Placing Orders
Q: Where are you located? Do
you have a store?
Q: What are your shipping rates?
Q: Do you ship to locations outside of the U.S.? How much does it cost?
Q: Do you accept Paypal?
Q: I placed an order but my credit card has not been charged.
Q: I filled up my shopping cart, then went through the checkout process.
When I got to the final confirmation page, my shopping cart was empty.
Q: I placed an order online but I did not receive an email confirmation.
Purchasing Questions
Q: I see an item in your
catalog but it’s not on the website, or it’s in both places but the
listings are slightly different.
Q: Do you have everything in stock? How do I know if something I want to
order is in stock?
Q: What happens if I’ve ordered something that is not available?
Q: How do I order the same item in multiple colors? When I try, the
shopping cart indicates that the item is 'already added.'
Q: What is a playset? Why does free shipping apply only to playsets?
Q: Can you design a custom playset for me?
Q: Why should I buy figures from the Toy Soldier Company?
Q: What is a Recast?
Q: Can I buy plastic figures by the pose?
Q: Why do some of your unpainted plastic figure sets not have the same
quantity of each pose? For example, if a set is listed as ’24 figures in
6 poses,’ can I assume I will get four of each pose?
Placing Orders
Q: Where are you located? Do you have a store?
A: We do not have a store. We sell through our website and mail order
catalog only, shipping from our warehouse in Jersey City, NJ. Our
mailing address is our office in New York City. We not have a store or
showroom in New York City.
Q: What are your shipping rates?
A: Our shipping rates are listed and explained here:
http://www.toysoldierco.com/CompanyInfo/shipping.htm
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Q: Do you ship to locations outside of the U.S.?
How much does it cost?
A: We ship to many customers outside of the U.S. The shipping cost to
overseas addresses is calculated by adding a flat surcharge above our
domestic shipping rates. Because the cost of shipping overseas is so
difficult to estimate, the shopping cart estimate is a minimum charge.
If the actual cost is higher, we charge the precise difference to your
credit card. It is all explained on the Ordering Info page of our
website, http://www.toysoldierco.com/CompanyInfo/shipping.htm.
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Q: Do you accept Paypal?
A: We do accept paypal. Call us or email
info@toysoldierco.com for
instructions.
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Q: I placed an order but my credit card has not
been charged.
A: Our website is designed to transmit your order and credit card
information securely over an encrypted connection – it does not
automatically charge your credit card. We do not charge your credit card
until the order has been filled and is ready to be shipped.
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Q: I filled up my shopping cart, then went through
the website checkout. When I got to the final confirmation page, my
shopping cart was empty.
A: Once you start to place items in your shopping cart, our website can
keep your cart ‘open’ for about half an hour. If you check out after
half an hour, the cart may have been emptied. This is an unfortunate
side effect of the enormous size of our website, and bandwidth
limitations. If this happens to you, we will not know what items you
want to order. You can email or call us with a list, or you can always
start over and place the order again. Your credit card is NOT charged by
our website (see question above). We regret the inconvenience, and will
always do our best to help you complete the order.
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Q: I placed an order online but I did not receive
an email confirmation.
A: It’s possible that our confirmation email is caught in your spam
filter, or you may have entered your email address incorrectly. Please
send us an email (customerservice@toysoldierco.com) or call (toll free
1-888-825-8697) if you are concerned that your order was not submitted
successfully.
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Purchasing Questions
Q: I see an item in your catalog but it’s not on the website, or it’s
in both places but the listings are slightly different.
A: Because of the breadth and variety of our inventory, it is impossible
to keep all our listings up to date. Our catalog and website are not
linked, and changes must be applied to each separately. If a price
changes after it is listed in the catalog, we can update the website
immediately, but the print catalog can only be updated on our next print
run. If you have a question about current price or availability, we
encourage you to check with us by phone or email. If you want to order
an item from the catalog but you can’t find it on the website, drop us
an email (info@toysoldierco.com) and we’ll help.
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Q: Do you have everything in stock? How do I know if something I want
to order is in stock?
A: We generally have over 99% of our listings in stock, and are
constantly updating the website and mailings to keep current. At
Christmas time especially a listed item could be sold out. We always do
our best to contact you to let you know, by phone and/or email. You are
always welcome to contact us before you place an order to check
availability.
Availability of items can vary as follows:
- Unpainted plastic sets (including HO):
99% are in stock
- Painted plastic sets
If the set is painted by our in-house painters (set numbers end in ‘p’
or ‘p1’), the work may need to be done to order. If that is the case, we
notify you by email or phone that the order will take two-three weeks to
complete. We carry many plastic sets that are painted by the
manufacturer, so they are most likely in stock and ready to ship.
- Metal sets
97% of our metal sets are in stock and ready to ship. If an item is
temporarily sold out, we will notify you that the item is due in from
the manufacturer or that we have placed an order especially for you.
