As a bit of an antidote to the Maelstrom thread, I'd thought I'd start a fresh thread where people can praise retailers for doing it right.

I hope it gets to even half the length of the other one.

I'll start with three nominations

The Troll Trader. Been really helpful with supplying a Maxmini bit that wasn't listed on their site. Didnt want to pay the same amount in postage as the item would cost if I ordered direct. Prompt replies and efficiently dealt with.

Chapter House Studios. Has been completely obliging on several occasions. Most recently with a package that was returned as I failed to collect it. Not only are they resending it, but have swapped the bits about as my needs have changed.

Rocket Hobbies. My go to site for plastic GW. 25% discount and don't seemed to be plagued by the stock and slow dispatch issues of other retailers, at least not yet, they may become victims of their own success. Also efficiently dealt with a shortage on one order with no problems. I know the chap works really hard, purely by the times I've received email replies from him!

Id add Puppets of War.

After I started ordering from them direct vs. through their Ebay store, shipping times and communication greatly improved. Love their stuff.

Chokonit/Shaekonit - What with Wayland and Maelstroms difficulty in acquiring infinity models, this guy has been indispensable in feeding our addiction for this game! Great p&p and delivery times, pricing and the ability to split up box sets to ge the models you want - fantastic!

The more important issue is the prevalence of pastry in British slang.

You people are way too into your baked goods.

 Aerethan wrote:
The more important issue is the prevalence of pastry in British slang.

You people are way too into your baked goods.

Are you taking the pie out of us?

 Spuj wrote:

 Aerethan wrote:
The more important issue is the prevalence of pastry in British slang.

You people are way too into your baked goods.

Are you taking the pie out of us?

Nah, he's just off his crust. Frankly it's doing my loaf. But then a lot of Americans are fruitcakes.

I've been very happy with The Troll Trader (on ebay, havn't used the new store)

I also rate Arcane Miniatures, they don't do GW but for other ranges they are good value, and quick to ship when stuff is in stock

http://www.arcaneminiatures.co.uk/

Spuj wrote:

 Aerethan wrote:
The more important issue is the prevalence of pastry in British slang.

You people are way too into your baked goods.

Are you taking the pie out of us?

azreal13 wrote:

 Spuj wrote:

 Aerethan wrote:
The more important issue is the prevalence of pastry in British slang.

You people are way too into your baked goods.

Are you taking the pie out of us?

Nah, he's just off his crust. Frankly it's doing my loaf. But then a lot of Americans are fruitcakes.

This all just made my day. British slang and colloquialisms are awesome.

Trolltrader CS is great. quite informal, but rather informative as well. quick, too - just like the shipping. the site looks awful, but once you get past that, they're lovely. just don't use the ebay store, them having to pay ebay fees makes it that much more expensive

Miniature Market for me. Sure I pay quite a bit for shipping, but MM has cheap stock, ships really fast and is efficient at getting those orders out the door.

Thewarstore, I can what i want from them in 3 days.

+1 thewarstore.com Always good prices, stock, very well priced and fast shipping.

I've had good success with Reece's FrontLineGaming pre-order sales. I ordered the Rulebook, Chaos Space Marines Codex, and some other stuff (psychic cards, some finecast, etc) and got stuff in a timely manner.

I've also used the WarStore quite a bit in the past and have had excellent dealings with them. Neil run's a tight ship in my experience.

I've ordered bags from BattleFoam twice in the past. Received excellent customer service help in selecting the right trays.

The TrollTrader is awesome.I've never had any probs from them.

 azreal13 wrote:

 Spuj wrote:

 Aerethan wrote:
The more important issue is the prevalence of pastry in British slang.

You people are way too into your baked goods.

Are you taking the pie out of us?

Nah, he's just off his crust. Frankly it's doing my loaf. But then a lot of Americans are fruitcakes.

Wow, that seriously made me laugh out loud!

I will say that I have had great experiences with:
Maxmini
PuppetsWar
Kromlech
Bitspudlo
Chapterhouse
Sci-Fi Genre Games (amazon retailer and have bought direct from them)

I have bought stuff of Abaddon on eBay, he is really good especially for us Australian customers

I highly recommend

I've usuallly ordered through the usual big 2 in the UK.

