Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Although Dropzone has 25% off to Warstores 20% off, I find that Warstore actually charges a lot less to Canada, any time I have gotten quotes from both on the same thing Warstore comes in within a few $$'s one way or the other (the most more was $10 on a $560 order) I haven't actually ordered anything from Dropzone yet but always figured I would stick with warstore because I already know they have great service and are quick with orders.

Any other opinions?

To canada, Ii have no idea. Warstore has a long established reputation for good service, while drop zone is a new kid on the block.

For americans, I would say dropzone, as it is between 20-25% off with free shipping. That also includes bits orders.

But then again, it goes nack to established reputation.

I have used dropzone recently and am very very happy with the service and most especially the prices.
For me there is no other options as there isnt a game store within 250 miles of where I live anymore.

Posted By Hellfury on 01/07/2007 2:24 PM

I have used dropzone recently and am very very happy with the service and most especially the prices.
For me there is no other options as there isnt a game store within 250 miles of where I live anymore.

Wow, that is about 400km. :p

How much of that do you think is because of eBay/other online sales of 40k gear?

It is actually rare that I even shop warstore b/c I can buy used and re-paint for 50% -75% off on eBay and other places. As well I can sell/trade my stuff I don't need.

The only thing I buy from the local GW is books b/c I am too impatient to get them and am willing to pay the *EEK* $35 CAN per book to get them.

Posted By happypants on 01/07/2007 2:29 PM

Posted By Hellfury on 01/07/2007 2:24 PM

I have used dropzone recently and am very very happy with the service and most especially the prices.
For me there is no other options as there isnt a game store within 250 miles of where I live anymore.

Wow, that is about 400km. :p

How much of that do you think is because of eBay/other online sales of 40k gear?

It is actually rare that I even shop warstore b/c I can buy used and re-paint for 50% -75% off on eBay and other places. As well I can sell/trade my stuff I don't need.

The only thing I buy from the local GW is books b/c I am too impatient to get them and am willing to pay the *EEK* $35 CAN per book to get them.

its not attributed at all to online. i know all three shops that were here were run into the ground by poor business acumen. the owners were simply stupid.

Nice to hear that Dropzone has good service; I'm somewhat looking for a place to drop a good sized order for Eldar, and the limiting factor for the Warstore is me living in NY state and thus being taxed for orders.

Anyone else with experience from Dropzone?

www.BWBits.com gives 20% off boxes too, same as the warstore and they have plastic and metal bits if you need them...Hellfury had a bad money order related experience with them, but I and many others rave about them...

There not in NY either.  Hit them on there live chat and ask them about shipping to CANADA see what they tell you.

Battlewagon Bits doesn't have everything though. They are great for ordering bits, but they don't have all the plastic kits and almost no metal ones.

I am curious about Dropzone though, I couldn't find em on google but a 25% discount seems pretty nice.

You dont need to find them on google. Dropzone has adds all over dakkas header if you look.

Dropzone can give you bits order from GW. Not all hobby shops offer that perk. I love warstore, but I am not sure if they offer that either, and if they do, youre not getting the discount.

Dropzone not only offers the fillling of GW bitz, but gives you a hefty discount (20% min) with free shipping.

That got my attention. But after ordering from them I am very happy with the service and the prices. 6 eldar warwalkers in three warwalker squad boxes for $90? ($15 a piece, 50% off of what GW carges normally for a warwalker single) yes please and thank you very much!

if you order $20 or more from anything drop zone carries, you get free shipping. It was shipped quite quickly as well. I got mine within two days of ordering. I never once had an order filled by BWB that fast or courteous.

I still give props to the war store. Neal is a great guy. He offers a wider variety. etc.

really it comes down to what do you want?

Do you want a good discount on GW and their bits with free fast shipping? Dropzone is your ticket.

Do you want a huge variety of items with recognized excellent service and cheap shipping? Warstore .

Do you want plastic bits that has price fluctuations similar to platinum or commodities trading? BWB is the place to go.

