I hardly rely on Chads, Samstagsales, Amazon, or any of these other online vendors to do my shopping and that includes ASH. My research is done through forums like these (GJ) and other tool aficionados and reviews. I read, I you tube, I scour 1000's of images, pound Ebay and craigslist and Google translate a dozen different languages and prices. When it finally comes time to purchase, I do not hesitate to hunt down the best price for that item/items and Ash is one of the first places I go when getting a price quote. Most of the time (unless there is some stupid crazy sale or he is not the distributor of said item) he is in the ballpark or better.
However, it is not his prices that set him apart from the other vendors. It is his service! I never have to worry that he is not doing his very best for my satisfaction. Which means, if he is in the ballpark, he will often times get the nod. And from what I have read about some of the other vendors, great service is not often the norm. For a guy with a staff of one (himself) and his side business is tools, he still manages to be an effective conduit for high end tools. Look at Klein tools and chads toolbox to see his NWS influence.
Most of us, including myself, would never have heard of NWS, Felo, Rennsteig and recently BMI among other offerings, (let alone having the chance to buy them) if he didn't take a personal interest in quality and then, make that quality available to us.
If you have a good relationship with Samstagsale and he gives you the quality, care and service you desire from a vendor, then your're fortunate that you don't have to go far to satisfy your buying needs. But if you don't call or write to get a price quote from Ash for an item your thinking about purchasing, then your being short sighted. After all, the bottom line for most of us is a fair price (or big, or huge, or friggin mega giant sale!!!!) with excellent service, and a vendor that stands fully behind his/her product.
1. Figure out what you want. 2. Call or write to Ash about a price quote 3. Buy or don't buy.
There is a reason a lot of us buy from Ash and none of it has to do with his website, .pdf files or .xml spreadsheet skills. Some of us will not let .pdf files and .xml spreadsheets get in the way of a good deal and quality service. But if sweating cyber details and throwing away savings is your cup of tea, then sip away...