[Archaga]

When the issue was brought up in my research, I assumed they were keeping track of stock manually and that it wasn't automated into their system.

But then when I placed my first order and called to confirm, my rep pulled up my order and instantly verified that everything but one items in my order of about 20 different items were in stock.

While I was glad I called so I could change my order, I was appalled that their system knew it wasn't in stock but they still sell it and don't even tell you it's back-ordered. Not to mention a $50 shipping fee on a $400 order. Insane.

Already looking into replacement vendors for future orders. No excuse for not implementing a system they apparently already have.

 

[brinked]

I experienced this as well. They will let you buy anything even if it is on back order. Their thinking is if they dont have it, they will let you order it and then have you wait for it to be delivered to you.

The shipping prices really increase the price no matter how good the prices look on their website.

I no longer use conde, but I use coastal (free shipping orders over $150! and $10 flat rate shipping everything else). Not to mention if you look, coastalbusiness also has coupon codes to sweeten the deal.

When I ordered my sawgrass pro photo inks for me they called me to let me know it would take them 2 days to get them in stock. Something Conde fails to do.

Johnson Plastics and coastal are what I use now, but I mostly give all my business to coastal.

I have limited experience so far with coastal, but anything is better than conde from my experience.

 

[treefox2118]

I don't use either companies, so i can't comment on that...

...but...

...this is an excellent reminder to treat your customers well. There are many print supply companies, and there are also many printshops.

 

[brinked]

I agree Brian. But at the end of the day the only thing that matters is our business. We have to do what is best for the sake of our business.

If a company you dont like dealing with has a product you need or offers a great price with shipping included, maybe you can put up with that business for some things.

Dont stick to one company, always look for a better deal. If you call these companies that want your business they will work with you from my experience. So always call and see if they can match or do better.

 

[Techprint]

I experienced this as well. They will let you buy anything even if it is on back order. Their thinking is if they dont have it, they will let you order it and then have you wait for it to be delivered to you.

The shipping prices really increase the price no matter how good the prices look on their website.

I no longer use conde, but I use coastal (free shipping orders over $150! and $10 flat rate shipping everything else). Not to mention if you look, coastalbusiness also has coupon codes to sweeten the deal.

When I ordered my sawgrass pro photo inks for me they called me to let me know it would take them 2 days to get them in stock. Something Conde fails to do.

Johnson Plastics and coastal are what I use now, but I mostly give all my business to coastal.

I have limited experience so far with coastal, but anything is better than conde from my experience.

I did the same, left conde after a horrible experience with them. I took my money and placed a order with coastal and johnson, they are both A++

 

[brinked]

the only bad thing I have to say about JP is their website. Holy crap....ever try finding something on their website(s)? Its a nightmare. Conde has by far the easiest website to use and thats probably why a lot of newcomers order from them.

JP really needs to consolidate their 10+ websites together and get their inventory right.

But yes, their service is good and never had an issue.

 

[Grovian]

Man i wish Canadian companies would offer the shipping deals, Would love to order from coastal but the shipping kills me

 

[rini]

So, JP is good? They've got a lot of stuff that Conde has, that Coastal doesn't. Haven't had a chance to order from them yet, though.

 

[Archaga]

Conde has by far the easiest website to use and thats probably why a lot of newcomers order from them.

They're selection and website is the primary reason I gave them a try. It wasn't a particularly bad experience but the way they're handling things and that shipping cost is just a bad sign of things to come if I stay with them. Luckily I'm already finding what I ordered from them in different sellers. Just can't seem to find USA made mugs, might have to settle for Thailand ones.

 

[DKgrafix]

The thing that I have seen with Conde and no one else has, 13x21" paper.
I like it because I do not have to worry about top and bottom edges on my 16x20 press.
Also, I wish Coastal will start carrying Slate.

Stock issues, shipping, and other small stuff they neglect will cost them a lot of customers.
Technical support is great, but they need to support us in other ways too.

For example, last order, $480 with $70 shipping. Yes, it was a quite a lot of slate, but I was told that it is that much because it will be in 3 boxes. OK, no problem. 4 days later, order comes in in 2 boxes.

 

[sapience]

I've been burned by all of the suppliers regarding ordering something, paying for it, & then being told they don't actually have it. This really SUCKS when you have a customer that ordered something from you and now you can't send it. And you KNOW (lolol) the majority of customers order custom ALL the time and expect to receive it the next day Conde's shipping IS off the charts. As for Coastal...yes they have better deals all the time but, their new "flat rate shipping" is something you need to look at more closely. To compensate for it, they have raised their prices considerably on the majority of their products. My math has shown me that regarding Coastal...if I place an order lower than the $149 free shipping deal, my total cost is now actually more for my items with the flat rate shipping than what it was before they implemented this about a week ago. This is because the products have been jacked up in price. For example, a case of frp memory tiles have been jacked up nearly $10/case. A Galaxy Note 10.1 hard case with insert is nearly $5 MORE than it is priced with Conde. Those are just 2 examples, but I am sure that it is true for ~90% of their products.

