Please don't ask for an N model if you don't intend to buy it...

[CBQ Fan]

Rapido is becoming Walthers of Canada. It honestly appears to me that you are looking for reasons to get out of N Scale. You admit to not understand us, but then yell at us when we don’t fall in line. I personally would expect the HO to have a better selection because you make way more HO products than N. If you make something I like I will buy it. I will not preorder your products because I am tired of being yelled at by you.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Jason, I do not have Facebook. I don't even know what a mystery box is it what it might contain. Engines? Cars? Wheel sets? Lint?

But Facebook in general is a problem. One of the interesting things... Be it 4chan, Reddit or Facebook, social networks all seem to devolve into false stories, trolling and general discord. Why would you rely on anything anyone says on it?

I feel that TRW is a bit cathartic for you. We know the industry a bit better than the average Joe. We (mostly) use our real names. And we are the ones to put money down on trains. I certainly didn't need a GMD1. But I have one and I like it.

Maybe this is the place to post specials and grab bags instead of Facebook?

[unittrain]

Hmmmm what am I being scolded for  I had no Idea these boxes existed. If this is a Facebook issue why are we on Railwire being scolded. Facebook is in decline from what I hear. But yeah these could be trolls just messing around, who knows.

[Chris333]

I'd buy 2 N scale NP boxcars also     But I don't need a 4 pack of anything.

It's the same at Shapeways... oh please change this on your model. Change it. Don't sell even one.   

[Scottl]

I'm surprised by the Facebook comments here.  Lots of people use it and it is a viable outreach tool for companies.  I would not depend on it alone, with forums like this as a good example of a targeted audience, but over 100 million North Americans access FB daily.  In terms of the requests vs buyers, it is always safe to assume that the vocal are a minority of the market, so sales won't always jive.

[rapidotrains]

Rapido is becoming Walthers of Canada. It honestly appears to me that you are looking for reasons to get out of N Scale. You admit to not understand us, but then yell at us when we don’t fall in line. I personally would expect the HO to have a better selection because you make way more HO products than N. If you make something I like I will buy it. I will not preorder your products because I am tired of being yelled at by you.

I'm opening up about situations like this and asking your thoughts precisely because I am not an N scaler and I'm trying to figure this stuff out.

I didn't think I was yelling, and I apologize if it was taken that way.

We can only make decisions based on the information we are given. We base our decisions on what people tell us. Here is a situation of nine people telling us we should do something in N scale but only one comes through when we do it. Our Facebook followers are hardly a representative slice of the N scale modelling community, so that's why I brought it here to share my views and to get your thoughts.

Judging by a couple of the harsh responses I've received so far, I could have worded my original post better...

-Jason

[diezmon]

What's in the box?

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[Dave V]

I'm surprised by the Facebook comments here.  Lots of people use it and it is a viable outreach tool for companies.  I would not depend on it alone, with forums like this as a good example of a targeted audience, but over 100 million North Americans access FB daily.  In terms of the requests vs buyers, it is always safe to assume that the vocal are a minority of the market, so sales won't always jive.

I’m not surprised.  Facebook is a trigger word around here.  Those who don’t use it feel they have to make it clear to us that they don’t.

Facebook is great and horrible at the same time.  It’s easy to update model railroad progress on Facebook and to that end I maintain separate Facebook pages for my three layout projects.  I’ve also found some amazing modeling and railroad-specific history pages that only exist on Facebook.  I also use FB to keep up with my family across the country and with many of my fellow vets with whom I served.  It all comes with heaping shovels-full of narcissism, political bullish!t, and rampant stupidity but intelligent folks should be able to navigate through all that to get to the good stuff.

Congrats if you’ve never used Facebook. While you’ve managed to avoid a lot of nonsense that way you have also missed out on a lot more model railroading that you will ever see in a forum.  There’s no free lunch.

[wcfn100]

We can only make decisions based on the information we are given.

Then you just need to find better people to give you information.

Jason

[basementcalling]

I'm opening up about situations like this and asking your thoughts precisely because I am not an N scaler and I'm trying to figure this stuff out.

I didn't think I was yelling, and I apologize if it was taken that way.

We can only make decisions based on the information we are given. We base our decisions on what people tell us. Here is a situation of nine people telling us we should do something in N scale but only one comes through when we do it. Our Facebook followers are hardly a representative slice of the N scale modelling community, so that's why I brought it here to share my views and to get your thoughts.

Judging by a couple of the harsh responses I've received so far, I could have worded my original post better...

-Jason

Or maybe not, Jason. TRW has a sharp edge to its criticism, so don't be too quick to self doubt the tone of the message, although, yea, it did sound a touch preachy to me too. But that fits right in with this group.

Points about FB and N scale relative to HO market share have already been made, but I agree. Selling over 1/2 of the mystery boxes is a good start. Heck, MT tried that with it's grab bag offerings a few months back and you can still find certain dealers with those left, so don't feel too bad about the sales rate. I for one had no idea you were doing a sale of that nature, not that I would have requested one in N, my interests don't seem to be in your niche of the market. It doesn't hurt to keep in mind that N scale squeaks loudly, for its size. You're not the first manufacturer (Yes I am thinking of you Exact Rail) to misunderstand the inner workings of the N scale mind and market, but I like your approach to learning about it.

