Availability:
Many manufacturers are building models to
order. What does that mean to you? Here's the routine:
#1. The manufacturer announces the model.
#2. From the day of announcement, you usually
have three weeks to order from us to get the advance reservation price.
#3. When reservations close here, we have
three days to get an order to the distributors.
#4. The distributors combine all their retailer
orders and then order from the manufacturer.
#5. The manufacturer then orders their product
(usually form China) to be built. THEY ONLY ORDER ENOUGH TO FILL
THE ORDERS THEY HAVE FROM THE DISTRIBUTORS AND NO OTHERS.
#6. Six months later the model arrives at
the manufacturer and they ship to distributors.
#7. Within two weeks, the distributors ship
to the retailers.
#8. Within two days of receiving the model,
we notify all customers who have reservations. We expect that within
two days, our advance reservation customers arrange for payment with us
and we ship the models.
Beware- the shipping schedules from most manufacturers are optimistic.
Very rarely do we find the schedule to be on target. They arrive
usually later than scheduled.
Our policy is to order about 25% more models
than we have reservations. That means we may carry an inventory of
those items for a short while. Many of these extra items are ordered
by customers who missed the advance reservation time limits and want the
model prior to their release. THAT USUALLY
MEANS, THEY ARE GONE BEFORE THEY COME IN. We will include
any of these inventoried models on our web site to let you know if they
are still available. Be very careful.
In order to get your favorite model you must respond quickly to the announcements
of all the manufacturers mentioned on our web site.
Athearn, Atlas, Bachmann, Model Die Casting and Stewart all operate under
this system now and after the first delivery of these new items, they are
usually, very quickly, unavailable.
Based on these order policies strictly enforced by the manufacturer
and occasional confusion at our distributors, we can not guarantee any
reservation. We no longer handle Life-Like products since they were
bought by Walthers. We suggest if you want Life-Like products, order
them direct through Walthers.
Standard Terms:
Our standard terms are payment with your
order. We do not extend credit terms to anyone. We accept personal
checks, money orders, bank checks and VISA, Mastercard, Discover and American
Express credit cards and PayPal. We do not accept Diners Club.
All orders are shipped next business day via United States Postal Service
Priority Mail or in the case of small parts and decals, USPS First Class
Mail. Those orders paid by personal check will be held 7 business
days (time for your check to clear) prior to shipment.
We welcome foreign orders. We have
customers world wide and we will ship almost anywhere. We will not accept
orders to Singapore, Maylasia, Viet Nam, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Sudan and
Indonesia. Foreign orders are usually shipped USPS Air Mail
Parcel Post (7 business days delivery).
Pricing:
We discount almost everything we sell.
Decals and small parts are not discounted, but we do pay for the shipping
costs on most of those items and ship USPS First Class Mail. Our
standard discount is 15%. On advance reservations, we reduce the
price another $5.00 per locomotive to encourage you to make advance reservations
with us to secure your model(s). On items that are discounted less
than 15% it means that the distributor or manufacturer has a lesser than
normal discount to us. Advance reservations on Morning Sun Books
are always $9.95 less than the publishers prepublication price. Many
products on our web site are discounted more than 15% and as deep as 60%
in some cases. When we get a bargain, we pass it on to our customers.
Shipping costs:
As noted before, we usually ship USPS Priority
Mail which is delivered usually in less than three days anywhere in the
continental USA. Books are usually $4.05; one locomotive $5.50; two
locomotives $ 8.80; and more than two locomotives $15.00. $15.00
is our maximum shipping charge in the continental USA.
Returns:
Returned checks will incur a $35.00 charge
for bank fees and handling.
We take special care in packing every item
shipped to our customers. All returns must be cleared and approved
by us before the items are returned. We allow returns from customers
who receive broken or damaged goods, and wrong merchandise immediately.
If an item is missing parts, contact the manufacturer direct for replacement.
Usually the instructions in the model box give you a web site or contact
phone number to facilitate replacement parts directly from the manufacturer.
Orders sent through our web site are considered a CONTRACT. If
you return an item because:
#1. you did not understand what you were ordering or
#2. you don't like what you received because of manufacturer quality
or not to your standards or
#3. YOU WERE NOT QUALIFIED TO ORDER 'CRAFTSMEN' KITS and can't put
them together, or
#4. you committed to the order through our web site and then cancelled
it after it has been packed and/or shipped,
you will be charged a 15% restocking
fee for your return.
SECURITY:
We take the utmost care in securing your personal
data. All of the data you enter into our web site during ordering
is not kept on our web site or on line.. It is pulled off line into
a separate data file in our main computer. No one can get to this
data except authorized 20th Century Hobbies employees. In addition,
our web site security is the finest in the world. It has been programmed
by a Department of Defense system analyst and is surrounded by three layers
of control firewalls and therefore has the highest integrity and equal
to many of the world class banks.
