I want to say that Anne from Great Models was very courteous about the price problem. I have ordered from them before and have had no problems to speak of. I would order from them again.
Thanks all.
What that means is they’ve received the electronic order and are physically “picking” the parts. However, that doesn’t mean that they will find it! Consider that they may only have one kit in stock, but two people order it. The first order gets the kit, and the second is SOL. I’m not saying that is the situation! Likely 4PM your time may have already been past their working hours, so they didn’t actually “receive” the order until today.
The item in the above reference is Eduard’s PE Colored Luftwaffe Fighter Seatbelts. They were $6.35, but Great Models wanted $6 shipping! So I did some more looking and found the Tamiya 1/35 Pz.Kpfw IV Ausf.D that I wanted. After adding that to the cart, the shipping only went up a few cents. So I continued with the purchase. If I wouldn’t have bought anything else, I wouldn’t have paid $6 for a PE set.
But then I wandered over to Lucky Models after ya’ll mentioned it here. Their Eduard PE seatbelts were only $5 and change and they only were going to charge slightly over a $1 for shipping! But then I added the same Tamiya kit (thinking that I would just cancel the Great Models order since it hasn’t been shipped) and the shipping jumped up to $8 and change! It was still a couple of $'s cheaper than Great Models (Tamiya kit was only $14 at Lucky’s and $18 at Great’s) but I figured I would just leave it alone for right now.
One thing that could still change my mind is the shipping time. Lucky Models shows their cheapest being 7-11 days. Great Models says UPS ground but doesn’t give a time frame. Are both shipping methods the same as far as time or is Great Models faster?
BTW - The Tamiya kit will be my first armor build! I look forward to it!
Lucky Model’s air mail is not going to be as fast as Great Model’s shipping. Lucky Model has some models that are very much cheaper than you can get here in the States even with shipping; provided you do not need the models fast. The last model I ordered from them is the new Academy M3 which I pre-ordered ar around $25.00 with shipping free. Had to wait a few weeks for Academy to release it but it is on the way now.
I’ve been shopping with Squadron shops since they were my local hobby shop,but Lucky’s prices can’t be beat![:D]
For the most part, I’m happy with Great Models. I’ve ordered a lot of stuff from them. Anytime there was a problem or question they always responded via e-mail very quickly. The key is to pay attention when you order items, for example: If it says “In Stock” then they actually have it in stock. I think “Available” means they have a shipment coming in. The key is to pay attention to the ones that say “special order”. I ordered a Wauldron Punch and Die set (fabulous tools!!!) and didn’t notice it said special order. It took a couple of months to get it in. Now that I’m aware of that all the orders are shipped very quickly and I’ve had no problems.
They were awesome when I ordered the PE for my Tamiya 1/350 Bismarck and forgot to order the PE for the 1/600 Airfix Bismarck. I ordered the 2nd set later that afternoon with a comment about having meant to add it to the original order. No worries, they combined the orders that same day and qualified for the free shipping.
I use them for most of my online business, although I support my LHS as much as possible. [:)]
Great Models loves to say that they have items in stock, but it actually means that either: they can get it, you’ll just have to wait for three months, or that they didn’t bother to take an out of stock item from their webpage. I’m pretty disgusted with them. I will only order from them if no one else has the item.
I’ve used both sites and have had no real trouble with either. I do everything in my power though to keep to items that they show as ‘In Stock’. LuckyModel does have the best prices but their shipping is usually much more. They do carry several manufacturers though that they provide free shippping for (Lion Roar is one that comes to mind). LuckyModel uses the postal service as their carrier and GreatModels uses your choice of UPS, FedEx or USPS. With both companies I receive my order here in NY one week after being notified of the order being shipped (LuckyModel is located in Hong Kong, GreatModel is in Utah).
Not to get too far away from GM, but I have ordered from HLJ. They can take forever. My 7-10 day delivery took longer than normal. I’m pretty sure my order was put on the back of a nine-year-old boy who swam across the Sea of Japan, walked across the frozen Bering Strait, and all the way to Seattle. There, he left it in the care of the USPS. Then the package was nursed into place on a truck with a 20lb. sledge. After two stops in San Antonio and Miami it was brought to my local post office. It spent two to three weeks there serving as a lunch table for employees on break. It only took two attempted deliveries and a trip to the post office to get it.
Well, I called Great Models and come to find out, they didn’t have the Eduard color PE Luftwaffe seatbelts in stock. I looked the seatbelts up again and I noticed that instead of saying they are out of stock, they simply say nothing at all. If the item is in stock it says “In Stock”, but nothing if out of stock. I didn’t know this and it was kinda annoying, but no biggy. So I went ahead and canceled the order and order the seatbelts and the Tamiya 1/35 Pz.Kpfw IV Ausf.D from Lucky Model, saving $4. Then, I thought, what the heck and threw in a Revell Bf-110G-2 to boot. I’ll be out of town for the next couple of weeks, so the shipping time won’t matter.
Sorry to hear about your misfortune with that place. I’ve had two VERY bad experiances with Great Models and I will not do business with them again! For all that have and continue to Good Luck.[2c]
My personal preference is Sprue Brothers. Awesome customer service.[tup][tup]
I haven’t had any problems with greatmodels. I still think that they should have lived up to the price that they originally posted and not have jacked it up.
Good luck getting them to cancel an order. I tried once and was told in bad manners “NO” Even though the items were listed as pending/searching for
Mark
I’m really picky when it comes to online shops. With Greatmodels, I haven’t had any problems, but they do tend to take a while. With Lucky Model, I had enough difficulty with their website that, to be honest, it wasn’t worth the few bucks savings after shipping.
Haven’t tried Sprue Brothers. These days I try to just use the LHS. If I need anything they don’t carry, they’ll order it for me, and save me the hassle. Easy is just as good as cheap.
I found out yesterday that my last LHS is closing on the 31st.[:(] Now, I join the broken rabble that haunts this forum, those poor souls with no LHS. Unless I drive an hour or two, I can’t get to a hobby shop… and with gas at $2.999(why don’t they just add the extra 1/1000 and end it) per gallon it seems like I might start ordering paints online.[:(]
Good point about gas. Mine isn’t next door, so clicking online saves me time and money, especially ebay. [}:)]
I can’t get into eBay. I get too frustrated. You won’t be getting any competition from me.[:)]
Well I am glad to hear that[:o)]. Really though I think you are missing out by not trying E-Bay I have fun with it especially the last minute sniping.[;)]
I just tried to look into Lucky model because of the good feedback I read on this thread. I got to it on my second try. If you accidently type luckymodels into your search window, you get an ENTIRELY different kind of ‘model’, one that your wife or girlfriend will NOT be very happy about.
At least you can explain that one away. [:)]
I’ve tried eBay, I used it many times, years ago. It is why I am the proud own of all three Topps DS cards and Proset DS cards. The current market value is -$6.38 per card.[:)] I got them because I wanted them. I’m just old enough to remember the goings on in 90-91. CNN was my favorite station. Anywho, I don’t seek out vintage or OoP kits so I find it easier to buy from regular retailers. It’s just my preference.