I've got pending orders with a few places, and when I purchased the items online, they were listed as "in stock" one item ordered from Windham Weaponry listed the item as back order ok, and even though it's been a few weeks, I called to ask for a general time. They explained that the receive barrel blanks in batches, usually 4-5 weeks, so depending when you order in that cycle, you could potentially wait 4-5 weeks. That's ok, I understand they order blanks then machine and assemble them (the one I ordered anyway. But I have an order in to optics planet and it's been 4 weeks? Stick mags for my AR45 took three weeks and no word on my ALG trigger. Is it just that slow nowadays?
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Did your OP order ship and you have been waiting 4 weeks to receive them or you have been waiting 4 weeks for OP to fill the order?
I ordered a bunch of stuff from OP a few months ago and it was really annoying. They would ship one item every few weeks. I don’t plan on buying from them again any time soon.
I ordered a bunch of stuff from OP a few months ago and it was really annoying. They would ship one item every few weeks. I don’t plan on buying from them again any time soon.
Opticsplanet is the worst, or at least in the running with cheaper than dirt. And why a barrel from Wyndham? unless got screaming deal what’s the point? The selection of AR barrels nowadays is endless and while wyndham makes ok rifles I can’t see bothering with a barrel from them when I can have a faxon, Odin, BCM or other high end barrel for good value.
Optics Planet has a convoluted inventory system. A significant percentage of items listed on their site are drop shipped, out of stock but "expected", etc - they do a very good job of hiding the status of items in sneaky ways that require really taking your time when ordering. To complicate it further, they'll often have items listed as "in stock" (not hidden under a drop down, hyperlink, etc as "dropshipped" or "backordered" or "expected") which are not in fact in stock, at which point you end up waiting weeks because the status changes AFTER you order.
They have such shitty/shady business practices I've been spending more to buy things elsewhere. Had to pursue refunds more than once.
They have such shitty/shady business practices I've been spending more to buy things elsewhere. Had to pursue refunds more than once.
Primary Arms is great on non FFL items - their customer service rocks and its a great company but if things are busy be prepared to wait a little on FFL stuff, ie say 7 days until they ship - Buds kills 'em in this area..
Optics Planet has the best prices and great but sloooow everything, even customer service works but takes time - if you own 50+ guns and don't want the headache of shopping around, buy from them and relax, play with your other guns, eventually it will show up and you will have gotten a good deal.
If you own 4 guns and freak out about waiting a few weeks, pay more locally.
Optics Planet has the best prices and great but sloooow everything, even customer service works but takes time - if you own 50+ guns and don't want the headache of shopping around, buy from them and relax, play with your other guns, eventually it will show up and you will have gotten a good deal.
If you own 4 guns and freak out about waiting a few weeks, pay more locally.
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Man, didn't know Optics Planet was so crappy. Lesson learned. I needed a mixed bag of parts, little this, little that, and they were the only place that had most of what I needed "in stock"
As for the Windham barrel, I'm building a specific M16A2 clone and they had the barrel profile, twist rate, and finish. I wanted for it to be as correct/close as possible. Theirs comes as a built set with correct barrel, non F marked FSB, and hand guards at a very fair price. I wouldn't go with them if I was building a varmint rifle or if I cared if it was stainless or not. Surprisingly, just a straight up 20" govt profile barrel without M4 feed ramps has been difficult to find
As for the Windham barrel, I'm building a specific M16A2 clone and they had the barrel profile, twist rate, and finish. I wanted for it to be as correct/close as possible. Theirs comes as a built set with correct barrel, non F marked FSB, and hand guards at a very fair price. I wouldn't go with them if I was building a varmint rifle or if I cared if it was stainless or not. Surprisingly, just a straight up 20" govt profile barrel without M4 feed ramps has been difficult to find
I haven't run into OP showing things in stock that aren't, but its not obvious unless you pay close attention. Shipping estimates can be "5-7 weeks" on some items. They can delay your whole order for awhile if one item is not in stock but eventually they will ship partial orders, very random how it works, but one way or another it shows up.
Returns are similar - when they receive it you find out right away, and its very easy to initiate a return online, but your returned stuff will probably sit for 2 weeks or more until one day they finally process it.
Like I said before, if you are the type who freaks out and calls customer service all the time, attempts to speed up your order, buys things with expectations of using them this coming weekend etc etc, this isn't the company for you to do business with.
On the flip side if say you wanted to order something that is hard to find in stock or is impossible to find below retail you can usually do so at OP, saves time as far as hunting around or waiting to get notified when an item becomes available elsewhere. Eventually and reliably you get a notification that it shipped and your stuff shows up.
allen-1
NES Member
Optics Planet sucks. They're running the same mindset as Cheaper Than Dirt.
