Scott,
I truly enjoyed reading your story on how you began. Your Faith was the most important factor in my opinion for your success. And yea your wife deserves much praise for being by your side the whole way.
Thanks for all you do for the train hobby!
Hi Scott.
I like that you reached out to your audience to solicit suggestions.
There have been good ideas presented. You may also consider a "make an offer" section of the website. That can help purge older inventory while still allowing you to negotiate.
Mixing it up always helps - a previous poster suggested running a special on MTH engines one week, then perhaps Lionel Rolling Stock (or even more specific "Hoppers". A sale directed at either RCS switches or maybe Signals of any sort would also be good attention getters resulting in people buying more once on your website.
Most important - keep up the great work, reputation alone accounts for more sales than I think anyone realizes.
Last, tell your team they are doing a good job - it makes them want to do even better if your words are sincere.
Sorry for the ramble but many years in sales and marketing will do that to a person...
Paul
Scott - my idea is this - 1st item at advertised price; add 2nd item, take 5% off total; add 3rd item, take 7.5% off total; add 4th item, take 10% off total, etc.. cap it where you feel it’s no longer serving your interest. I could see you bumping it to 15% or even 20% on a big order.
My suggestion. . .Have a section of "Handyperson Specials" at York that are sold at reduced prices. A "Special" would be a nicely running mechanism with a poor body or a nice body with a poorly running mechanism. These would be good for the tinkerers and for the people who have shells looking for locomotives.
Normally we run our promotions for a few days. How would folks feel about a deeper discount (say 15% rather than 10%) but limited to a single day, rather than over a weekend?
I don’t speak for everyone but I’d like the idea of a deeper discount day.
i also like the clearance days, I believe yall did a promotion with some clearance stuff at one point.
Why discounts on Halloween? Christmas seems like a way better time to have discounts on train stuff. Buy one get one free (or half-off) on certain items would be cool, especially if there are rolling stock sets (ie: passenger cars or freight car 6-packs) or loco lashups (ie: F-unit or E-unit A-B-B-A sets) customers want.
I agree with the "make an offer" button. Maybe have it allow a back & forth where Trainz the buyer can negotiate on prices (like at a show).
Best,
Bryce
How about we go back to basics and they take the time to put accurate discriptions of what they are selling.
Sorry guys - to me there is zero difference between 10% off and 15% off especially for total purchases under $200. Better to use the $10 off over $50. Buying a car I want for $35 with $20 shipping has little impact with an added 5% discount. I would much rather see a discount as the total sum of purchases goes up. I would be far more motivated to buy a car above market if the other cars in my list offset the difference. My typical purchases through trains has been a minimum of 4 to 5 cars. Once I throw in an engine all bets are off.
Buy a locomotive, and receive 1 freight car of the matching road name at a discount. Consider including cabooses in the discount.
I dont really care about the discounts and specials so much. I just want that when i buy an item that says "new in Box" its actually new in box. I know when u are doing a high volume biz, things get by, but , for me anyway..I dont have the time for the back and forth, or the time to return things, etc., etc., etc.. Also...related..I dont understand why you have your ppl take things that are new in box, out of the box for pix? If you wanna use stock pix, that would be better.
and..fwiw...my only other pet peeve is that Traditional size lionel and scale sized Lionel are all lumpped together under the "modern" moniker. Same with Railking semi-scale and Railking scale and premier are all lumpped together too. It just makes it take a whole lot longer for me to go thru things, so ive just backed way off. Ive suggested these things before in the "suggestion box", but no response.
Thanks for posting, Beth. Our policy is to check everything that is not super obvious that it is NIB. If we do not check then surely there will be something wrong. When we do check, then to some extent we mess up the packaging. If it is something we haven't had before and don't have a saved photo, then we do take it out to get a photo. It is tricky and a judgment call, but sometimes a no-win situation. Nonetheless I will pass your comments on this to our production manager to share with the team as a reminder.
On the other issue of identifying and separating the full-scale O trains from the rest ... That kind of made my head hurt. We do have a person now working on our database taxonomy and how we categorize and display items on our website. We now have over 620,000 items in our database, so the number of items in any particular category is usually pretty daunting. We have over 16,000 O Gauge Locomotives and over 35,000 O Gauge freight cars in our catalog. She just finished a ton of work breaking out accessories in various scales, cleaning up roadnames, breaking out various other scales, and next up is O Gauge parts. I do think it is a good project, so I will add it to the list. If anyone out there wants to see this done sooner than later and wants to volunteer to help, let me know! 😅
Not to get off topic, but i agree with Beth. Several times ive bought what was advertised as NIB and indeed they were lightly used.