But, ChapterHouse Studios have always shipped quickly and correctly. The shipping takes some time, but that's my fault for living all the way over here.

It might have been co-incidence, but a month after I queried KR Multicase about Landspeeder Storms, they released a tray for them.
There's never been a problem with the goods from them, and they package their stuff well. A single foam tray was wrapped in plastic, so it could be stuffed through the letterbox. No need to collect an undelivered large parcel, like I expected to have to do.

I've had good experiences with Wargames-workshop.co.uk who has just opened a second shop and order from the distributor twice a week so normally gets stuff in fast if it isn't on his shelves already (although he is a bit slow putting new stuff up sometimes) the other two good ones in my favorites page are Firestorm Games in Cardiff who gets re-stocks every week and has never failed to get my order out and Arcane who is my go-to guy for Malifaux.

TrollTrader on eBay has been brilliant whenever I've used them, good prices and quick delivery.

GIfts for geeks i have used a lot.

http://giftsforgeeks.org.uk/

Wayland Games has always done a good job for me.

I have had ocassion to swing by WG when near there for work and always found them to be a nice bunch of blokes who have not only shown me about the place (places now ) but also given out some good deals, discounts and the odd freebie!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and 4Tk gaming. Odd opening hours for the store if you have to call, but once you get your head around their set up it top notch.

Having mostly used Maelstrom for online stuff I needed to find some where new

Very impressed with my first order from Wayland, chose them due to there 'Live Stock' system. ordered at 9am packed and sent by 10:30am

Most Impressive.


Added..

Ok Literaly two minutes after posting this, the Postie knocked with my order.

Thursday morning - Friday lunch with std First class post

I know they wont always be this fast but - wow.

+1 Trolltrader has been excellent for me

I'm giving a vote of confidence to Firestorm Games. I've only used them once sofar, but my first order (a copy of the new FOW Open Fire set) arrived today after only being dispatched yesterday!

So thats my weekend sorted

Trolltrader are quite good as well, though I've only ever used their E-Bay store.

My FLGS is Wargamestore and it's awesome...

He holds more GW stock than an actual GW shop, along with things that would normally be direct only. This is along side pretty much the complete ranges for Malifaux, FoW, Dystopian wars and probably a dozen more games I'm forgetting.

He's a dead nice guy as well, highly recommended

Troll Trader

Miniature Market

Have never been disappointed with either of those two.

http://www.frpgames.com/

They have a lot of great stuff, especially in thier discounts bins.

They have some issues, but not enough to be showstoppers. Most of them have to revovle around not keeping enough stock, but they get restocked quickly, so you have to wait a little bit for some things.

Communication with them is perfection, though. Have never had a problem, and they were quick to let me know if there was an issue and helped them almost daily.

TheWarStore for me, every time, all the time.
Never had any problems, and Neil has some of the best customer service I've ever experienced.

+4 for the war store, just placed another order there

Does the Warstore ship to Australia? I find myself relying on eBay in order to buy things at prices that aren't absolutely ridiculous.

I'd be a horrible person if I didn't also mention Neil from the Warstore. His staff and him are probably the best customer service I've ever received ordering a product. And their fast.

Other excellent services I've used for models:

-Blackdagger Games on Ebay for bitz
-Kromlech, fast and always send an extra random bit which is fun
-Troll Forged was quick and solid
-Dragon Forge was also awesome
-Paulson Games was quick and easy when I ordered shields

That's it for right now. Don't think I missed anything for online services I've used.

Places I've had a good direct Mail Order experience from:

AU
Games Empire
Eureka Miniatures

UK
Firestorm Games
Wayland Games
Troll Trader (direct and via eBay)

US
Miniature Market

DIRECT
Mantic Games
MaxMini
Raging Heroes
Hasslefree
Artizan
Renegade Miniatures



Trying out:
Kromlech

Can't argue with TheTrollTrader on eBay, never had any issues with him.

As for buying direct from companies, I can't believe I'm the first person to mention Hasslefree Miniatures. Heresy Miniatures are also pretty good, as long as you're not after the Dragon.

Honorary mentions to Dragon Forge Designs, Privateer Press (though I've only ordered from them once) and Baccus 6mm.

 Dysartes wrote:
Can't argue with TheTrollTrader on eBay, never had any issues with him.

