Horizon Hobby WTF

[skid]

I really don't see the problem as Axial or Horizon's fault? If you set on a local hobby shop, tell them to find a different distributor. Setting up a shop to have only one source for most parts is a receipe for faliure. If you have to pay a little more, so be it. Either charge more or make less. A $10 sale is still better than no sale. Most gas stations don't make money on gas, it's the crap in the store that has the mark up. Most hobby shops I've seen don't have this mentallity, and they loose sales to online stores.

 

[skmotion]

SK Motion? Really that's an option?

My hobby shop is forced to deal with them on a few items and lets just say they have the worst service, slowest shipping, and most amount of lies to send to the LHS's. My LHS treats me well and lets just say anything they buy through SK Motion they now tell me to buy it online because they feel bad telling me the SK Motion lies about when it shipped or that it did when it's still not even shipped.

I'm sorry to hear that your local hobby shop did not have a good experience working with us. I'm sure if they had expressed their disappointment to us, we would have done what we can to rectify the situation and clear up any misunderstandings. We fully support the manufacturers we represent but on occasions there are events out of our control.

If there are items you want to get and we carry it, you can give us a call and we will help you get it. We have many dealers across the country and we can also coordinate with your local hobby shop to get it to you.

We are here to support the hobby shops.

Cheers,
Robert
www.skmotion.com

 

[vonclod]

I really don't see the problem as Axial or Horizon's fault? If you set on a local hobby shop, tell them to find a different distributor. Setting up a shop to have only one source for most parts is a receipe for faliure. If you have to pay a little more, so be it. Either charge more or make less. A $10 sale is still better than no sale. Most gas stations don't make money on gas, it's the crap in the store that has the mark up. Most hobby shops I've seen don't have this mentallity, and they loose sales to online stores.

ya that sure sounds easy..but my buddy fer instance has to buy 10,000 a month from horizon to get the dealer price, he doesnt have another 10 grand a month to buy from greatplanes, nor the space..not sure the exact $$ you gotta spend monthly but the figure is accurate for horizon and im gonna assume its about the same for gp..and the markup out the door to the customer has about an 8-10% markup on a kit..no room to buy the product at any more than horizons dealer price.. and still have customers that dont then buy online..i can assure you no one is being greedy and trying to make too much
and ya its axials doing..shame on them..they made alot of sales through the smaller stores..maybee they should distribute direct to dealers themselves and fix this mess:roll:

 

[skid]

ya that sure sounds easy..but my buddy fer instance has to buy 10,000 a month from horizon to get the dealer price, he doesnt have another 10 grand a month to buy from greatplanes, nor the space..not sure the exact $$ you gotta spend monthly but the figure is accurate for horizon and im gonna assume its about the same for gp..and the markup out the door to the customer has about an 8-10% markup on a kit..no room to buy the product at any more than horizons dealer price.. and still have customers that dont then buy online..i can assure you no one is being greedy and trying to make too much
and ya its axials doing..shame on them..they made alot of sales through the smaller stores..maybee they should distribute direct to dealers themselves and fix this mess:roll:

For all you know at this point, Horizon could have tried to screw Axial ?
Still Axial's fault? Maybe it's your fault for price shopping to the point the local shop can't compete unless they get the $10,000 discount? Who knows?

So say 8% mark up. wraith street price $365, makes dealer cost about $336. As a shop that didn't get the dealer rate, would you A: not sell Wraiths and not have a customer come in or B: make $5 on a kit by purchasing elsewhere, selling for $370 and make money and the other stuff the customer buys(batteries,charger, etc)? Hell, I just ordered a Wraith for $315 with a tower discount. As well as ordered two tamiya Hilift Hiluxs for $280 each a couple years ago. Options are out there.

Maybe talk to your local shop and have him partner up with a few others to get the dealer rate?

 

[mann0mann]

The fault IMO really just comes in terms of the timing. The announcement was made to dealers over the last weekend. Essentially a day prior to most distributors receiving inventory and allocating product.

Whether you spread orders around or put all your eggs in one basket - It still left a portion of a Hobby Stores back orders unfilled. So it doesn't matter if you were going to get on 1 or 10, some portion of your order you were counting on wasn't going to be there.

And because of the timing, and such small initial shipment. It left a lot of places with no options. So Skid, many shops weren't even given the opportunity to make the choice you are presenting. It was too late.