Occasionally Coastal will show their items are on "backorder", but not consistently enough. Like I already said, I've been burned by all of them at one time or another..RPL, LRI, Conde, & Coastal. The only one that has never burned me has been Johnson Plastics and that is because I have rarely purchased from them. I used them for a "custom FRP cut" order about 8 months ago, and that went very smoothly. Johnson's products are priced slightly higher than others, but their shipping is fair. Oh yeah....there actually IS a company that I have purchased from A LOT that has NEVER burned me. The ONLY company that I have NEVER, EVER had ANY problems with is ACP Technologies. ACP only charges actual shipping costs & their prices are competitive (sometimes lower) for the same products that are offered by Coastal & Conde. I have also never had any product quality problems with items I've purchased from ACP. I often wish that ACP would carry more items, but truth be told...they don't carry some of the "other" items BECAUSE the quality of those products stinks or is very inconsistent. You can pretty much count on a blank being top quality if ACP offers it.

 

[Archaga]

Hey Sapience, thanks for the info. Could you provide a link to ACP, I'm quite interested.

 

[brinked]

archaga, simply put a dot come after acp.

I have seen acps website. They seem like an option but they are in my same state so I have to consider sales tax.

sapience is correct that if you do business enough times with these companies you will get burned in some sort of fashion.

That is fine as far as backorders go. My experience goes much deeper with conde than getting burned. Try getting flat out ripped off. Imagine paying $500 for a service that you never receive and then cant even get a refund.

Imagine having stuff delivered to your home that you never received and then when you return it they try to issue you credit and then you have to literally call and email and beg them to refund your money on this item you never ordered to begin with.

That is some of the things I went through with conde.

Imagine being lied to by the president of conde that you cant buy sawgrass inks from any other company because their profiles need to be used by special batches made specifically by sawgrass for conde. When contacting sawgrass they flat out stated that was not true.

Imagine dealing business with a company that tells you that you have to order a certain quantity of a product even though on their website it states that you dont and talking with a different sales rep, they tell you the opposite. Yep, good old conde.

 

[sapience]

Hey Sapience, thanks for the info. Could you provide a link to ACP, I'm quite interested.

ACP dot com... apparently I am not allowed to post the web url...

 

[brinked]

sapience I also agree that coastal did raise prices on most of their stuff. All companies do this that offer free shipping. You have to turn a profit. Whenever you buy, ALWAYS factor in the TOTAL price. Go through checkout if you have to and see the total price with shipping, taxes etc etc and always make a judgment based on the absolute total cost.

Each company will have some items cheaper and some more expensive than others. Always consider your options.

 

[sapience]

archaga, simply put a dot come after acp.

I have seen acps website. They seem like an option but they are in my same state so I have to consider sales tax.

sapience is correct that if you do business enough times with these companies you will get burned in some sort of fashion.

That is fine as far as backorders go. My experience goes much deeper with conde than getting burned. Try getting flat out ripped off. Imagine paying $500 for a service that you never receive and then cant even get a refund.

Imagine having stuff delivered to your home that you never received and then when you return it they try to issue you credit and then you have to literally call and email and beg them to refund your money on this item you never ordered to begin with.

That is some of the things I went through with conde.

Imagine being lied to by the president of conde that you cant buy sawgrass inks from any other company because their profiles need to be used by special batches made specifically by sawgrass for conde. When contacting sawgrass they flat out stated that was not true.

Imagine dealing business with a company that tells you that you have to order a certain quantity of a product even though on their website it states that you dont and talking with a different sales rep, they tell you the opposite. Yep, good old conde.

If you are a business with a tax ID, you don't pay sales tax when you purchase from ACP....I am in Florida too... Only things you have to pay sales tax on are those that are not used directly when making a product such as heat conductive rubber. Other than that, I've never paid tax on my blanks, ink, or paper from ACP....

 

[sapience]

sapience I also agree that coastal did raise prices on most of their stuff. All companies do this that offer free shipping. You have to turn a profit. Whenever you buy, ALWAYS factor in the TOTAL price. Go through checkout if you have to and see the total price with shipping, taxes etc etc and always make a judgment based on the absolute total cost.

Each company will have some items cheaper and some more expensive than others. Always consider your options.

I agree and understand what you are saying regarding the need for companies to make a profit however, this new situation with Coastal is just downright sneaky. They're advertising it to everyone as if this is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it's not. What they've done is figured out a way to make something look appealing and fair, but are now making more money that before. I would much rather have the prices that were offered a week ago and pay regular shipping costs. Memory tiles were increased by $0.10 PER tile from a price that was already high to begin with. I fortunately still have my receipts from orders with Coastal for the past several months, so I was able to check this out. Personally, unless I am in a bind I will be purchasing elsewhere. Thus far, the only item of which I haven't seen a significant price increase is for a case of their basic 11 0z mugs...

 

[coastalbusiness]

@sapience - I can assure you that we actually have NOT raised the prices on our products since we've instituted the new flat rate shipping option. The flat rate shipping is something we're really quite proud of - it gives our customers more quality to their purchase with us. The cost of the average order (including shipping) should most definitely be less for those shipping within the contiguous United States using our flat rate shipping. If you have any concerns about the prices of our products, please contact us and we'd be more than happy to discuss this with you.

 

[coastalbusiness]

@sapience - One difference you may be noticing is that we now have standard AND premium tiles, so there is a higher price for the new premium tiles.

 

[irish]

I have shifted most of my purchasing to JP because I can run to the warehouse and get it - no shipping cost and I can get it same day most of the time. JP was most helpful with getting my printer back up and running even though I didn't purchase it through them. I have been buying all my ink through them though

Like others, I hate JP's website- it really sucks. Usually I call my order in to make sure the AZ warehouse has what I need.