New product line: Eureka XXL

New Product Line

New product line: Copper State Models

New Product Line

New product line: Coastal Kit Display Bases

Welcome Wingnut Wings (January 12, 2017)

Wingnut Wings Ltd, a New Zealand based plastic model manufacturer, has reached an agreement with Sprue Brothers Models LLC/Douglas Model Distributors appointing us as their US products distributor/dealer.

Previously, retail customers could order only direct from Wingnut Wings in New Zealand. With this agreement, US customers will receive faster service at competitive prices.  Wingnut Wings is the premier  large scale scale World War I aircraft plastic model kit manufacturer.

 

New Updated Website!

Welcome to our "new" webstore! In reality, it is both new and current. What we mean by that is the front of the store (what you see) is all new, but all the backend (what runs the site behind the scenes) is unchanged. Pretty much the equivalent of putting a new front façade on an existing building. All of your login information, order history, wish list, etc. is still there just like before. The search engine is unchanged and works exactly as it did before. Here is what is new:

New Updated Look An updated modern look. Bold brighter colors. Larger search box located right at the top center of the screen. All categories are now located together on the left side. Easier to read categories names.

Responsive Web Design Responsive web design is an approach to web design aimed at crafting sites to provide an optimal viewing and interaction experience—easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling—across a wide range of devices (from desktop computer monitors to tablets and mobile phones). Our new website has been rebuilt to be responsive and creates a seamless, uniform experience for all shoppers by rendering your website appropriately on any device.

Wider Layout Wider layout to take advantage of everyone's widescreen monitors. This allows you to see more on the screen before having to scroll.

Mega Menus New large pop-up menus when you hover over a category. To see an example of this, put your mouse over "Aircraft".

Quick View When you are looking at a list of products (either from the results of a search, or clicking onto a category or sub-category), when you hover the mouse over the thumbnail picture, the "Quick View" button appears over the picture. If you click on it, it will pop up a windows that shows the product details (same as if you were to click on the title to go to the product's detail page.

Hot New Items The Hot New Items are now located on a slider below the slideshow. To see all the hot new items we have, just click on either the left or right scroll buttons to scroll through them.

New Lower Cost International Shipping Option for Small Parcels

A new shipping method called Economy International Shipping is now being offered. It offers a shipping cost that can be up to 50% lower than the US Postal Service for international addresses. This low cost international shipping method is for small packages weighing up to 4.4 pounds to certain countries. Transit times may vary and can range anywhere from 2 to 4+ weeks. Limited tracking is available. Packages shipping this method may not ship daily, but will ship at least every other day, depending on the number of packages awaiting shipment via this method.

This method is currently offered to: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, and Switzerland.

Deal of the Day is Back

The Deal of the Day special is back. Check back daily to see what amazing deal is being offered. This time around we will list each deal for 2 days to allow you more time to take advantage of it, with new deals appearing daily.

Emails / Emails Not Received

Please be aware that we send you two emails for each order placed: the Order Confirmation email (sent when order is placed) and the Shipping Notification email (sent when we process/ship your order). If you are not receiving either or both of these email (or any other emails such as responses to emails sent to help@spruebrothers.com  , this likely means either your ISP is blocking them; they are in your spam folder; or your spam filter settings may be set too high (this is particularly an issue with AOL and Earthlink/Mindspring email accounts).

 

Important Shipping Rates News for UPS and FedEx - Please Read (Jan 1, 2015)

We are that time again where our shippers (UPS and FedEx) raise their shipping rates. Rates going up have been an annual event since we have been in business, but there is one BIG change this year that both UPS and FedEx are implementing effective Dec 29 and Jan 5, respectively, that everyone should know about – charging shipping rates based on Dimensional Weight (aka DimWeight). For all essential purposes, DimWeight is the system of charging shipping cost based on the size of the package rather than the actual weight of the package. Although DimWeight is not a new concept, packages under 3 cubic feet (which is most of our outgoing packages) have been exempt from DimWeight until now.

What this means to us:
Our system of shipping cost is to charge our customers based on the actual cost of shipping that order, and until now, it has been calculated based on the weight of the package. The new DimWeight system now means we will not be able to accurately determine the expected shipping cost until the order is pulled and packed. Only at this point will we have the required information (the dimensions of the package) to be able to calculate the actual shipping cost.

