Feel Its Your Duty To Pay More At Your Lhs?

[KingPin]

Hi everybody, ive just been thinking about this and thought i would get some other peoples views.

I live in Derby, and im lucky to have a model shop 15 min drive away.

Ive bought loads of stuff from them over the years, kits and spares alike and know the staff well, they always let me open a kit before i buy it to have a rummage in the box and answer any questions i may have.

If i spend a lot on several things i even get a discount, plus the owner is a vintage collector so has loads of NIB spares from older kits.

The shop is always stocked to the rafters of whatever i need, and they run a racing club and even have an instore workshop for tuning and repairs.

Sadly, with ebay and other websites, my local shop cant always compete with prices.

So i was wondering, if people ever feel the need to support their local hobby shop by paying a bit more for a kit, knowing you could get it cheaper on the internet?

I sometimes see a kit in my LHS and if its been their a while and im after it anyway, i have no problem paying a little bit more.

Whats your opinion?

Kind regards

KingPin

[TheBlueDragon]

I stopped using my LHS as soon as i found out how cheaper it could be found on the internet.

[Wrc action]

I think u are very lucky to have such an LHS, I know one in Bury st edmunds model junction that sounds very much like the one you have, and when i am over there seeing relatives I dont mind spending that extra 5 on an esc as I know that it will do the job and can ask my other questions,

however where i am our LHS is useless so ebay and the internet is my only alternative.

Cheer s

Ryck

[subsea84]

I would rather use my local hobby shop as you cant get the help and advice from a website. Plus dealing with real people rather than a person on a computer is a much nicer experiance in my opinion.

[007al]

My local shop is less than a mile away,but doesnt stock anything i want or need.I ordered a receiver that they said was in short supply(hmmm)that didnt turn up even after a month.The kits are 40-50 more expensive than online.I would love to just be able to go and buy what i want but i cant,so usually just look online.

I paid 10.50 for two 3800 battery packs from Hong Kong,and that was with postage.They`re 30 each in my local shop,so its online all the time for me now.

When the differences are that big,i cant justify the need to support them.

[knotty]

I stopped using my LHS as soon as i found out how cheaper it could be found on the internet.

no disrespect fella but your a fool.apart from my tamiya fascination i also play guitar.and this holds true for both hobbies.yes you can get them cheaper on the net but last wedensday i picked up my guitar for a quick play before i went to work,snapped a string and knew i wouldnt have time to go to work,come home restring me guitar and then get to rehearsals on time.so i dropped it into me local guitar shop,where i bought it went to work,came home and picked my guitar up,restrung and re set up to my liking.the lad at the shop,cos i go there for all my things knew exactly what guage string i wanted,and how i like the action on my guitar.you will never get that kind of service from an online supplier or dealer.

[Stefan(2)]

This is a subject that turns up now & again

For me, yes & no..

For kits, it is for a collector aka "multiple kits buyer" not intresting anymore to buy at the lhs,

given the fact that mine is 260km away from me..

Exeptions left, others proven quite useless in more then one way here in the Netherlands.

As i have to buy everything by mailorder, why not save and buy in Hong Kong,

It is not a " 1 euro saving" , but, especially with high end kits, you can save serveral hunderd euro's ( big rigs, tanks )

But, that said.. Germany is getting the drift now it seems, and prices are going even to reseneble levels.

If the Dutch inporter would follow, and.. he actually was a bit faster & bigger stock.. yes.. i would -return-

For instance, right now building the new Jagdpanther, send by normal mail, from hong kong, in the whole of europe

the kit is not for sale yet.. boat has not arived or something like that.

There is also a little extra sideline, real specialised parts or paint ( can't be shipped airmail ), i still order at my old lhs,

as the same goes for most bigscale petrol parts.. Price about the same, but can't get it over my hart just to walk away

fully to

< i know one of that guys since i was bearly walking, lol >

Stefan

[Disco]

Hi,

I buy kits and spares from my local shop and similar to you i know them we and get a discount, they are not really into tamiya anymore so i buy some parts & kits from ebay, mainly stuff that you can't get anymore.

My feeling is to use when whenever i can as if you don't use them then you will loose them, its up to you if you think you don't need a LHS, but personallly i like the ability to pop down for some small part or paint etc . there are some occasions when the price for ebay/overseas is so much cheaper that it must be considered.

[WillyChang]

LHS is a business, not a charity... i only give to worthy causes

If i need it urgently and LHS has it on the shelf - sure i'll buy it.

If the price is 200%+ of what i can get it elsewhere... i'll question how 'urgent' i need it;

usually it will be about 30-40% more... it isn't much for small bits.

Went to 3 LHS on Fri/Sat... CAN'T GET WHAT I NEEDED!! URGENT!

Whats that all about then???!

not some rare obscure part even... i need kit-sprue Diff Outdrive for a TA05!!

current model, expendable consumable part you'd think - not happy!

oh and i went to a 4th earlier in the week too... he's shutting down due to rents too high, not enough profit etc etc

[TheBlueDragon]

I have got 2 Local Hobby Shops and both are useless and stupidly expensive.

