HobbySearch question

[comeng84]

Hi community

 

Question: when HobbySearch have to order an item e.g. Kato train, do they order from a wholesaler, or do they deal direct with Kato?

 

Cheers

[Kamome]

I don’t know for sure but I’m under the impression they order directly from manufacturer. Kato in Japan are their own distributor from what I can gather. Small independent shops in Japan get stock from Kato direct. 

 

Other countries may differ as its probably far more cost effective to order through a distributor to save on shipping costs. I know this is the case in the UK where most stockists get Kato stock through Gaugemaster

[comeng84]

thats what I thought. Bummber.

 

Thanks for the reply

[disturbman]

@comeng84, can I ask why you wanted to know?

Edited January 24, 2022 by disturbman

[cteno4]

I was under the impression that Japan tends to have more levels of distributors in the chain than other countries.

 

 Why the bummer If dealing direct from Kato? What is the issue here?

 

jeff

[comeng84]

@disturbman@cteno4 I ordered an E233-1000 Basic 3-Car Set and the expantion A-Set this morning. I checked the order status this evening and the A-Set is now listed as being on back order.

 

HobbySearch did the right thing and emailed me apologising for the mixup and let me know it that they would order from the supplier. I assumed they ment direct from Kato, so I checked stock at Kato they have no stock.

 

 

Edited January 24, 2022 by comeng84

[disturbman]

I see, maybe you can switch to the B-set? The price difference is minimal. Otherwise, RGR has the full 10-car formation in stock: https://rg-rokko.com/products/detail/58

[comeng84]

Actualy, they may not get stock direct from Kato… The 6 car E231-500 Chuo-Subo just got restocked and that has been unavalable from Kato for a while.

 

Thanks for the tip @disturbman… never seen that site before.

[disturbman]

I think, by now, most of the regulars of the forum use RGR (and MTP) over HS. They offer better (much) pricing and service. The English website is only the tip of the iceberg, they have a Japanese site that has a more comprehensive stock list (https://railgallery-r.com/02_1_003ja.html). When wanting to order something not listed on the English page, the best is to send an email query with the item reference.

[cteno4]

My guess is Kato and distributors have some extra stock on new releases they hold back specifically to take care of any order mixups first. Customer service is important to them. From time to time you will see a little burp of things like this later after release that have shown and sold out since release and I think it’s that little safety margin leftovers being let go. But this is just a guess! Personally all my preorders, even if the really hot ones with preorders sold out have come thru. A few of times I was in the situation where the shop said hold on we didn’t get our full shipment and then in a short while they apparently got enough. I don’t know if the shop oversold or they did have a short shipment, but it was always resolved with me getting my train!

 

jeff

[disturbman]

This was an older release, from 2013. It's one of those sets that are more or less always available as they are part of the range of 3-car sets designed to attract less committed hobbyists. Kato probably re-produces these on a regular basis, or at a much higher volume than usual releases.

Edited January 24, 2022 by disturbman

[comeng84]

@disturbman @cteno4 @Kamome

So just an update - HobbySearch had the A Set within 2 days. Must be a fair amount of stock sitting supply chains.

[Kamome]

Also worth mentioning that the stock Kato sell through their website is allocated to Hobby Centre Kato or their online site. I would imagine they sell way more stock through other sellers, especially those that discount from the SRP, so I don't think this can be a true indication of what's available and there's probably a larger logistics plan. I'm not clear on the inner workings but I would imagine that stock could be retrieved from sellers as easily as it is sent to them if not already available in Kato's warehousing.

 

A small local shop has a huge stock holding of HO which doesn't sell through that quickly so can't imagine he has to purchase stock upfront. Otherwise I think he would have gone out of business some years ago. 

[Tony Galiani]

On 1/24/2022 at 4:44 AM, disturbman said:

I think, by now, most of the regulars of the forum use RGR (and MTP) over HS. They offer better (much) pricing and service. The English website is only the tip of the iceberg, they have a Japanese site that has a more comprehensive stock list (https://railgallery-r.com/02_1_003ja.html). When wanting to order something not listed on the English page, the best is to send an email query with the item reference.

 

I discovered that Microsoft Edge can automatically translate pages and I find that very helpful in checking out sites like this.  Maybe not the best translations but easy to use.  I had been uncertain about trying to get info off these sites but this makes it way easier.

Though there may be better ways to do this - I am still learning about translation options.  And this may be old news but thought I would mention it just in case.

Ciao,

Tony

[JR East]

47 minutes ago, Tony Galiani said:

 

I discovered that Microsoft Edge can automatically translate pages and I find that very helpful in checking out sites like this.  Maybe not the best translations but easy to use.  I had been uncertain about trying to get info off these sites but this makes it way easier.

Though there may be better ways to do this - I am still learning about translation options.  And this may be old news but thought I would mention it just in case.

Ciao,

Tony

 

 

Chrome is doing it also either automatically (consider all japanese pages as to be automatically translated) or manually (right click + chose option)

 

 

[disturbman]

They all have been doing it for a while. It’s very practical when looking for info on prototypes or browsing shops.

 

Even safari on iOS started to do it since a year or so.

[Tony Galiani]

I tend to live in the past and didn't realized this was possible!  Until Microsoft Edge gave me a prompt.  Live and learn!

Tony

[disturbman]

Maybe Microsoft was late to the party. Chrome has been pinging me about it for a long time. But quality is pretty OK nowadays. At least with European languages and Japanese. Chinese on the other hand is still funny. I love the literal translations for hobby terms: "How do I get a sports car?" meaning "How can I make my train run?"

[katoftw]

I switched to chrome about 3 years ago for this exact reason. Made searching a whole lot easier.