rorsday Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 I have to agree here with Niels about the trend of current brochures being sold on eBay. I actually think it is quite damaging to this aspect of the hobby, because manufacturers and dealer salesmen do monitor e-bay and it must be incredibly annoying for them to see someone making money out of nothing. In the end, as Niels says, they will limit the supply of brochures they give away to 'genuine' customers, not people who are just trying to make a cheap, fast buck. I really hate to see brochures that were picked up at, say, the LAMMA show, being sold on eBay the day after. Each to their own, I guess, but in my opinion, selling 'current' just-printed brochures on eBay is bad news and will only have an adverse effect on this hobby of ours. It also does smack a little of desperation on the part of the seller, because some of the brochures only make 99p. Surely no-one is that hard-up that they need 99p minus selling fees, etc, or maybe they make a profit by inflating the postage (don't get me started on that one either). Other views most welcome! R Day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Ferguson Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Short & sweet... But I'm with you 100% mr D ... Desperation for sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archbarch Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 heaven forbid people making a quick fast buck Rory, as long as there is a market then it will carry on. Even if dealers/manufacturers limit the handouts what will stop company employees selling such items??? From a different angle everyone who asks for brochures at a show is a potential customer regardless of age, companies like to get an audience at an early age so i dont think brochures will get too restricted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valtra130 Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 agree with Rory to a point ! not everyone can get to the shows ,demos etc , very easy for those in the trade to attend and get any brochures they want , but what if you live 350 miles away , average field size is 4 acres and farm size approx 200 acres , local machinery dealers dont even know what some of the big kit is from their own brands - quadtracs,xerion , challenger , nht9 or even a lexion !!!! Then there are brands with no dealers in certain areas ,and more and more people collecting models wanting a brochure to go with it ! most companies are very helpful when you ask ,and with the quality of most new brochures they are themselves making them more and more collectable themselves . not that long ago we all thought that brochures would be replaced by the internet ! do the tractor companies really mind ? seems to be more and more promo stuff around if you can get to the shows , isnt there an old saying that any publicity is good publicity ?? there are many sides and opinions to this debate !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Ferguson Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Well lets have everyones opinions then... as that's what we are 'all about' here at FTF.. I've split this out from the brochure so we can, in true FTF style 'beat it to death' I guess I should expand on my previous post now then by adding that I do agree with Rory on this one. I know how my local dealers view 'brochure collectors' at shows... and it's not favourable... what if they run out of brochures at a show and a potential new buyer wants a brochure to take home to review statistics and compare with other manufacturers .. Although I have no evidence to back this up, I suspect most (if not all) manufacturers would rather their brochures end up in the hands of serious potential purchasers and/or drivers.. not 'chancers' who pick them up to put them on eBay and make 99p ... lets not forget there is a considerable cost involved for the manufacturers in the printing of these items in the first place. My guess is that they just have to accept that this kind of thing happens.. but I don't suspect they agree with it and, indeed, they would change it if they could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valtra130 Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 i am sure the manufacturers dont like it ,but then they do put or give out the brochures along with wooly hats ,sweets bottle openers , dvds etc etc . so they do know what they are doing ! i am sure they will get more than just a brochure for anyone who is a genuine buyer and not just a tyre kicker ! as a youngster the local reps always used to drop in all the new brochures for me as they knew i collected them and i suppose they hoped my father would also look although it was always unlikely we would buy a combine or an artic tractor - they still dropped them in for me if they had them . so i suppose a lot may also depend on who you are !! ?? at the end of the day it is the arrival of ebay that has created a global supply and demand for all collectables be it models , brochures or mcdonalds toys ! dont forget what was free 30 years ago you are all paying big bucks for now because of ebay . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archbarch Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 i think certain companies have always been selective of the type of brochures they would hand out, spec sheets or glossy brochures. as said any publicity, its all part of Branding some dealers may not like it but companies like to push the brand in every way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractorman810 Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 i agree with you there peter, reps were always visiting us, loads of free brouchures, even a good few britains 595's at the suffolk show, it was the norm. as you say people cant get to shows, i cant get to the likes of lama or even half the county shows i would like to, if i really want a new brouchure its via the internet, which truth be known several i have tried to get sent, never turn up?? or ebay, now i do not buy the latest ones, i am more a old brouchure man, and the few i tried to order via the net were for convos, not my collection, but i can easily see how and why some people have no choice but to buy them of ebay ,no dealers in the area, kit we would never see the likes of down in cornwall or devon ,the reasons are long, but people dp still want to collect them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 agree with Rory to a point ! not everyone can get to the shows ,demos etc , very easy for those in the trade to attend and get any brochures they want , but what if you live 350 miles away , average field size is 4 acres and farm size approx 200 acres , local machinery dealers dont even know what some of the big kit is from their own brands - quadtracs,xerion , challenger , nht9 or even a lexion !!!! Then there are brands with no dealers in certain areas ,and more and more people collecting models wanting a brochure to go with it ! most companies are