NEWS AND UPDATES
03/17/19

BRH Gross Income 2018

It has been much busier at BRH this past 15 months as I approach the 15th Anniversary of the online store.

So this is our best March sales month since 2011 and the accountant tells me that gross income from 2017 to 2018 is up a whopping 70%! The trend is great but there a still a lot of product shortages we are seeing.

Please remember that manufacturers are announcing product, especially locomotives and rolling stock that are selling out before they arrive. In most cases, you will never seem them at the BRH retail store or other local hobby shops!

Credit Card Fraud

This past week BRH has seen a rash of credit card fraud purchases for on line sales. Most of these seem to be coming from a fraud ring located in Hawthorne, CA and are tied to a company called Shipit.

Since I have a background in credit card fraud investigations from my days with Barclays Bank, I can spot a lot of these type of transactions. This is one of the reasons I have some of the store policies in place to help prevent the thieves from getting away with the fraud.

The less loss I have in any form, especially credit card fraud, the  more you save. As an FYI, a $100 loss has to be made up with an additional $2,000 in sales just to break even. Luckily this is not a problem at BRH.

In fact as I was typing this update I received an over $900.00 order from Indonesia that seems to be fraud as well! The reason, most of the early orders, in fact the very first order we ever received was a $5,000 order from Indonesia that almost shipped! But due to the store policies I have in place this did not occur!

For those of you that do  not know, all first time new customers credit cards are charged up front for the merchandise. This was fist a policy for all international countries and now because of credit card fraud here in the USA, this policy is in place for all new customers. International customers have to wait 30 days before we ship. So if a credit card is initially approved, 30 days later when we try to add shipping they are declined and we never here from the "customer" again! For new domestic USA customers we charge the card up front and add the shipping with a couple of days. Some cards do not get approved at this point when we try to add shipping. In both cases we never here from the "customer" again despite attempts to contact them via calls and emails!

So the bottom line here is that everything I do at BRH revolves around "customers" have tried to abuse or out right steal from me!

InterMountain Railway

Walthers Welcomes New Supplier Muirwood Reclamations

Looking for some great railroad-themed products to enhance home or give as train gift? Look no further than the Railroad Spike line from new supplier Muirwood Reclamations, manufacturer #402. This company makes a line of really cool kitchen and bar utensils created out of real railroad spikes. Sourced from the same forge in Chicago that supplies several railroads, these gift items are also perfect for everyday use - think corkscrew/bottle stopper set on the pool deck to build summer sales. The Pizza Cutter is hefty enough to cut even the thickest-crusted Chicago- style pie! All utensils (except for the one-piece bottle opener) are made for fast disassembly and have dishwasher-safe stainless steel parts.

Check them out below and order yours now



New Peco HO Code 70 Flex Track is Now Shipping

For many modelers realism is extremely important right down to their choice of track. New Peco Streamline Code 70 Flex Track is just right for secondary lines, lightly-used branches, sidings, etc., or for steam-era mainlines. Featuring accurate rail spike detail, correctly proportioned ties with wood grain detail and nickel silver rail, this flexible track conforms to NMRA specifications. Each section measures: 36"  91.4cm and comes in  packs of 25 pieces.

TO ORDER


Light-Up Sales with New HO Illuminated Billboards from Woodland Scenics

Five new HO Scale Just Plug(R) LED lighted billboards are now available!. These fast-moving products feature full-color graphics on an assembled billboard frame structure - perfect for quick placement in any mid-20th century scene. You will  love these because they're an easy way to add lighting effects to their layouts. No complex wiring is necessary - they're designed to work with the Woodland Scenics Just Plug Lighting System (sold separately).
The first shipment sold out immediately and more are on the way, so order now!

03/09/19

Re Introducing An Old Feature On The Shopping Cart

I re introduced the Back Order option on the check out form on the shopping cart this week.

What this 'question' does is gives BRH permission to back order an item automatically if it is not already a back order or advance reservation.

For example if you order 10 of an item but only 6 are available at the warehouse and you answer the question YES, BRH will now automatically back order the item for shipping at a later date. There is a cost for additional shipping at the later date unless the item can be combined with another new order. And no, I can not call you when items come in so you can create a new order. Sorry, there is just not enough tie in the day to get that accomplished.

Previously, if there was no comment in the comment box directing BRH to back order, the back order of 4 would be cancelled.

