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Post by rockymountaineer on Aug 17, 2024 14:14:28 GMT
The inherent threat to potential customers in a BTO world is that if you do not preorder your object of desire it may not be made at all. ... Case in point: Mr. Muffin's list of THIRTY-TWO custom-runs from Lionel's 2024 Vol 2 catalog. As of an email blast a couple of days ago, NONE have sufficient pre-orders to move forward... although Steve indicated his gonna produce the Bicentennial GG-1 anyway... which might imply he at least received 20+ pre-orders toward Lionel's minimum production requirement of 40. With a $1,700 MSRP that's a high-stakes game.
Personally, I was almost put off by so many custom-run potentials. My eyes began glazing over on products that just didn't call my name. And in this case, the one that did -- the Bicentennial GG-1 -- I already own from Lionel's last run of Vision GG-1's. Also... if I didn't already have MTH's U.S. Army Challenger that Clyde of Stockyard Express did as a custom-run (only 15 units?) earlier this year, I might have signed up for Steve's U.S. Army Y6b.
But all of this is further proof that there are LOTS of trains out there. And while conventional wisdom says these custom-runs are guaranteed income for dealers and clubs, that isn't always the case. Some might hang around dealer/club inventory for a couple of years, before they're all gone... while others are sold-out before the product even gets made.
Are you feeling lucky?
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Post by rockymountaineer on Aug 17, 2024 14:22:05 GMT
... 2. Better pricing by some dealers on holiday sales. ... Don’t be bamboozled! More than a few times, I've enjoyed shopping during these "sales"... especially when the prices are lower than even my go-to dealer's early-buy pre-order pricing. Just depends on luck of the draw sometimes.
As we've been saying... the custom-runs concept has been created as one way to generate an incentive to jump on the pre-order bandwagon... until the number of custom-runs rises to the level of a mini-catalog in their own right.
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Post by runamuckchuck on Aug 17, 2024 15:25:53 GMT
IMO the primary allure of the custom run is that it has not been done previously (new software and operational add ons aside). It could be more obscure RR, or color scheme. As long as it does not compete with the importer's offerings what is the harm; as it may sell units that others would just sit, or not get made as stock items at all otherwise.
With a less enthusiastic reaction to a catalog, custom runs create buzz and a certain degree of interest.
In what might otherwise be an exercise of pulling items from the archives to produce yet again, custom runs provide sizzle; and sizzle sells, even old warhorses.
The Sword of Damocles aspect of BTO makes the old saying of he who hesitates is lost a definite consideration like it or not.
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Post by JDaddy on Aug 17, 2024 16:33:43 GMT
That's one of the reasons I may be drawn to fantasy paint schemes; you can't mess up what never existed especially on holiday items (Yuletide not withstanding). Seems like you can't get the color wrong. Eventually in a locomotives lifetime it will be the shade or color the model manufacturer decided to use. Which Yellow is correct on this SD70? No-no Banana Yellow here! Lionel released a set of E-6's a few years back and it was banana yellow with gloss black trucks. Horrible. Took the loss on Ebay.
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