Rebate Offered by Walthers after we complained on their prices

Well, after we sent on 11/12/2008 at 5.45 PM EST an e-mail addressed to Mr. Kevin Copsey, Vice President of Sales at Walther's Trains and in charge of the Marklin/Trix business where we pointed out several facts regarding the absurd condition Dealers in USA are facing on prices now that the Dollar has gained strength against the Euro and the no possibility to buy Direct from the Factory as used to be 3 years ago, Mr. Copsey (who by the way has been very open to our comments and suggestions and we can not say we have not received full response each time we have requested something, many times, he fixed some problems) has sent an e-mail to USA Dealers offering, if not a full solution, at least a "patch" that may help a little bet our Customers waiting for new 2008 items not released yet and that may be released from now till the end of 2008.

This is the text of the e-mail we got:

" 11/14/2008 4:45 PM CST (2 days after we sent our e-mail to them)
Dear Marklin Dealer:
Given current economic conditions and the volatility in exchange rates, Walther's and Märklin GmbH would like to announce a special program targeting previously undelivered Marklin and Trix new items that will be shipped to you between November 21st and December 31st.
Attached you will find a list of the new items that will be covered in the program. The items in this list will receive an additional 15% discount from Walther's. This discount will only apply to the items in the list that are shipped to you during the program period (November 21st -December 31st). Märklin Insider Club and Trix Profi-Club products are excluded. Please contact your Walther's Sales Representative if you have any questions on this program.
We value your business and hope this new program addresses some of the issues you have brought to our attention.

Sincerely,

Kevin Copsey
VP of Sales
Walthers"

Even when this measure does not affect us due the fact that we bring almost 95% of our items direct from Germany and we were already passing the savings from exchange rate to our Customers, it is not less true that North American and Canadian Dealers will take advantage of this measures and price reduction.

What really upsets me, is the fact that we have always fought for the American Dealers, trying to get the best of the business for all of us and we never got a "thank you" from them.

At the contrary, now maybe they will use this price reduction to fight and compete even stronger against us, but we are not worried about it.

Nobody can deny the power we have due our size and stock on Marklin, the service we provide, the speed we serve our Orders from Customers all over the World (just see testimonials in our web site HERE), the facility for Customers to see Stock availability (others do not offer this service because they just want your order that may take weeks or months to get a regular item) and so on.

So from now on, we will not fight in favor of any other Business than ours and we will keep offering our Customers with the lowest and fairest price we can and the best service they deserve to the limit of our possibilities.

We like to say now, that we will keep adjusting not only New items not released BUT ALL THE LINE of products as they arrive to our warehouse based on the exchange rate paid at the date we paid for them, new items or regular and from all the Brands we import and without any time frame limit.

We thank all our loyal Customers that had faith in our word and placed orders "Blind", some of them paying more than from other Dealers when the Dollar fell to 1.61 per Euro, but that now, are taking advantage on our lowest prices few can compete against us.

We also thank Mr. Copsey for taking time to do something in favour of our best seller Marklin and Trix.

However, if we can not get back to Factory Direct this February at the Nuremberg Toy Fair, we will open operations in Europe to sell direct to whoever likes to buy from us with prices in Euros or US Dollars at your wish by selecting the currency you like to pay, direct from the order form in our web site.

Orders paid in Euros will be served direct from Germany and those in US Dollars from Miami Florida.

As we do not have any tie with anyone in USA because Marklin does not exist here, we also will provide service to those Dealers that like to buy direct from us, paying in Euros and being shipped from Luxembourg.