Buying online Vs buying locally...

Eye

ok so far i've not yet gotten my hands on the rc truck i want but it's just a matter of time
Called into a local hobby shop yesterday to get prices on what i'm looking for and to ask a few general questions and to be honest it got me thinking should i really bother buying loccaly or not.

Now first and foremost the truck i'm looking at getting is the CEN Genesis 46, a big 1/8 scale monster truck. now the price i got for this yesterday was €850 which seems a little bit on the high side so i went check about online and although they are expensive machines i have foudn a few places where i can get the same truck and save close to €300.

The only advantage i can think of with buying this locally would be the warrenty but is having a warrenty with a shop here worth €300?

For the likes of fuel and stuff like that obviously i will get that locally but when it comes to spare parts i think i would be pricing up online before i check out the local hobby shop for their prices.

On a final note, has anyone ever ordered from http://www.hobbyfreun.de/shop/ ?
my german aint the best but i can see that their prices are excellent and shipping seems cheap enough with a 20kg package to rest of europe costing just €30.
the Genesis 46 is €549 + 30p&p = €580 online Vs. €850 locally....hmmmm

coolwings

Is there a particular reason why it has to be a Genesis?
They are shipped here via UK, so have double shipping in the price, as well as £sterling currency add-ons.
Irish hobby shops sell other monster trucks for half the price
eg T-Maxx for €300 less, Rockwilder for €200 less, Fire cracker for €500 less approx.
There are Irish links here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=199335

Eye

well tbh i've always like the CEN Genesis since i first saw it and i'm thinking it's almost definetly what i'm gonna go for, if for some bizzare reason i was to change my mind my next choice would be the Traxxas Revo which i was told would cost €720 locally, again i can save almost €250 getting it online :-\

dts

I would always buy online.
I have had a few problems but all has been sorted in the end.
As for the bloke in the local hobby shop, you are still going to put alot of money his way in fue etc, so he should only be too willing to help you out if you have a problem with you truck.
I have found that everyone I have spoke to have been more than willing to help just because there intrested (hooked) on anything to do with RC.

It is always worth checking ebay, as long as the seller uses pay pal then you should have no problems.

The only down side to online shopping is you have to wait for the thing too arrive. Now thats the hard bit!

dts

Here is a good example
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=19168&item=5972856059&rd=1

dts

And if you want new then put in a bid for this
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=19168&item=5973224949&rd=1

SLIM19198

Buy online, Dont support the outrageous prices here!

Eye

thanks for the replys, if there was'nt such a big difference pricewise i would buy it here just for the added piece of mind of having the warrenty locally, but when your talking about a €300 saving.....screw the warrenty

so has anyone had any dealings with that german website i posted earlier?
only just came across it yesterday, had'nt seen it before and the prices seem really good.

no leaf clover

i.ve bought from raidentech.. www.raidentech.com and www.excelhobby.com $575 works out bit less than wat you're talkin bout (this is for genesis. i can recommend www.raidentech.com got buggy from it. have ordered 2 monster trucks from excell hobby and am waiting. but they supply parts.....i think for the genesis, i ordered smartech parts and had them within 2 weeks.......not bad from america!!!!

Eye

thanks for that no leaf clover, had a good look about both sites, firstly excelhobby.com ... no sign of the genesis on there anywhere that i could see and at the bottom of the page where the links are for shipping info it just seems dead, there is no link there at all so no idea what shipping is like there :-\

next onto raidentech.com, have been in their site before briefly but had a good look around tonight and found the genesis on there, while it may seem like a good deal at $549 for the genesis and with the week dollar it sounds great, but you also got to add in shipping to ireland which i filled in all the details and found shipping to ireland via airmail was $120 so that gives a total of $669. still sounds pretty good even working from a poor $-€ exchange rate like €1-$1.20 that works out around €557. not too bad i hear you say but from my experiences with getting items from the states you can add 21%VAT straight away (making it €675) and if your lucky you wont have to pay customs, if your not lucky then you could be adding another 2-10% for customs. worst case scenario with 10% customs on top of VAT your looking at €742....not much of a saving when i can get the whole lot from germany for €580.

no leaf clover

$120?! was 60 for my buggya nyway sounds like you're fairly sorted info wise except bout wat you want!! good luck, k

Eye

Ta for that, hopefully when i do get ready to purchase it will more than likely be online as i just cant justify €300 just for the sake of having a warrenty locally. Even if i buy online i have no doubt the guy in the local hobby shop would be only too happy to help me out should i run into problems and as it has been pointed out earlier i will be putting plenty of money his way in terms of fuel and possibly parts.

