I got the new Walthers catalog today and I noticed that they only sell through hobby shops. I was wondering if anybody has tried to place a order with them without going through a hobby store. The city I live does not even have a hobby store! Any sugestions who I could order from.
Thanks Billy
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Walthers has essentially their own hobby shop called Terminal Hobby Shop. You can order direct online as noted above too. Once you buy something you'll be on their mailing list and once every month or two get a nice flyer with sale items etc. I've been buying from them for at least 20 years now.
BTW I've never had the chance to do it, but I hear if you go to Milwaukee Walthers/THS also has an in-house store with a lot of good deals, things where they can't sell it wholesale/retail because the box was damaged in shipping but the engine or car or whatever is fine. Apparently there can be some amazing deals, but you have to go there to check it out.
I have ordered directly from Walthers several times. Once the post office lost a package after they tried to deliver it while I was on vacation. Walthers replaced the lost shipment with no problem, nice people to deal with.
Mike B.
I have done few phone orders through Waltthers, but I order from them over the internet all of the time.
THS on Florist Ave in Milwaukee is a showroom of the newest Walthers products. There are about 4 actual hobby shop-style shelves with these items. There is a rack of old, found, lost, and damaged items. There were old Tyco locos, some RPP items, many Walthers buildings with water-logged boxes. I got a Walthers City Station kit for $10 because the box was water-logged. Some items are found in old boxes, and some are cars that the employees are trying to sell for some money.
The coolest thing in my opinion are the display cases showing the History of Walthers. Everything from the first Walthers catalog, to the H10-44's, the Schlitz Circus Train, and other models. There are also display layouts that have the newest Walthers locos on them. They are usually DCC/Sound, and if you ask you can run them all you want.
Phil
I have been out of the hobby for a while and got back into it about 2 years ago. I live in Italy now and placed an order thru them using AMEX, but because of their policy, I had to have it shipped to my son in San Jose who then remailed it to me. My $120 order now became $180 with the extra shipping charge.
My last...and FINAL order was placed last year. they'd dropped AMEX, so I had to order it snail mail....it took 89 days to arrive. My compalint letter was NEVER answered. I will never use Walthers again.
GN_FanI have been out of the hobby for a while and got back into it about 2 years ago. I live in Italy now and placed an order thru them using AMEX, but because of their policy, I had to have it shipped to my son in San Jose who then remailed it to me. My $120 order now became $180 with the extra shipping charge. My last...and FINAL order was placed last year. they'd dropped AMEX, so I had to order it snail mail....it took 89 days to arrive. My compalint letter was NEVER answered. I will never use Walthers again.
Kon
Modelling the BN 1970-1995
I order from Walthers direct all the time. Great folks to deal with. You can see what's in stock and what's not on their site. Free shipping on orders over $100. You can sign up on their site for the monthly sale flyer in the mail. It has some pretty good deals in it.
I have ordered numerous items from Walthers in the past and have never had one complaint. Their customer service reps are awesome. The orders ship out extremely fast and arrive at my home a few days after I place an order. When the order arrives, I'm a happy guy.
Will
Any fellow Canadians order from Walthers? How have the shipping costs been? Any "brokerage fees"?
Todd
They are good folks. Only positive experiences here.
We are Canadians living in New Brunswick and usually order Walthers products thru our LHS in Moncton but on one ocasion I ordered several HO vehicles and a couple of other items and was appaled at the extra charges they added. My $30.00 order turned into over $60.00 with "Shipping and handling" so wont be doing that again soon. Our LHS gets the flyers too and I order the items from him and they are delivered in about a week. On the other hand I have bought many items off eBay over the years and havent paid any duties due to the free trade agreement. And the cost of mailing from US is cheap too. Most recently we won a Walthers Dome passenger car in HO (GN Big Sky Blue) for $29.00US with $7.50 for the mailing charge. We insist on USPS first class mail international. It takes a few days longer but is the cheapest.
Its not Walters..its the mail service..in foreign countries..customs included...it takes about 4 or 5 weeks for snail mail to get to the Philippines. But seems the postal workers there go thru the mail looking for money.
I ordered from Walthers on Sunday, two packages arrived on Saturday. Two packages arrived quickly. Three weeks prior to the Walthers order I made an order from Internet Trains using a gift certificate I had received for Christamas. That order contained two turnouts and was more for shipping and arrived two and half weeks after being ordered. Stay away from Internet Trains unless you have lots of time on our hands.
Craig
I think GN Fan maybe was refering to the fact that Walthers did not want to change a value of the package (to the lower amount), so he had to pay a custom fee?
Btw, up to what value can you receive postal packages from USA in EU without paying customs fee? Do you have some tip?
I live in Croatia but I can also use "reserve" address in EU...
Thank you very much!
Hrvoje
Burlington Northern RailsGN_FanI have been out of the hobby for a while and got back into it about 2 years ago. I live in Italy now and placed an order thru them using AMEX, but because of their policy, I had to have it shipped to my son in San Jose who then remailed it to me. My $120 order now became $180 with the extra shipping charge. My last...and FINAL order was placed last year. they'd dropped AMEX, so I had to order it snail mail....it took 89 days to arrive. My compalint letter was NEVER answered. I will never use Walthers again. I live in Austria and never had any problems with shipping to me from Walthers directly. Maybe you should change to Visa/MAstercard.
Well the extra fees may not being charged by Walthers directly. One problem our Canadian cousins face is that apparently Canadian Customs considers model railroad equipment as "electronics", which has the highest possible import tariff on it. (If they were listed as "toys" it would be the lowest rate.)
At least that's what a couple of old 'smugglers' from Manitoba told me a few years ago. They were retired guys and would take orders and collect money from their RR club members and then make a run down to "the states" and buy all the train stuff and sneak it back into Canada in their car.
Thank you very much for this great news! In Croatia limit is cca 41 Euro, but even below that you always must pay VAT (Mwst) and of course "manipulation expenses". Value of my package is about 180 USD so I hope, I will get it trouble free. If this will work, a road for american models to my layout is open:)
Burlington Northern RailsHello Hrvoje. Officially the limit is 175€ but it also depends on the custom officer. Sometimes i pay fees for orders under 175€ and sometimes pay nothing for orders over 175€.
grinstuffBut seems the postal workers there go thru the mail looking for money.
Here in the US, we have the TSA stealing stuff from you. Those are the airport workers who are supposedly providing "security." On our last trip, a bottle of perfume somehow disappeared from our luggage. Just a warning for anyone planning to fly - carry valuables on the plane with you. TSA means They Steal Anything.
But speaking of the Walthers catalog - did anyone else notice something wrong with the GP-15 model on the cover? Go look carefully now...I won't spoil the fun.