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What is the latest information about Reliable Resins please ? I see his EBay ratings are excellent . I did buy fron him with pay Pay long long ago . I had no problem . I've been digging in the Archives .. :) RSVP .  Thanx 

got_de_mottz

99.5% positive feedback
 
Edited by dimaxion
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I don't know. I bought years ago and while I did get my stuff. It took months and wasn't worth the hassle at that time. I purchased 4 times from him thinking it may have been a fluke but all the transactions were similar. Lots of missed promise times and how nothing was his fault. So I decided not to deal with that again.

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Okay I found the link to the page with a recent account of his current work. The original poster wrote how he was happy so I asked him what he compares that resin too cause there is better from what I could see. My post was removed an the reliable resins guy made a few posts to defend himself including photos of the eBay listing with clean strait parts. His feedback is probably good because buyers think this is normal in resin casting. https://www.facebook.com/groups/867554226672373/permalink/2917416555019453/

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On 4/29/2020 at 10:43 AM, cobraman said:

10 Years ! Holy cow ! Beats the about 5 years I have been waiting for some tires from Ma's resin.

Yes it’s been about 8-10 years. I purchased 2x Mercury Cougar kits. I chased him for about 18-24 months & gave up in the end. He either didn’t reply or   when he did gave numerous excuses. It’s a shame as he has some great parts & kits I would buy. 

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  • 2 months later...
1 hour ago, Dale Gribble said:

Oof other than the wheels , those look rough . And here I’ve been tossing parts with a 1mm pinhole or less to keep folks happy  .... geez , I need to lower my QC standards, apparently people accept bubble filled garbage with a smile  .... 

Wow , I am quoting his ratings rom E-Bay . I apologize . I am so wrong seeing these pics . God Bless 

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Over *many* years, I've purchased plenty of resin from Don at Reliable. My eBay transactions with him have been like thousands of others. No better - no worse. When sellers and buyers stay within eBays rules, that's usually how it is. A look at Don's auctions since returning to eBay, his photo's and text tell me that he's a serious seller, in for the long run. He's become a rare eBay vendor (sadly) that takes the time and energy to develop an on-screen sales pitch for his items.

Lately, we've all seen eBay vendors use the now moldy "as is" line, or the new lean-on: "let my pics be the description". Sure thing Bunky! First, how about posting photos that are in focus and properly exposed?

Outside of eBay, have I waited extended periods for Don's items? Yes I have. I've also waited over two years for a Time Machine Resin item. A lot of us waited about two years for our final Modelhaus orders. Yes, Don and Carol are fine people. Yes, they were busy after their retirement announcement. I didn't want to cherry-pick facts for this response. There have been many other examples with other vendors.

I've been an eBay buyer and seller since 1998 with hardly a problem (remember when eBay itself would shut-down for three hours every Friday morning?). I've had only one personal account. At my last job, I sold active and dead inventory on eBay (their account). That was fun! Items due for the bin found willing buyers and created found money for us!  

My employer sent me to the 2-day "eBay Live!" event here in Boston in '07. We were a Power Seller by then. I learned a ton! Not the least of which was more about successfully presenting and promoting your item(s) in eBay's format. The "pitch" that I mentioned above.

(photo of me and eBay's "Griff" at an evening dinner and show)

I find Reliable's quality comensurate with the price point. As always and with everything: caveat emptor.

Whew!

Thanks for looking!

John

 

eBayLiveGriff2.jpg

Edited by john sharisky
Spelling and clarification.
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His "old" business model isn't going to fly on eBay. I have seen his stuff on there, but the GTO parts Brandon posted don't make me think I will be ordering anything from him though.

Years ago, I wanted some of his parts, so I contacted him. He wouldn't give me a straight answer as to whether the parts were in stock or if he was casting to order. I passed.

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On 7/23/2020 at 4:23 PM, Rodent said:

He wouldn't give me a straight answer as to whether the parts were in stock or if he was casting to order. I passed.

What do folks prefer ? Even if I have the parts in stock , I always reply cast to order when asked , as it prevents delays if they order more than I have in hand , or two people order more than I have on hand at the same time . Does that cost me sales ? Or do people just ask to be inquisitive?? 