As for buying direct from companies, I can't believe I'm the first person to mention Hasslefree Miniatures. Heresy Miniatures are also pretty good, as long as you're not after the Dragon.

Honorary mentions to Dragon Forge Designs, Privateer Press (though I've only ordered from them once) and Baccus 6mm.

Hasslefree have been ace the times I have ordered from them.

Heresy also. Andy at Heresy also keeps an up to date twitter feed which is nice, and often hilariously funny.

 Mr. Burning wrote:

 Dysartes wrote:
Can't argue with TheTrollTrader on eBay, never had any issues with him.

As for buying direct from companies, I can't believe I'm the first person to mention Hasslefree Miniatures. Heresy Miniatures are also pretty good, as long as you're not after the Dragon.

Honorary mentions to Dragon Forge Designs, Privateer Press (though I've only ordered from them once) and Baccus 6mm.

Hasslefree have been ace the times I have ordered from them.

Heresy also. Andy at Heresy also keeps an up to date twitter feed which is nice, and often hilariously funny.

Twitter handle now. The acquisition of such a name for the perview of fine wording to such the extent would suffice in my requirements to utilize the device known as Twitter.

 Grot 6 wrote:

http://www.frpgames.com/

They have a lot of great stuff, especially in thier discounts bins.

They have some issues, but not enough to be showstoppers. Most of them have to revovle around not keeping enough stock, but they get restocked quickly, so you have to wait a little bit for some things.

Communication with them is perfection, though. Have never had a problem, and they were quick to let me know if there was an issue and helped them almost daily.

My same experience as well. I have placed two FRP orders in the last 9 days in fact!

I also am quite happy with http://wargamerscave.com/

They run pre-orders for GW stuff giving you 25% off, they offer flat shipping (US$6) and can even get GW direct only items at 10% off. Been using them since they first opened up and have had zero problems in 2 years.

 BunkerBob wrote:

 Mr. Burning wrote:
Heresy also. Andy at Heresy also keeps an up to date twitter feed which is nice, and often hilariously funny.

Twitter handle now. The acquisition of such a name for the perview of fine wording to such the extent would suffice in my requirements to utilize the device known as Twitter.

@Heresy_Andy

I'd also have to put in a good word for The Warstore.

I've only ordered a couple of times from these guys, but on both occasions my orders arrived way quicker than the estimated shipping time, and to be honest a lot quicker than some places in the UK can get stuff to me.

My usual store is (was?) Maelstrom Games, but looks like I'll have to find somewhere else.

I put an order in direct with microartstudio when their bases were out of stock everywhere else. Totally reasonable shipping prices and the bases were in my paws within a week. Very impressed!

I can also add a +1 for thewarstore.

4TK as mentioned are very good, mainly for their prices and their CS, very quick at replying to emails and have helped me out before by going above and beyond.

I have bought a few things from Trolltrader, very good seller not had a issue over 5 or 6 transactions, def one of the ebay go to sellers.

Puppetswar has been mentioned, I did have a order in for 3 bits that I waited over a month for and was forced to put a paypal dispute in for but then a replacement was shipped and arrived very quickly, I will try and order again from there as the resoultion was good enough and I want some more big momma cannons!.

And now Puppets war have stopped selling the big momma cannon on their website! Sad face :(

Warlord Games gets a pat on the back from me.I have never had any issues with them, and shipping is fast and effective.

Waugh Games is a little shop near me that I swear by. It's cheap and the owner can't be helpful enough.

Is Miniwargaming any good?

Triple Helix Wargames are a new favourite, love dat free postage

Ground Zero Games. I reckon that chap could do same day orders if the UK Postal service could hack it.

As I am in the UK, I tend to order from Firestormgames.co.uk or waylandgames.co.uk

The current Halloween Sale from Wayland is totally crazy too (even though it best minis are probably gone now ;(

+1 for the Warstore and Neal. To be honest, I've had a few duff orders from the Warstore - but once you get Neal himself or his partner (dunno if it's his wife or sister), everything gets sorted double-quick.

Clocked Neal for superfast delivery from the US to Australia - just a week! Impossible!

+1 for Ludik Bazaar in France, too, although their shipping is frightfully expensive.

And +1 for Heresy. Andy's brilliant at getting stuff out the door.

