This is aimed at fellow GJ members who reside outside of the US but local input would be very much appreciated as well.
I was wondering which of the online vendors were the most user friendly in terms of pricing, shipping, deals etc. in fact the whole over all experience. I did a search but the last topics were 2013 ish so I was looking for a more up to date picture. I've also been through many vendor websites and assembled a list of those willing to ship internationally.
All of this started when I decided to stop being a couch potato and turn some of my planned projects from paper to reality. If nothing else it was a good excuse to buy some new toys and I desperately needed some.
First of I investigated single phase mig welders and I followed it up with DeWalt corded and cordless. That was a week back, its taken me the time in between to get over the shock.
There are a couple of issues with locations like this, the first being available selection and second pricing. On the welding front both the Miller and Lincoln vendors were only able to offer one model each and both with a three month lead time & highly priced, the Miller being ridiculously so. On top of that the local Miller crew were complete dipsticks and very rude with it.
One DeWalt guy got back to me, the other five didn't bother, nor did the Milwaukee guy. The upshot was that he offered prices that were 80% more expensive than in the States and most of what I asked for was unavailable to this market. I'm not sure what offended me most, being bent over for pricing or being denied access to product.
When you work in a place like this having to pay more for imported goods is expected. Shipping and duty have to be accounted for and that's fair enough but in a significant number of cases vendors take advantage of the situation and 80% is an example of this.
A while back I was running my own business & importing high end, specialist sports gear from the UK but predominantly from the US and my import and duty costs averaged out at 20% and the shipments were heavy. Even taking that into consideration I was able to match the retail prices of the UK and US.
Now imagine how I feel when I see all the great deals available mainstream and promos like Miller's build with blue. It fairly breaks my heart
I'll check out shop and ship type services again but when I last looked they too were a bit OTT.
So my only recourse is to buy on line. Other experiences have led me to believe that the US is normally a good bit cheaper than home and has the full, latest and greatest selection.
So who are the rest of you using and how's it working out for you?
Any volunteers for becoming my forwarding agent step forward now
I was wondering which of the online vendors were the most user friendly in terms of pricing, shipping, deals etc. in fact the whole over all experience. I did a search but the last topics were 2013 ish so I was looking for a more up to date picture. I've also been through many vendor websites and assembled a list of those willing to ship internationally.
All of this started when I decided to stop being a couch potato and turn some of my planned projects from paper to reality. If nothing else it was a good excuse to buy some new toys and I desperately needed some.
First of I investigated single phase mig welders and I followed it up with DeWalt corded and cordless. That was a week back, its taken me the time in between to get over the shock.
There are a couple of issues with locations like this, the first being available selection and second pricing. On the welding front both the Miller and Lincoln vendors were only able to offer one model each and both with a three month lead time & highly priced, the Miller being ridiculously so. On top of that the local Miller crew were complete dipsticks and very rude with it.
One DeWalt guy got back to me, the other five didn't bother, nor did the Milwaukee guy. The upshot was that he offered prices that were 80% more expensive than in the States and most of what I asked for was unavailable to this market. I'm not sure what offended me most, being bent over for pricing or being denied access to product.
When you work in a place like this having to pay more for imported goods is expected. Shipping and duty have to be accounted for and that's fair enough but in a significant number of cases vendors take advantage of the situation and 80% is an example of this.
A while back I was running my own business & importing high end, specialist sports gear from the UK but predominantly from the US and my import and duty costs averaged out at 20% and the shipments were heavy. Even taking that into consideration I was able to match the retail prices of the UK and US.
Now imagine how I feel when I see all the great deals available mainstream and promos like Miller's build with blue. It fairly breaks my heart
I'll check out shop and ship type services again but when I last looked they too were a bit OTT.
So my only recourse is to buy on line. Other experiences have led me to believe that the US is normally a good bit cheaper than home and has the full, latest and greatest selection.
So who are the rest of you using and how's it working out for you?
Any volunteers for becoming my forwarding agent step forward now
