[RonO]

The diecast business works in mysterious ways (someone in the know should write a book). Is it possible that the customers pre-order and then the dealers pre-order with the distributer or manufacturer and based on the early pre-orders the manufactures sets his production run quantity??? Seems like that would generally be good.

Ron

[FormerViperDriver]

Originally Posted by Cardinal

Definitely, and if they want to keep a few in 'reserve', that is also their right ...

Indeed.

I won't be the one to tell diecast retailers how to run their business. They can chose the way that best suits them and their specific market (which in the final analysis usually means they have to try to cater to various kinds of customers).

FVD

[jjgilz]

Thanks for the feedback. Most of you guys provided really valuable insight and opinions. My goal in asking this was just to see what people think about pre-orders. To summarize, I think the feedback is clearly mixed. Some like the idea of holding a few back for release day. Others disagree and want to lock up a pre-order to make sure they have first dibs on the model. A good percentage of collectors avoid pre-orders all together until actual reviews and user photos are released.

My favorite comment of this thread was Captain Eddie, brutal honesty! :-)

Anyways, my opinion is that I think stores should be able to do what they want. I think pre-orders help build excitement in the hobby. Excitement that is necessary to help our niche hobby grow. However, like sports tickets, they have the potential to be abused.

On a slightly different topic, I think that it would be cool if model companies started issuing specific release dates. This would have two effects. 1.) It would create a buzz of anticipation similar to movies, game systems and ticket release dates (of course on a smaller scale) 2.) It would put all of the retailers on the same level playing field.

Just a couple of random thoughts!

Jeff
AimHigherJets.com