If you answer the question NO, in the example above the back order will not be placed. Also, if you answer the question no and accidently answer the question NO and have already known back order or advance reservation items on the order, they will be automatically cancelled based on the answer to the question.

$50.00 Minimum Order Question

A question has come up about orders under $50 that have been placed and then you find you need another item. Up until last week you could just order it online via the shopping cart if the item(s) is under a total of $50 now you can not do that.

There is a work around for this. Just send an email to contactus@blueridgehobbies.com
and let me know what additional item(s) you need and the quantity. I will manually add it on to your order.

While does  not happen often, I wanted to let you all know that it can be done.

Miniature World Of Trains™

I learned this past Thursday that the owner of the location for the new MWOT™ will be responding to our Letter Of Intent. I understand that one of the two owners viewed the LOI favorably. I expect to have this by the end of next week.

Also, this week I visited the new location with the General Contractor and the HVAC and Electrical Contractors. On Tuesday I will be back at the new location with the Audio Visual team and the Carpet Installers.

So, the new MWOT™ continues to move forward. The trick is getting the funding in place.

So, again, you can invest a minimum of $100 or donate what ever you would like  in Miniature World Of Trains™ and become part owner of what will be "the next big attraction" and a great addition to the model railroading hobby!
You could share in a projected $17M net profit in 7 years!

MORE INFO ON THE ATTRACTION OR HOW TO INVEST


Upcoming Preorder Deadlines

March 12: Atlas Preorders
March 15: Bowser Preorders
March 31: Walthers Preorders

New Walthers-Exclusive Brekina HO 1967 Jeep Camper Available Now!

With warmer weather on the horizon many of you already have camping season on their minds. The new HO Scale 1967 Jeep Gladiator B Pickup Truck with Camper is a perfect model for the modeler of the 1960s and later. This new model available only from Walthers, has Brekina's new Jeep Gladiator B Pickup Truck in red, outfitted with a white camper body in its bed. It's perfect for street and campground scenes on your customers layouts. As with all Brekina HO vehicles, this layout-ready model features a detailed injection-molded plastic body with fine decoration, interior truck details, window glazing and chrome-plated parts.

 Order now


2019 Marklin, LGB, Trix and Minitrix New Items Brochures Now Available!

New products brochures of the latest product announcements. If you model these manufacturers items or what a "free' peek of these products, make sure to order these free catalogs now

 Add On To Your Order now

03/03/19

Miniature World Of Trains™

We have been busy in the background working on the funding of MWOT™ for the first phase of the project. We are hoping and are currently working with some of the top model railroad manufacturers seeking there monetary investment in MWOT™. The industry support is crucial to the success of  MWOT. We should know something within the next 60 days! What has been purposed from the manufacturers looks promising!

Letter Of Intent has been submitted to the landlord about the leasing of the project location. Once the terms have been agreed to we can move forward.

You can invest a minimum of $100 or donate what ever you would like  in Miniature World Of Trains™ and become part owner of what will be "the next big attraction" and a great addition to the model railroading hobby!
You could share in a projected $17M net profit in 7 years!

MORE INFO ON THE ATTRACTION OR HOW TO INVEST


February Sales At BRH

It was a very very busy February. Sales where up a whopping 31% year to year and the best February since 2014!
New customers year to year up 18% and within the last 90 days up 85%. Returning customers year to year up 123%
and up 61% in the last 90 days. This explains the sales increases.

Thanks to everyone for your patients this past month with the inbound shipping issues caused by the weather and Fedex deliveries being off one or two days.

For example, the Wednesday delivery did not arrive and was stuck in Charlotte. It did not arrive until 11:30am today. The order was huge! 

I have put in a lot of hours this month trying to do the job 5 people used to do back in 2014. Now it is just me trying to process orders quickly. Even the retail store traffic is up as well. For example, this past Thursday for me started at 2a,  Yes 2am. I was trying to get ahead of the curve with the huge order coming in at what was supposed to be 7:30am when I picked it up at the Fedex Terminal. The pickup did not occur because of a load out delay at the terminal. I wasted one forty five minutes trying to get the order to no avail.  I am not going to boar you with the issues here, but this month Fedex Ground  is a mess since my route driver changed!

Anyway, at this point I am typing this text and I am into my 19th hour trying to satisfy my customer base.
I do this best I can with what I have to work with. Please keep this in mind!

