Important Market Updates and Announcements

Added Friday, February 5th, 2010  21ST CENTURY TOYS HAS GONE OUT OF BUSINESS:  21st Century Toys was a pioneer and leader in the development of military diecast plastic models.  This is yet another example of what happens in a Global Recession/Depression.  This company like so many others, became very dependent upon WalMart for it's livelihood which is a big mistake in business.  This put 21st Century Toys at great business and financial risk.  WalMart has been moving away from military diecast models over the past few years.  JS International has purchased the rights to 21st Century Toys and is now producing some of the product lines under their own name; they used to manufacture product lines for 21st Century Toys. The Hobby Industry has been particularly hard hit this time around.  Most retail customers have noticed that many hobby manufacturers, distributors, and retailers have gone out of business over the past five years. It is very sad to see this happen for several reasons:  1.  In the short-term, retail customers think that they are getting great deals by purchasing products at or below wholesale pricing.  2.  In the long-term, retail customers will pay higher prices, purchase products of lower quality than before, receive lower levels of service, and have reduced choices of products and brands. If one pays attention, one can already see this impact.  For example, Unimax Toys (Forces of Valor brands) and JS International have already announced and implemented price increases at the beginning of 2010.  Added Tuesday, August 18th, 2009  UNIMAX TOYS MAKES ANNOUNCEMENT OF SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THEIR ENTHUSIAST SERIES (HOBBY MARKET) AND ACTION SERIES (MASS RETAIL MARKET SUCH AS TARGET, TOYS R US):  The Action Series is undergoing brand name changes to Bravo Team for Target and Assault Force in other Mass Market Retail Stores.  The new Action Series products will be moving to plastic instead of diecast metal (to reduce manufacturing costs and in their attempt to differentiate products between the Mass Market and Hobby Market). This is no surprise to JT's Collectibles. Most Hobby Companies have complained to Unimax Toys for years that they need two entirely different types of product lines for Mass Market Retail and the Hobby Market.  In the past, the product lines were very similar, wholesale pricing was much higher for Hobby Companies than Mass Market Retailers, and operating margins were lower as well. Some of Unimax Toys' changes are confusing to retailers, so we are certain that there will be confusion among end retail customers as well. World War II products will no longer be available in Mass Market Retail Stores.  The transition has already occurred for Target Stores, but will not go into effect until the Fall of 2009 for Toys R Us.  It appears that only modern military products will be available in Mass Market Retail Stores from Fall 2009 going forward. Scales in the Enthusiast Series and Bravo Team going forward include: 1/72, 1/32, 1/24, 1/18 and 1/16.  Bravo Team in 1/18 Scale will only be available to the Hobby Market (not Mass Market Retail Stores) and will include a Sherman, Tiger I, M16 Half Track and Two Soldier Sets with a tentative release date of October 2009. If you have any questions, feel free to contact JT's Collectibles at service@jtscollectibles.com   Added Tuesday, August 4th, 2009  IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS REGARDING PAYPAL:  JT's Collectibles no longer will be able to accept PayPal as a payment option for International Customer purchases.  A detailed explanation will demonstrate the problem with PayPal's policies and procedures.  As a Merchant, PayPal instructs us that we need to only accept Confirmed Addresses for All Customer Purchases to protect us against mail fraud and chargebacks (What PayPal calls "Seller Protection").  This means that each PayPal Customer must have a Shipping Address on file with PayPal.  If you are a US Customer, this is not a problem and is a simple matter to setup.  However, if you are an International Customer, setting up a Confirmed Address with PayPal is impossible.  PayPal's system has been designed to only allow US Customers to setup Confirmed Addresses (a Shipping Address on file with PayPal).  Merchants without Seller Protection from PayPal have an extremely high likelihood that those Customer Purchases without a Confirmed Addresses will become Chargebacks against the Merchant.  A little known fact about PayPal; if you are a Merchant and you allow Customers to make purchases without Confirmed Addresses, ALMOST ANY CUSTOMER can wait a week or so, contact PayPal and CLAIM that they never received their product order from the Merchant whether they actually received the product order or not.  In other words, most Customers without Confirmed Addresses can not only get their Money Refunded in Full, but also get their Product Order for FREE.  In very simple legal terms, this constitutes Mail Fraud and is a Felony Criminal Offense.  