Which online model store has the lowest prices?

That is a tough question, because it can vary from day to day.  Some sites might have higher prices, but then have a killer sale every now and again.  Others might have higher prices, but their cheaper shipping offsets.  For example, I bought some aftermarket stuff a few months ago from a store on EBay.  After I had made my purchase, I happened over to www.scalehobbyist.com and found that, while their prices were higher, I would have actually saved money if I had purchased through them because their shipping was a lot cheaper.

Alternatively, some places offer deals if your order is more that XX dollars - maybe they give you a discount, maybe they ship for free. 

This is usually what I do:

If I want a specific kit, I'll go into one of the buy/sell/trade threads on armorama or missing-lynx to see if anyone has it cheap.  Then I'll check for it on EBay, and then I'll run the gamut of on-line shops: Squadron, Scalehobbyist, SprueBros, etc.

What it boils down to, in my experience, is you have to shop around if you are really intent on getting the BEST price...

A little consumer education. Don't compare item prices alone. Just because a retailer has a lower price doesn't necessarily mean it is going to cost you less. You need to compare apples to apples, in this case the TOTAL price, including sales tax (if applicable) and shipping. Some retailers charge a bit less for the item but charge more than their competitors for shipping. Sometimes a lot more!

Some offer free shipping when a certain dollar figure (product prices) is achieved, but in many cases this still doesn't mean you're actually paying less overall when you compare TOTALS between retailers. Those that offer such deals typically charge a slightly higher product price to offset the cost of shipping.

Retailers have one of three ways to charge shipping & handling. Flat rate based on dollars spent. A percentage of dollars spent. Lastly, actual shipping costs...those fees that you'd pay if you were to ship the item yourself...the most cost effective to the consumer but few use.

Why do some retailers charge more than others? Overhead. They have higher overhead to maintain. Ads in magazines, printed catalogs, staff, lights, warehouse and inventory. So bigger doesn't necessarily mean automatically they can offer better prices.

There are retailers who act as nothing more than order brokers. They stock little or nothing only collect orders, pool them together and place orders with the appropriate resource for the items. Get the items, then redistribute them to the customers placing the orders. Little if any overhead mean lower prices but typically means a longer fill time and possibly nothing received at all because they are at the mercy of their suppliers just as you are to them.

I prefer a retailer who has it in their possession ready to immediately it ship to me at the time I place and pay for my order. This means real time inventory, not one that is updated "regularly". How do you know when a retailers doesn't have a real time inventory? When you get a package missing items you ordered with a note saying "back ordered." What!?! When you placed the order it showed "In Stock" when in reality it was in stock as of the last inventory update which may have been more than 24 hours prior to you placing your order.

Pricewise, I've always been very content with Hobbylink Japan.  I've only ordered a couple of items from them so far but, knock on wood, I've had totally good experiences with them so far.

Also, Hobbyland out of Mishawaka, IN.  I once ordered a B-36 from them and, even after shipping, I still paid less for it than if I had gotten it locally.

Eric

I've decided that I would rather order from an online store that had good prices (they're not always the best), but always have what I order on hand and ship rather quickly (rarely does it take a full calendar week to arrive).

I almost always use Squadron.com. I've tried other places that have prices that will be a dollar or two less, but they always do not have a least one or two items in my order on hand. The alternative is to wait a month and have the whole order held up or to wait for the items or to have the order shipped and hope you get the final items in the next couple of months.

I usually have to re-order the missing item from Squadron in the end, so I just place the whole order with them (unless they do not carry that line).

I have only done business with Hobby Link Japan. Good prices can be found on their sales pages and the shipping costs are transparant (the actual costs are beeing charged)

I wil certainly do business with them in the future.

As far as on-line retailers go, research the various threads on this forum to see which ones get high marks and which ones get low marks - the results are pretty consistent.

The biggest red flag for me with an on-line merchant is shipping costs - if the policy or pricing is not clearly posted, or you don't know how much you are going to pay until after you actually place your order (Roll Models comes to mind), I won't use them. Period. It's stupid to buy a $20 kit and pay that much or more in shipping for it, no matter how badly you want it or how "rare" it is.

Other than that, you have to shop around, just like anything else. I have gotten some great deals at on-line hobby retailers, paid wayyyyyy too much for something I just "had to have" on Ebay, and am lucky enough to have a local hobby shop that will order things at cost for me. Find some on-line shops you like and are comfortable dealing with and stick with them. 

As many of the other forum mates have said...you have to shop around. I tend to order in batches and got to the one place I can get all that I am looking for in one go. I don't like ordering from two or three sites to get everything. So if one site has all that I am looking for but at a slightly higher price...like a dollor or so...then I order from the site. I plan on putting a order in with Sprue Brothers as they have the paint, the AM sets, and kits that I am looking for and they tell you just how many they have on hand. I have only heard good things about them so looking forward to doing business with them.

I normally order from Squadron...they are good...though a bit pricey and they don't seem to carry much in paints. However, they are quick and keep a good stock. I have ordered from Great Models but I get tired of finding what I am looking for only to see they don't have it in stock and they aren't sure if they can get it. Why keep it listed if you don't stock it any longer?

I play the deal game on Ebay. I try to grab the deals though they seem to be getting harder to come by now. Many times you will see what looks like a great deal only to see that the shipping wipes out what might have saved..so you got to be careful.