Example of a DS spares order

[Martin Milner]

[Martin Milner]

[Sylvia]

Thanks, Martin.

I'm quite shocked at the price of the "satchel" #30 20 5270.
65 pence seems like a lot for such a small part.

[CountBogro]

I'm shocked by the length of the order - 5 pages !!! The most I ever ordered was 2 pages ...

Bogro

[Martin Milner]

Thanks, Martin.

I'm quite shocked at the price of the "satchel" #30 20 5270.
65 pence seems like a lot for such a small part.

You're right, I hadn't gone through in detail yet but that doesn't seem right, especially as the same part in dark brown 30 08 0060 was only 13p. I'll question that, and might get a refund. I'll let you know what happens. If I do get a refund, you'll have saved me £5.20.

Those satchels are destined for dressing up US Civil war troopers, to carry their ammunition.

The 30 23 3160 silver hubcaps were only 3p each though, for dressing up my SWAT cars which came with ugly yellow hubcaps - though I've got a feeling they come in pairs, as I seem to have 32 and only needed 16.

I'm shocked by the length of the order - 5 pages !!! The most I ever ordered was 2 pages ...

Bogro

It was actually two orders, but they arrived on the same day. 

Some things require multiple parts to assemble - e.g. a winch has 5 parts including the rope with hook, and a spotlight for a helicopter or SWAT vehicle is three parts. To finish some wetsuit divers I needed flippers, aqualung, mask, aqualung hose and aqualung vest.




EDIT:

Got the answer back from Caroline at the UK office already:

"Dear Martin, I have looked into your query, the reason is because they are made in different places and made from different plastics, also the prices are set in Germany we do not price here. Hope this helps , kind regards caroline."

So not quite a £5.20 refund, but at least an explanation.

[Timotheos]

I'm shocked by the length of the order - 5 pages !!! The most I ever ordered was 2 pages ...

Bogro

I quit being shocked by Martin's purchases a few months ago.

I'm currently specializing in: Romans

Martin is currently specializing in: Everything (except dinosaurs, I think).

The Dinosaur theme asks Martin: Why not us? 

How to respond to the Dinosaur Theme?  "It's not you; it's me.  I value you as a theme and don't want to risk the burnout--do you know what I mean?  I cherish our friendship and want it to last.  Not crash and burn like it went with medieval.  Do you really want something that might fall apart and be gone forever?"

Dinosaur theme: "Why won't anyone ever collect us???  It's the Barney image, isn't it?  We're not Barney.  We can be mean and dangerous just like Police, just like ACW."

-Tim

[sbblabotw]

I got a chuckle out of the ivy clip... does it attach ivy to Steck walls or System X? 

(busily combing through, looking for new parts)

[Martin Milner]

I got a chuckle out of the ivy clip... does it attach ivy to Steck walls or System X? 

(busily combing through, looking for new parts)

LOL, I missed that one!

I had one of those in my arm not so long ago. They don't really go in the wrist, usually the inner elbow or the back of the hand, and as far as I know they don't pipe blood into you that way, just clear fluids.


I somehow got a pony (30 67 0440 Fohlen 99) in that order, when I was trying to order an ambulance roof.

http://www.playmodb.org/cgi-bin/showpart.pl?partnum=30+67+0440

[Timotheos]

Has anyone noticed whether ordering larger quantities of an item increases odds of item being completely unavailable?

I mean, if I email for 30 Roman helmets (PM USA now wants emailed orders), and PM only has 14 in stock, will the order taker say "qty unavailable" and send 0?

I'm trying to get my DS ordering down to a science (I hate DS ordering...) and intend to fire-hose Playmobil (ordering large quantities of everything I need under the presumption 30%-60% is out of stock anyway and less than $150 incurs a $10-$15 shipping charge).

But, I don't want to shoot myself in the foot and get sold-outs for everything because the guy typed "20" and returned a blanket "qty not available" (PM USA now handles emailed orders, so we no longer walk through the list).

If I remember in person, the order taker types in a qty and gets the true qty back.  Yet, I get so many extremely common items being completely sold out that I had ordered 10 of.  This leads me to wonder whether they do an all or nothing thing.

[Gepetto]

Hello Tim,

My last DS order was on 4/11/08 and they were still taking it by phone (which I prefer because they can tell you what the actual stock is, especially useful if you are after an assembly that has multiple parts), emailing would be fine if they responded with a list of items out of stock or limited quantities so you could edit your list.

You are right about their stock being short so often, I prioritize my lists and went through almost 200 items last time because so many were out-of-stock and I had to re-adjust others to make the $150 minimum.  The first few times I ordered more than 20 of an item they did ask why I needed so many but once I assured them the items were for personal use they seemed okay about it (I told them they were out so often that when I found something I want/needed I felt compelled to order a lifetime supply because they might never have those items again!).

Is there any interest in a DS alert to let people know if you were able to order some particular item(s) that others may have given up on? I recently bought several gorillas and spinning wheels which I really didn't expect to be available and they had finally gotten some legionnaire shields. I think there are times people might like to know that something has come in or is available since there is no place you can check otherwise. Any interest out there?


Gepetto