ALL INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS CAN CONTINUE TO PURCHASE FROM JT'S COLLECTIBLES, BUT YOU WILL NOW NEED TO PURCHASE EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH THE SECURE AND SAFE, AUTHORIZE.NET PAYMENT GATEWAY USING EITHER YOUR VISA OR MASTERCARD CREDIT CARD. Added Monday, December 8th, 2008 Seasons Greetings from the JT's Collectibles Team. Shipping Time Periods and the Christmas Holiday Season: Please keep in mind that the Christmas Holiday Season is the busiest time of year for all shipping carriers including USPS.  That means that due to the extremely high volume of packages being processed, there will be delays like longer shipping times than the USPS estimates, and longer times for International parcels passing through US and International Customs. As we always suggest to all customers, please periodically go to the USPS web site at www.usps.com, enter your Tracking Number which is provided to you in each JT's Collectibles Customer Shipping E-Mail Notification and then you can monitor the progress of your parcel. Always contact JT's Collectibles at service@jtscollectibles.com first if you have any questions about the shipping of your order, or are concerned about any potential problems or delays regarding your order. Added Monday, December 8th, 2008 Important Announcement: Address Verification/Confirmation will be required for all Customer Purchases.  For those of you who purchase by VISA or MasterCard, this is the current requirement of any credit card company.  However, this is an optional feature for merchants who offer PayPal as a payment option. JT's Collectibles has made this change to protect all parties and lessen the likelihood of fraud. It only takes a minute or two to setup your PayPal account with a verified/confirmed address or you can use VISA or MasterCard. Added Wednesday, December 3rd 2008  In midst of all the Economic Hard Ships that have hit the Hobby Industry and the Economies of Many Countries, there is a Bright Spot because JT’s Collectibles is making an Incredible Offer to All Customers who make Purchases from our Dedicated Online Store: www.jtscollectibles.com  Between 12/2/2008 and 1/31/2009. Here is the Spectacular Offer from JT’s Collectibles;  You will receive a 10% increase in Purchase Points for all Points Accumulated from Purchases made between 12/2/2008 and 1/31/2009 from JT’s Collectibles Dedicated Online Store:  www.jtscollectibles.com  Added Thursday, May 29th 2008  IXO ENDS EXCLUSIVE NORTH AMERICAN DISTRIBUTOR AGREEMENT WITH US WHOLESALER HOT OFF THE PRESSES; IXO has terminated its Exclusive North American Distributor Agreement with a US Wholesaler for the IXO Junior Diecast Airplane Model Product Lines. IXO has decided to move all of its all product lines and brands to one Exclusive North American Distributor for the US Market.  The selected distributor has a long standing relationship with IXO selling all of their product lines except the IXO Junior Diecast Airplane Model Product Lines. IXO made this decision because it wanted a Wholesale Distributor only for its product lines and brands.  The previous Wholesaler that handled the IXO Junior Diecast Airplane Model Product Lines was both a Retailer and a Wholesaler. The JT"s Collectibles Team believes that this is an important strategic move by IXO and supports this decision.  There are too many problems today in the Hobby Markets due to a number of Wholesalers also being Retailers which does create many conflict of interest and legal issues. Added Friday, May 23th, 2008 CORGI CLASSIC UNLIMITED TO BE PURCHASED BY HORNBY In May 2008, Hornby Railways announced the acquisition of Corgi Classics Unlimted from Corgi International Limited.  Hornby is an old, established hobby company from the UK that produces kits, diecast models, and HO slot cars, trains and accessories. It is the hope of the JT's Collectibles Team, that Hornby can restructure and restore Corgi to its former glory, and improve dealer service, reduce retail pricing, improve product quality and improve market communications. Updated Thursday, July 17th, 2008 HOBBY MASTER MAP POLICY  Hobby Master has implemented a MAP Policy for all Authorized Retail Hobby Companies like JT's Collectibles.  MAP means Minimum Advertised Price which is the price that JT's Collectibles and all other Authorized Retail Hobby Companies must display for all Hobby Master products. It does not reflect the final price that JT's Collectibles customers will pay. A New Project has recently been completed in Mid June 2008 that automatically applies Discounts to Customer Orders for Hobby Master Products, so that the customer will not need to do anything, but purchase the items. Having to apply Multiple Discount Coupons and Codes it time consuming for our customers and does not work very well from a technology standpoint. Our web company successfully completed this project and implemented this solution in Mid June 2008. Our Customers have spoken and JT's Collectibles has once again stepped up to the plate and created another Valuable Customer Program that all customers can take advantage of and it requires no additional steps on the part of the customer, since this program is automated. If you have additional questions, please contact JT's Collectibles at questions@jtscollectibles.com.