Active Powersports

I have. fast to ship and i will b buying from them again .

Did you Google them? Why not go with a Forum sponsor?

Gunny

That’s why I am asking in the forum before I purchase.

I tried ordering from them a couple of times, with no luck. I found there offering to be a "SORT OF BAIT AND SWITCH ". As they did not take any money, when what they offered all of a sudden became "NO LONGER AVAILABLE ". It was the lionel HALLOWEEN RS 11. Emailed never responded, no phone number. Not implying not to do business with them just answering the question.

Marshall

I’ve been reading on reviews and it seems he’s a drop seller. He has nothing in stock when you place your order and he tells you it’s on back order and holds your money and tells you it won’t be in for 4-6 weeks. When that 4-6 week timeframe comes he tells you another 4-6 weeks and when that timeframe comes up he stops responding to your emails and unless you went through PayPal or Amex your not getting your money back. Buyer beware. Go to the BBB site and see how many complaints have been filed against him. How can someone stay in business with so many complaints.

I would advise to steer clear of them.  Like Merlin mentioned, they drop ship and have little/no actual stock on hand.

In the r/c world many people have reported the same thing Merlin said.   They advertise inventory as if it’s in hand when it’s really backordered with the manufacturer.   So after you place an order they keep deferring shipment telling you “it’ll be a few more weeks”.

@Merlin posted:

I’ve been reading on reviews and it seems he’s a drop seller. He has nothing in stock when you place your order and he tells you it’s on back order and holds your money and tells you it won’t be in for 4-6 weeks. When that 4-6 week timeframe comes he tells you another 4-6 weeks and when that timeframe comes up he stops responding to your emails and unless you went through PayPal or Amex your not getting your money back. Buyer beware. Go to the BBB site and see how many complaints have been filed against him. How can someone stay in business with so many complaints.

This is exactly what happened to me.  They indicated they had something in stock, so I ordered and paid full price w credit card to then only hear that it's back ordered from their "distributor".  That was way back in Nov.  Towards end of Dec I checked in with them and they said that their "distributor" has given no indication that the ordered won't be filled.  Now the item I ordered I new was sold out at MTH, and that not likely this guy was going to get it. Later in Jan I said to him with MTH closing I don't expect this order was going to filled so please cancel the order and refund my card.  On a positive note, they complied promptly, but I would not go back to them, and deal with others that I know run a more organized operation.

Would agree with above. Ordered but not actually in stock.  They did give me option to drop or cancel order which I did.   I was actually on their site yesterday and same engine I tried to order that was out of stock is still available to order

Two words:  Stay Away!

They are nothing but an empty shell that says that they stock items from various hobbies (trains, RC cars), always at a lower price, and most of the time items that are hard to get.  How come they happen to have MTH Amtrak Genesis in stock when no one else does?

Love the fact that "they cut costs down" by not having phone staff and doing everything via email that they respond to quickly.  It took them 3 weeks to answer my email, and only after repeated messages on my part.

Not to mention if you Google map the address at Street View, the building is non descript with no signage, not the sort of place that can hold all of that merchandise that they proposedly have.

There prices are no real bargain ..... As Kevin states, too many products for the limited space they have'.. No phone is not conducive to doing business.. In spite of the net'.. All reputable business have phones'...

Sounds like Internet Hobbies out of Pa.  They do have phones but don't answer. They might return an email to give an excuse on why they can't deliver a product or refund.

Yep.  Beware this seller.  All the "backorder" descriptions here and on BBB.org are what I encountered.  In hindsight, due diligence is strongly recommended.

I guess I will add my experience.  In February, I ordered a no longer made Atlas O building kit from them as it showed available on the website.  They said sorry, it was on backorder and asked what I wanted to do:  wait or get a refund.  I asked for the refund and received it without any issues.

Anything they may have to “sell” could be purchased from one of several OGR Forum sponsors.

Why not purchase from one of them?

@Rich Melvin posted:

Anything they may have to “sell” could be purchased from one of several OGR Forum sponsors.

Why not purchase from one of them?

Because they " just so happen" to have everything in stock that reputable forum sponsors are sold out of. (But not really ,of course)

Therein lies the scam.

This is the second time these folks/scammers have come up on the forum that I have seen. I commented on the other post last year some time. Like most have said they have everything you are looking for on the website, you order and you are left in a holding pattern. You only get your money back if you start asking questions like, "refund my money". Why do I say that, because if you ask "when will it ship?, they say that they are waiting for the back order to come in. They give you a figure of either the following month or two months away. If after that time has passed and you ask again, they will still string you along with any sort of answer that is total BS.

They are full of beans and should be treated with a stay away from them sign. Their catchy name is just total BS and should be a warning to any person looking for trains or anything else. Active Powersports sounds like it should be a gym, some whacky new diet/fitness trend, or skydiving without a parachute. Like RickO has said before, scammers.

If you are really looking for something that has come and gone whether new or old, train shows, TCA Buy/Sell, or forum sponsors are the way to go(or maybe your local hobby shop/train store). Certain things do manage to pop up at train stores on very rare occasions. A few years ago a VL Hudson was at York from my very local train store. I didn't buy it, but somebody did.