best1hobby.com

[speedphreak]

Is this a good site to purchase seatbelts and carbon decals from?

-Chris

[mike@af]

I ordered wheels and I reccomend them. I ordered Monday morning, and the stuff arrived Friday afternoon.

[slownlow32tl]

i have ordered many model kits and paints from them. Good guys.

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Originally Posted by GTmike400

I ordered wheels and I reccomend them. I ordered Monday morning, and the stuff arrived Friday afternoon.

Damn, that's slow. I ordered from them online on a Thursday afternoon and the items were on my doorstep (2500 miles east) in Saturday's mail

And that was normal mail, not express. Don't ask me how they did it, but they did.

[ScaleCentral]

I have ordered from them with good results but one of the items I ordered was discontinued even though they listed it. They gave a refund after about a week but the email service sucks. They never did answer any of my emails. If the item is in stock or easy to obtain, by all means that is a good place.
Nic

[speedphreak]

Thanks guys!

-Chris

[Jaymes]

yeah they're good with returning your money if something goes wrong. If they don't do it just call them. I also visited their store and it's pretty nice. Small but a good variety that you won't see at hobby people.

[1ofaknd]

I had a bad experience with them. Ordered one pair of scale auto style seats that they had listed as (ship within 24hrs) 3 months later i still had no seats. ended up demanding a refund.

and they also charged more then had i ordered direct from scale auto in UK(including shipping!!)

[bhop73]

I just drive my car to their store.. but they're always pretty friendly.

[chato de shamrock]

i also drive to them. its a bit of a hassel with the LA traffic but its worth it for a hobby i enjoy. the guys are friendly. i have some eduard photo etch seat belts from them. they have black, blue, and red. one of the guys told me what they have is all they'll get cause those are discontinued. they also have several scale and color carbon fiber decals, and some rare wheels that ive never found anywhere else. i havent bought them cause i dont think they would look good on any of the cars im making. they also have the seat belts you make, but right now i cant remember who makes them. but its the kind just about everyone uses if they choose to skip on photo etch seat belts. their resin seats are hard to get cause once they get an order in, they almost imediatly sell them. i had to check up on them like twice a week to see if their order came in. but all in all, they are cool guys and trust worthy

[mrceej]

Originally Posted by 1ofaknd

I had a bad experience with them. Ordered one pair of scale auto style seats that they had listed as (ship within 24hrs) 3 months later i still had no seats. ended up demanding a refund.

and they also charged more then had i ordered direct from scale auto in UK(including shipping!!)

not sure about the pricing but when i had spoke to one of them at the store, he had said that after an SAS order is received, they place an order to SAS if that item is not in stock. could be a reason why it took so long.

[Asmenoth]

The higher price could also have to do with them having to make money to stay in business. If they pay the same price you do to get the parts (unlikely), then of course the price will be higher. The exchange rate at the time of getting the parts could affect the price. I work at a hobby shop...you do not want to know how much this stuff is marked up, but the store selling the product needs to turn a profit to stay in business, pay rent and employees.

[1ofaknd]

Originally Posted by mrceej

not sure about the pricing but when i had spoke to one of them at the store, he had said that after an SAS order is received, they place an order to SAS if that item is not in stock. could be a reason why it took so long.

Yes, but the item was listed as in stock when i placed the order..three months is a bit too long either way.

[1ofaknd]

Originally Posted by Asmenoth

The higher price could also have to do with them having to make money to stay in business. If they pay the same price you do to get the parts (unlikely), then of course the price will be higher. The exchange rate at the time of getting the parts could affect the price. I work at a hobby shop...you do not want to know how much this stuff is marked up, but the store selling the product needs to turn a profit to stay in business, pay rent and employees.

yes of course they must make money (same as i must with my hobby shop)..but selling an item for way more then the people that make it sell it for, is a little unreasonable i'd say.

[chato de shamrock]

Last year, when i went shopping at their store for my first time, one of the guys at the shop told me they noticed some of their regular customers stopped showing up and they've been having fewer customers. Perhaps this is due to the growing popularity of online shopping, or the high cost of gas here in L.A., or a decline in the interest in the hobby, or who knows what. Their shop is also just about the size of a single bedroom apartment, so they arent a big shop. I'd imagine they can go out of business pretty easily in a bad year.

1ofaknd, i also had to wait for their order in resin seats. I waited about a month, and once the order was in they almost sold out immediatly. When i got to the shop they only had two types of seats left.

I also has a bad experience shopping online but with image anime in New York. I placed an order on the Acura RSX Kawa....(something) that their website said was available. I also spoke to one of their representatives because i was going to send in my payment. I was told they had my order, the kits were available, and were waiting on my payment. Well they recieved it but one of the two kits i ordered was out of stock. I waited for them to restock for about 3 months, but i guess they were getting the run around from whomever they were making business with in Japan. What ticked me off was either their website wasnt updated regularly, they didnt know how to hold an order, or they gave C.C. orders top priority because their payment was recieved faster regardless of what order was placed first. I ended up substituting the RSX kit for the Silvia S13 kit and ended my business with them.