I agree with you Rob. I only buy from abroad if there is absolutely no decent UK retailer for it.
As for WDM, i've ordered loads from him, infact he's just dispatched my Impact tracks, and yes its a tiny bit more than some of the Far East dealers, but the postage is a lot less and the service is vastly better! WDM have been fantastic, as have Militarymight and forgerbear, and I would order from all three many times over.
On the other hand, and back to the subject of this topic, I will never order anything from Tankzone/Armour Workshop again, and would very much encourage everyone else to do the same.
I still haven't received a reply to my email, and he doesn't seem to answer his phone, so as to when i'm actually going to get my parts is anyone's guess.
Cheers,
Rik
Vendors Blacklist
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grim_marmazet
- Staff Sergeant
- Posts: 938
- Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 7:45 am
- Location: Uxbridge, London
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grim_marmazet
- Staff Sergeant
- Posts: 938
- Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 7:45 am
- Location: Uxbridge, London
Re: Vendors Blacklist
Just out of interest has anyone ordered from Wecohe? Im wondering what there service is like, because they have some very cool parts!
Cheers,
Rik
Cheers,
Rik
Re: Vendors Blacklist
In May ordered two stencils from Tankzone U.S. stars set and German set got the star set in May the web site did say on back order for the German set just got the German set today Monday 7/6/09 so am happy I got them but as others are having problems will watch what I order from here and will only us paypal .
Jimmy
Jimmy
Re: Vendors Blacklist
I will not comment on vendors as to do so would seem self serving. However, I am fully aware of most of the less than service oriented ones, and a couple who are outright thieves.
As for where you purchase your goods, it is my recommendation to support your in country sights. As posted in my announcements in the vendors threads, it is not cost efficient for tankers in UK or EU to purchase items from me that originate in UK or EU. The sole supplier I have who does not also service UK and EU is Daryl's Parts with his very well thought out, and mostly for Tamiya, items. For Daryl's parts, you are stuck with dealing with me. In USA of course it is cost efficient for you to buy from me, as generally I have every item listed on my sight, in depth. For instance, when I made the decision to terminate Impact as a supplier in March, my inventory of Impact was almost $12,000 at warehouse ready to ship cost. I was very lucky in that almost 90% of said inventory went in the sale.
The advantages of going to ebay or an off shore supplier for some or all of your items is you may save a few quid or dollars. The disadvantage, and I see it all the time, is if there is a problem, you then have the expense of sending the item back, and then when the repaired or replaced item is sent back to you again you will have Customs and their hearty appetite for your money to deal with again. And that is if your off shore supplier will even cooperate with you. A lot of them will not give you the time of day after the purchase.
Another disadvantage of going off shore is eventually you may well put your in country suppliers out of business, and they are the ones who give you the real support for your hobby. They have already paid the duty, VAT, and transport for your items, and the cost of stocking the items for you to buy. Keeping a warehouse as I do is not inexpensive. After I pay for transport, customs, and warehouse costs such as storage shelves, packing materials, time to make the parcel and transport it to Post, time to inspect and if needed tweak mechanical parts and all the other little things needed to run a warehouse, it is a goodly percentage of the cost of your hobby parts. Nowhere near half of course, but I have run the numbers over the last two years, and you would be surprised at the amount of money these tasks and expenses consume.
Also, often the markup on the parts I and the other suppliers stock is surprisingly small. If you knew what I make a year from etoarmour. you would question my sanity for running the business, which, while not a full time job especially during the summer, still consumes a lot of hours, minimum 4 a day just answering inquiries and tankers technical questions, And that is 7 days a week, up at 06, take care of business in the morning, then again at 17:00 or so my time for another minimum two, and usually a lot more, hours. From November thru March, VCO does not see a whole lot of me as I am holed up in the office working for a LOT of hours each day. Holiday? What's that?
Why do I do it? Because I myself am an avid tanker, as is VCO. We both enjoy the tanks, and I enjoy helping fellow tankers with both parts and technical information, and construction technics. I can not imagine a more enjoyable vocation.
I started etoarmour in 2003, when the entire range of parts from the only two suppliers of any merit would fit in a shoe box with room left over. How things have changed! However, if you do not support your local stockist, be it Welsh Dragon or the others, or you local hobby stockist, eventually you will not have them around to both supply you and to help you. Think of it. What do you do now when you need a little paint or some pieces of plastic card or structural pieces? You pop down to the local hobby shop. Let me tell you how difficult it is without a local shop. There are ZERO hobby shops in my city or within 200 kilometers, none. There are a couple of kiosks that sell a few models and some paints I've never heard of. That's all. If I need ANYTHING I have to get it from Germany or USA, period. So, if I need a couple of bottles of MM Rust, I'm stuck with waiting for the parcel from Germany. Of course, I tend to have a lot of items in advance for a build, but still, there is always that something where I have to wait for a month for a parcel to wend it's way thru Border Control and then for Post to decide they do indeed have a parcel for me. If you buy all your items from out of country web shops or on ebay, in the end you will destroy the infrastructure that supports you. Then where will we all be?
That, gentlemen, is my tupence worth on the subject. Not trying to start a fight, just saying what I think.
