Timothy Sprague posted:plus we all know that these things don't exist until there are a certain number of preorders.
Which unfortunate fact is a significant reason for unhappiness among hobbyists.
Yep, the problem has been around for a long time although the Postwar-era audience was much less obsessive about the results than buyers today. How many threads are there complaining that the item delivered was not what was depicted in the catalog? How many threads are there bewailing delivery delays?
Yep, there is the fact that manufacturing has been sent overseas (and prices went up instead of down). Yep, there is the BOD/Pre-Order/Just-in-Time product inventory model. Yep, there is the seasonal nature of most train purchases.
But.
Whatever other problems the new paradigm might create, not cataloging an item until it exists in hand for shipment and then providing unretouched photos of the actual item would go a LONG way toward eliminating all of the bait-and-switch and delivery delay complaints.
