Prices / Taxes / Duties

All prices are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified. Prices are subject to change at any time without notice (and do change frequently as a result of exchange rates, freight prices, supplier availability, etc). Canadian residents will have GST/HST (#854755584RT0001) sales tax applied depending on the delivery address. Shipments outside Canada are subject to customs duties as determined by your government, these are your responsibility and not included in the purchase price (United States shipments under US$800 should be exempt from any duties).

Shipping

Presently we are only shipping to Canada & United States. We hope to resume international sales when the global shipping situation improves. If you really want something that you can’t get elsewhere and you’re willing to be extremely patient (potentially several months) we will consider international shipping on a case by case basis, please get in touch.

Orders are shipped via Canada Post, UPS, Purolator, Canpar, or occasionally delivered directly by us if you’re nearby. US orders are shipped by USPS or UPS. We do our best to keep our shipping costs low and pass those savings along to you. Your final shipping cost will always be what you see shown at checkout regardless of what our cost ends up being.

Depending on the value we will often request that the shipment not be “safe dropped” or that it require a signature (available on Canadian and some USPS shipments only), however what options are available varies by carrier and how they’re treated varies by carrier employee (most carriers are not presently collecting signatures after Covid). We are not responsible for packages after the carrier deems them “delivered” (ie “porch pirates”). Please make arrangements to receive your shipments when the tracking indicates they’ll be arriving or have them sent to a secure location.

We cannot alter the delivery address once an order has been shipped, some carriers don’t offer that service while others charge a large fee and the effectiveness of it varies greatly. Please check your address carefully when purchasing, the cost to re-ship an order returned to us is the original postage again plus often a carrier return fee equal to or greater than that.

Returns

All returns must be made within 14 days of pickup/delivery (please see details and exclusions below). You must contact us to receive a return merchandise authorization (RMA) number before sending anything back; any return without an RMA number displayed on the package will not be accepted. For returns from outside Canada they must be sent back to our Canadian address regardless of the address you see on the shipping label (it may have one from a logistics company we used to get it there but that address is not a location of ours), and marked as “returned goods” on any customs forms.

For any products which have a manufacturer’s warranty, that applies first. Many manufacturers require the item be sent back to them, not us, for any warranty claims and service. If after contacting the manufacturer you’re not able to get your issue resolved we can discuss other options.

Any item that has been opened or used is subject to a restocking fee depending on the estimated resale value in its present condition. Many of the products we sell depreciate once opened, sometimes quite severely, even if unused. We are not a massive corporation that sells returns by the truckload nor can we simply force them back on the manufacturers. We have to inspect, photograph, and re-list those returned items to hopefully sell them again and recover most of our costs. You wouldn’t purchase a new item and be happy receiving one that’s been opened and/or used, so we usually can’t resell your opened/used return for the original price. It’s now a “used” item and its value has changed accordingly.

The following may not be returnable: special orders and pre-orders of products we do not normally stock, media (including books, magazines, movies, software), DCC systems / decoders and other electronics (including products containing those), paints/adhesives, opened kits, items with missing or broken parts, items which require significant testing and/or inspection to verify their condition, and any items in a “clearance” category or listed as “clearance”, “final sale” or “consignment” in the title or description. We may be able to attempt to resell the item on your behalf as a consignment.

Shipping fees are non-refundable, along with any other fees we incur (credit card processing fees for example are not returned to us in the case of refunds). Some of these may be avoided by electing to take an exchange or store credit rather than a refund back to your original payment method.

Errors & Omissions

We try very hard to have complete and accurate information, but errors and omissions do occasionally occur. We shall not be held liable for any damages incurred as a result of the information provided on this website or directly by our staff. Many photos and descriptions are provided by the product manufacturer and sometimes may be intended as a general overview or to show the paint scheme only, rather than exact details specific to one particular product number (whenever possible we do try to indicate this). We encourage you to independently confirm any information that may be critical to your requirements.

General

We reserve the right to refuse service to any customer at any time for any reason, including but not limited to: damaging packaging, items or displays in our store or at a show; failure to purchase items ordered on your behalf, frequent returns or cancelled orders, products returned under fraudulent circumstances, shoplifting or other theft, and aggressive or abusive behaviour towards our staff whether in person or via phone/email/online.

However...

We regret that many of these policies have to exist, but they’ve come as a result of past problems for us and our industry. Be polite, honest, and understanding of our side of things, and we’ll do our best to work with you and help resolve any issues that may arise.

Product Safety

We shall not be held liable for any damages or injuries resulting from the use or misuse of the products sold. Most of the products we sell are intended for use only by adults (generally listed as age 14+) and may contain a number of hazards including small/sharp parts, risk of electric shock, and flammable and/or harmful chemicals. Many may be suitable for use by children with adult supervision, depending greatly on the specific child of course, at your discretion and own risk. Some of the Thomas & Friends and other more “toy” products are intended for younger ages as indicated in the product details. Eye and breathing protection should be used as appropriate when cutting, sanding, gluing, painting, soldering, etc. Some products are made from natural ingredients and may carry allergy risks (some of the ballast products are made from nut shells for example).

Privacy Policy

Customer information will not be sold or otherwise shared with any other parties except as required by law. You may at any time request in writing by email that we remove your information from our systems and we will do so as promptly as possible.

We do not store any credit card or banking information on our systems at any time, except for the last few digits and expiry date if you have specifically authorized us to keep your credit card on file for future purchases (the actual number is never known to us at any point in the process if you buy online).