John L. Poole wrote:
wrote:
For the past 10 years or so, I have been sorcing UHMW polyethylene from
manufacturers, packaging the pieces in assortments and selling them
through woodworking distributors like Lee Valley and Woodcraft.
I have noticed that the sales at Woodcraft don't seem to be on a
par with the sales in Canada (they're lower) and I wonder why that is.
I have some huge new supplies available of UHMW and I'm looking
to expand sales.
I have noticed that some of the other woodworking distributors
either don't sell UHMW and those that do don't seem to carry much of
it.
I have noticed that Ebay and Amazon.com have sellers of UHMW on
them.
My questions are - Those of you that buy UHMW, where do you get
it?
- If you could get offcuts of UHMW at a
good price on Ebay, would you buy it there?
Thanx.
Be careful with Machinist Materials in Florida, they sell a lot on eBay.
I purchased 2 lots thinking that I would benefit from a consolidation of
the order into one shipment based on a cursory review of their shipping
policies. I was charged and paid $20.20 for Fedex delivery. When the
parcel arrived, I measured and weighed it before opening and then
visited Fedex's site which quoted me $14.43 -- that's withough any
discount a regular shipper may enjoy. I was under the impression I
would only be charged actual cost of shipping. I brought this
discrepancy to the attention of the proprietor and nothing more came of it.
Also I had ordered UHMW virgin 1 5/16" x 5 7/8" x 28 3/4" natural, and
it arrived in a bowed condition: 1/4" at the center over the 28" span --
this bowing/warpage was not disclosed in the offering material.
Fortunately my application did not need the entire length, so the bowing
was not a defect rendering the piece unsuable for my intended
application. Basically, if I had seen the piece live I would have
concluded it was defective -- though, in this case, it did not matter
since I was going to cut it into smaller pieces.
I inquired about an adjustment for the shipping overage and basically
was ignored. I don't have a problem with people stating a minimum
shipping charge, here I had concluded they only charge what they, in
turn, are charged and that any savings as a result of consolidating
multiple orders would accrue to my benefit. This misunderstanding
coupled with the bowed UHMW causes me to post this. The other item I
bought was as advertised. I'd probably buy from them again, but nail
down details of shipping cost and condition.
To John L Poole,
I am aware of the issues that you raised.
Regarding the shipping charge issue, it actually is fairly common that
"shipping" means "shipping and handling", ie, the shipper charges for
some of the materials and labour necessary to ship the piece. I'm not
saying it's right or wrong, just that it happens.
I had planned a sliding scale of shipping charges based on the total of
all sales, with the percentage that I cover going up with more sales.
In the beginning, I have to start on the auctions (you have to
accumulate so many points before you're allowed to open a store), so I
have planned to ask customers to notify me in our preliminary emails
after the sale if they have successfully bid on other items. I don't
know how well that's going to work, but I'll try it and see.
Regarding the bowed/warped piece. First of all (not to split hairs too
much), plastic does not warp; it bends. Bent pieces can be corrected
about 95% of the time by putting them on a flat surface at room
temperature and leaving them for a few days. Those that cannot be
brought back are defective and I would certainly see that before it was
shipped. Such a piece should not be shipped and if you got one of
those, you should have got a refund.
I put the above information in because it IS possible that the material
was bent in transit. While it is possible to strap every piece to a
hunk of wood, that's going to drive up the costs significantly,
especially if you are shipping over a border.
Most of the problems with bent materials are likely to happen with 1/4,
3/8 and 1/2" material.
I'm going to throw the subject open for discussion:
Assuming you are buying the thinner pieces, do you want to pay the
extra cost to ensure flat material stays flat? (You're probably
looking in the range of an extra $10)