Cebus Capucinis Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 3 hours ago, Wayler said: Sigh... guess I'll have to settle with adequate electronics then. You only get Awful Electronics, made in Netherland. They're awful because their schematics consist entirely of dead punctuation. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manterola Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 I never had a problem until his new rules were not okay with me, that's all. We all agree he serves the Atari community, that he should not have to do that, that the packaging is great, the shipping is fast, the products are in great condition, etc. No discussion about it. I was just telling my last experience and how I MADE the decision to move on, even though there are item/products he posseses I'd be glad to get in exchange for my money but that is not possible right now. So, no soup for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 It's 2023, people, not 2013. These threads that marginalise those of us who are ambivalent about Brad shouldn't be taking place in this day and age. I'm feeling very excluded right now and need a hug vodka martini as a result. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 5 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said: These threads that marginalise those of us who are ambivalent about Brad shouldn't be taking place in this day and age. Yeah, what ever happened to the good old days, when ambivalence was to be worn as a badge of honor by older folks like us. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 I bought some things from Brad before (via phone, long ago... 2011), and got pricing from him for a handful of items or so (via email... 2012). Had no problems, and he was pleasant to talk with on the phone. So, I have no complaints; but I am interested in people's experiences with Atari-related businesses (for future reference), negative and positive. I still imagine his business and service to be way more positive than negative. You often hear more about negative experiences; happy customers just go on about enjoying their Atari lives. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reifsnyderb Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 24 minutes ago, MrFish said: You often hear more about negative experiences; happy customers just go on about enjoying their Atari lives. Very true. When I made 3d print heads, there were a few duds due to some odd problems. A small handful of the early versions leaked because of this and people posted pictures of the leak all over the internet. Of course, I fixed the problem quickly, but it was quite illustrative as to how quickly bad news spreads. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zylon Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam242 Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 I do not understand why this topic keeps recurring on here... Never had a bad experience buying from Best/ Brad in 35 years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 14 hours ago, DarkLord said: On what few occasions I've needed more than 3 items in an order, I simply placed 2 orders... Not a big deal for me. It is if you want to save money on shipping, with small items adding a few items costs next to nothing while a second order doubles the shipping costs, I live in Canada so shipping is a large factor in overall cost. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 Not only is that horse dead but Ikea already made meatballs from it. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickled_Pink Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 (edited) 14 hours ago, mickster said: If he had a good online website, most of the good stuff would be gone. If he sold in any quantity desired, most of the good stuff would be gone. If he sold out to someone, most of the good stuff would be gone. If he sold his stuff on ebay, most of the good stuff would be gone or sold at a price higher than collectors want to pay. Not everyone is trying to be 'walmart' . Some times selling the most quantity to as many customers as fast as possible is not the right answer. Pretty much figured that out from this thread. Sooner or later he's going to run out of parts that everyone wants. And it would probably take him longer to fulfill and ship out many smaller orders than a few large ones, so he's not necessarily restricting order sizes to make his life easier. Unfortunately, it does mean that it probably puts an end to international shipping because of the cost of shipping from the US. Even small items can cost stupid amounts of money when ordering from over there. Edited July 21, 2023 by Tickled_Pink 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayler Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 14 hours ago, Cebus Capucinis said: You only get Awful Electronics, made in Netherland. They're awful because their schematics consist entirely of dead punctuation. well thatis intestine and soooo tru but,,,, they are the first wich makes them automaticali the best wich i shud avoid,,, droll hovwery droll 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reifsnyderb Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 3 hours ago, Tickled_Pink said: Unfortunately, it does mean that it probably puts an end to international shipping because of the cost of shipping from the US. Even small items can cost stupid amounts of money when ordering from over there. Unfortunately, this is very true. Shipping anything from the US to another country is horribly expensive. Most of the time, the cost of shipping plus VAT result in the cost being a lot more than whatever is purchased. I understand the with the new VAT rules that people are no longer able to ship care packages to people as the receiver has to pay a VAT on those as well. It's very frustrating that the only place with cheap international shipping is China. 