Since most metal toy soldier makers are usually small ‘cottage industry’
operations and are outside the U.S., re-stock times run about a month.
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Q: What happens if I’ve ordered something that is not available?
A: The vast majority of our website listings are in stock. If we cannot
complete your order in full, we will do our best to notify you. In most
cases we will send the balance of the order with a back order, which you
can cancel if you do not want to wait. We do not charge you for a
backordered item until it is in stock and ready to ship. We DO charge
shipping on backorders.
Q: How do I order the same item in multiple colors? When I try, the
shopping cart indicates that the item is 'already added.'
A: The shopping cart is designed to prevent you from ordering the same
item more than once. This makes it difficult if you'd like to order the
same item in different colors. To do so, order the quantity you'd like,
and select a color from the list presented. Then, when you are ready to
check out, use the Special Instructions box on the order form to
indicate your color choices. You can always email or call to add items
to an order that is already placed.
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Q: What is a playset? Why does free shipping apply only to playsets?
A: ‘Playset’ is a powerful word to plastic toy soldier collectors, but
it doesn’t always mean much to the uninitiated. From the 1950s, first
Marx then other companies marketed big boxed sets of unpainted plastic
toy soldiers and accessories which usually represented two sides in a
battle, with lots of guys and stuff to set up and play with. They were
sold most notably in the Sears Wish Book. Playsets make great gifts,
especially at Christmas, and each year we design or re-design a huge
assortment for the holidays. Because we assemble the playsets in volume,
we pass on the savings in the form of discounts and free shipping. Most
of the items in our playsets can be purchased individually, but
discounts and free shipping apply only if you purchase an entire
playset. Our playsets are listed in their own section. Only items listed
in our Playset section come with free shipping. Click here to go
directly to our playset section:
http://www.toysoldierco.com/MainPages/PlaysetsL1.asp
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Q: Can you design a custom playset for me?
A: Yes! We do it all the time. Call to discuss your needs with Jamie.
Call toll free 1-888-825-8697 Monday to Saturday 10-6pm, Tuesdays late
until 10pm, EST.
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Q: Why should I buy figures from the Toy Soldier Company?
- We carry a greater variety of old and new plastic and lead soldiers
than any other company in the world.
- We do this full time.
- We turn the average money order or credit card order around in 5 days
or less. We offer interest-free layaways and company-wide sales on a
regular basis.
- We maintain an old-fashioned commitment to print catalogs (we produce
multiple annual catalogs as well as monthly flyers).
- We are here on the phones answering questions and taking orders all
day long, and use the phone as our first choice when we need to contact
our customers.
- We market thousands of hand-painted plastic figures, and can customize
painted orders as required.
- We have a liberal return policy, and treat all our customers
honorably, solving all problems in as fair and customer-friendly a
manner as possible.
- We try to offer the best service in this community, which is why we
have been able to keep so many customers satisfied for over twenty-five
years.
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Q: What is a Recast?
A: When plastic toy soldiers began to lose their popularity in the
Vietnam War Era, most of the companies producing them went out of
business or discontinued production. Their molds were then sold off. The
figures were missed by those with a nostalgic passion for their "little
men," but there was a time when all these molds seemed good for was
holding up the rear axle of someone’s old Nash Rambler. There was just
no demand for old Marx, Timpo or Cherilea figures, so no one wanted to
risk the expense of using the molds.
But then something wonderful happened. Toy soldier dealers began
convincing the gentlemen who had purchased the molds to produce figures
again (to Re-cast them) in limited numbers for the collecting market.
Figures which had originally been produced by the now-defunct
manufacturers are therefore called "originals," while anything cast
later from the old molds (often in very limited numbers of as few as
5,000 at a time) are called "recasts."
The limited numbers also account for the fact that these figures can
seem expensive to the uninitiated. The reason for this is "economy of
scale". When someone casts only a few figures from a mold, instead of
millions, the cost of the mold and its upkeep, plus the time to set up,
run and take down the mold in a busy factory results in a higher
per-figure cost.
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Q: Can I buy plastic figures by the pose?
A: No. For many reasons our plastic figures are sold in sets only. If
you order a set of plastic figures painted by us (the item code ends ‘p’
or ‘p1’), we can sometimes customize a set to include specific poses.
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Q: Why do some of your unpainted plastic figure sets not have the
same quantity of each pose? For example, if a set is listed as ’24
figures in 6 poses,’ can I assume I will get four of each pose?
A: We often receive toy soldiers from their manufacturers with an uneven
distribution of poses. The reasons vary, but the most common explanation
is that the figures were produced in uneven numbers. We have no choice
but to pass that distribution on to the customer. In the example of ’24
figures in 6 poses,’ we guarantee that the set will contain 6 poses, but
we cannot guarantee any pose distribution beyond that.
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