MTH Dealers Please Update your listings!!!

Scott I agree with you 100%............ I bought two locomotives lately, off the MTH website.

This is pretty frustrating but I don't think that the smaller dealers really care to put the time and effort into keeping that up.  One shop I work with has a hard enough time keeping up with their own inventory.  They have no interest in spending the time maintaining the MTH site.  Automating that process would be good for everyone but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

 

The flip side of that is looking for an item and not finding it on the MTH site but then years later stumbling across it in the dusty corner of an obscure shop because they never put it online.  That happened to me recently and I didn't know whether to be happy or frustrated.  (I settled on happy but I would have bought the item a long time ago if I had known it was there.)

 

My local dealer, Catoctin Mountain Trains (www.cmtrains.com) regularly updates the listing and it is almost always 100% accurate. I have seen Paul sell an item, then immediately pull it off the list. Many times I've been in there and he is working on verifiying inventory on the list and updating accordingly. He just recently returned from a much needed vacation and indicated that he had about 3 or 4 pallets of items waiting at MTH and brought all items to the store. He may be a bit behind on the listing as he sorts through the new inventory and pre-orders in addition to the usual work of running the store. 

 

Engine House Hobbies (www.enginehousehobbies.net) also regularly updates the listing although I've found not as often or accurate as CMT. 

 

Both of these are small dealers. 

If anyone has used the MTH dealer locater to do updates for a dealer, you probably know why most dealers dont bother with updating it, as its quite an ancient program and frustrating to use.

I didn't realize the MTH site was frustrating for dealers to use. Hopefully MTH looks at this site to keep track as to how they (the company) are doing.

This is pretty frustrating but I don't think that the smaller dealers really care to put the time and effort into keeping that up.

Works for me.   If that's their attitude I make no effort to purchase from them.  :-)

If anyone has used the MTH dealer locater to do updates for a dealer, you probably know why most dealers dont bother with updating it, as its quite an ancient program and frustrating to use.

I agree too.

I'm on the hunt to get a couple of tinplate illuminated lockons. I went to a dealer in pa and bought the only one he had. It's still listed in his inventory since then


Believe it or not these are not easy to find.  Only ones at York were snatched up quickly from Sidetrack Hobbies

I can't say that the MTH item locator system is frustrating or not (due to the system's user interface design or be it lack of dealer self discipline and business professionalism) for a dealer to use.  The MTH item locator system has been available to dealers for almost 15 years and probably not updated much or at all since inception.  It's my guesstimate that less than 1 in 3 MTH dealers use and accurately maintain their MTH inventory on the system.  The dealers properly using the system probably receive more customer contact than those dealers who decide it's not worth their time and effort.  There is no dealer website requirement.  Many customers wishing to locate AND BUY MTH products seek out the dealers that report their on hand stock. 

 

The remaining 67% of dealers (past and present) not using the (frustrating or not) system miss a valuable opportunity to have their store and contact information identified by a potential customer.  Also, the ability of a dealer to identify and value (periodically or real-time) their inventory items is an important and required characteristic of any business when determining their shop's financial results for personal and tax purposes.

 

Many train shops closed in the past 10 years due to many factors.  Some of those shops were run more like a weekend hobby and not with the discipline of a full-time business and just like any successful long term endeavor:  you have to work at it to succeed.  The strong point to the system is that customers actively seek the dealer and not the other way around.  A successful business makes better use of its available resources.

Stores without UPC scanners might not keep track of all the inventory.

 

Andrew

I've had similar experiences with MTH's product locator in the past, but I've also had successes, as well.

 

The sad thing is that there are plenty of relatively inexpensive POS (Point of Sale) systems out there that could make automating the whole process pretty easy.  They could not only aid in keeping an accurate real-time inventory, but could be interfaced with a product locator system (they also interface with accounting programs like Quickbooks, so there are also financial benefits to using such systems).  The only real work involved for the shop owners/employees after such a system is in place would be scanning in the new products before putting them on the shelves, and with barcode scanners, even that is pretty easy these days.  Some of the more elaborate systems can even handle perks programs, customer pre-orders, automated customer communications (like e-mails alerting that a pre-order has arrived), and a whole lot more.

 

While I'd love to see a more functional (in terms of results) product locator from MTH, what I'd really like is a product locator that could find any item I'm looking for, regardless of manufacturer.

 

Andy

Whenever I place an order, I do it the old fashioned way, I get on the telephone and talk to the people in the store,then I ask them to do a hands on, if they have the item I want. After that it would be hard for the dealer to say he no longer has the item. Works for me. OMHO.

I've used the MTH Product/Dealer Locator on occasion over some number of years with pretty good success.  If I'm looking for a particular MTH item, I usually go there first to see who may have the item.  If just one dealer is listed, and if that one dealer is someone I believe I can trust, I generally pick up the phone and give him a call.  If a number of dealers are listed, I pick the one I know and trust the most (if there is one) and call him to place the order if the price is right.