For anyone in Australia - http://www.gamesempire.com.au

Generally 20% off AU retail - which in many cases makes things the same as ordering from UK 10% off places, maybe a few bucks more in some cases, but a few bucks less in others, but it's always within reason.

Postage is $10 base plus about $1.60 per $100 over that, but for your money, they deliver fast - usually 1-2 days to despatch and 1-2 days for signed eParcel delivery.

A great local price for FoW, FFG games (they're not restricted by 2kg maximum weights like a lot of UK places), and a lot more. They don't stock a great deal of GW, but they seem to be able to get things in (I still get my GW from the US, mostly).

Also, they're quite friendly and accomodating via phone or email. (Not surly or rude as some other places often are.) My highest recommendation for places inside Australia.

+1 to wayland, miniature market, and I'll add a +1 for miniwargaming as soon as my product is marked as shipped. All three have great deals from time to time, and all have given me amazing deals on mantic stuff, now that I've started collecting heavily (~40% everything I wanted so far). Great prices, and so far great shipping times (can't say enough good about miniature market-glad my friend told me about them!!).

My highest praises go to Miniature Market. Beyond the 25% discount and free shipping on orders over $99, their website updates stock levels in real-time. And although they don't list their GW stock online, they give the option to download an Excel order sheet to place an order through email, or they will take orders directly over the phone. Their processing/shipping time is top notch as well. I can't remember ever ordering from them and not having my order dispatched within one day.

Honorable Mention goes to Battlefoam for a customer service experience I had with them when ordering one time. I was ordering one of the smaller bags, that holds the half-sized BF trays, along with a couple of trays to fill it. I made a mistake when ordering though and ordered the full-sized trays instead of the half-sized ones, and had not realized it. Before dispatching my order, a BF representative called me and asked about the order to make sure I knew I was ordering trays that would not fit the smaller bag. I was then able to quickly change my order over the phone and also get a small refund for the difference. That pretty much has made me a BF customer for life. I have never been contacted by a retailer to double check on an order before and this struck me a really great thing. My only complaint about BF is the very long time it takes them to fill orders, but that is offset by their customer service and the fact that I really enjoy their product.

Discount Games Store has been 100% awesome for me. More than reasonable and happy to help out- free shipping to boot.

http://stores.ebay.ca/Discount-Warhammer-Fantasy-and-40K?_rdc=1

Another for The Troll Trader.

Bought "Open Fire!" from him last week. £5 discount on RRP, no postage charges and it arrived in two days.

miniaturemarket is my exclusive online store at this point. Their prices can't be beat and the service is solid.

SBG wrote:Discount Games Store has been 100% awesome for me. More than reasonable and happy to help out- free shipping to boot.

http://stores.ebay.ca/Discount-Warhammer-Fantasy-and-40K?_rdc=1

They're really good. I've bought lots of stuff as impulse buys through them and it's never been anything but perfect. Best price on Warmachine colossals I could find once you factored in shipping to Canada.

Just got 'Next Day' service from Wayland. Colour me impressed.

Oh. and the same from GZG (minus Sunday.)

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:

I also rate Arcane Miniatures, they don't do GW but for other ranges they are good value, and quick to ship when stuff is in stock

http://www.arcaneminiatures.co.uk/

I had a lot of difficulty with Arcane Miniatures about 3 years ago. The order took 8 months to finally arrive and it was still incorrect. They may well have improved since but I won't trust them again.

Palindrome wrote:

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:

I also rate Arcane Miniatures, they don't do GW but for other ranges they are good value, and quick to ship when stuff is in stock

http://www.arcaneminiatures.co.uk/

I had a lot of difficulty with Arcane Miniatures about 3 years ago. The order took 8 months to finally arrive and it was still incorrect. They may well have improved since but I won't trust them again.

Had very similar experiences myself. Would not use them again.

Firestorm Games have consistently been excellent. Almost all orders for things that were in stock came out within the week, and refunds / replacements / missing parts have always been handled well. I had a nice surprise when I pre-ordered some stuff for Hordes, and it arrived two days before the official release date.

And I'll also say a good word for a dice maker from Poland: www.q-workshop.com Their dice look great, they're very good to use (light enough to not demo derby models, but heavy enough not to bounce wildly off the table), and delivery has always been good.

How is GW themselves?