They show items in stock, you order them, you wait - you call and find out that the item isn't in stock.
I gave up on both of them several years ago.
They show items in stock, you order them, you wait - you call and find out that the item isn't in stock.
I gave up on both of them several years ago.
Dennis in MA
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Through the roof AND expensive as butt. Dumbbells are 2-3x cost minimum. Some folks on Ebay and CL are charging 5-10x. I'll mix up some concrete first. LOL
I'm surprised with so much opening up nationwide that exercise equipment demand hasn't dropped. I find it hard to believe that all these people still want to work out 2.5 months later. Look at your average gym. There's no one there. It's a select few that will use this crap. 2021 will be the year of making boat-anchors out of all of this equipment.
I find them all equally stressed. I had UPS destroy a PERISHABLE container after letting it sit for a while and melt. Then repackaged it and delivered it. Like we wanted this ice-cream soup thing. ???? Then the next week they just decided it was too much work to deliver a package to my house. TWICE. Took 3 days on the local truck to get it to me. C'mon.
I will say that for the most part, Amazon is promising shipment in the far far distant future and delivering much faster. For most items. I ordered 2 packages of masks from different suppliers a month ago. Both were backordered a month or more. I got them both inside of 2 weeks.
Your experience beats mine; my recollection of what I think goes wrong at PA is they do not automatically track approved FFLs like other places do, ie you manually enter information they then need to verify, while other companies allow you to select from a list and show you who is known as GTG.
I still like them a lot, just when ordering FFL items I anticipate delays.
Good to know teamRR. I'm not in any hurry. I have lots of local vendors to go to for stuff when I'm in a hurry, I just don't want to pay their prices so I don't mind the wait most of the time. Midway USA and Grafs is right down the road from me, I usually call in my order and swing by and pick it up after work, but in this case neither had what I wanted in stock.
Ya hope its helps, I spend at least a couple thousand in small items a year at OP. End up defending them around here a lot, not cause I got a hard on for them just like to be fair. Is basically the good, fast, cheap triangle - pick two.
Believe the current $15 coupon is thaw15 but if you search online there may be a newer one, or even something on their website too. Haven't bought a single gun item in more than a month.
not firearms but I need to replace the rear tire on my m'cycle. The place that does this for me is having a hell of a time getting some brands of tires. Their usual distro comes out of NY...with NY being shut down (essentially), they have to cast their net a lot further. What would normally be an overnight thing or at most, two days, is now a week. I mentioned to him that it's probably a bad time to be buying tires due to weather opening up riding again in many places in the country. He said even with that it's unusual to wait so long for parts.
I am about 8 weeks in for three orders I put in back in Feb on Aliexpress.
I have received everything else from that date. Last tracking says "accepted by airline."
Since not much is flying out of china right now. I have no idea when I will receive these
items.
I had another order come in to California by DHL. It has been sitting there for
over three weeks. It finally got delivered on MONDAY at my work and I have to wait
until the office manager comes in of Thursday to get it out of the mailbox.
Malodave
I have received everything else from that date. Last tracking says "accepted by airline."
Since not much is flying out of china right now. I have no idea when I will receive these
items.
I had another order come in to California by DHL. It has been sitting there for
over three weeks. It finally got delivered on MONDAY at my work and I have to wait
until the office manager comes in of Thursday to get it out of the mailbox.
Malodave
nightpoison
NES Member
I placed an order from the UK, they charged me $12.89 for shipping via DHL, for what I can only imagine weights between 5&6 lbs. They created the label and put it in the mail on the 26th, Tuesday this week. Its being delivered today.
I placed an order with Amazon for a wire cutter, crimper on the 19th. It won't be here till Monday.
Depending on where/what you ordered you also have to deal with companies not exactly being upfront with their available stock. I placed an order with World Wide Cyclery online. A week went by with no change in status to my order. Sent in a very polite email, just asking for an estimate as to when they products would be placed in the mail. I was understanding and acknowledged the chaos going on and the fact they were working under reduced staff. The response I got was basically, "Sorry about that, but we understand when you purchased your items they showed in stock, but we oversold the products and are waiting for the products to come back in stock. Should be another 2-3 weeks.". Sure you oversold, but how about an email stating the fact that the order was going to take 4 weeks to fill.
I placed an order with Amazon for a wire cutter, crimper on the 19th. It won't be here till Monday.