TAGs Models Direct - In town rather large but they dont help you that much and always try selling you the most expensive thing they have.

TMC - In Meadowhell small and only stocks rubbish, know nothing about RC cars and charge you well more than what expensive shops do lol

[knotty]

is tmc the one in the lanes,round the back of the food court? i had a feeling that was your only modelshop when i put my post up.if thats all youve got available then im not surprised that you use online,but if you have a decent lhs then you cant go anywhere better

[TheBlueDragon]

Well we have TMC which is upstairs near the lanes, a small model shop which is run by an old woman who knows nothing on the lanes and Tags in town. So really we have 3 shops which are all useless

[acprc]

Hi all,

I shop around for everything else I buy, petrol, car insurance etc so I do it with my RC stuff. If it's cheaper online that's where I get it from. Nearest LHS to me is 35 min drive and they never seem to have any stock, paints always on order etc. They do seem to be an RC aircraft shop more than anything.

Adam

[Stonemole]

surely if you knwo what your doing/buying then the net is the best place.

i find if i don't know much about what i want i ask around. ok yeah i could go to a model shop and ask then pay the premium for the item and write the cost of to knowledge imparted? but i knwo from workign with guitars and related equipment for years that its not always the best advice.

my 2 pence i guess.

[Mud-Plugger]

Having seen the Peugeot 406 for 130 the other day at an LHS on the South Coast, I can't bring myself to give them business when it's currently 54.99 delivered from Hong Kong!

Mud.

[knotty]

but how much is postage from hk,and what happens if it goes wrong and you need it replaceing?

[Mud-Plugger]

As said above, 54.99 delivered! That's 29.99 plus 25 shipping. Have a look yourself on ebay at the moment.

I did for the first time have an order go wrong from an internet sale just before Christmas. It just so happened to be from the shop that had the Peugeot for 130. Initially they told me that the part I had ordered from them off ebay they hadn't actually got in stock, so I agreed to take the same part but in a different colour. Then when I received it, it was a different part altogether, which was less than half the price I paid for the original item I ordered, and now they won't reply to my emails.

I can only say that they are absolutely useless.

Mud.

[knotty]

how long does the postage take?sorry i missed the " delivered" bit.

[Mud-Plugger]

I think anyone who regularly uses sellers like jc-rc, hongkong-cowboy and stellamodels rarely finds it takes any longer than 10 days or so (and especially jr-rc recently, less than a week!) which is far better than waiting 28 days so far from the my LHS with no hope of getting the requested item, as said before, they won't respond to my emails!

Mud.

[knotty]

ive just had a look at what you said and noticed a few others.have you ever dealt with dragonshophk on ebay?

[Mud-Plugger]

...yes I have, another recommended seller. It looks as his sales get delivered to the U.K in less than two weeks or so. The biggest hold up is ALWAYS this side of the world.

Mud.

[Mookysaurus]

I stopped using my LHS as soon as i found out how cheaper it could be found on the internet.

I went to my LHS to buy some paints and stuff and they where useless unhelpful and one of them was really rude. so i turned around went home and bought everything i needed from ebay.

[knotty]

...yes I have, another recommended seller. It looks as his sales get delivered to the U.K in less than two weeks or so. The biggest hold up is ALWAYS this side of the world.

Mud.

what kind of hold ups,parcelforce`s usual competence you mean?

[bakaguyjean]

Hi everybody, ive just been thinking about this and thought i would get some other peoples views.

I live in Derby, and im lucky to have a model shop 15 min drive away.

Ive bought loads of stuff from them over the years, kits and spares alike and know the staff well, they always let me open a kit before i buy it to have a rummage in the box and answer any questions i may have.

If i spend a lot on several things i even get a discount, plus the owner is a vintage collector so has loads of NIB spares from older kits.

The shop is always stocked to the rafters of whatever i need, and they run a racing club and even have an instore workshop for tuning and repairs.

Sadly, with ebay and other websites, my local shop cant always compete with prices.

So i was wondering, if people ever feel the need to support their local hobby shop by paying a bit more for a kit, knowing you could get it cheaper on the internet?

I sometimes see a kit in my LHS and if its been their a while and im after it anyway, i have no problem paying a little bit more.

Whats your opinion?

Kind regards

KingPin

Give everybody map as this sounds like a great place, do they have a home page? Post a link, Give us a little more. This shop sounds worth travelling to.Maybe it could be everybodies LHS

[igbandy]

Hi everybody, ive just been thinking about this and thought i would get some other peoples views.

I live in Derby, and im lucky to have a model shop 15 min drive away.

Ive bought loads of stuff from them over the years, kits and spares alike and know the staff well, they always let me open a kit before i buy it to have a rummage in the box and answer any questions i may have.

If i spend a lot on several things i even get a discount, plus the owner is a vintage collector so has loads of NIB spares from older kits.

The shop is always stocked to the rafters of whatever i need, and they run a racing club and even have an instore workshop for tuning and repairs.

I am in Tamworth, and would like to know which shop you are referring too

I do buy from my LHS, for instance the other day I picked up a TT-01 2003 Subaru for a decent price. I buy most of my consumables from there as well. Plus its nice to have a mooch around as well.