Minimum Order Fee Change

I know that newer customers mostly do not read the store policy page or any of the information I have out there about how BRH processes orders because of the abuse 1% customers. More and more people have gotten ruder and seem to want things for free! "What do you mean you charge for shipping?" they say. Or why is there a fee for this and a fee for that. Simply stated BRH is a deep discounter. I offer the lowest cost shipping and that can not be determined until we package the order for shipping. I have stated this time and time again. I even recently had someone come into the retail store looking for free samples and got very upset when I told him that the manufacturers and wholesalers thus BRH does not have free samples, just free brochures. Well he got very upset and told me I was an asshole on the way out of the door!

Most of the issues are coming from International customers and from customers with orders under $50. I have done my best to inform potential customers about the policies but are some customers want to do is argue and they just do not want to read before they buy.

Case in point the call that broke the camels back happened this past Thursday evening in the midst of a 16 hour day trying to catch up on the shipping!

I am very understanding and need to be given a chance to speak, but this customer just pushed to many button that will now force me to reset a policy the was in force for the last five years.

Effective 03/01/19 minimum orders will now be $50.00. The system will not process any orders under this amount. The reason for this is simple, the cost of processing the credit cards is expensive. So, after today's complaint from a new a customer that did not read any of the warnings and there are 3 while processing the order,  1 email is sent,  store policy page has the info and he check the I read the store policy box on the shopping cart and at the bottom of every non shopping cart page there is a note,  he called and just blew me out of the water about the fees when he was calling in about the shipping the day I was going to ship to him. That's four days after the ordered.

If you do not like the policies you do not have to order! 

So, to eliminate the problem I am putting this fee back into effect. Sorry. Blame Wallace Nelson of New Oxford, PA! Yes I am naming names ! I am finding that most of these whiners have a history. Some of my negative reviews on YELP come from people that complain about everything and everyone!

My apologies to the other 99% of my customers for the problems I have with the 1%. The minority of people that are having issues, that are easy to resolve, should allow me to resolve the issue they are having. Complaining because they  did not read the policies is not my fault. Sorry that their issues cause the problems for the majority of the great customers.

Walthers Name Train City Of Los Angeles

Just arrived on track 2 its the first two cars from the Walthers City of Los Angeles Passenger Train set!

Some shipped this week and the balance will ship early next week to those of you that have ordered!

Upcoming Preorder Deadlines

March 7: Lionel Preorders
March 12: Atlas Preorders
March 15: Bowser Preorders
March 31: Walthers Preorders

Bachmann 2019 New Products Now Available for Preorder

New Bachmann products for 2019 are now live and I'm taking your preorders! Notable new HO Scale products include the Transcontinental train set, complete with Sound Value sound and DCC, commemorating the Golden Spike 150th anniversary. In N scale the big news is the availability of Thomas and Friends™ locomotives and cars. Other notable new N Scale products include two new train sets with all the bells and whistles of the Sound Value sound and DCC package. There are plenty of other HO, N, On30 and G Scale new products to keep your sales rolling, so
check out the new Bachmann announcements and preorder now!

TO VIEW THE BACHMANN PRODUCTS AND ORDER


New Brekina HO Scale Checker Cab Coming in New Schemes

The Brekina 1950s-1982 Checker Taxi Cab is a hit!
While the first two models released with a collector's frame were in short supply and sold out instantly, there are additional schemes coming this year. These Checker Marathon models fill a gap in taxi models because they were common in North America from the 1950s until after the end of production in 1982. You will will love them because they're perfect for train station and street scenes from the 1950s well into the Amtrak era. As with
all Brekina models, they feature detailed injection-molded bodies, interior seats, authentic decoration, window glazing and wheels that roll.

TO ORDER
 

LGB Announces the G Scale Locomotive Set For American Modelers

With the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in the newsthe new Golden Spike 4-4-0 Locomotive Commemorative Set is a must-have for G Scale modelers! The set features the highly decorated Union Pacific #119 and Central Pacific "Jupiter" 4-4-0 American steam locomotives, both equipped  with appropriate sound and DCC and loaded with plenty sound and operational features for DCC railroads. The limited-run set
arrives in a decorative wooden case and includes a U.S. flag. This set is a rare opportunity for G Scale molders as it is a
highly detailed, historic locomotive set. The set is a limited-edition!

TO ORDER