 

In short, I use the MTH Dealer Locator as a starting point, realizing full well that there may be other dealers out there who do not list there at all, and also realizing that I may need to expand my search a bit for a particularly elusive item.  Dealers who chose not to be part of the Locator  or who fail to update their list when new items are released, simply stand a better chance of losing out on the sale because, as I noted, the Dealer Locator is usually the first place I am apt to go.

 

I have no real gripe with dealers who have neither the time nor inclination to update their listings on a daily basis because I recognize that in some cases that is simply expecting too much.  I imagine most of these folks are not techno-geeks, and they are just doing the best they can with limited resources (personnel and $).

 

And I will say that at least MTH has a Product/Dealer Locator, despite any flaws it may have.  It has served me well on a number of occasions.

The frustrating part with the MTH system, is that if a dealer uses a separate program

like quickbooks or even excel to magage their inventory, they cant import the data into the mth system, so you basically have two systems to manage. Their system is also quirky in that removing an item from inventory removes the item listing, so when the item is back in stock you need to re-add the item listing rather than just update the qty (which there is no qty field even).

I hear what you're saying but I think dealers that do keep it up are the exception rather than the rule.

 

What you say about Paul gives an indicator as to how much work it is to keep up that inventory.  Having to do it once for your own shop is a pain.  Having to do it twice is a burden.

Just to give you a perspective from the dealers point of view.

 

The MTH dealer site is not very user friendly and there is no way tie it into a POS system.  Keeping inventory up to date is a labor intensive process.

 

I think it going to be revamped in the near future.

 

Go easy on the dealers who might have something listed but no longer have the item.

The locator is a great resource for dealers and buyers as well.  It is not taken for granted.  It just needs a little tweaking.

 

Gotta go......have to update my inventory.

 

Dave

It might be a burden, but he is selling four pallets of product 

Honestly, how many LHS have you been in that are THAT busy every day to neglect updating their inventory on the MTH site?

 

On the other hand, you would think that with all these computers it would/should take care of itself

I've purchased several items found through the dealer locator. They got my sale.

I figure, if a dealer doesn't list an item on the locator, chances are if I call them they won't know if they have the object or not anyway.

IMHO, a dealer not using the locator = lost sales.

 

In some ways, that is surprising (the part about not being able to tie into a POS).  POS systems have been around for decades (I watched a friend install one for a local comic and gaming store twenty years ago), and many today are designed to work with all sorts of non-native software and hardware.  I would have thought that being able to import data from other electronic sources would be a no-brainer for someone developing a product finder system that relies on external input.

 

I hope you are right about it being revamped.  A product finder system like MTH's, if kept up to date (in an efficient manner) is even better than having a web site (when it comes to moving product) and effectively, if not literally, drives customers to a dealer's door.

 

Andy

I always thought it was the greatest tool going. I loved it.

I'm with you, Jimmy!  It helped me out more than a few times and was easy to use.

Hands down, the best marrying of a POS web site and real-time inventory has to go to M.B. Klein’s. Their site is fantastic and is always current with a “# of items in stock” notation for all products. And I can testify how accurate it is as I’ve bought an item from them, in the store,  and will see the web site updated by the time I get home!

 

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/O-Gauge-s/4.htm

Actually - this thing has cost me a lot of money.... I see something on here, for example, go out there and low and behold there is one, I call the dealer and buy it.... I also like the fact it will tell you if MTH has it in stock - then your dealer can go get it for you...

Andy,

 

The dealer locator seems to work by building tables based on filters.  You cannot simply type in a product number and update your listing.

 

Jim,

 

It is a great tool but very antiquated.  It just needs updated to be easier to use.

 

 

 

 

Being able to use a product number as a key field should enable any dealer to update their site, POS and MTH dealer inventory all at the same time.  Unfortunately, this is not the case.

 

 

 

Dave

Hi Jimmy, I really like using the locator. Too Bad LIONEL and others DO NOT INVEST IN A SYSTEM  for us also.

 

I do have a problem with the MTH LOCATOR. There is one large dealer located West of the Mississippi and East of the Rockies that seems to use the MTH SYSTEM TO FISH WITH US. THIS DEALER lraves OLD NUMBERS IN THE SYSTEM to get you to call hoping to sell you something else. I have mentioned it to him several times but the items stay on the list. I have given up calling him and don't buy ANYTHING FROM HIM.

 

Too bad some guys do this, but thank goodness I have only seen one doing it on a regular basis.

Good Evening Uncle Bill. I know the dealer you are talking about. He has been doing that for quite some time. He would indicate having the product when he really didn't. When a customer would call him he would say he had to check and would get back to them. He would then call a MTH dealer that had it and would either purchase it or he would have that MTH dealer send it to his customer. Nice to see nothing has changed. 

Just Google it.