great planes = hard time for lhs

[delphidude]

well i went to an lhs today to check out the new os 18 it was $160!. but at tower the same motor was $82 . it must be hard for local hobby shops to get customers with online prices being so low. i mean i want the help the lhs but i would also like to save $78. what to do , what to do.... :confused:

[racer234]

I'm get into that situation sometimes. It's hard for me to buy online, when I have an LHS that can use my money. I kinda draw the line at about $30-40 difference on stuff thats under $200, atleast I try to.

[atm92484_3]

Ask your LHS if they can call GPMD to complain about the pricing. Rumor has it they'll often credit the store the difference.... ;)

For that kind of price gap, they should call. A 2 minute convo with their GPMD sales rep will keep a customer happy and help them sell an engine. If not (and this is one of the rare times I'll say this), order from Tower.

[JamminJay]

I know this doen't help the profit in the long run of your hobby shop, but it may. Ask them to match their price? My Lhs, will match any price some other company is advertising as long as I show them proof(not just word of mouth) and that keeps me a happy customer so in the long run I still do business there, so I guess it kinda weighs itself. They can lose a few bux, and keep a customer, or lose a customer and lose all his future spendings.

[2.0dohc]

well i went to an lhs today to check out the new os 18 it was $160!. but at tower the same motor was $82 . it must be hard for local hobby shops to get customers with online prices being so low. i mean i want the help the lhs but i would also like to save $78. what to do , what to do.... :confused:


I am guessing that you saw a .18 TZ at you LHS and you looked at a .18 CVR at tower, right? they are very different engines

[TC3Racer]

yeah GP is a pretty high priced distributor. My LHS is struggling a bit with them and having trouble affording products. Plus GP is the main distributor for R/C products so it doesn't make much sense.

[racer234]

2.0dohc- I'm betting that the engine he saw in the LHS was a CV-R too, since the normal price for the .18 CV-RX was $160, until recently Tower Hobbies dropped them to $92. I know that my LHS has the .18 CV-RX for about $160.

[evaderstman]

I just buy expensive stuff such as engines online and parts like shock towers and gas and things at my lhs

[ososlow]

I dont really care what the online prices are. I would rather spend my money at my LHS and get it right away, then waiting a week or so to arrive if it will even make it past the border. The sirio .18 was $180us on Tower when I was looking at a new engine. I bought one from my LHS for $300cdn with tax. Prices dont really matter to me. If I was going to save like $200, then maybe I will order online, but until then my LHS will get all my business for what they have that I need :D
Gotta pay to play.

[TrickSpeed]

For those of you who dont know how it works

If you are an LHS you either get your stuff from Great Planes or from Horizon.

Great Planes = Tower

Horizon has their own online store too.

So either way they are going to get undercut by the distributer doing online sales.

[Pro3/nmt105]

I dont think Horizon is a problem. They sell everything at retail on their site and as far as I know they make everybody sell JR radios and Losi kits at the same price. Although it keeps people from selling them cheaper, which can be a bad thing, it can also be a good thing because one of my LHSs which prices everything up alteast 50% sells losi kits for the same price as everyone else.

[delphidude]

I am guessing that you saw a .18 TZ at you LHS and you looked at a .18 CVR at tower, right? they are very different engines
tz= rear exhaust
cv-r = side exhaust, i'm not a newb

[atm92484_3]

The 18 CV-R's were $160 when they came out. I'm willing to be your LHS ordered the engine, priced it at the current MAP price, then the engine never sold. Since then, Tower/GPMD has lowered their prices on the engine. Like I said before, all they have to do is call Great Planes, tell their sales representative the deal, and there is a very good chance they'll credit the store the difference in cost. In turn, the LHS should lower the price for you and make the sale.

[ggfx-mikey]

i try and give my biz to my lhs as much as possible, for small items under 50 bux ill go to them, but anything over 100...200 , well thats just too much, i did buy a xr3i radio which was over priced, but... i did give them my bizness to them so im sure the dude was happy

[Jetskiboy77]

Id rather order off of Tower then go to my LHS, especially when the price is that much lower. To me, id have no second thoughts about getting the OS off of Tower.

[KTRTS]

I would buy from my LMS more often if they stocked more Schumacher parts :( As it is, I'll buy spares etc online, but general parts (wire, electronics etc) from my LMS.

[ApriliaRacer]

This is a tough one. There are a few LHSs around here. I really don't like one of them because the service is poor, the selection is also poor. Oh, I understand that they can't carry everything, but they should at least carry parts for the "main" cars/trucks they sell.

The only one I'll support is the local HobbyTown. Good Selection, fair prices, and good people.

I'll usually check with them first and if they don't have I'll go through Tower. But sometimes its more convient for me to order through Tower. I don't have to drive to the lhs which in my truck is several gallons of gas. It gets to my house in a couple of days and I save a few bucks.....

[mwahaha91]

That's nuthin tho. My LHS carries savage 25 RTRs for 800 an Savage SS's for 420 dollars!

Ripoff 1 (http://www.hobbyworks.com/default.cfm/Content/fullproduct/hs/rc/ID/484182)

Ripoff 2 (http://www.hobbyworks.com/default.cfm/Content/fullproduct/hs/rc/ID/485828)

Thing is they said the Savage SS was on sale
:D

[always_opencarb]

i would like to get a fail safe from my lhs but its 20 bucks online and 30 at the shop! i dont know what i should do

[loopy]

I always give the LHS the chance to match prices , thats as far as my loyalty to him goes.
No point paying more than you need to.