Unfortunately, we're consumers and our purchasing decisions are not always logical, despite the excellent explanations offered by others here. We can be irrational: asking for products we won't buy when they become available just because we changed our minds.  I've also noticed that N scalers, or at least those on TRW, tend to want specific roads or models, so a box with mystery contents may not appeal as broadly in N as it would in HO with more modelers who aren't wedded to a prototype or period. Not that all N scalers are prototype modelers, but there are more non prototype HOers than N scalers because of the size of the market, so more customers who won't mind getting a random road name on a car.

Just my two cents.

[thomasjmdavis]

"Judging by a couple of the harsh responses I've received so far, I could have worded my original post better... "

Jason,  while I was writing, you posted the above, and I take you at your word.  But since I've already re-written what I have to say several times, I am going to leave it as is below.  For myself, I have been a Rapido customer since you made your first N scale passenger car.  I've had emails back and forth with you many years ago, and more recently with our late friend Mike.  Regrettably, you don't make much product that fits my mid 50s, Chicago layout plans.

OK, so now my rant in answer to your rant....

"What this suggests to me is that we can't take the requests for N scale as being "hard" requests....If you don't plan to buy a model, please don't ask us to make it in N."  Which suggests to me that you are judging N scale based on 9 Facebook responses.

And, if you are a manufacturer, do not say you are going to announce 3 new N scale locomotives this year, then go to a major show 2 days later and leave everybody hanging.  If you have something to announce, announce it.  Otherwise, it is just hype.  And you made the decision on what those announcements will be (assuming they happen) without any public polling I am aware of- so do you trust your focus group/marketing staff or whoever you consulted before deciding what those announcements would be, or are you going with the 9 guys on Facebook?

"Nine people made comments that we should produce mystery boxes in N, or shame they weren't in N, etc. Of those nine people, only ONE bought the N scale box, and that original poster wasn't one of them."

Based on my former life as president of a very, very small corporation and what I learned getting an MBA, I am going advise you not to make marketing decisions based on what 9 people say on Facebook.  Because I can find you 9 people on Facebook who will try to convince you to install a Flux Capacitor into your Fishbowl bus. https://www.oreillyauto.com/flux-capacitor?q=121g The other advice I would give you is to not insult your customers because they did not buy something you did not tell them was available- or did I miss your railwire announcement?

And....if your tracking software follows commenters on your facebook page so closely that you know whether or not a given Facebook ID made a purchase from your errrr...., "completely secure" transaction site over a period of 3 or more days, I will certainly consider that in any future purchase decisions.

On the "mystery box" mystery.... please pass along to whoever in your company is paying Facebook to push those notifications out for you and have your ads pop up on our pages...

I follow the Rapido page on Facebook.  BUT- nothing in my timeline, no notification that I can find.  Maybe I missed it.  The only thing I have my eye out for are those 3 locomotive announcements we were promised.  But there have been 2 major shows since, without a word....unless it was posted on facebook, and I received no notification on that either.

No email from Rapido since the March 1 newsletter.

For the record, I have no interest in mystery boxes, because very little of the Rapido N scale line fits my layout timeframe (1955-56 Chicago).  If you have some "factory second" CN 1954 coaches, or other passenger cars of that series, or boxes of parts you want to get rid of, let me know. 

[unittrain]

How about doing those Cylindrical hoppers you do in HO being brought to N scale a lot of us would need those. How about some 70s era Tankcars. I love what Bluford has done for coal hoppers, we need that variety in Tankcars.

[Chris333]

I did an HO 3D model of my buddies real 0-4-0 steam loco. When he posted it to his page at least 10 people wanted one and even more said they would buy it if available. "You could sell a ton of those", "Call Walther's up", "shut up and take my money". Since I already had the model uploaded to Shapeways I just changed it to sell to public.

Haven't sold a single one. And I didn't have any mark-up on it either. It was like $25 bucks.

Someone asked if I could make it O scale...  I didn't even bother.

I did give the original file away to one person.

I think when people say they want one they mean right now and for free. Anything more than clicking their heels together, they no longer want it. Oh wait I'm not wearing the right shoes for heel clicking.

[Paradise275]

Hi Jason.
A lot of us are "older" modelers not accustomed to looking on Facebook for sales offerings.
Perhaps if you had put out the offering by your regular method of communication, ie Rapido News Letter,
it would have received better response. I am not on facebook so I don't know what you offered, either in HO or N.

Rick

[Rasputen]

I'm just a small time producer of N scale cast resin vehicles, and I have had the same experience with people saying they would buy many copies of something, only to disappear and never order a single one.  This is just a side hobby for me, but producing each one takes a lot of time.  This is not just a Facebook issue, people like that have been or are still here as well.  My advice would be to become more familiar with N scale, what is being modeled, and the era.  Taking advice from strangers, no matter where they are, is never a safe bet.