[slammer400]

New to die cast...can I ask why some pre-order?

Can somebody give me the run down on pre-ordering, pros and cons, price, availability on new models, if you don't pre-order...

Thank you

[FormerViperDriver]

Originally Posted by slammer400

New to die cast...can I ask why some pre-order?

Can somebody give me the run down on pre-ordering, pros and cons, price, availability on new models, if you don't pre-order...

Thank you

Hi Slammer,

I almost never pre-order. But many collectors do because they are afraid if they don't the model will sell out in the first few days it's out and they will miss out in it. This might be important if you will be hunting limited-edition models, particularly if it is a very-limited run (say 1000 units or less). Otherwise, probably not. Now, if some dealer offers a discount on pre-ordering, that might be a factor, but in my experience that almost never happens so there is no financial benefit.

As I said, I don't bother, personally. The announced dates for when models are supposed to come out are very often very wrong anyway (delays, delays...).

FVD

[stalag8611]

Slammer,
With me, pre-ordering is a 50/50 thing. I'm retired, travel a lot, and pre-ordereing is just a method of insuring that I don't forget to place an order. To my recollection, I've never saved a dime by ordering ahead, but I could be wrong.
Welcome aboard, BTW.

[bsmith13]

It's pretty much like FVD said for me. If I am afraid that I will miss an item by not preordering, I will preorder. Another big factor is whether the retailer is offering a discount for preordering. That having been said, I preorder less than 5% of my models.

[mustangdriver]

I preorder a good bit, because I work shifts, and don't want to miss out on a model because I was working. I have never saved money by doing that, but have got some great models that are now hard to find. I am not a fan when I place a few pre-orders and then the vendor changes the order around to suite them. I had this happen to me recently.

[hworth18]

I don't preorder as much as I used to, but I will if the preorder price is "discounted" sufficiently to make it a good deal.. Many online retailers will offer a preorder price that is much cheaper than the item would be at release..

[djjeffhall]

I do pre-order a bunch of stuff. Usually its under a few conditions.

I know the mould is good. (I'll pre-order almost any Corgi P-40 as I love P-40's. I'll also pre-order Gladiators and Swordfish birds. Gemini P-51 and ME-109s also get my pre-orders.) I also want the livery offered and lastly to get free shipping. Bunches of folks offer shipping discounts on larger orders.

The two main folks I deal with "shuffle" orders for me. Once 4-5 birds are in stock, they will split them from the order and ship them out. No extra shipping fees since the first order went well over the minimum. I've spoken (Or emailed) the retailers thanking them for the attention and service and remain loyal. (Plus, the prices are resonable and fall in line, or below the "median" that I observe on several sites.) I'm not really concerned with being the first on my block to get a plane and appreciate a retailer willing to spilt my order once enough gets in stock.

[Copland]

I collect mainly 1/72 Dragon armor, so, there is no need to pre-order - there will be plenty.

[ZS-VAN]

I used to pre-order a lot more in the past when there seemed to be discounts. Much less discounting now, on The Flying Mule there doesn't seem to be any nowadays, so I'm doing so less. Others like Flying Tigers offer 10% discount on pre-orders. The bottom line is what's in it for you?

In the past I pre-ordered plenty only to see the prices drop significantly after six and more recently much quicker than that. In cases where you're after something special go for it. The Flying Mule Me 262 was a great example of pre-ordering a limited release.