Scott, I enjoy buying from your site and have never had an issue customer service didn't resolve in mutual fairness. I always try to buy multiple items as your shipping cost is more advantageous this way. My only suggestion would be a permanent deeper discount than the eBay price since you're avoiding that fee or a OGR discount code when purchasing multiple items.
Thanks for caring enough to ask.
Dave Ripp
Dave,
There are built-in permanent discounts.
It's 1% off to start with plus 1 Trainz reward point for every
Then it goes to 2 Trainz reward points once you spend $1000
Then it goes to 3 Trainz rewards ponts once you spend $5000
If you join the private car program it goes to 5 rewards points.
Plus any order over $500 gets free shipping.
Plus starting now you will be notified of at least 2 promotions per month and if you ae a private car member you get access to those a day early and other special private car-only promotions
So, I think we do a pretty good job of sharing back thoese ebay fees we save back to you, of course depending on how much you buy.
Thanks ... Scott
Curious as to what is considered NIB? Does it mean that the box has been opened and it(engine, rolling stock) never came out of the box? I know some of the stuff I have bought from other folks several years ago was listed as test run, NIB, or something indicating that if it was run, it looks new. I know that Trainz will list if there are signs of wear, rollers, wheels(drivers) or what have you. Certain things I really don't mind much if it is minor. On item I bought from Trainz was an MTH Niagara which had some pitting or chips on the paint on the bottom of the pilot truck. To me this was nothing to worry about, but it did mean that the engine was used/run. To me that didn't matter. I planned on having it converted to TMCC. I was happy with it, haven't had it upgraded yet, but I bought another one with the same thing in mind.
I still browse stuff on Trainz, and try to see what offers are going on. It's not easy to get aligned with deals when you are looking for a particular item, but sometimes you get lucky.
Dave,
It’s eBay slang for New in Box. Sometimes there is some hair-splitting when Locomotives are test run at the factory and there is some faint amount of discoloration on the center rollers. We typically just grade that as Like New since there isn't generally a lot of price difference between Like New and New anyway, but it is judgment call and we have about 30 different people making that call every day and they are all human ... So, I just can't guarantee perfect consistency on that.
I like beths idea of a separate category for lionel 027 smaller size and mth/ atlas/ lionel scale size. I spend a lot of time separating scale vs not scale 027. Id love a sort by scale vs non scale. also show us how shipping costs escalate by weight and or dollar spent. trainworld does this well so I know if I buy more dollars, the shipping expense changes by what dollar amount. sometimes its worth it to lump together and do a larger order, especially if im on the edge about adding more dollars. i have no idea how trainz shipping charges change based of dollars spent. weight probably isnt as key to trainz profitability if we added considerably more dollars. Gary
@Scott@Trainz posted:Dave,
It’s eBay slang for New in Box. Sometimes there is some hair-splitting when Locomotives are test run at the factory and there is some faint amount of discoloration on the center rollers. We typically just grade that as Like New since there isn't generally a lot of price difference between Like New and New anyway, but it is judgment call and we have about 30 different people making that call every day and they are all human ... So, I just can't guarantee perfect consistency on that.
Scott, whatever I buy there are no regrets. Sure I take my time and look through things just like everyone else. If something is just too far for me, well I won't bite. However, anything that I have looked at on your site, I have bought(after a bit).
I can attest: When Scott says " N.I.B" .... You can be assured its New in Box! Case in Point from Labor Day week-end ! And yes.. It came from " The Bay"...:-)
Bulk prices on new parts
Hi Kent,
When you say "New Parts" do you mean new parts for Lionel/MTH, or new parts we list?
We now have over 1800 parts on our wholesale program.
For the parts tagged as available for wholesale on our website we have 3 discount levels:
Buy 12 get 30% off
Buy 50 get 40% off
Buy 100 get 50% off
For parts that are more expensive the quantities are not as high.
As we we continue to process all the parts we received fron Brassuer's and North Lima Train Works, then number of parts on our wholesale program will continue to climb.
Thanks ...