very helpful when you ask ,and with the quality of most new brochures they are themselves making them more and more collectable themselves . not that long ago we all thought that brochures would be replaced by the internet ! do the tractor companies really mind ? seems to be more and more promo stuff around if you can get to the shows , isnt there an old saying that any publicity is good publicity ?? there are many sides and opinions to this debate !! have to agree with you there valtra,down here in devon,you will never get brochures on the very biggest kit,luckily at claas i have a very helpful contact for brochures ,posters and models,i recieved the white claas xerion and was told that if it showed up on ebay,i would not get help or other stuff,and infact know of one member of staff that was sacked at claas for claas stuff appearing on ebay, the brochures are now like books,making them more disiarable,and lets face it,everybody is interested in the latest shiny big kit,and as long as people will want these brochures people will sell them,when the new 700 lexion brochures came out they were making £7.00 on ebay,then within a month back to 99p,and if you have about 20 or 30 brochures to sell,thirty quid towards a model Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 also i used to get a lot of mf stuff from a very friendly guy at tns,and he used to reckon that brochures would be a thing of the past,as would all be on the internet and dvds,but they are still printing them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordTractorCrazy Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 i agree with Rory and Mark on that it is highly unethical to score free new brochures with the only purpose to make some(of those 99p more then likely about 50p is going to ebay and paypal fees) money on them. Those people i cant regard as true collector's. If they were, they would exchange them with fellow collector's and not take as much as they can at local dealers and shows thus limiting the supply for those really interested. I havent attended a show for a while, what i do know from the last shows i visited is that most companies kept a pile of memorabilia for the youngsters to grab but the brochures were kept behind a counter for those really interested. I know of one collector that gets his brochures sended to various addresses just to get a few extra, which he then tries to swap with other collector's for 3-4 euro's a piece for new brochures. I think that is ridiculous and i know he isnt that succesful anymore since more and more people are not prepared anymore to pay a lot for those recent brochures. On the other hand, ebay is a great way to expand your collection, certainly when you have limited access to local dealers and farm machinery shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_scrivener Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 As far as I'm concerned, all's fair in love, war.....and collecting Companies, be they of agricultural machinery, cars, McDonalds Happy Meals or anything else, produce givaway promo stuff to sell their goods, and all marketing strategies include aspects of direct sales and broad market awareness. As said, they will, if they have any sense, keep enough brochures in reserve for serious potential customers. As for grabbing loads of brochures, and possibly selling and/or swapping some on, I can only say I wish now I'd grabbed a lot more than I did when I was a kid of those Britains 1962-64 Garden, Farm, Zoo & Soldier leaflets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbo Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I was in a New Holland dealership last week to get some brochures for a member on here there were none on display on the counter. When I asked the staff if they had any the reply was that they were going the way of downloadable pdf brochures and were not producing paper versions except for those who they believed were actually interested in buying a tractor. However, I had something for them so they relented and went into the back room and came back with one copy of each. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Ferguson Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I wonder if dealers have to pay for those kind of things actually... perhaps that's why they are so negative \ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I wonder if dealers have to pay for those kind of things actually... perhaps that's why they are so negative \ the brochure do cost the dealers something,new holland dealer said costs them about £1 .20 a brochure,im sure its the same for other dealers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 good debate...from i was very young i used to lift as many brochures from machinery stands as i could take home,it was because i loved machinery and enjoyed having the information to read and refer to....to this day i have every brochure i got...there absolutely priceless to me now as i find myself building models from them and referring to them for info....plus its nice to have them and remember the days i seen the real machines working,most of which are now classics in their own right...i even used to write to dealers requesting brochures and always got a a4 envelope back packed with brochures,them too i have to this day...but for people to be selling them on is wrong,the fir thing to do would be swap them for other brochures etc without monetary value added....it leaves people like lord fergy who is a genuine collector often paying through the nose for the missing link in his collections....i find now i can buy most brochures i want on ebay for around £6.50 each and to be honest i never need rare or hard to find brochures so i think this is plenty to pay....id imagine dealers wouldnt pay for this stuff through their franchises so why should we really? i just wish that the shows i attend could still offer those large racks stuffed with new brochures for the "discerning" customer like myself.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Ferguson Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Sadly... I am now at the stage in my collecting where most of the 'holes' in my collection costs a fair old chunk of money to fill :'( Having said that... my interest is pretty much PRE 1986 really... so I guess it follows that my area of interest will be more expensive that the newer stuff :'( ... Like Brian, I started collecting in the mid seventies, aged about 8.. and I still have each and every one I picked up... it was this place and eBay that refuelled my 'habbit' a few years ago and I now have quite a considerable collection compared to the one I ended my 'teens' with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 i must admit,i now only get ones that i need for convos,and collect alot of claas stuff,but also interested in flagship models as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roberthenning Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 As a child i always loved collecting machinery brouchers at shows was the big highlight of going to shows, as the money prob wouldnt have been about to buy a toy so they were the next best thing, it would be a real shame if the dealers only gave the brouchers out to people who they were sure to buy the machine. Not so long ago i ask the local jd dealer about a 6430 broucher not that i was considering buying one as new or real, he handed me 4-5 brouchers of their range, couldnt get over how decent he was. I hate giving money for things like that on ebay that should be free, but will/have made the exception for ones that are out of print, i.e. really wanted one of an old zetor, or for the odd conversion i make and cant find suitable measurements or photos on the net. