First of all, I'm talking about ONLINE hobbyshops only and Canadian hobbyshops only.

I've noticed that a lot of Canadian sites are horribly outdated, some not being updated for as long as 2 years. They should update them and get with the times.

What is it with Canadian online ordering where WE have to type every single item into some copy & paste style ordering for? What happened to one click shopping like American sites?

Some of the shipping rates are horrendous! I'm not talking about parcel sized items, but smaller items. I was about to order some Archer transfers and they wanted $9 for shipping! They could have mailed it for less than $1!! As it turns out, I gave me business to Ebay.

Anybody else have any things they would add/delete or change with Canadian online hobby stores?

Tapper,

Shipping charges can seem way over the top, but I have always believed that it represents not just the cost of postage, but the time the store must take to pack up the parcel etc.

An on-line store should have a list of the products they stock, if it is in stock, how long it will take to get it in stock and the length of time it will take to ship it to me. I want a simple click to select, and have all the above follow. I also want the cost of shipping to be clear so there are no surprises. I found Military Hobbies had that type of site and I hope it stays that way.

Darryl

Point in case. The very same item that I was going to buy from a Canadian site($9 to ship to me and I live in the same province) only cost me $1.85 to be shipped to me from the United States. It just seems to me that Americans will go out of their way to do business while a lot(and I do mean a lot) of Canadian business people could care less. When I mentioned that $9 was a lot of money to ship what was basically a piece of paper they didnt even bother to respond to my email. Whereas the American said shipping from the States to Ontario was only $1.85.

Good point about the up-to-date stock.

Tapper,

As Darryl says I'm sure it includes the cost of actually doing the packaging and the materials. Although, that said, there are no "storefront" costs with a mail order, so that should offset a lot of a real shop's hidden costs. One thing to remember is that if the package, any package, won't fit through the arbitrary 1cm high slot that Canada Post used to define an "envelope" then it goes as a parcel. A set of decals with some cardboard an a layer of bubble pack is probably right at that limit.

Once you have a parcel, as opposed to an envelope. then you are really getting into the area where Canada Post hoses you. I recently had a very small package sent to me from the States. It was about 1" x 2.5" x 3.5" and weighed about 25 grams. We're talking smaller than a pack of smokes. It arrived with 85 cents of US postage on it. I had to send the item back and used the same box. For me to get it back to the guy cost me a whopping $5.80, including taxes. That is the cheapest parcel yuo can send, no matter how small tha actual package it. That rate is good right up to a full 500 gram package of fairly substantial size. The same $5.80.

So, if your decals were packed a bit thick, you're looking at nearly $6 just to ship them. Doncha just love Canada Post?

Paul

Canada Post small packet(those small bubbled mailers) will EASILY hold several Archer transfers in them. Cost to mail it: .85 cents. (I'm a Canada Post letter carrier so I know when people are getting overcharged on shipping by sellers.) What most people do realize is that the heavier a package is, the more it will cost you to mail. You can have a small parcel but if it weighs a ton then you'll get dinged big time. So I would be paying for the cost to ship the box that my transfers would come in and not for how big that set of transfers was(although there is a minimum price set per size). If they would be willing to please a customer and put 2 sets of transfers(weight is next to nothing) in a bubble mailer or even an decent sized envelope, they could mail it for next to nothing. But as I said before, as per the title of the thread, this is a post about how Canadian online sellers could improve their customer satisfaction rates. But because they didnt want to budge, they lost a sale(and a number of previous ones as well) to their American counterparts.

I agree with Tapper. I too am a Postie
Military Hobbies has free shipping on orders over $50 so reasonable shipping is not impossible.
The problem is when an online store charges flat rates for all orders. Then an order going 100 km helps pay for the order going 2000 km away. Or when an online store charges the ever popular "shipping and handling" charges. This is thier way of trying to recoup some of the profits in a hidden fee
As for what can be done better on Canadian online stores, updates would be nice but I just hate Canadian sites with US prices.

ive just ordered from afv distributtion in quebec city. The owner, Janic, still runs on an e-mail system, but will answer all my emails within a day or two laps time, maybe even a minute if he's online at that time! I've sent over 15 emails andrecieved and answer to all of them regarding prices or availability. His prices are almost the same as the use prices maybe a dollar cdn more! i paid 25$ shipping for two pz IVE(new dragon) 7 bottles of mmp weathering powders(big and small bottles.), micro sol and micro set, eduard zim set, panzer.f from alan hobbies, tiger one radiators, sturmtiger improvement for 215$ no taxes and 25$ shipping included.

Im very happy, the price i paid is excellent, an example is 38 dollars per pz IV while millitary hobbies sells for 50(12$ difference). i simply buy two pz IV and my shipping is paid with afv distribution and basicly get the rest with free shipping!

If anyone wants the site to take a look pm me or take a look at past threads, ive put it up or look at comunity.
Frank

This is an interesting thread for me as a modeller and a hobby shop owner.

At 9$ you were overcharged. If you asked for the item to be shipped within Canada expedited or express. Minimum price for expedited (usually 2 days) is about $7 even if it is just an envelope. Plus a padded envelope would be a charge of about $.50. Therefore, $7.50 is reasonable for expedited, express is slightly more. If I were sending it to you regular mail I would charge you $1.50 ($1.00 shipping + $ 0.50 for the envelope). Sorry to disagree Tapper I've sent alot of them out and they are more than $0.85

Don't forget guys we have to put bread on the table too.

Also, of course your prices on Ebay or whatever are better. Most of those guys are living in their houses, likely living off the govt, sending stuff out to you with no overhead but beer and cheetos.

I love my job but it ticks me off to no end when people complain about a stores stock. I know we try our best to stock everything and get orders in pretty quick but there is so much stuff out there and everyone wants something different. Also we are the guys you see. Most of these manufacturers do limited run or are Ma and Pa operations. I seem to always get the blame for the lack of Canadian warship models!!!!

People are always telling me of their great Ebay deal etc. and I like Ebay too but guess what, if the retail hobby shop wasn't around where would you get your Tamiya Flat Black at 5pm on a Saturday or your bottle of glue.

Support your local hobby shop, do special orders and if you have a problem communicate with the owner. I'm sure he's trying his best. Trust me, there ain't no millionaires in the hobby business!

BigT

Tony,

To be honest I don't expect any store or on-line store to have everything in stock at all times as that is just not realistically possible.

Price...ahhh, everyone has their own opinion about what they will pay for. Personally I do my best to support my local hobby store, but I also shop in the GTR and have occassionaly shopped using Canadian internet sites that also had store fronts. I have never used E-bay as I have never seen any real deals and am uncomfortable dealing with someone I don't know.

Darryl

Hi all. I pretty much will buy from whoever has what i need.

If the local shop in tjhe GTA (greater Toronto Area) has what I need at a "reasonable price" then I buy it there.

If an online shop has what I need at a reasonable price then "bam" its bought there.

Ebay is used for out of production stuff (occasionaly) but the botttom line is I am a consumer not a hobby shop owner.

It isn't my responsibility to keep the local hobby shop in business. It is their responsibility to make money, not mine ...

Cheers, MSW

My only complaint about Stock, is when an online shop lists the item as in Stock, when they haven't had stock for weeks.

These days it is very easy for the store website to be tied into the inventory system. The cash register doesn't need to be so long as someone updates the inventory at the end of each day or at least weekly...

Military Hobbies still lists the Revell 1/72 in stock, which they haven't had for more than a month. (unless it came in this week, though I have been checking weekly as I ordered one before Xmas)

BUT!! I do 99% of my shopping locally, I've seen what online business is doing to the RC market and its not pleasant..

Martyn