I'm not reading into much of the whole decision and I understand the need to time something critical like this and make it a clean "break"....but I can really see where alot of shops were put in a tough position.

There's not much you can do about it in the end, all you can hope for is that the next round is much better. "thumbsup"

 

[vonclod]

For all you know at this point, Horizon could have tried to screw Axial ?
Still Axial's fault? Maybe it's your fault for price shopping to the point the local shop can't compete unless they get the $10,000 discount? Who knows?

So say 8% mark up. wraith street price $365, makes dealer cost about $336. As a shop that didn't get the dealer rate, would you A: not sell Wraiths and not have a customer come in or B: make $5 on a kit by purchasing elsewhere, selling for $370 and make money and the other stuff the customer buys(batteries,charger, etc)? Hell, I just ordered a Wraith for $315 with a tower discount. As well as ordered two tamiya Hilift Hiluxs for $280 each a couple years ago. Options are out there.

Maybe talk to your local shop and have him partner up with a few others to get the dealer rate?

i,m not the customer they need to worry about loseing and i dont personally nitpick over price..i usually get a great price, they try to give me a discount at times and i say no..lol,i actually dont mind paying a few bux more to support the local guys cuz i know for a fact they arent getting rich..lol, things have changed and its tough makeing a buck here, i,m not sure what his dealer price was..more than it is in the us as we get hosed on shipping and duties in the end, also you cant really take up valuble shop space on big box products that you make no profit on, and you tie up your money.. its a nice idea and believe me it has been done at times buts not how you keep a business afloat when you have limited space which costs you $$ in overhead for every inch, not that a wraith would likely sit on the shelf for long, but we arent talking about a wraith kitits about the whole line of products. the ideas are appreciated, see what happens..maybee it will come to light why axial left

 

[skid]

Yes some shop got temporarily cut off and some orders dropped. But remember it is only ONE manufacturer.

Not trying to argue, but I am curious what does your shops due for Futaba and Associated? Thunder tiger? Pretty much a Great Planes thing from my understanding.

 

[vonclod]

Yes some shop got temporarily cut off and some orders dropped. But remember it is only ONE manufacturer.

Not trying to argue, but I am curious what does your shops due for Futaba and Associated? Thunder tiger? Pretty much a Great Planes thing from my understanding.

,
the bigger store here has the great planes account and everywhere else so when you need parts for futaba, xray, kyosho, and associated etc and theres maybee another store or 2 with accounts as well thats where you go..wasnt that long ago that associated left horizon , that was a big one too for them..half the raceing crowd. they have been in business making batts for the rc industry for about 20 years now they were makeing matched sanyo 1200sc nicads when they were the shiz..lol ..battery game is also not real good anymore , the bigger stores will be fine and people here will be able to get their axial stuff but maybee not from your local store and i hate to see my friends store struggle big time now..also when figuring out the cost/street price deal the local retailer has to charge 12% tax on top as well(hst)

 

[NoobCrawler]

the problem is though you no longer have a product to sell to that loyal customer, for thew time being anyway and thats when the lhs loses out to an onltne seller that may or may not pay all the applicable taxes/duties..etc that the lpcal retailer has to pay..my bud builds battery packs and has for 20 years and i,ve seen this happen big time in the battery game

True. But, I meant more in the long game. I mean, sure they don't have the Wraith, but soon they may find another supplier and get Axial back. Said customer can then switch back for their every Axial need.

 

[vonclod]

True. But, I meant more in the long game. I mean, sure they don't have the Wraith, but soon they may find another supplier and get Axial back. Said customer can then switch back for their every Axial need.

this is true to some degree but once you give up a customer they are hard to get back in a general sence..really just have to wait and see but right now if the product costs less at another store the customer may go to the other store, we will see how axial distributes but if my buddty cant get the product at around the same price he was getting fromhorizon its a losing game..it just sux is all

 

[sasquatch420]

this is true to some degree but once you give up a customer they are hard to get back in a general sence..really just have to wait and see but right now if the product costs less at another store the customer may go to the other store, we will see how axial distributes but if my buddty cant get the product at around the same price he was getting fromhorizon its a losing game..it just sux is all

True. I got burned by the Horizon fail, and now I have to wait another month for my LHS to get the Wraith. I ordered thru them to support my LHS, but at this point, if I could order one online and have it here by Monday, I'd pull the trigger without much guilt.