What this means to you:
We will no longer be able to show you a fairly accurate shipping cost estimate at checkout for both UPS and FedEx shipping. The shipping cost shown to you at checkout is going to be an inflated amount that we collect pretty much assuming a worst case scenario, and we will refund any overage collected for shipping once the actual cost is determined. The reason we have to over collect up front is due to credit card security protocols now. When you place an order, an authorization is run to validate your credit card and determine if you have sufficient credit limit (sufficient balance for debit cards) and this authorization also reserves that amount temporarily. When we ship your order, we then can only collect up to this amount in reserve (or an amount lesser than the reserved amount) and no more. To protect your credit card information, we cannot see your credit card information other than the last four digits and the card type, which eliminates the option for us to charge for shipping (or excess shipping cost) afterward.

This is the reason we started the Lowest Cost Available shipping option (for USA only at this time) earlier this autumn. This will allow you to tell us that you want us to select the shipping method that is the lowest cost available for your order. For more details on this shipping option,please click here.

Please note that what we charge for shipping is completely unchanged in the 10+ years we have been in business – a shipping cost based on the actual cost charged to us (we do not make any profit on shipping – in fact every year we pay out more in shipping related charges that we collect due to the system not being perfect, and if not correct, it is almost always an undercharge).

SUMMARY
- Dimensional Weight (DimWeight) is where the shipping cost is based on the size/dimensions of the package
- Both UPS and FedEx are going to DimWeight to determine the cost of shipping effective Dec 29 and Jan 1, respectively.
- We will no longer be able to show you at checkout a fairly accurate estimate of the shipping cost for both UPS and FedEx - For UPS and FedEx, we will be collecting essentially a worse case scenario cost, and we will refund any overage collected for shipping once the actual cost is determined
- If you are price sensitive to shipping cost, we recommend you select the Lowest Cost Available shipping option where we can select the shipping method for you order than costs the least.

Shipping Option (for USA) - Lowest Cost Available

The "Lowest Cost Available" shipping option has the Sprue Brothers staff select the lowest cost shipping available for your order. The shipping method used could be any method including (and no limited to) USPS 1st Class Mail, USPS Media Mail, USPS Parcel Select, USPS Priority Mail, UPS Ground, or UPS SurePost. At this time, this method is only available to US shipping addresses.

The computer system does its best to offer the best possible shipping options/cost, however there are many idiosyncrasies in shipping that only a human can account for and determine the actual lowest cost option. By selecting this shipping method, you are requesting that the Sprue Brothers staff select the shipping method for your order that is the lowest cost (we will not factor any other factor such as the shipping time - only the cost will used to determine the shipping method used. If you need your order by a certain date or in a timely manner, we do not recommend you select this shipping option.

The cost of this method is only an estimate. The amount collected at checkout is an amount that the shipping cost should not likely exceed the final actual shipping cost. In the situation that it does, we will contact you to determine how you want to proceed. NOTE - SBM has no choice but to over collect due to the credit card security protocols that does not allow our staff to adjust the authorization amount upward if needed (our staff cannot even see your credit card information to put in a new charge if it was needed). Once we determine the actual/final shipping cost and method, our staff will refund any excess shipping cost collected that was not needed as we do already now.

What does "In Stock" mean to us?

Our definition of "In Stock" means that the item is actually in our warehouse (not at our distributors'/suppliers' warehouse) and is ready to immediately ship to you.

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Inventory Questions

We have been receiving a lot of inquiries lately regarding whether we actually have something in stock as our website indicates. This is likely due to the practices of other online hobby stores who have a different definition of what "In Stock" means. In case you are not familiar with our business practices, we use a real time inventory system that shows (accurately and live/in real time) what is available for sale and how many. It automatically and instantly updates the available quantities after each order is successfully placed.

Also, our definition of "In Stock" means that the item is actually in our warehouse (not at our distributors'/suppliers' warehouse) and is ready to immediately ship to you. Thus if you order from us, you will reliably and quickly receive what you order. On a side note, we are also human, so on rare occasion something could be in error, however our error rate in 2009 to-date has well been less than 0.1%.