 ExNoctemNacimur wrote:
How is GW themselves?

I've ordered direct-only stuff from them before and not had an issue. I've ordered loads of stuff from Forge World and only had 1 error and they fixed it quickly.

I have been updating my collection with some small orders recently. Mainly as an exercise in seeing how much hassle there is in buying from manufacturers or small outfits.

Ordered a few figures from http://www.statuesqueminiatures.co.uk/ ordered in the afternoon at around 2pm and got them the next day! RM had a hand in that but the minis are awesome too, so well worth it.

I've been using Discountgamesinc.com for all my non local Warmachine purchases for a few years now, originally just through their ebay store, and by directly contacting him before he set up the webstore. Prices are awesome, and customer service and shipping expedience is top notch.

 ExNoctemNacimur wrote:
How is GW themselves?

I'm not a big GW-supporter, but always had good service when ordering from them. They charge full retail, so it's probably best done if ordering stuff that is exclusive to them, but I never had any issues with dealing with them.

They used to do a lot of fun stuff like posters of the most popular bitz, but I'm guessing that kind of thing is no more.

Just my 2 cents

Darksphere : very good got my stuff to me quickly and the discount is really good 25% off in the uk. Postage can be abit steep but its still really good for buying in bulk.

Maelstrom : We all know how bad they are

Wayland : I've only ordered paint from them but it arrived very quickly and I like how they have the options for waiting for out of stock to come in / post right away and refund cost of out of stock items.

Gifts for geeks: Only ordered paints but very fast and when I ordered had free postage for P3 paints

GW direct: I tend to only order finecast stuff from these guys since It means its really easy to get replaced and I can call to my local store if needs be

Reaper Direct: I've ordered a ton of characters and monsters for D&D and their Master Series Paints over the years. Never been disappointed. They also include their giant catalog, which is good for flipping through for character modeling ideas.

It's worth noting that Darksphere has just re-started supplying GW stuff mail order (25% off) due to 'customer demand' a couple of days ago

not used tem since they did personally

Went to TripleHelixWargames the other week. Had a really good chat with one of the guys who worked there, incredibly friendly and helpful. Didn't have everything I wanted in stock but it was no biggie as I hadn't checked before hand or anything. Haven't ordered from their online shop yet but I plan to.

I just put in an order with Triple Helix. They were the cheapest out of all the UK based webstores that I looked at due to their free postage and if their service is any good I think they may become my standard webstore.

Quite a decent selection of stock as well.

People should consider checking out if where they play has any holiday sales... nothing says Merry Christmas like finding an online retailer giving you 35% off, buying a bunch of cool models and your FLGS where you play all the time going out of business or dropping tablespace for wargaming due to lack of sales.

Yeah, I've just ordered a bunch of Wood Elf stuff from my LGS. They're pretty poor service-wise (though that could because of the location of the shop) but they're located in a supermarket - if they don't do well, the area may be converted into space for meat or something boring. Anyway, the guy who runs the place is great.

 Aerethan wrote:
The more important issue is the prevalence of pastry in British slang.

You people are way too into your baked goods.

My American missus was pretty pleased when I told her she had nice baps.

 MrScience wrote:
Does the Warstore ship to Australia? I find myself relying on eBay in order to buy things at prices that aren't absolutely ridiculous.

It's a US store, so yes, they're got no restrictions shipping to us. I might also recommend Dicebucket and Chaos Orc. If you want to keep using eBay, try discount_games_store.

A missive to laud GZG once more. Ordered last weekend, transpired that the owner had fallen ill, knocking his order fulfillment awry. Then he had to attend a con at the weekend, knocking them even more awry. Sunday evening (just afore midnight actually, I receive an email - order dispatched. It shows up the next day, with an apology slip and free items tailored from my previous purchases. Mr Tuffley, I recommend thee.

I've been pretty impressed by Triplehelix Wargames.

perma 20% off for uk customers and Free P&P.

The Sites a bit awkward, but i don't mind when i'm getting Heldrakes for £36

 Bloodhorror wrote:
I've been pretty impressed by Triplehelix Wargames.

perma 20% off for uk customers and Free P&P.

The Sites a bit awkward, but i don't mind when i'm getting Heldrakes for £36

Yeh the website is a bit mad, and especially when I browse at work as we are still stuck on IE6

However, the prices are great and they apply to instore as well which is nice if I choose to pop over after work!