😞 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickster Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 7 hours ago, BillC said: It is if you want to save money on shipping, with small items adding a few items costs next to nothing while a second order doubles the shipping costs, I live in Canada so shipping is a large factor in overall cost. If you want to save money in this hobby, it is time to sell everything. 😃 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DarkLord Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 9 hours ago, BillC said: It is if you want to save money on shipping, with small items adding a few items costs next to nothing while a second order doubles the shipping costs, I live in Canada so shipping is a large factor in overall cost. Totally understand. We all want to save money, especially in these days 'n times with the economy the way it is. I do a "prize giveaway" about every 3 months at DarkForce! (my BBS). I don't restrict winners to being in the continental US. Whenever a winner is from out of this country (or heck, just cross-country) the shipping costs can be unreal. I could choose to stop doing the giveaway but it's important to me despite the costs. People will just have to decide for themselves if dealing with Brad and Best Electronics and his rules is worth it to them or not... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DarkLord Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 22 hours ago, flashjazzcat said: Which is the exact sentiment already expressed by the thread subject. Yeah, I was just doing a gentle reminder... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Havok69 Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 I've bought from Brad a few times over the years. Just got some stuff from him a couple of months ago. Just play by his rules and you're all good. Planning on calling him up soon to get some more stuff. It's a free country, run your business how you want. I used to be in retail; the customer is NOT always right... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mutterminder Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 I haven't bought anything from Best in more than 20 years. There used to be a printed catalog to order from. I may still have one somewhere. But this whole thread, sort of makes me want to try it the new way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 16 hours ago, Havok69 said: I used to be in retail; the customer is NOT always right... The assertion of this topic is "The buyer beware", rather than "The customer is always right". 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XL Freak Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 On 7/20/2023 at 12:25 PM, cwilbar said: Just because you are one of a few or sole supplier of something, doesn't give you the right to be a prick. actually, yes it does. I'm not picking on you, but he had as much right to be him as you have to be you. personally I've always had good luck at best. once while giving me the order summary he told me it'd be about a week before the order was placed because they were so busy. so I told him no problem, and have a good night. the very next night my order confirmation arrived in my inbox. the worst experience was when I ordered two reconditioned sf314's to turn into sf551's for my 130xe. @flashjazzcat has a video on that transformation. both drive units had to be at minimum regreased, because they were both frozen after being advertised and sold as reconditioned. and one of the two ajax st drive controller chips was dead on delivery and the other, come to find out, that although advertised as 100% compatible with the wd1772's, did not work in these drives when plugged into 8-bit machines. so lesson learned. now we know lol. next time will be easier. brad wasn't to blame. it was just lousy circumstances. and a learning curve. I'm glad brad is there, doing what he's doing, and I'll continue to work with him, respecting his policies, because he has things I need. thank you bradley for servicing our community all this time! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E474 Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 Another way of looking at it is that he's managing his inventory so it doesn't get hoovered up by early birds or savvy shoppers: 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 It would seem that one way to get around the various restrictions would be to simply recruit other people to order items on one's behalf. If each order is limited to three items, for example, then recruit 5 relatives or friends to each place an order of three items -- voila, 15 items are ordered all at once. Unless everyone has the same mailing address, Brad would have no way of knowing that these are not unique and independent orders. If someone gets blacklisted, so be it as they would not care. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+kheller2 Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 VS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irgendwer Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 On 7/20/2023 at 9:23 PM, mickster said: If he had a good online website, most of the good stuff would be gone. If he sold in any quantity desired, most of the good stuff would be gone. If he sold out to someone, most of the good stuff would be gone. If he sold his stuff on ebay, most of the good stuff would be gone or sold at a price higher than collectors want to pay. If he would go the route, that the customer has to send in two Atari items to get one, we would have and endless source of parts! (Just an idea...) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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