local shop to order it in for you. Since it will be instant turnover, they should be able to offer you a discount, especially if the order is fairly substantial. Don't be shy about asking.
----------------------------------------------------- I agree with Wolf. When I was doing a large N scale layout back in the late 1970s, I told the hobby shop owner how much track and roadbed I'd need and he offered me a sizable discount on my purchase.
Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:
There was once a shop owner here who would not do that. If I wanted Tom to order something for me, he would, but he wanted full retail for it. I made a point of telling him that a small profit on an item in which you have no investment whatever is better than no profit at all. I could almost always get what I wanted at the price I was willing to pay, but I made sure that Tom got the first crack at my dollar. In those days I was single and modeling O scale. I thought nothing of plopping down $350 for a locomotive ( we're talking 40 years ago here folks, extrapolate that into today's dollars and see what you get.) That is, maybe not nothing, but I would do it for a model that advertised for $425. NOPE ! Tom would have none of that. "I'm in business to make money," he would say, "not do favors." So I bought my loco from another dealer that would sell to me at my offered price.
So Tom's $70 for free went to someone else. I traded with Tom for 35 years, until he aged out and closed the shop. He never would give anyone a discount for pre-pay special order. I'll bet that during the almost 50 years he was in business he threw away close to half a million dollars in free money by behaving that way.
..........F>
Wolf=A0Kirchmeir wrote: Well, after you've paid shipping and handling, the "cheaper" price may not seem to cheap anymore. Ask the local shop to order it in for you. Since it will be instant turnover, they should be able to offer you a discount, especially if the order is fairly substantial. Don't be shy about asking.
---------------------------------------------- I agree, Wolf. Back in the late-1970s when I was building a rather large N scale railroad, I told the hobby shop owner how much track and roadbed I'd need and he offered a substantial discount. Instant sale!
Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:
Trains were a tiny part of his business. He was mostly (99.44%) Lionel and other tinplate, but did mess around a little with "scale" O scale. Trains, overall, were probably less than 2% of his total business; at least in the early years. He also had cast iron toys and was big on antiques, especially brass beds. He made the beds in the basement from parts that he bought from suppliers. He then sold them upstairs in the antique shop at outrageous prices to young yuppies and other people who had too much money. Tom was "slick" if nothing else. I don't know for sure if he ever made a nickel off his scale stuff. Most of it sat around in the store for so long that the overhead amortization consumed any possible profit. In later years he quit antiques and went totally trains, but, again, mainly tinplate.
I did a lot of custom painting for him and also did a lot of Lionel rstoration and repair. Much of this was done at barter. I would repair a Lionel piece for $X in trade at retail. Naturally, I inflated my price to match his assigned value on his merchandise. It was a strange relationship that endured for more than 25 years. I cannot honestly say that we were ever "friends" at any time. He had things I wanted, and I had a skill that he needed; so we used each other and didn't talk about it. ....................F>
lol in: c'est la vie, GA.
What are the odds that today he would last 50 years with this attitude?
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