JANUARY 2018
There are some changes to payments due to new EU rules, but without any change to the overall cost of orders. Please see our "Shipping" page.
SPRING 2017
As mentioned in the home page header, we are slowly winding down the business so I can retire. This operation is taking a while because I'm also thinning my extensive personal collection and this now constitues most of the sales. Availability and stock levels are constantly updated, so you can rely on items being available if you can place an order. But occasionally we can get caught out when we get multiple orders for the same parts, in quick succession, when the checkout is open. However we are often aable to provide substitutes for similar alternatives otherwise we will make a refund. In spite of all the above I do have some very useful new compatibles added and more to come. (I still enjoy the involvement with this hobby!)
Over the years PayPal have increased charges by stealth and a recent check shows we are not recovering the full average cost of their fees to us. Therefore we have had to increas our PayPal charge from 4.5% to 4.9%. Fortunately(?) the current downward slide of the £GBP has made our prices considerably more affordable to our overseas customers and more than covers the small Paypal Rise.
SUMMER 2014
We have now added many pre-war original parts in Nickel, Dark Red/Green and Blue Gold. Plus more Army Green and other colours. Some of the pre-war colors are in short supply and may run out quickly. We will do our best to keep the website information up to date.
SEPTEMBER 2013
We re-openned the website 8/9th September and in spiite of our best efforts, there were quite a few problems (most of which were fixed over that weekend by my long suffering son Ian). Apologies to customers caught up in it. Almost everything has now been corrected and hopefully the next openning will be 100% fixed and a lot smoother.
AUGUST 2013
We have compltely re-cast our website as the old one had, over the years, too much sticky plaster holding things together! We've done a huge amount of checking and hopefully have found any major glitches. Please email us if you find any errors or problems navigating and ordering from the site, so we can correct these as soon as possible.
APRIL 2013
Royal Mail have introduced parcel size pricing on some services from 2nd April which are causing difficulties with the cost of sending 49hole Strips and Girders. So to overcome this we have had to list these items as multiples of 2 and 4. There's no price change per item on the 4 packs but there is a small increase on the 2 packs to cover increased postage. In the light of experience I may be able to reverse this. These items can be purchased singly as usual at meetings.
JANUARY 2013
We have decided to integrate the Metallus/Marklin style parts in with Meccno parts. It seems many buyers never took the oportunity to checkout the Metallus parts, because they were unaware it's a fully Meccano compatible system. A great shame as there are countless really useful parts and mosly at lower prices!
Now they are integrated it should be easier to review what's available.
If seeking out Metallus/Marklin items the colours should make it obvious, but if not please email us.
Over the past months, ever more Bulk Pack bargains have been added. Also more colour choices where available.
UK customers will be aware of the huge increase in Royal Mail postal charges. Apart from all charges increasing many times the current rate of inflation, there are also some sneaky actions to further increase postal charges. Eg; Removing price bands in the "Packet" range and removing the insurance facility on "Standard Parcels"
Unfortunately this will have a serious impact on our postal costs. So I'm having to take measures to cover this, which are to increase the 10% + £1 formula to 10% + £1.50. Insurance is now automatically included for £100 goods value. Extra charge for insuring below £100 is now £5.00 and maximum UK postage is capped at £29.95. It's been very difficult to assess how the Royal Mail increases are going to pan out with the Meccano orders due to the variable value and weight of the parcels, so the changes I have made are there to cover all situations. However, in the light of experience, I'm hoping I can trim back some of the increases. In practice it may be possible to insure some parcels at a figure somewhere between £50 and £100 without charge, but decisions on that will be mine alone. Sorry!
JUNE 2011
The good news is; AFTER MANY REQUESTS WE HAVE DECIDED TO REINSTATE THE SET 10s! The not so good news is we are now limiting their sales for UK COLLECTION ONLY. Very sorry, but sending these high value items abroad was time consuming and risky and UK shipping costs are going through the roof. We are asking for a £100 cheque deposit, with the balance paid in cash on collection at either Dunmow or at meetings and exhibitions we are attending.
APRIL 2011
BULK PACKS ARE BACK! (With a difference)
We have re-introduced a bulk pack items on many fixings, standard parts and 2nd quality parts etc. More are being added all the time. This is primarily to reduce levels on items where we have built up large stocks over the years. The quantity discounts vary from around 10% to 40%. For easier location they are not under a separate heading, but show as an option when you click on the item. Please note these bulk discounts are likely to be temporary only and when an item is down to sensible stock levels again, will be terminated. So take advantage now before they are gone! The discounts apply to mail order only, not at meetings, unless items are packeted as such. However we continue to sell our £1 bargain bundles at meetings and these always represent enormous savings on servicable parts, but with 2nd quality finish.