 Many times you can find bits cheaper from dropzone online. You want that $15 termie assault cannon? pay $20 and you can get the entire sprue that has the same bit from dropzone with free shipping. Want some chaos marine vehicle spiky bits that BWB sells for $3.99 (plus shipping) for a set? Go again to dropzone. Youll get the whole sprue for $4 and free shipping. BWB does have some good deals, but not all of them are to be taken at face value. Free shipping says alot and saves alot. Especially nowadays where the real winners are the courier services.
Seems a better deal to me by far. You just have to do research and find the deals. It doesnt take long time out of your day to be a discerning consumer.

Oh yeah, and by the way.
If youre thinking about ordering from CMON (cool mini or not) dont.
I ordered from them last month, KNOWING that they have had ties with the Dousts. The Dousts are the crooks who used to run "Newwave miniatures" who are no longer in business, apparently.
 Anyways, I placed an order with CMON roughly 6 weeks ago. Never got the package. I tried contacting them. Guess what, no contact info beyond email addys.  Asked them to cancel the order. No reply. Asked again, no reply (I am sure youre seeing the trend to come by now) . I was still charged for the product, but never recieved it, never heard from them. I am not saying that CMON is the new newwave, but given their past associations with them, I am also not sure if they arent the new newwave.

The reason I ordered from them was becaus Dakka advertises them.

My loss is the publics gain in information.

Posted By Hellfury on 01/07/2007 2:24 PM

I have used dropzone recently and am very very happy with the service and most especially the prices.

Really?  I tried ordering a large amount of bitz more than a month before Xmas, most of which were Steel Legion for my younger brother's Xmas present of sorts.  I canceled the order a week after Xmas, and the only way I knew anything about the status of my order was by continually bothering Robert of Dropzone until he replied to an e-mail.  He sited problems with GW's bitz service, which is totally legit from my experience, but it was the lack of communication that really turned me off.  So in the end I called up the WarStore, got my GW stuff for only 20% off, but was able to order a load of Reaper stuff and get it all delivered in 3 days.  Fast, good price, great service.

Which isn't to say I won't try DZ again, especially with the discounts he offers.  I still need those bitz, so maybe I'll give him a try in a few months "after the Xmas rush has ended," especially as Hellfury speaks so highly of DZ.

- Boss Salvage

I think hellfury hit the nail on the head. Warstore has the best selection around. I recently bought 4 of the the Pegasus Gothic buildings from Neal. I could not have gotten that from drop zone. When buying a GW boxed set i would get a dropzone quote and then see if NEal will match it (he usually will).

If being able to depend on your order being 1) what you wanted 2) at the price you wanted 3) in a reasonable amount of time and 4) with the best customer service around... Choose the warstore. The few extra dollars will probably be worth it.

ender502

I just got a bunch of blisters from www.chaosorc.com for an excellent price. He has quite a bit of OOP stuff. I managed to get an old blister of 4 Cadian Plasmagunners for $10, for example.

His boxed sets are not priced as competitively though - stick to blisters.

I have no experience with DropZone.

When I placed a large order from the Warstore, the stuff arrived quickly, but I did get dinged at customs for a lot of money (not Neal's fault, I'm just pointing out that large orders can get Canada Customs excited)

Small caveat. Drop Zone posted on Bartertown that he was discontinuing his GW bits service due to problems getting his orders filled. I can't say I blame him. Free shipping and 25% off GW is VERY nice.

Not sure what's up with the online stores having trouble getting bitz orders, but mine are coming in like clockwork. I place about a dozen a week, and the service has been insanely good. I know we even ordered a bunch of Steel Legion stuff for one customer, so it's not a problem with the SL molds.

We here at Bartertown have worked closely with both Robert and ChaosOrc.

Robert had many issues come up this past month or so but those have been resolved and unfortunately that has ended with his discontinuing of the bitz service he was trying to offer.
Also, as far as the communications problems go, he has addressed those as well.