In terms of knowing what i want well i'm almost certain it's gonna be the Genesis i will go for, if for some reason i'm unable to get it then my second choice would be the Traxxas Revo but i will only go with that if i absolutely have too

Will have to brush up on my german before i buy from that other site but i'm sure it wont be that hard to figure out with babel fish transator

no leaf clover

hold on....is the one for 549 one rtr....it says artr so it doesn't look like it is. the rtr one is 634..might want to check that out!

techguy

Eye wrote:

Will have to brush up on my german before i buy from that other site but i'm sure it wont be that hard to figure out with babel fish transator

You should try e-mailing them on the phone because they might have someone that speaks english. I called www.stechflug.de first and communicated via e-mail after that regarding payement etc in english. They had no english on the site but were able to speak english.
Just something to keep in mind.

Hakko

Eye

thanks for the heads up there hakko, will probably do that when it comes closer to buying time

no leaf.... looks like you might be kinda right about the kits, had'nt looked into them in great detail to see what the differences were.
After closer inspection it seems the €549 ARTR version doesn't include the starter kit:
500ml tank bottle, wheel nut key, tool kit, glow plug heater + battery charger
no fail safe and only standard servo's

The next kit for €569 does include all the above items in the starter kit but it also has these changes:
- inclusive. 3 Servos (10 kg of guidance servo)
- inclusive Fail save
- without remote control (acre R-S version)
Current changes:
- Servos with new electronics and higher achievement
- clutch bell and clutch were again adjusted
- clutch cheeks for the 3. Course were modified
- strengthened differentials

And finally the last one is the XXL RTR kit for €635 which seems to be the complete RTR kit with remote control and a few extras:
Current changes:
- Servos with new electronics and higher achievement
- higher performance Failsave component with under-voltage protection
- remote control in the new Design
- clutch bell and clutch were again adjusted
- clutch cheeks for the 3. Course were modified
- strengthened differentials

before i buy i might inquire about the optional 4 wheel steering kit and see how much it costs, anyone heard anything about those, good or bad?

madmac187

Hi I was looking on ebay on modelsportuk get a combo of the new model 3.3 T-Maxx for £374 sterling which is like €400 and that includes postage. I wondering is there any extra charges like there is coming from America like vat or any crap like that?? For that I get a combo, a charger, battery to run machine, 2 spare plugs and pack of aa rechargeable batteries. Here its €545 don't want to say where because the guy was good enough to tell about the truck for 15 minutes in the shop, what does anyone think??

techguy

madmac187 wrote: »

Hi I was looking on ebay on modelsportuk get a combo of the new model 3.3 T-Maxx for £374 sterling which is like €400 and that includes postage. I wondering is there any extra charges like there is coming from America like vat or any crap like that?? For that I get a combo, a charger, battery to run machine, 2 spare plugs and pack of aa rechargeable batteries. Here its €545 don't want to say where because the guy was good enough to tell about the truck for 15 minutes in the shop, what does anyone think??

There is no VAT or duty to be paid on goods from the UK. Ordering from the UK is just win win atm..

Do keep in mind that it's also a good idea to keep the LHS shop guy sweet as you may need to get a spares at short notice...

T-Maxx

Forget about the T-Maxx, get a Savage instead.

Or go brushless, ie Revo or Flux.

lotus791

id agree with the above ... the cen engine is troublesome and a biatch to run in .. and in general way over priced for the quality you get ....tmax is fair to middle parts easy got of the net but king of all monsters is the savage ..cheap for parts and easy got of the net anywhere . you may also wish to look at truggys but thats another can of worms . and very very few rc nitro engines have warranty once they are started the warranty is void

madmac187

Definately have to keep the guy sweet. I have a kyosho inferno and he didnt deal in Kyosho at all and he helped with getting parts because I was stuck for time. Na now I have finished work, it was in Dublin Port 2 mile straights were so cool with the inferno (flips happened easily because of train tracks and did damage), so need a machine for real rough ground because I'm back at home AGAIN. So it's definately a truck and the closest shop deals in TRaxxas solely and carries all parts so thats why really and the fact that the T-Maxx is constantly improved but proven to be good.

T-Maxx

Yeah? A local shop that deals in Traxxas solely? Where?

madmac187

T-Maxx wrote: »

Yeah? A local shop that deals in Traxxas solely? Where?

its the model centre in Waterford, Here is his number 051 876262. The guy is bang on and will help anyway he can. Despite being more expensive I think I will get my truck there maybe.