Shipping prices have jumped through the roof for everyone not just Toucan. $40-$50 for shipping is not uncommon now unfortunately.
On another note as per Toucans Pricing. I picked up a new very fairly priced Tiger I the other day directly from their website and U.S. warehouse. Upgraded metal everything, gearbox, tracks, sprockets, idler wheels, road wheels, with 360 degree turret and recoil barrel. Arrived in 2 days of order and as usual comes with a Toucan 3 month warranty. $209.
tankme wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 8:30 pm
Motion RC is still shipping tanks for free in the US the last time I checked.
Yes sir. And that is an important thing to consider when deciding who to purchase from. AND important to factor in when doing an Ebay auction or purchase.
I chose Toucan because even though I did pay for shipping they are sending items from China included in the same domestic shipping price which means to me even though I got a good deal, they aren't losing out on the price they sold the tank to me at all.
On a related note, Toucan is shipping very slowly for me this time round. For Toucan, anyway. Boudicca had received a shipping notice within a week for her Challenger; two weeks for my Sherman; I’m now at three weeks for the Koenigstiger, and nothing yet.
"I have seen the first of the new tanks today. They are beautiful."
- Annibale "Electric Beard" Bergonzoli, upon the first delivery of M11/39s to Libya, 1940.
Another tip: Don't shy away from toucanhobby's "Used" or "open box" offering's either. I've purchased two so far, the first was last year, an M4 Sherman plastic edition that was returned because the barrel elevation didn't work, paid $140.99 with shipping as I recall. It was on my doorstep the next day, was open box but was complete and unused from the looks of it and everything was accounted for. It was a simple 15 minute fix, the elevator arm got knocked out of it's track probably from being jostled around in shipping.
My 2nd experience almost might have had me giving opposite advice. The week before last I bought an "open box" HL M1A2 with steel gearbox, metal tracks, sprockets, roadwheels, idlers, suspension arms, and 360° turret from toucan on ebay. Price was $227.00 plus $19.98 shipping. That's about what the upgrade parts alone would cost I figured. It arrived 3 days later and was a mess. It had been used pretty hard, it was full of dirt and grass, had what I think was dried dog slobber on it, about 18 inches of kite string, long blades of grass, even a wire tie like from a loaf of bread wrapped around the drive axles. There was string tied to the back too. I'm guessing the original purchaser used it to entertain their dog by tying it's toys to the tank and dragging it's toys around. There was so much garbage jammed in, around, and behind, the sprockets it's no wonder one of the return reasons was "Tracks don't work". I was surprised Amazon allowed the customer to return it, it had clearly been well used and I kind felt and for toucanhobby that they had to take it back given that alone.
That's not the worst... It was Amazon purchase by someone in Colorado, I knew this because their shipping label was on the box and there was an Amazon return slip inside. When the original purchaser returned tank they just threw everything back in the original box without the foam insert so 20lbs of metal upgraded tank had been beating the snot out of itself, the transmitter, accessories, and the boxes it was shipped in. There were many small holes in the boxes and a large tear that had been taped up along the way. Needless to say I was very concerned but figured, It was worth the upgrade parts still. I spent several hours over the next three days taking it apart, cleaning it up, and fixing the problems listed with it in the eBay description. It runs perfect now. I documented everything with pictures and sent them to toucanhobby with a very long list of parts there were either broken or missing that I wanted replaced in an ebay message. They were shocked at what I'd received, apparently to save time they'd had it sent directly from the Amazon warehouse it had been returned to directly to me and that Amazon's description of it's condition was way off and said they were sending me everything I'd asked for on my list plus a couple things I didn't ask for.
As Mr Chef said, definitely keep an eye on the toucanhobby website and any of the ebay sellers shipping from Cranbury, New Jersey, I don't know if they are the same person or different people at the same company or what, doesn't matter. They put stuff up for cheap randomly but often, and in my experience they'll usually accept offers of 5% to 8% off. Last week I bought 4 sets of Challenger II plastic tracks from toucanhobby on ebay for $15.64 shipped, not each, that's for all four sets.
Ziptar, it is great to hear from you again! I went back to your introductory post from last year (viewtopic.php?p=342647#p342647), and I immediately recalled how it was a model (egad! another pun!) introduction and how I enjoyed it. Perhaps you might like to go to post in the "Show off" section more of your stash, including the two rescues. In fact, I'd bet some others besides me would enjoy seeing the "before" and "after" photos of your TLC for the poor abused Abrams.
Herr Dr. Professor wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2024 6:45 pm Ziptar, it is great to hear from you again! I went back to your introductory post from last year (viewtopic.php?p=342647#p342647), and I immediately recalled how it was a model (egad! another pun!) introduction and how I enjoyed it. Perhaps you might like to go to post in the "Show off" section more of your stash, including the two rescues. In fact, I'd bet some others besides me would enjoy seeing the "before" and "after" photos of your TLC for the poor abused Abrams.
Hello again, Herr Dr. Professor. Yeah, I sorta disappeared for a bit... Shortly after I made that post the Mrs. decided it was time to down size so we listed out house for sale, and that escalated quickly. Long story and we're kind of nomads now while we look for the right place. I'll post a "Show Off" and explain more there.
Ziptar, it is great to hear from you again! I went back to your introductory post from last year (