Where do you buy online?

I've been using Squadron Mail Order, now squadron.com since 1988 without issues. I also use the heck out of eBay. Sometimes ordering from China is cheaper including shipping than getting it stateside. For Japanese models that are hard to find, Hobby Link Japan, hlj.com is an awesome place. Culttvman is a good place for sci-fi and pop culture kits like Batmobiles and stuff.

Sprue Brothers is pretty good in my experience. I have also used Roll Models for certain hard to find items. Most items that I look for online tend to be harder to find, so it's usually a case of where I can find them. I have two great shops nearby so unless its an item I have to have now, and the online deal is really super, including the cost of shipping, I'll support the local shops. I know that's a dying luxury, so I'll pay the extra to do my part to keep the privilege. I can't imagine not having a shop to run to in a pinch. 

You can't beat the prices at scalehobbyist.com

Other places to check out:

megahobby.com

hobbylinc.com

Scalehobbyist.com

Spruebrothers.com

Squadron.com

Sincerehobby.com

Redfroghobbies.com

I also patrol ebay for a good buy

eBay,

eBay,

eBay.

Best deals and prices, period.

I'm with doog, I too most exclusively buy from eBay!!!

Toshi

Hi, 

I shop at my local hobby shop, but sometimes buy hard to find items online. I use scale hobbyist. They have great pricing (cheaper than retail) but you do have to pay shipping, so it does sometimes balance out. You still probably save some money though. They have kits, paints, weathering supply (a lot!), detail parts (resin, photo etch, metal), tools, reference books, diorama supply, and probably more that I can't remember off the top of my head. 

They provide a tracking number with the order, you can easily track your order and see when it arrives at your local USPS facility, when it goes out for delivery, etc (with date and time). Customer support is great, I had concerns about my order during hurricane harvey (since I live in Houston) and they replied my email within a day or the next. Very quick!

I think they are a great option, and have all the supply you will need. Sprue bros and squadron are reputable but I have no experience with them. 

Ebay has some great deals to, I ordered a wooden bismarck 1:350 deck for 25$ from China... and it came but in a month. 

Happy shopping, 

Kien

I used to buy from several of the ones listed above, primarily hobbylinc.com and scalehobbyist.com. I still find an occasional item on eBay that I want. I have switch my go-to online retailer to hobbyworld-usa. It is run by Matthew Bole, he has some kits, but his primary function is for paint and supplies. If you are looking for something specific and it isnt listed on his site, send a message to him through the site or on Facebook, he is very responsive and you will typically have an answer within the hour. He is located in New Hampshire, and my orders are usually on my doorstep in Idaho within 3 to 4 days.

Dose anyone have free shipping?

Auto world, Pegasus hobbies are a couple more then there's micro mark too they have different shipping deals all the time

STL DALE

Does anyone have free shipping?

 

the doog

eBay,

eBay,

eBay.

Best deals and prices, period.

 

Can "the best" deals and prices be found on eBay?

Sure.

Can the "worst" deals and prices be found on eBay?

Sure.

My one and only complaint about eBay, and here I'll break my own rule and generalize, is that's there's no real control over the time it takes to get the item.

Bill

My primary sources are Scale Hobbyist, Sprue Brothers, Squadron, Freetime Hobbies and Ebay now and then.

Are there good deals found on Ebay? Sure but bad ones are there too, just need to be careful. Watch out for the sellers that overcharge in shipping to make some extra $. Ebay is also good when looking for discontinued am items and kits but compare as pricing can drastidally change between sellers.

Once in a while online shops offer free shipping or cut down prices way low. I have bought on a special sale from Squadron $8 to $12 decal sheets for $1, $30+ kits for under $10.  

Hannants is my No 1 choice, almost my LHS. They do have free shipping if just ordering decals an PE and on order over £100. Of course, i don't know how they works for over seas.

E-bay, usually for stuff i can't get in the UK or is a lot cheaper, often from China or private sellers.  The high priced shipping does not seem so common now since E-bay included shipping costs in the amout the seller pays in fee's.

