Has anyone else seen this? The prices seem alarmingly high.

Presumably RRP as it their own pricing
Equally, retailers probably have to follow the same policy as Farish and are limited to the discount they can offer on newly launched items

Noted one retailer has prices like :
RRP £20.95
Our price £20.95

An example from the price list is: DCC fitted A4 - £154.35. This is much higher than last year's price list.

Last year's price for the same product was: £134.95.

That probably reflects the spiralling cost of getting things made in China.

FFS, that's OO prices !

Where did you see the 2013 price list?

I wonder if the manufactures can fix the price as suggested, if a retailer wants to sell at as discount I can't see why the manufacture would care and as a customer as costs rise I buy less so keeping prices down through competition is good all round.   

Until about three years ago I was involved in the industry. Neither Bachmann or Dapol ever set limits on the discounts at that time so this must be somehting new. You can buy Dapol from wholesale so this would avoid any such rules.  As I said I wonder if this complies with trading standard regulations regards price fixing.

I renewed my subscription and they sent me the same catalogue they had sent me last year but with a new price list.

Perhaps now is a good time to pre-order anything you want from one of the retailers that offer a price promise on pre-orders. Sadly I don't expect anything to get any cheaper as the pound is continuing a slow slide in the currency markets. 

Quote from: MikeDunn on April 12, 2013, 09:10:38 AM
FFS, that's OO prices !

There's actually an interview with Bachmann in the current BRM and one of the things they said when asked about N is that N may be smaller but things like motors still cost the same.

I think we should get used to the prices - they've climbed a chunk in real terms and I imagine it will continue to do so. Compared with prices long ago however its all still bargain priced and the detail difference is astounding !

You don't *need* a giant fleet of rolling stock. One of the reasons many models were historically of branch lines was that you didn't need much stock. That hasn't changed. There are many locations that can be modelled with quite minimal rolling stock and it gives you more time to weather and detail it !

Alan

Quote from: EtchedPixels on April 12, 2013, 11:46:48 AM
There's actually an interview with Bachmann in the current BRM and one of the things they said when asked about N is that N may be smaller but things like motors still cost the same.

Yup, wages for assembling them will probably be the same too. Plus the fixed tooling costs need to be covered by a smaller run of models. Frankly I think we are lucky that N gauge prices are below 00 for locos at all. Plus the rolling stock is generally cheaper too.

Quote from: EtchedPixels on April 12, 2013, 11:46:48 AM
I think we should get used to the prices - they've climbed a chunk in real terms and I imagine it will continue to do so. Compared with prices long ago however its all still bargain priced and the detail difference is astounding !

Yup, inflation in China, poor exchange rates and rising energy and raw material costs are going to push prices in one direction only.  We have benefitted from being able to export our manufacturing cheaply to the Far East for 10-15 years now but all good things....

Quote from: EtchedPixels on April 12, 2013, 11:46:48 AM
You don't *need* a giant fleet of rolling stock.

Pardon? Sorry, you have lost me there.   

There are some obvious mistakes like this:

Traditional DC steam set 14xx + B sets £289.95
Traditional trainset DC Class 73 and ferry wagons x2 £289.95