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Originally Posted by minniebanister
Have you looked at http://www.squadron.com? They say they ship to Canada via FedEx (although I haven't verified this) and their prices seem to be a lot cheaper than www.scaleracecars.com. I paid US$6.97 for Alclad Aluminum whereas scaleracecars wants US$7.85. |
It is possible to ship paints via Fed EX and UPS. Most of the time the quantities involved make it much too expensive. They may have a better arrangement with Fed Ex however which may make the fees reasonable.
As for price there are several distributors who sell direct to the consumer. Since they buy from manufacturers directly and resell to people like me they obviously get a much better price and can sell for less. It is unfortunate in some respects because retailers like myself have very little incentive to carry many of the products people really do want to buy. They make more by a large margin selling directly at the discounted price than I do at full price. This is one of the biggest reasons you see reductions in the stock levels of plastic models and such. Many of the products I carry actually end up costing me money to sell but I keep them here anyway for my customers and many of them do support my store by purchasing some of these type of products along with the harder to find items. I think in a lot of cases it is because my shipping is often less, most orders ship the same or next day and they can always get a quick response from me when they have questions.
One thing I determined a long time ago is that I needed to sell products with a fair margin of profit both for me and the buyer and make sure I give the best service I am able to with prompt shipping and excellent packaging. There is one thing I do try my best to accomplish and that is to have a wide enough range of products that a customer can buy a plastic kit, paint, putty and detail parts from one store at the same time. This means one shipping charge in place of several if you have to source alll of the products from different stores. If I could ship paints out of the US I would but they are dangerous materials and even though most would go through customs and the postal service without detection I would not be able to live with myself if one of the packages blew up in an airplane.
David
http://www.scaleracecars.com