As for where you purchase your goods, it is my recommendation to support your in country sights. As posted in my announcements in the vendors threads, it is not cost efficient for tankers in UK or EU to purchase items from me that originate in UK or EU. The sole supplier I have who does not also service UK and EU is Daryl's Parts with his very well thought out, and mostly for Tamiya, items. For Daryl's parts, you are stuck with dealing with me. In USA of course it is cost efficient for you to buy from me, as generally I have every item listed on my sight, in depth. For instance, when I made the decision to terminate Impact as a supplier in March, my inventory of Impact was almost $12,000 at warehouse ready to ship cost. I was very lucky in that almost 90% of said inventory went in the sale.
The advantages of going to ebay or an off shore supplier for some or all of your items is you may save a few quid or dollars. The disadvantage, and I see it all the time, is if there is a problem, you then have the expense of sending the item back, and then when the repaired or replaced item is sent back to you again you will have Customs and their hearty appetite for your money to deal with again. And that is if your off shore supplier will even cooperate with you. A lot of them will not give you the time of day after the purchase.
Another disadvantage of going off shore is eventually you may well put your in country suppliers out of business, and they are the ones who give you the real support for your hobby. They have already paid the duty, VAT, and transport for your items, and the cost of stocking the items for you to buy. Keeping a warehouse as I do is not inexpensive. After I pay for transport, customs, and warehouse costs such as storage shelves, packing materials, time to make the parcel and transport it to Post, time to inspect and if needed tweak mechanical parts and all the other little things needed to run a warehouse, it is a goodly percentage of the cost of your hobby parts. Nowhere near half of course, but I have run the numbers over the last two years, and you would be surprised at the amount of money these tasks and expenses consume.
Also, often the markup on the parts I and the other suppliers stock is surprisingly small. If you knew what I make a year from etoarmour. you would question my sanity for running the business, which, while not a full time job especially during the summer, still consumes a lot of hours, minimum 4 a day just answering inquiries and tankers technical questions, And that is 7 days a week, up at 06, take care of business in the morning, then again at 17:00 or so my time for another minimum two, and usually a lot more, hours. From November thru March, VCO does not see a whole lot of me as I am holed up in the office working for a LOT of hours each day. Holiday? What's that?
Why do I do it? Because I myself am an avid tanker, as is VCO. We both enjoy the tanks, and I enjoy helping fellow tankers with both parts and technical information, and construction technics. I can not imagine a more enjoyable vocation.
I started etoarmour in 2003, when the entire range of parts from the only two suppliers of any merit would fit in a shoe box with room left over. How things have changed! However, if you do not support your local stockist, be it Welsh Dragon or the others, or you local hobby stockist, eventually you will not have them around to both supply you and to help you. Think of it. What do you do now when you need a little paint or some pieces of plastic card or structural pieces? You pop down to the local hobby shop. Let me tell you how difficult it is without a local shop. There are ZERO hobby shops in my city or within 200 kilometers, none. There are a couple of kiosks that sell a few models and some paints I've never heard of. That's all. If I need ANYTHING I have to get it from Germany or USA, period. So, if I need a couple of bottles of MM Rust, I'm stuck with waiting for the parcel from Germany. Of course, I tend to have a lot of items in advance for a build, but still, there is always that something where I have to wait for a month for a parcel to wend it's way thru Border Control and then for Post to decide they do indeed have a parcel for me. If you buy all your items from out of country web shops or on ebay, in the end you will destroy the infrastructure that supports you. Then where will we all be?
That, gentlemen, is my tupence worth on the subject. Not trying to start a fight, just saying what I think.
Re: Vendors Blacklist
sevoblast
i whole heartedley agree with everyhing you said and i for one support my L.H.S and have been for 20 odd years and my father before me
some things you can get cheaper abroad and as you state have to be very aware of the pitfalls of doing so
one thing i did save ££s on was bearings for my Tamiya sherman my local wholesaler wanted £30 for a set and was going to charge £8 P+P from birmingham i got them from stella models direct from HK for about $15 which then worked out about £9 for the set and delivery
but that was then and we are here now so i dont think youll get such a good deal like that now
but all just beaware of the dangers those nice tammy tanks look good on e-bay from hk but ive heard rumour that tamiya wont honour any guarentees when purchasing these "Grey" imports so beware
i whole heartedley agree with everyhing you said and i for one support my L.H.S and have been for 20 odd years and my father before me
some things you can get cheaper abroad and as you state have to be very aware of the pitfalls of doing so
one thing i did save ££s on was bearings for my Tamiya sherman my local wholesaler wanted £30 for a set and was going to charge £8 P+P from birmingham i got them from stella models direct from HK for about $15 which then worked out about £9 for the set and delivery
but that was then and we are here now so i dont think youll get such a good deal like that now
but all just beaware of the dangers those nice tammy tanks look good on e-bay from hk but ive heard rumour that tamiya wont honour any guarentees when purchasing these "Grey" imports so beware
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nibelungenwerk
- Private
- Posts: 58
- Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 9:06 pm
Re: Vendors Blacklist
Folks I seem to opened a can of worms
My argument is not about price or where you buy you stuff from, to quote PUNCH from the 1800’s “You pays your money you take your choiceâ€
My argument is not about price or where you buy you stuff from, to quote PUNCH from the 1800’s “You pays your money you take your choiceâ€
Re: Vendors Blacklist
not so much a can of worms but lots of good points coming out 
and quite informative
and quite informative