Scalehobbyist.com....My favorite place but shipping is high

Spurebrothers.com

Hobbylinc.com

Amazon....sometimes

Bish

The high priced shipping does not seem so common now since E-bay included shipping costs in the amout the seller pays in fee's.

 

Yes Ebay has been doing that for a while now and it sucks for sellers to be charged a fee for shipping as if making a profit from it. Some sellers were circumventing the final value fee by doing just that but now ALL sellers are punished for the actions of a few.

Still Bish, some are still padding the shipping but not as rampant as before.

plasticjunkie

 

Bish

The high priced shipping does not seem so common now since E-bay included shipping costs in the amout the seller pays in fee's.

 

 

 

 

 

Yes Ebay has been doing that for a while now and it sucks for sellers to be charged a fee for shipping as if making a profit from it. Some sellers were circumventing the final value fee by doing just that but now ALL sellers are punished for the actions of a few.

Still Bish, some are still padding the shipping but not as rampant as before.

 

I agree, as often the case, the many suffer for the few.

Yes, the shipping profiteering by certain sellers is what turned me off eBay and got me looking at shops in the Far East a couple of years ago. The "bargains" that tempted you to buy on eBay were not bargains at all when shipping was added. Leave it for someone to screw up a good thing.  And unfortunately my locality charges sales taxes to online sellers shipping within the state. Gee, wanna drive business and customers out of state?

I check with all of the sites mentioned in this forum when I have my eye on a kit.  Sometimes I put kits on the wishlist on Amazon to see how much they will drop the price to get me to buy.  Once in a while a hobby store in Japan will deeply discount a item on Amazon along with free or really low shipping costs.  I have picked up some ship kits really cheap compared to the prices listed on Scalemates or previous on Amazon. 

Lately I been taking advantage of the'end of summer' sale going on at Lots of Models' a online seller.  Their prices are just as good as the other online sellers and they offer free shipping and additonal 10% if you know the secret words (lots2buy).

Hi,

I don't really have a prefeered site other than just searching eBay, but also many times I will also do a Google search to see if I can find what I am looking for elsewhere.  (And sometimes I will also do an Amazon search too.)

Pat

For new releases and in-production kits no one can beat Scale Hobbyist on pricing and inventory.  Tremendous personal customer service as well.  

In addition in my case they are  one state over from me,  so I get virtual over-night service if an order is placed before 5pm.

I always have a running list for Scale Hobbyist so the shipping virtually cancels out.

Mustang Hobbies has some good buys.

http://www.mustang-hobbies.com 

Thats interesting AA. Yes, you are most likely right in that the cheaper cost is due to you not having to pay VAT. Still seems odd that its cheaper to get it sent from the UK to the US and then on to Germany than is it to go direct, especially as it flies over the UK from the US to get to Germany.

Hope it gets to you soon.

Armor_Aficionado

Bish, you mentioned you didn't know how Hannant's works for overseas. Well, I just placed my first-ever order with Hannant's yesterday so I can tell you - it's pretty good for the U.S.! I live in Germany but work for the U.S. military, so I have both a German (home) address and a U.S. (military APO) address. The shipping on my order, which for APO addresses has to go to New York to get sorted, then gets sent to the APO in Germany where I'm based, was actually CHEAPER than just going from the UK to Germany! (£4.14 vs £4.20) Not only that, ordering it to go to my US address resulted in a cheaper price than if I ordered using an EU address (£7.49 vs. £8.99). I assume that was due to not having the VAT charged for non-EU export deliveries?

 

Sending to an APO from Europe does not necessarily mean that the package goes to NY and back to Europe. For instance, if you send from an APO in Germany to an APO in Italy, it's going from Germany to Italy, not Germany to NY to Italy. Now with the UK, I'm not sure of our base situation there, but when there was a sizable USAFE population there, something sent to an APO (Germany) from the UK would go to that USAFE APO sorting center in the UK and then off to the APO sorting center in Germany and then to the base.

I very seldom buy on line ;

 When I do I try to research the seller and the object I want . I have never been lied to . Now that said, You definitely have to know your product . Paint and stuff I get by mail from my LHS and Hobby - Town  and Squadron .