[delphidude]

yeah i have a hobby town thats not to long of a drive. they have most of the small stuff i need

[nitroguy2001]

my lhs has always been really good to me. Sure some things might be a little more but who cares. They are the ones that put on the races and the ones that have brought me up through the ranks. I dont get absolutley everything from them because i have a couple other connections, but the lhs is like the old mom and pop shops you used to see, but now all the corprate stuff is taking them over (ie the oline companies). This is just my opinion but I enjoy the hobbyshops were it is really about the hobby, and you know everybody in there. Sometimes when im bored, or after school ill just go over there and bs with them all. To me thats what it is about. Not finding a price a little less.

just my .02
Brian~

[Jetskiboy77]

I dont just order off line because of the price, I just dont like my two LHS. They did nothing but treat me like crap when I first got into the hobby, and anytime I wanted to do something custom, they told me I wouldnt be able to do it and they always talked down to me. When I made my NMT an all aluminum truck with a .21, I spent probably 600$+ on that truck. I maybe bought 170$ of stuff from them and ordered the other 430$ in parts offline, and thats only cause I bought the engine from the lhs because it was easier for me. They treated me like crap, so I dont really fell like I owe them my business. Now when I walk in there with my truck, they all want to be my best friend, and suggest other stuff that I should buy, and I simple say no. When ever I would go to look at engines, id pick out a mid priced one, cause I dont feel I need to spen 300$ on a .12 racing engine, they would be like no that engine isnt good buy this one, so to be nice I look at it, and then the price is ridiculous. They tried to take advantage of me when I first got into the hobby, so I really dont care about ordering offline, which I actually perfer to do now because of my bad experiences with my two LHS. End Rant, lol sorry, I just somtimes get angry that they talked down to me. :D Happy holidays all. :)

[atm92484_3]

i would like to get a fail safe from my lhs but its 20 bucks online and 30 at the shop! i dont know what i should do

Then you pay $5 for shipping and you save a whopping $5 to wait a few days until it arrives. Good job. ;)

[Jetskiboy77]

Sometimes 5$ is a lot of money to people.

[glassdoctor]

$5 is nothing in this hobby. Sorry, that's the harsh reality.

As for LHS vs. Tower...

If you have a good LHS, then you better use them whenever possible. If you have a lousy LHS that jacks prices and treats you like crap... then it's their loss.

BTW, I have not found that TowerHobbies is a threat to my LHS. Anything I find at Tower they can be very competitve with, or beat it. They can order anything right from Tower and usually at a lower price than I could get from Tower. So it works... I even had my LHS order a closeout special that Tower had, and they sold it at the same closeout price.

Check this out... I just got a Kyosho 777 standard for $329 form my LHS. They ordered it from GP and that's what it came in at. I don't know what their markup was, but I don't care when they can beat Tower by $70.

This example is typical... my LHS is usually cheaper than Tower and Stormer...

I don't mail order anything anymore. Unless it's an oddball imported, "black market", or direct to consumer type product, like wholesale lithium batteries, or custom parts, etc. LHS wouldn't want to mess with most of this anyway, imo.

[always_opencarb]

ill prolly order a bunch of parts online. my lhs is a hobby town usa, the guy there is real nice to me and lets me drive cars and what not but a 10 doller diff on a 20 item? thats money i could spend eles where. if i were to buy two at the lhs it would be 60 buchs on line i could buy 3 for the same price!

[delphidude]

$5 is nothing in this hobby. Sorry, that's the harsh reality. .

when you have to pay 300 a month in car insurance $5 can mean you do or don't get a part you need.

[supernitro_guy1]

www.carolinarc.com

The best Hobby shop in this Planet

[supernitro_guy1]

www.hobbysc.com

Thats the actual hobby shop, sorry, the other one is the track website, well, its the same place

[crazy1]

$5.00 is a lot of money to me. $5.00 a week for a year is $260.00. Thats a lot of money to me. I race offroad electric. ( Can practice on my backyard clay track with out bothering the neighbors, I personally have more fun with electric, and I personaly find it cheaper than 1/8th). Two of the local shops are NITRO and only carry Nitro. I try to support them but it is hard to get them to special order for me. I can either order online or travel 30 miles one way to get to the electric car hobby shop. If needed right away 30 miles is ok to go for the part but have often spent more in gas than on a part.

Recently I have found a local hobby shop that dose not carry R/C cars that LOVES to special order for me. Treats me very nice and thay act as if I was their best customer. I get the parts availibilty from their dist. online web sales page. Then get the cheepest price I can off the net and if he can match it and make a little bit of profit I pre pay (just like you do when you mail order) then he orders it. Sometimes he tells me he can not match the price but thats ok and I pay what he has to charge to make a profit. Go in when his weekly delivery is due and pick up my parts. No fuss no muss. He likes it as it is a sure sale and he has to put no money up in floor space or stock to make the sale. He makes about the same amount of profit as he dose off most things he has to pay intrest on a loan to buy and pay rent for floor space for. I like it as UPS/Fed Ex is not leaving a package on my door step to be lost or stolen and do not have to use up a lot of gas to go get my parts. The sales tax is about the same as shipping cost. And a local Mom and Pop store gets some $$$$$$. A couple of us are doing this with him. He jokes that he now carrys R/C cars but he sells out all the time.

What is the moral of the above true stroy? Customer service is how a local hobby store can stay open. Do not give me a rough time when asked to special order for me. When some one is willing to pay for something you do not stock be up front and nice. Explain your special order policy. Even if it is not in your stores typical type of merchandise a sale is a sale and profit. Or we will find some one else who will be happy to do it for us.