Depending on where/what you ordered you also have to deal with companies not exactly being upfront with their available stock. I placed an order with World Wide Cyclery online. A week went by with no change in status to my order. Sent in a very polite email, just asking for an estimate as to when they products would be placed in the mail. I was understanding and acknowledged the chaos going on and the fact they were working under reduced staff. The response I got was basically, "Sorry about that, but we understand when you purchased your items they showed in stock, but we oversold the products and are waiting for the products to come back in stock. Should be another 2-3 weeks.". Sure you oversold, but how about an email stating the fact that the order was going to take 4 weeks to fill.
Since so many people are home now, they have more time to put miles on their Harleys. It must be driving demand for parts through the roof!
basscatfrank
NES Member
Not true at all. Try again.
Ya there are a bunch of things in a bad state right now..
Tuna buyers telling us there's no practical way to ship our fish to Japan this summer, domestic market only, so not taking rod and reel fish until August..
The fishing reels I buy (all Penn) are in a state of production issues, certain models its like buying guns in a panic - not available, backordered indefinitely. The great deals I can usually find don't exist or you find the company advertising them actually is out of stock.. just had to call about an order that seemed to be going nowhere, company was great about it and upgraded me for free to something in stock but otherwise would have been on backorder all summer due to their stocking error.
BRP just announced its leaving the outboard business and Covid was the nail in the coffin.
Even stupid stuff like sandpaper I usually buy a count of for $15 now I am lucky to find for $20.
Never so sure lately when I go looking for something if I will find it.
Tuna buyers telling us there's no practical way to ship our fish to Japan this summer, domestic market only, so not taking rod and reel fish until August..
The fishing reels I buy (all Penn) are in a state of production issues, certain models its like buying guns in a panic - not available, backordered indefinitely. The great deals I can usually find don't exist or you find the company advertising them actually is out of stock.. just had to call about an order that seemed to be going nowhere, company was great about it and upgraded me for free to something in stock but otherwise would have been on backorder all summer due to their stocking error.
BRP just announced its leaving the outboard business and Covid was the nail in the coffin.
Even stupid stuff like sandpaper I usually buy a count of for $15 now I am lucky to find for $20.
Never so sure lately when I go looking for something if I will find it.
With local retailers mostly closed everything is online/catalog mail order shopping. With so many flights canceled there's fewer planes flying air freight. So the combination of multiple things is making it take longer to get items because of increased demand and decreased capacity issues on top of any delays in production/imports.
I've not run into any excessive delays. Every gun related order in the past three months has been no more than two days longer than pre corona.
It all depends on the company. Midway has been shipping next day to me all along except for for one item which was backordered from their source supplier and even that was only four days to shipping notice.
It all depends on the company. Midway has been shipping next day to me all along except for for one item which was backordered from their source supplier and even that was only four days to shipping notice.
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I'm not sure I have noted local retailers closed for anyplace I shop: groceries, guns and by association sporting goods, marine supplies, automotive supplies, hardware, home depot, Walmart etc all exceptions... Other than hair & food industries never noticed anything closed in NH.. what I buy online is significant but never changed.. though we are tiny and the rest of the world is different maybe.
Got a little unintentional test going here. Yesterday night I ordered 2 lowers from PA and paid for 2 day shipping, a pistol from Grabagun via standard shipping, and this morning I paid off a Buds layaway for 2 lowers also shipping standard method..
So far, Buds first and a few hours later Grabagun, notified items are moved into shipping. No word yet on PA.
Now I like PA and I'm 100% sure they will get it done just fine next week sometime, but my guess is it takes them a few extra days to actually ship after the other two have.
Did see that PA works how I thought upon ordering, while the other 2 actually have my FFL information saved and available to select, PA has you manually enter the address and phone number in a text box - they simply don't show stored FFL info. I feel this may be part of the delay, it's not obvious to their system whether its an FFL they ship to daily or if its a new unknown one.
So far, Buds first and a few hours later Grabagun, notified items are moved into shipping. No word yet on PA.
Now I like PA and I'm 100% sure they will get it done just fine next week sometime, but my guess is it takes them a few extra days to actually ship after the other two have.
Did see that PA works how I thought upon ordering, while the other 2 actually have my FFL information saved and available to select, PA has you manually enter the address and phone number in a text box - they simply don't show stored FFL info. I feel this may be part of the delay, it's not obvious to their system whether its an FFL they ship to daily or if its a new unknown one.
Just remember, paying for 2 day shipping does not mean you are going to get it in 2 days after you order it. It means that it will arrive at your location in 2 days AFTER it is shipped. If getting it shipped takes a week, it will be 2 days once the carrier receives it. Paying for faster shipping does not speed up the getting it shipped process.
Amazon has the world all screwed up on how things really work.
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