Chaos Orc's store is an exclusive site set up through Bartertown to provide him a site to centralise his sales.

Neal however has been a long standing glowing light of brightness in the darkness of the grim future and beyond. Not only do you get a nice discount but you get THE BEST customer service ever.

I have always been a firm believer of "Quality not Quantity" and Neal takes that above and beyond.

For me, it would be a heavy heavy decision to weigh. Chaos Orc has great prices on older blisters and such, Robert offers an insane discount and the shipping and Neal has been the leader in this field for as long as Bartertown has been around....

Neal is like the Astronomican, illuminating the way to holy terra! (good minis, good service, ya know, the holy land of gaming)

He was the only retailer that would ship overseas a couple of years ago. When the 3rd edition chaos codex was redone and re-released in Oct 2002, I pre-ordered it from him and still had it on the actual release date even though I was stationed in Okinawa.

Neal Rocks

Posted By Flagg07 on 01/08/2007 4:20 PM
Small caveat. Drop Zone posted on Bartertown that he was discontinuing his GW bits service due to problems getting his orders filled. I can't say I blame him. Free shipping and 25% off GW is VERY nice.

Ouch that stinks.

Hopefully my orders will be filled before he drops the service. I can wait.

Posted By Hellfury on 01/09/2007 2:46 PM

Posted By Flagg07 on 01/08/2007 4:20 PM
Small caveat. Drop Zone posted on Bartertown that he was discontinuing his GW bits service due to problems getting his orders filled. I can't say I blame him. Free shipping and 25% off GW is VERY nice.

Ouch that stinks.

Hopefully my orders will be filled before he drops the service. I can wait.

He did state that any orders that were already made would be fulfilled.

I'm sticking with Neal, because I like the guy and I know he has great service, and I have over $100 in credit there that has yet to be used.

I would go warstore for piece of mind with an order that large (plus neil gives an extra discount to orders over $300 US).

A few years back I ordered a battleforce from neal. There was a snafu somewhere along the line (post office maybe). Long story short it didn't get to me. I emailed neil new battleforce shipped out that day, no long string of emails, no questions asked just a new battleforce.

Just my 2 cents.

Hey Guys

I was just recently made aware of this thread so i came in and read what was said ...dont know how this will go over but id like to address a few things if i may.

The war store is a stellar place to buy from.That being said, i always say to people go where your most comfortable with.

being a relatively new store i understand the misgiving some would have by trying something new.. what can i say to that? not alot, just that the service is there. if you need it i can try to provide it for you. Will i get it right every single time? i sure hope so at least thats my goal. I do make mistakes from time to time or something thats outside of my scope occurs to mar a good deal. The trick there is to be able to fix and make it right no matter what. Thats my ultimate goal.

i was reading this and i wondered....

 

"""I think hellfury hit the nail on the head. Warstore has the best selection around. I recently bought 4 of the the Pegasus Gothic buildings from Neal. I could not have gotten that from drop zone"""

Are you sure? Did you try to contact me and ask? im pretty open to going out an ordering things for people even if i dont normally have them in stock as it is  a customer service. please dont go making assumptions on what i can or cannot do before you actually talk to me about it. I think thats a reasonable request dont you ?

what can i say... i offer 25% off everyday for any amount. Can anyone else match that? if they did there would be more people doing it. its one thing to offer a better discount the more you buy, itsd another thing to offer the same discount for a blister as it for a big mega force.

Bitz orders.. well what a nightmare.. dont know if i have ever seen anyone offer straight bitz orders for a discount and give free shipping on them...maybe in the near future i might try it again.. and yes the orders that have been paid for will be processed i have a box comming in tomorrow so it should be the last of it.

Shipping to Canada. At one time when i was very foolish i did free shipping to canada as well wont do that again... whew .. my prices come straight from the usps price site i dont add anything to it.  As for customs, every retailer has his own policies... i went in and actually talked to the people at the usps about just this issue. ill leave it at that.