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11 minutes ago, Dale Gribble said:

What do folks prefer ? Even if I have the parts in stock , I always reply cast to order when asked , as it prevents delays if they order more than I have in hand , or two people order more than I have on hand at the same time . Does that cost me sales ? Or do people just ask to be inquisitive?? 

Without getting too far into it, at the time this happened he was already getting a "reputation". I figured that if he had the parts in stock (I don't even remember what I wanted) I would probably get them.

Overall, I have had good luck getting stuff that is "cast to order". I even got something from Perry's in less than a year!

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16 hours ago, Dale Gribble said:

What do folks prefer ? Even if I have the parts in stock , I always reply cast to order when asked , as it prevents delays if they order more than I have in hand , or two people order more than I have on hand at the same time . Does that cost me sales ? Or do people just ask to be inquisitive?? 

I don't think there is a preference (it doesn't matter to me, as long as the products and service are good quality), but I think the issue here was that Steve wasn't getting a straight answer.

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That question in my opinion comes from casters taking weeks, months or apparently over a year to get parts to people. If you want a part an it isn't in stock your build might get put on hold waiting where else you could go find another source with the part in stock. Because of this I only sell what I have in stock, certainly never take money on a preorder.

Whatever this guy has done in the past he is proving himself with his ebay sales an feedback. The quality might not be what it could be but he has the parts others don't.

 

Dale, after you poor a batch an get it in the pot have your pin hole parts on the bench. Take a toothpick, dip it in the uncured resin left in your mixing cup to dap it into the pinhole. Once cured sand it smooth an you might be able to save some of that otherwise rejected parts.

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52 minutes ago, ScottH454 said:

That question in my opinion comes from casters taking weeks, months or apparently over a year to get parts to people. 

(Responding to this comment and the general state of after market, not regarding Reliable Resin)

The quandary of the aftermarket is that most casters start out making a few parts for themselves, then some friends and it expands from there, especially when said friends post about the parts on the internet!

Most of these casters are part time with families, full time employment and other life obligations. They all start in the aftermarket with good intentions. 

The issue is that it’s much easier to send in orders than to produce the product. With resin, each and every piece is hand cast one at a time. There are limitations on drying time and pressure pot capacity. Plus add in the parts reject rate.  The orders start to pile up and caster gets over whelmed!  It goes downhill from there. 

I have a friend who tried some casting. His intent was to pay for his materials so cost was pretty cheap. All he wanted out of it was to help some folks out and see the parts used on builds. 

It went downhill fast. It wasn’t nice people buying a part or two, but huge orders for 5 each of 10 sets. His capacity with his pressure pit was 6 pieces a night.. that order alone represented  thirty nights of production! 

Within a week, the buyer was pestering him for the parts and complaining on the boards!  My friend turned around that order in a month. No sooner done, same clown placed another order for double!  Turns out since my friend was selling the parts cheap, the buyer took them to his club meeting and sold them at a profit!  My friend returned his check! And that led to another poostorm tirade on a board.  

And my friend stopped casting!

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Great. Old saying comes to mind, "Don't bite off more than you can chew." You chose to operate a business and readily accept money from customers in exchange for products and/or services. They, in turn, expect a reasonable delivery of the items which they purchased. Forcing a customer to wait for an indeterminable length of time is absolutely unacceptable, regardless of the products quality. Nobody wants to hear that you have a real job, family, etc. All of that is, as they say on Perry Mason, irrelevant, incompetent and immaterial.

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Hey Joe- from my experiences with a couple of these guys.. it creeps up on them and they don’t realize they are under water until it’s a mess!

For some of them this is their first business experience and they didn’t have the skills to cost out product, project production times etc. 

Ever watch “Restaurant Impossible” or other like shows?  There are people who run restaurants for years losing money.. great food, always busy and they cannot figure it out?  Then the chef explains to them that they are selling meals for less than their cost and they’re floored!  Same thing here. 

Some of the top casters in this hobby make little to no money, while getting great accolades from customers happy to gobble up the product at cheap prices.  But the day that caster heads for the poor house, none of those customers will show up to help them move!

Edited by Tom Geiger
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