I've moved over to Triplehelix as well and find their service really good, been using them for a good few months now.

I haen't recieved my confirmation email from triple Helix yet and the payment was confirmed 3 days ago. Is that normal?

Yeah....

They kinda suck with the Confirmation Emails :(

I'll stand up and shout about how great Showcase Comics and Games in Media, PA is. It's a large, very well stocked and clean store.

Several dakka meet-ups there over the course of the last couple of years and also long after they all sold out, Mike sorted me out with a Dark Eldar army deal last year by pulling in favors owed at GW.

Mike Clark is an excellent host, storekeeper and gentleman. He is knowledgeable and has a passion for the games.

Mrs S and I loved spending time at the store and I was very pleased to buy from a traditional FLGS that is excellently run.

Although I'm hardly alone on this, I have never had a bad experience with The Warstore. They are always friendly, professional, and fast.

Nerm86 wrote:
I have bought stuff of Abaddon on eBay, he is really good especially for us Australian customers

I highly recommend

This as well, I've gotten a lot of neat stuff from him via make an offer. TBH getting 2 extra bucks off an already discounted rhino makes me feel like I'm an awesome haggler. Very fast as well.


I also like Reaper Direct a great deal as well. I've been starting to play Pathfinder with my family and their site has been very helpful for getting character minis.

I use Discount Games Inc. a lot. http://www.discountgamesinc.com . They are also well represented on eBay, but you can get better prices from site. What I like about them, is they ship internationally, they always ship very quickly, and there's no false claims about stock - it they have it "in stock" on site, they really have it. Also obviously prices are great.

Discount Games Inc does indeed rock.

 Bloodhorror wrote:
Yeah....

They kinda suck with the Confirmation Emails :(

They had sent it but it was marked as junk which from some reason I can't see from my phone. Sorry Triple Helix....

GW.

I recently got the Necron Megaforce, and one of the parts was missing from a sprue (Half a Gauss Blaster)
One email to GW with an enclosed photo, and a box of Tomb Blades is winging its way out to me.

I can't use most of the online retailers becuase I work in the Middle East. My credit card is registered to my UK address, and most of them won't invoice to a different address to the shipping address.
On the bright side, I get 20% off for being outside the EU.

My Triple Helix order arrived yesterday. I made the order on a tuesday and it arrived on the following Wednesday via 2nd class post. Can't argue with that.

As a few others have mentioned Miniature Market is crazy good.

They have 25% off GW and around 30-35% off nearly everything else. Their stock is gigantic, and I'm not just talking about their miniature stuff. Their boardgame stuff is just as good as coolstuffinc or anyone else I've seen. The website updates product in real time and is functional and well designed. They are awesome and friendly as the phone. Their shipping is really quick (I've never had anything take over a week, of course I'm also based in the US). On top of all that they have a points program so if you use them exclusively you end up saving a few bucks which is nice. Oh, and don't forget the free shipping on orders over $100. It's gotten to the point that I don't even care to look for any other suppliers.

I highly, highly urge anyone who hasn't tried them to do so, at least anyone in the States.

Red Box Games - had an order delayed (understandable given the KS fulfillment madness), sent an email and got a response right away and Tre threw in a pair of free minis to make up for the delay. Given that all his stuff is fantastic, I'm a pretty happy camper.


Reaper Direct is great, free shipping to Canada, which is rare and they almost always throw in a paint sample. If you put a special request into their little form they will also do a little drawing or what have you if they have time.

Just ordered a Lesser Infernal from Red Box Games!

Should look awesome for when Ahriman turns into a fething chaos spawn...

Another flawless transaction with Troll Trader this week.

What I like about Troll Trader is that they get around the maximum 10% discount rate imposed by Battlefront (which Maelstrom famously fell foul of) by simply offering free postage which saves another couple of £££.

Troll Trader are also faster than Battlefront and with better communication. I bought some spray and decals direct from Battlefront this week (only because Troll Trader didn't stock it). The only email I received was a confirmation of transaction and the record of my order on the website said it was dispatched 5 days before I'd bought it!!! Needless to say, it has yet to arrive. Not overly impressed Battlefront!

Amera plastics. Great cheap scenery and very helpful staff.