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rorsday Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Wow, what a response and some great comments. The point I was trying to make was this. As Lord Ferguson and others have rightly stated, eBay has revolutionised the hobby of collecting tractor brochures. However, recently, there seems to have been a growth in the number of 'current' brochures advertised for sale on the site, especially after a large farm machinery show has just taken place. I don't know how anyone can say that brochures are as widely available or as enthusiastically given away as they used to be. The racks of brochures on every simple of kit produced by a manufacturer are just not to be found at many shows now, simply for reasons of cost. Take LAMMA for example. New Holland had half a dozen brochures on a table; Claas had two brochures available on the second day; John Deere didn't even have a brochure rack like it normally does (mainly because it's moving to fewer brochures that cover more products); MF/Challenger/AGCO/Valtra you had to ask for them specifically; possibly the same on the Case-IH stand. SDF's rack was empty by the second day. Only McCormick/Landini had a decent selection of brochures on their stand. I don't deny that there is a great benefit to manufacturers giving out brochures to 'non-customers', as they've always done, but it really must grate on the companies when they see people putting their just-published brochures on eBay the very next day, just to make a few quid. I wonder how many people have gone into dealerships just recently, asked for brochures and then been asked 'are you going to put them on eBay' ? I would say quite a few. I have to say, I think brochures from overseas, which aren't available in the UK, are fair game, as well as those that have just gone out of print, even if only by a few months. However, I do take on the board the comments that everyone is free to do as they please, and if the current brochures they are selling make good money, then good luck to them. Yet based on my own experience of collecting, buying and selling tractor brochures over 20+ years, it is a practice that really concerns me. R Day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdeere6910 Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I can see both sides of the arguement and there has been some really good points made. My opinion is that I dont mind people selling there collections etc but by just getting brochures to sell on at the manufacturers expense is not really fair. Okay a collect who has 2 of a set peice then thats fine, I have no problems but just to profiteer than thats not. My opinon over and done with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 This thread has inspired me to pop into some dealers as i'm passing and get some brochures, could do with the extra bit of cash for models and such like Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Good idea to start this topic Rory. Definitely a subject that needs discussing. Selling new brochures on the internet is one of the reasons why manufacturers now give away less and less. The internet on it's own is probably the greatest contributor to it all in the first place. Everything has its pro's and con's I guess. Luckily there is also a large number of manufacturers about where you can order brochures online. Even if they from America or Australia you usually get them in the post I find. I wonder if we can sell PDF brochures in time to come like ebooks . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the other green Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 I suppose it depends how you think the manufacturer or dealer sees the equipment brochure. Is it as a means to distribute information and brand awareness to the agricultural public or is it information aimed at a particular segment who is or may be "in the market" for that particular piece of equipment that the brochure pertains to? It's my opinion that 30 or so years ago, it was the former, I can remember going to agricultural shows aged 8-14 years and going around the dealers and getting brochures with friends. I'm not blowing my own trumpet here, just stating facts, but most of my friends just picked them up, they were there for the taking. Most of the time, I asked a salesman first. Replies ranged from "aye, take what you like, let your Dad see them" to "okay, but just one or two mind". Getting the manufacturer or dealer name out there seemed to be the most important thing and it seemed that the "trickle down" theory that the information would eventually make it to a potential customer while on the way it may serve to educate or help build brand loyalty in the next generation of farmer was quite acceptible. Nowadays it seems that a more direct result for that investment in the sales brochure is desired, i.e. it should go to someone who is a potential customer who is planning to purchase sooner rather than later and who is the person who has the purchasing "say". I don't think its right to take something free just to resell it and the fact that it is free doesn't make it right. To the sellers-on, if its not a problem, tell the salesman thats what you're going to do and watch his reaction Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stehos Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 When collecting brochures from Ford and Versatile from all over the world, Ebay is often the only way to get them. Especially older ones. I always try to get the brochures through my contacts, but as I don't speak portugese or spanish, it;s difficult to get brochures from Mexico or Brazil. I don't mind paying small money for 'new' brochures, but prefer to have a swap with fellow collectors. Because of my work at Agrifac, I'm close to the people who make the brochures and what the policy is to hand them out. And that is to get our name known at the public and in the future when new kit is needed we hope our brand is considered also. When forummembers are willing to help me with my collection (some of them already are) just PM me. I have a large stock of other makes than Ford etc. that might help with a swap Jack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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