Agree there, my main concern then is customs at that point, honestly am surprised he got mags through actually.
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Yes thatās true.
I can also imagine that he gets a lot of stuff just sent to him unknowingly from suppliers/manufacturers to review/promote products that he hasnāt had any actual real life ordering/purchasing/interaction with before.
I used to get the same thing happen, which was always confusing as to who the companies actually were and what their products/customer service reputations were out in the market.
Tried to order from TL Toys. Canāt wonāt accept my address 
never seen that before.
They are also expensive, prices are in USD. $68 aud for the LDT spring magā¦
Those online pre-filled address boxes are a pain in the arse!
I am living this at the moment through the fact that the current address of the Hot Rod Shop is in a new subdivision in a buttfck rural town that not even our own Australian authorities recognise through the online pre-filled boxes 
Have spoken with the local Post Office and they have given me information about how to sidestep these issues, so has only worked out well because of being in a tiny rural town and being able to have Australia Post workers help us out with getting deliveries through to us in person.
This could never happen in a large city or metropolitan area because of the total sheer volume of customers and employees, but has been working out well knowing the local husband and wife team who own/run the whole Post Office who employ their Son to do the package/Parcel deliveries 
Just put an order in, only for a part to test the waters, so see how this goes.
I didnāt have any issues with pre-filling the address. annoying it only displays USD.
Use their discount code. You can get 2 for approx 97aud (shipped)
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I just received a couple of small items from them. Took 10 days from ordering to arrival in central Qld.
The downside is some of their prices, due to the value of our āPacific Pesoā against the usd.
Pretty good to deal with by email also. The first time I tried to place an order, the checkout page wanted me to fill in the address box āapartment/suite numberā. I had to put in something, so just put ān/aā.
I then emailed them and told them that they should change the settings in their shopify to make that address box āoptionalā. Got a reply thanking me for the suggestion. I see that is now changed to āoptionalā.
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Got it sorted. It didnāt like my phone number
Thanks for the discount tip @HelterSkelter missed that earlier. 
this still up to date?
Pretty much as far as reputations are concerned, but I would also think that thereās probably a few old retailers on this list who have closed down and donāt exist anymore.
Not really. The negative customer support of some of the vendors has tempered recently, some vendors have changed their pricing structures and several vendors have significantly contracted or disappeared as the market shrinks
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Agreedā¦ 
itās a little outdated. Itās working off perceptions based on a vendorās performance from several years ago.
A few have upped their game and changed for the betterā¦ some have gone down the plughole.
For obvious reasons, Iāve quite literally been out of the game too long. If there are any specific changes you might recommend, Iām all ears.
The only vendor whom I will never give a reprive is CEH.
Honestly from all Iāve seen recently ihobby have been going pretty well
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Iām in the same as not being able to offer any educated opinions because of my obvious situation either 
Hopefully more people can chime in with their most recent experiences and comments
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In a nutshell, and in my opion for what itās worthā¦
GBU seem to have become the new ( or more like old ) Tac Toys. Ridiculously long delivery times and zero communication. Phone goes to answering machine, no call back. Having an issue with them now over a DB magazine ordered 1st Feb that hasnāt appeared yet after forking out $50 + $15 shipping. Courier supplied me with a tracking number that isnāt even on their system. Waiting on a call back from GBU that in all likelihood wonāt happen by COB and Iāll have to chase them up again tomorrow.
In comparison, last week Tac Toys sent me 3 SIG 502 mags overnight, shipped free and cheapest of the vendors by far. Same with everything Iāve bought off them recently.
The point is, if anyone reads these ratings theyāre getting old news that isnāt current or relevant anymore. Thereās a lot of hangover bias against some of the vendors, Renegade, TT, M4A1 etc that, while based on legitimate grievances,is I believe more a case of āchuck enough mudā syndrome. Using TT as an example, and Iāll go on record in saying Iām not affiliated with them in any way, back in the day they deserved the reputation they gotā¦ no argument. But lately Iāve bought a fair bit of gear off them based on price, theyāve always delivered (quickly) and Iāve had no reason to complain about the product or service.
Maybe this thread should be pulled down. Set up a gripe thread, by all means. But if itās not kept current with recent feedback any information thatās based on old reports could be construed as misleading to newbies and damaging to what could be a fairly decent vendor.
Agree, disagreeā¦ it is what it is.
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Aye, as someone still looking to get into the sport, ive just gone my own way, some of this stuff is way out of date and idk whos good anymore and who isnt. Really needs updating or rewriting by someone that can keep a eye on whats happening and update it from there.
Tho i will rip on tactoys for this, they have 1 currently.
Yeah, agreed on that one. Iād actually forgotten about their dodgy shipping.
Theyāre still bragging about shipping Australia wideā¦ dunno how theyāre getting away with that. They were the most blatant about that back in the day, seems they havenāt changed. Their reviews are loaded with comments asking if they ship to states where blasters are illegalā¦ they always say yes.
Their reviews are still dodgy too. misrepresent their gear sometimes, calling it full nylon when itās ABS. 
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Recent experience
X-force if you want parts, good advice and not get talked down to when you toss around some silly ideas. No b/s and good advice. Good range of gels
Tac Edge when you want to look at pretty stuff
WAT if you want top shelf stuff and are building real steel versions
TacToys and ihobby for buying run of the mill blasters at good price (no problem with service from either, including recent warranty stuff)
M4a1 - just treading water clearing out their stock
FTB - good for tech and maintenance
Armoured Heaven - nice stuff (eye candy) but outside my price range
CEH - no recent issues. Got some good tech advice recently. Is convenient to pick up small bits
GBU - donāt go there anymore after the last bad experience
Tac gear generally from AliExpress
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Updated TacToys, iHobby, M4A1.
What tier should FTB enter at? Sounds like a solid B?