Model Boat Mayhem

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length.
Pages: 1 [2]   Go Down

Author Topic: Internet or Shop  (Read 5595 times)

Bee

  • Guest
Re: Internet or Shop
« Reply #25 on: December 22, 2008, 08:30:10 pm »

A problem I have with mail order is being there for deliveries. A shop would be much more convenient but the local ones are one car, one plane, one train. If only they would combine they could reduce overheads and expand.
Specialisation has been one of the factores that has caused the demise of decent general shops even before the internet as someone working from a backstreet shop or garage on say planes only pulled away some of the trade.
Logged

Subculture

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4,187
  • Location: North London
    • Dive-in to Model submarines
Re: Internet or Shop
« Reply #26 on: December 22, 2008, 09:17:02 pm »

I find my local skip is more useful than my local model shop for materials.
Logged

Reade Models

  • Guest
Re: Internet or Shop
« Reply #27 on: December 22, 2008, 09:49:47 pm »

Whether or not you can buy significantly cheaper over the net does depend on what you are buying I think. R/C gear is the obvious example. Also, many established model shops do have online shops and make most of their money via internet and mail order sales. I've been happy to order online from Westborne's rather than drive 200 miles there and back and the price is the same so nothing wrong with that I guess.

We have a price list.  Our catalogue shows the prices.  You pay the same price for items purchased from a show, our web sites, or a retail outlet stocking our products (or at least you should do).  Realistically you can't have different prices depending on where the goods are sold, it's just not practical.  All of our stock is priced using a pricing label gun.

We actually haven't increased any of our prices for the past three years.  Where possible, we remove items from blister packaging and send in poly bags (it makes the padded envelopes thinner, and therefore less costly to post).

A word about postal charges.  Our web sites use a PayPal shopping cart system and the P&P charge HAS to be either a fixed price (not realistic), or a percentage of the item ordered.  There is no way of varying the price depending on where the customer lives.  Therefore Joe Bloggs down the road pays the same postage as the guy who lives in Singapore and orders the same item - and it often happens that way.

We base our postal charges as best as we can to ONLY cover our actual costs for UK deliveries and consequently lose money on orders posted abroad.  When we get large orders over the telephone, we try to absorb postal charges completely and send goods free of postage charges.

I really don't know how we could be any fairer to our customers?

Malc
Logged

red181

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,795
  • Location: Wirral
Re: Internet or Shop
« Reply #28 on: December 22, 2008, 11:32:58 pm »

I would be prepared to pay up to 20% extra (and have done) to buy from a shop. I tend to save up my purchases for the shows, and without starting up that old thing about shows on the same day, to me thats heaven, as I visit both on the same day. Talking to sellers, who are generally enthusiastic and knowledgeable is worth a premium, and you can compare products. My local shop is 30 mins away, but they specialise in helicopters, planes and cars. I fly RC helicopters, so that is good, however shops tend to specialise in a couple of particular brands, its then I buy on line. 45 mins away is a shop who specialises in boats, I regularly travel there, as the advice and service is part of the "buying experience"

18 months ago I had 3 model shops within 20 mins of home, they have all closed down, what a shame. Another shop I know and use is 50 mins away, he only opens 3 days a week, and admits that he only does that to fuel his passion for RC boats, as he makes more  money on the other days just fulfilling internet orders
Logged

tigertiger

  • Global Moderator
  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7,748
  • Location: Kunming, city of eternal springtime, SW China.
Re: Internet or Shop
« Reply #29 on: December 23, 2008, 09:03:42 am »

When I am lucky enough to find a model shop I use it if I can.

But I am an impulse buyer. I might go in for a couple of LEDs and come out having spent 70 quid on a bag of fittings. Or I might buy a kit, or a radio. I am a fool with money to burn  :embarrassed:

I will pay the extra, because the difference is often the postage, and if it don't work or is bust I can take it back and spend more money.

I am the same when I go to the hardware store.

I really must start visiting skips.


But the smart stores sell on line as well if they can. And they hit the shows.
Logged
The only stupid question is the one I didn't ask

Seaspray

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,351
  • Model Boat Mayhem is the best model boat site
  • Location: East Ayrshire Scotland
Re: Internet or Shop
« Reply #30 on: December 23, 2008, 11:05:40 am »

You can't beat the local skip,especially if its on a building site.



Seaspray
Logged

grasshopper

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 773
  • Location: Lincolnshire!
    • A1 Hobbies Ltd.
Re: Internet or Shop
« Reply #31 on: December 23, 2008, 11:47:40 am »

I'll agree with that - skips are the best place for modelling bits, the shopping's  free, always open and it's environmentally friendly.
Wife gets embarassed though when I stop at some though...
Logged

bigH

  • Guest
Re: Internet or Shop
« Reply #32 on: December 24, 2008, 12:06:07 pm »

   I love this site, I get all my questions answered by peole who usually know what they are talking about, get links to stores and online shops, get told when and where shows are being held, show reports and pictures, get to see how and what other people are building including solving problems while doing so, etc; etc; etc;   The most important thing for me regardless of whether a supplier is on line or not is what kind of SERVICE do I get and if I am going to care enough as to where I am going to spend my miserly pension then SERVICE on a 10p sale should be ijust as important as a £100+ sale .   I have found that the reccomendations made by members on this site have been a good guide for my needs and as chairman of my local club I have had no hesitation in passing these on to my members,
 We all have to face the fact that the real world is not fair and never will be and nice people still get thrown to the lions so we can only do the best we can.   As F>L>J> sez  Please Yourself......    Harry   aka  bigH
Logged
Pages: 1 [2]   Go Up
 

Page created in 0.1 seconds with 22 queries.