"SPECIALS"
You will have noticed this icon on the home page. This is a new facility for adding one offs, literature, other system etc. We have not added anything yet, as our current priority is identifying and adding bulk pack items. At a time in the future a start will be made on the specials facility of which we have masses of interesting items to add.
AUGUST 2010
In the hope of relieving the issue of frequently swiched off checkout, we are reluctantly dropping the built up No 10 outfits. We usually get a few orders for these each time we re-open and because they are so time consuming to deal with, they are a primary cause of an excessive workload. We are also instituting a min/max order value of £5 and £500. This also to help us keep the checkout open longer and avoid the difficuly and risk with insuring expensive parcels, particularly overseas. Orders under £5 were taking a disproportionate amount of time to process. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.
I'm currently half way though reorganising/moving the stock into a more spacious location area which should make picking/restocking much easier.
NOVEMBER 15TH 2009
We have been making some big investments of late! Just had delivered a very large consignment of new fixings we comissioned in the late Summer. These consist of cheese head bolts and square nuts, both in brass and zinc finish. Standard washers in zinc and nickel. Compact washers in zinc and brass finish. And slotted grub screws in standard and short finishes. The latter is quite significant because we were previously dissatified with what was available to us and the new ones have been very carefully designed and specified.
In addition we have started building work here at Dunmow and when complete, will double storage space, improve loading/unloading. New racking etc will improve stock control and streamline order processing. We are also investing in a new van in January to replace our life expired 23 year old Mercedes estate car, which manfully carried carried copious amounts of heavy Meccano to our sales venues. So hopefully no more M25 breakdowns on the way to or from Meccano meetings!
NEW PRICES FROM 22nd FEBRUARY 2009
In recent months the £GBP has dropped some 25-30% against the value of other major currencies and signs are there will be little, if any, improvement in the near furure. As we pay Euros and USD for most of our stock, new supplies are now costing substantially more. Clearly this increase could not be absorbed for ever and we have no alternative but to adjust prices. We calculate to bring us back to the stuation a year ago (covering currency changes, general price increases and more expensive carriage charges etc) we would have to increase prices by more than 40%. However by absorbing some of the extra costs and spreading the changes over the whole range (excluding literature and current sets) we have managed to restrict it to just 25%. I'm satisfied we are still very competitive against the few remaining on-line suppliers, and of course we still have by far the most comprehensive range!
As we have some 5000 prices in our catalogue we had to use the blunt instrument of an accross the board mark up, we have further fine tuned some items, trimming quite a few more expensive items, but slightly increasing a few cheaper items.
In theory all existing "shopping carts" should self correct at the point of checkout. However we have had the odd unexplained anomaly, so to avoid delay with your order, please check the prices are current before completing and re enter if necessary
Overseas customers will find that our prices are generally, if anything, a little lower than a year ago, but unfortunately UK customers will be paying a bit more, for which I sincerely apologise. If the currency rates return to their previous levels, we will make the apropriate adjustments.
Please note: Due to the volatility of the current situation, we are not able, at the moment, to produce an updated printed price list. Please refer to the website for up to date information and prices. (Added information; We have now abandoned printed lists altogether as the majority of our customers have access to our website and all the prices are clearly shown on our stall at meetings).
OCTOBER 2008
Due to continued price increases from our suppliers we had to permanently discontinue Bulk Packs last year. Now the general financial situation is seriously affecting the cost of supplies. We have absorbed increases where we can, but some margins were getting wafer thin, causing some necessary, but limited, re-pricing. It's difficult to predict how things will pan out over the coming months, especially with exchange rates, but be assured we shall always remain very competitive because of the way we operate and do not see any need to scale back on the range we cover, as demand for Meccano is, at the moment, undiminished and in fact its still growing.
1st JANUARY 2006
A VERY WARM WELCOME TO OUR BRAND NEW WEBSITE!
This has been a massive two year project for my son Ian and myself due to the vast amount of photograpy (nearly 2000 images) and the many unexpected problems and complexities encountered. These were compounded by the ever changing and growing product range. However, we believe MECCANOMAN now offers the most comprehensive range of Meccano and compatables Worldwide, all at very competitive prices. Not only do we have almost 100% of the range illustrated, but we also aim for 100% stock availability. Ordering and processing is now far more streamlined and should result in a quicker turnround making us "THE" one stop Meccano shop.
As its a brand new site, please let me know if you encounter any problems or errors by emailing me direct at dave@meccanomsan.co.uk
Regards
Dave Taylor