I think you should drop the price on the MTH and Lionel training. Granted, people that already bought it wouldn’t be happy, but I think you would get more sales if the price is lower. I know you had a significant outlay wining and dining Mike and Don, plus the editing involved in assembling the course, but I feel the cost is an obstacle to increased sales. I’m not a customer for this class. I work at MTH. Just an observation.
I have a question, and it may lead into a suggestion about the web site.
Let's say I search for a Moss Covered Three Handled Family Gradunza. You show that it's not available - "Sold Out". Now, I presume that you can only show Sold Out things when they have at least once crossed your threshold. Pieces that you haven't seen/touched are not in the catalog.
And the question - for something that is "Sold Out", is there a way to set an alert if that thingie does manage to come back into stock? If this is a product enhancement, then let's go for the stretch and say "Can you also set an alert for an item that isn't in the catalog - something that you haven't seen but exists"?
Other than that, I am more than 100% satisfied with the staff and service.
@Homey B posted:I have a question, and it may lead into a suggestion about the web site.
Let's say I search for a Moss Covered Three Handled Family Gradunza. You show that it's not available - "Sold Out". Now, I presume that you can only show Sold Out things when they have at least once crossed your threshold. Pieces that you haven't seen/touched are not in the catalog.
And the question - for something that is "Sold Out", is there a way to set an alert if that thingie does manage to come back into stock? If this is a product enhancement, then let's go for the stretch and say "Can you also set an alert for an item that isn't in the catalog - something that you haven't seen but exists"?
Other than that, I am more than 100% satisfied with the staff and service.
They already have that feature on the website. At the top of the Wishlist page it states: "Find the perfect train only to realize it’s been sold? Want to buy but need time to save up? Try the Trainz Wish List! This nifty feature will allow you add items to your Wish list and receive alerts when they come back into stock or, even better, if the price drops!"
Scott, this isn't a promotion per se, but a suggestion at point of sale. How about a purchase option/add-on for Trainz to install a J&W BCR and test before shipping when buying an MTH PS-1/PS-2 engine from you? Thx, Bryan
Defining what functional means on EBAY listings would be a big help.
Gunny
A little off topic, but related to it, is that one can email to Trainz specifically what you want, and cannot find, and Trainz is so organized that if they find it 6 months later, you get a email from them telling you that, and then you can buy it.
This happened to me several years ago with Kramer Products (out of business) metal O scale baseball figures. To say I was thrilled is an understatement.
Here they are on my layout:
How about having free classes/videos for things that are good for the hobby that better explain the products you sell.
For example how to configure signal systems on a model train layout. How to power your buildings in districts so that you don't blow transformer fuses. How to keep your track and center rollers clean.
This would create goodwill and make Trainz a leader in the hobby.
Definitely free shipping. I would order a lot more smaller stuff if I wasn't paying more for shipping than I was the item itself. I would rather pay $500 for an engine, than $500 worth of small stuff to qualify for the free shipping as it is right now.
Two ideas: a discount when you’ve purchased something that has been on your wish list for a few days or maybe has come back in stock and you’ve gotten a notification.
second idea is a little more complicated but a game convention that I go to does it with their consignment items. When an item first goes on sale, you set a price. We’ll say $100 for this example. After a few days, it goes to $80, and after a few more days, to $60. The numbers are made up for this example, but it’s a fun push your luck system for the buyer - do I want this item at $100, or do I want to take a risk that someone else will buy it and I won’t be able to get it for the lower price.
@Don R posted:…second idea is a little more complicated but a game convention that I go to does it with their consignment items. When an item first goes on sale, you set a price. We’ll say $100 for this example. After a few days, it goes to $80, and after a few more days, to $60. The numbers are made up for this example, but it’s a fun push your luck system for the buyer - do I want this item at $100, or do I want to take a risk that someone else will buy it and I won’t be able to get it for the lower price.
They already do this
Private Car members need more/deeper discounts to make up the $11 a month membership ... that would be additional savings of $130 per year over and above any other discounts ... being able to combine discounts: seasonal discounts and accumulated points; bigger discounts than eBay prices: crediting the eBay seller fees to the Trainz.com buyer ...
Perhaps a once a year lottery for those that have spent over, say, $500 (or whatever amount makes sense with you), the previous year. A drawing in January for the winner to have the pick of one item from whatever you have in stock.
I do like the service your business already provides.
I already know what I’ll choose this January..
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