A recent jaunt through Amazon reminded me, an old maxim, "Buyer Beware." There are several companies presenting 1/16 tank offerings under their company name. The prices are excessive to absurd. When one reads the description it is vague and confusing. Now open the pictures and you will find that they are Heng Long tanks. Some of the prices are double what Heng Long sells. I believe we have an honorable hobby where distributors deserve a reasonable profit. From experience, electronics have a more than adequate mark up for their legitimate sellers, but this smacks of people trying to take advantage of newbes or family of hobbists. Before you buy, or before another buys, advise your family and friends that might purchase one on your behalf research the prices compared with the features of the tank. Motion RC is still a good standard. Question: Is $764 a fair price for a British Challenger 2 with metal idlers, metal tracks and metal drivers? How about $636 for a basic Heng Long Sherman? Tis the season to be Jolly!!!
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Crazy EB pricing ! - Hobby Squawk RC Forum for Airplanes, Boats, Cars, Helicopters, Tanks, and Trucks
HL tank for 1399 USD and 16 sold ! DP -
I am not sure about Amazon, but I know that eBay works (or at least used to) on the premise that if you run out of stock and remove your listing as a seller, you may be 'pushed' to the bottom of the pile so when you relist the items your advert goes to the bottom of the listings. So what people do, is they keep the listing and just make the price unrealistic. When they get new stock, they still have the same place in the pile and they just change the price back. The number of sold pieces doesn't mean they were bought at the same price as whats advertised. I think it's BS and complained to eBay about it. Nothing happened. I never paid a high price for an item, but I noticed when I DID buy at the normal price, I got a reply of 'out of stock' and money was refunded to paypal, and the next minute the price was 10x what it was when I tried to buy. This was not on tanks, it was for car parts. I bet though, that some poor people have fallen foul to this...
Amazon it doesn't seem to be the same process, but people do advertise things they dont actually have in stock and refund or ask if you want 'store credit' until they are back in stock....also unscrupulous in my book...Comment
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My experience with Amazon shows that every retailer sets their own prices. Some discount, others often increase prices when a product becomes difficult to find. Example: Hasbro released a full sized "Luke Skywalker X Wing Helmet" it was a huge success. Release price: $99. Month later, those who had stock were selling for $250 and more. Now almost 6 months later some prices have fallen to $185. Others remain inflated. Our hobby can be naturally expensive, I don't want to make it more than it has to be. It discourages interested people from getting involved. My post was merely an attempt to warn people that they need to research prices...there are huge differences. Interesting, one company advertising on Amazon claims to have a large stock from their own factory...in the pictures.... there is the Heng Long logo. Another one makes similar claims on an all metal Tiger 1...right on the facial armor, Heng Long...still others are deceptive with their wording that represents a "Professional" unit with only basic upgrades. I am sorry for new hobbyists, I do not want anyone priced out of the hobby or others to become discouraged. Blessed Holiday SeasonComment
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That's why I have been buying my last 4 tanks from Toucan, always seem to have stock and the after sale support is the best I've foundComment
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Would it be possible to start a data base on good retailers for our hobbists. I read all the posts and realize that many have had good experiences with Toucan, Motion RC, and others. But there is not one location for others to see who they are. Dai has had a good experience with Toucan, and so have I, how about others? Can we use this site to share where we have found good prices, excellent customer support and the stuff that makes our hobby strong? Let me know your thoughts.Comment
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I like Toucan also. They always seem to have a good inventory and if you check their listings they do drop prices on a regular basis.
They use at least three different seller names on EBay so they can be hard to keep track of.
I've always gotten fast shipping and good service from them. I only buy from US stock however
SteveComment
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I bought two of my HSD F-16s from Toucan via eBay and they were fantastic to deal with. Even bargained the price down a bit, and they sent me video showing my actual model they were getting ready to ship to me going through the testing phase.My YouTube RC videos:
https://www.youtube.com/@toddbredaComment
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I bought 7 tanks from Toucan and dealing with them got me prices cheaper than MRC ! I guess because I buy so many that they give me repeated costumer prices. I got the Bulldog metal tracks 6.0 for less than 200 bucks shipped! I plan to buy the entire HL line and Mato line from them. Too bad they are not Taigen dealer or I would buy the whole Taigen line too! DaiOriginally posted by Aros View PostComment
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We have a subforum dedicated to discussions about RC Vendors. Feel free to post anything you want, good or bad.Originally posted by Broffermoon View Post
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The subform may be the place we refer newbes to before they buy. I have been following Dia and his purchases. He raises significant questions that denoted a bit of trial and error. He has some good experiences with several vendors, perhaps in the posts, I should have referred him to the subform. I won't be remiss again. Thank you Dia for your contributions and your purchases. As we learn, we can be more supportive to each other.Comment
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Thank you for your kindness. In my experience dealing directly with TH and personally got me the best prices anywhere. I think that is because I buy so many tanks in short amount of time. 9 tanks in less than 2 months. I just bought the HL Bulldog and Chinese Type 99A also from TH. DaiOriginally posted by Broffermoon View PostComment
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Dai, you brought up an interesting point. You talked about getting a good price from buying many tanks. How about "Group Buys?" I wonder what kind of prices we could get if we organized purchases of 3-10 tanks of one kind in one order? Any thoughts?Comment
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I deal with TH often so if there are some who want TH to consider group buy, then let me know. DaiOriginally posted by Broffermoon View PostComment
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Dai, your purchasing power with Toucan can lead the way. If you would please check with your contact at Toucan and ask if they would be open to group buy discounts. Important to find out number of units compared to discount. For example, we purchase 5 HL Shermans, what would be the discount. We purchase 10 Challengers, Professionals, what would be the discount. We can then determine if it is worth it because group buys require a lot of work for me and you. But it will help advance the hobby for many of the Hobby Squawk participants. Thanks in advance for your effort.Comment
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I will check with the manager at TH. I don't think 5 purchases of the same kind is possible but if anyone wants a tank from HL, let me know and I will ask him. So far my prices even beat MRC by a long shot. I bought 11 tanks from TH in 2 months and now looking at the all metal Tiger 1. DaiOriginally posted by Broffermoon View PostComment
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Toucan has proven over the many years I have used them to be a solid source for reasonable priced tanks and has rather good CS. With Motion RC unable to acquire tanks or simply just out of the tank business all together, Toucan is the best game “in town”.Originally posted by dai phan View PostComment
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