So lets see we have The war Store, top of the food chain, Chaos orc excellent guy Andrew is top notch i have dealt with him and deal with him often. there are other but only these three mentioned directly with myself. so i leave it to you buy where your comfortable. I hope to be here for a long time

Thanks

Robert

To be more concise, Robert, when I said warstore had a better selection, I meant a better selection to choose from on the website. I love your service and will continue to patronize your business in the future, but to be completely fair, the warstore interface does have alot to offer. But I think that comes from a long time doing business on the net and working it out to get the kinks out.

Not trying to say you cant get the items in question, as you have access to distributors just like anyother game store would.

Judging by the prices you charge and the discounts you give, youre most definatly on the way to giving the community as a whole a much needed break from exorbitant prices that GW enforces.

I am really sorry to see the bits service go, but knowing how GW is about filling in bits orders to stores, it is also completly understandable. Maybe GW will get their business acumen together this year and stop treating the retailers outside of their franchises alot better in the future.

Posted By Hellfury on 01/15/2007 10:41 PM
I am really sorry to see the bits service go, but knowing how GW is about filling in bits orders to stores, it is also completly understandable. Maybe GW will get their business acumen together this year and stop treating the retailers outside of their franchises alot better in the future.

I'm having no trouble getting in a dozen bitz orders a week. GW has done amazing things with their bitz service from when they started up years ago, selling direct to stores. Currently, I can fax in every bitz order seperately, they ship to the store separate, with no need to sort the orders. No shipping charges to the store. All the orders are put into an excell file that is emailed to me each night, with notes on any bitz that may be out of stock and cause a few days delay in the order. Mistakes in orders have dropped to 1/10th of what they were a year ago, and they have been fixing them immediately.

I think the problem is trying to offer bitz at a high discount with free shipping. There is still considerable more work in dealing with them, and they are sold to stores at less discount than regular product. Store discount is only 35%, so trying to make a profit off the remaining 10%, and taking shipping out of it, doesn't leave much margin for error.

Mikhaila, your store has been proven time and time again to be the exception to the rule.

I have NEVER been to a local B&M store that hasnt had grief from GW. But then again, all the local stores I have visited were very small. Even franchise businesses like hobby town have trouble, unless youre the kind of store that warrent GW sending you a new product evertime its released. Most areas simply cannot afford that.

GW simply does not care as much about the smaller fishes as they do to larger output facilities as yours.i.e. they discriminate when filling orders. Stores like yourself and GW franchises will get first and preferential treatment. In the 14 years of doing business with various local shops, it is quite apparent this is true.

I view what Robert was trying to do with his discounted bits as a way to get a foothold in the internet retail market. But youre right, there isnt much margin for profit unless the output is very high.

if everyone ordered their bits from dropzone, he wouldnt have much problems with profit,.....unless GW doesnt fill the orders.

Plus GW has been known to throw ratchets into stores they decide they don't like regardless how well they are doing, especially if in areas where they are in direct competition. In this case, Drop Zone's mail order buisness competing with GW's MO Trolls (replete with ridiculous shipping!). I've seen the same with a LFGS where they still regularly screw up his orders because he has two GW Hobby Centers within five miles of his locale.

It's simply GW's odorous attitude that as a retailer they can play the role of pouty prima donna, treat customers (both stockist and consumer) for granted and still be financially successful. Something their sales figures are begging to differ on.

As just an fyi

i didnt start the bitz ordering to make a ton more money it was my intent to offer the bitz to compliment the regular stock sales.. your one stop shop as it was

to put it mildly when i now have 6 lower falcon hulls for trying to order one single falcon top hull the people at gw finally just sent me two boxed falcons for my trouble.. does that give you some idea of the trouble?

I may start Bitz back up but there are some things that i need to get sorted out before i do that

if and when i do...... its leaning more to when i do.... ill make sure everyone knows

Thanks
Robert