Need some gear?

[Mick Smith]

Things are getting better for us "traditional band of brothers", here in Australia. We now have several local companies who will sell traditional gear by mail order. We have the relatively new trad only company set up by our very own Lochmoy and Whitehawk called Wildwood Traditional Archery. I believe their web site is now up and running. We also have John McDonald at AMSO 128 (see the links on the Ozbow home page). I believe that John sells a fairly extensive range of traditional products. There's also a shop in Townsville I believe.

As nice as it is, to be able to buy products locally, sometimes our local suppliers just can't carry a truly extensive range of products. If you're looking for something a bit out of the ordinary, you might have to buy by mail order directly from the US.

Of course the big killer when buying gear from overseas is the postage. Most times you will be better off buying your tackle locally, if it's available locally. Most archery tackle shops in this country are only interested in catering for the high tech fraternity, sure they might have a cheap longbow gathering dust in the corner and a few well picked over feathers out the back somewhere, but the whole process of buying gear at establishments such as these is more akin to an Easter Egg hunt than a trouble free operation.

I think most of us, at some stage, would have placed a mail order for archery products directly to the US. I would also say, most of those orders would have been with either www.3riversarchery.com or www.kustomkingarchery.com. These two companies stand out as having a good reputation and excellent service.

Just recently, I decided to conduct a little experiment. I wanted to compare the two big US traditional archery mail order firms and see which one offered the best service and the best prices. To do this I placed a relatively small order from each company on the same day. The orders were for die cut feathers (nice and lightweight = cheap postage), nocks (also nice and lightweight) and a few other odds and ends that are impossible to source in Australia, like otter skin string silencers and a rubber Shur-grip.

How did they compare?

Prices - Well this was a no contest. If you check out the prices at both websites, you'll soon see that on almost every item Kustomking Archery offers the best prices, sometimes by quite a margin. To boot, Kustomking also offer an additional 5% discount to their already lower prices for ordering on-line. 3Rivers actually charged me an additional US$5.00 over the price of the products and the postage. I must say this annoyed me so I checked their website again to discover that they actually charge a fee on overseas orders to do the customs paperwork. Kustomking do not charge a fee. As I said, "no contest".

Service - I must say the service provided by both companies is excellent. I believe it's essential to provide excellent service, particularly in the US where it isn't just expected, it's demanded. Both companies sent me an email soon after I loged my order, confirming all the details. Kustomking even went one further and sent an additional email on the day the order was posted, telling me exactly how much the postage was as well. Now, this isn't exactly a fair way of telling which company provided the fastest service, but the Kustomking parcel arrived one day earlier than the 3Rivers one did. Maybe it was held up in the mail somewhere. The first parcel took 6 days to arrive.

In the past when I've ordered goods from 3Rivers Archery, I've noticed their persistance in sending the items in strong cardboard boxes. This of course has it's good and bad points. The products that I happened to order where pretty well indestructable, so the big heavy box wasn't really required. Kustom King usually send these sort of items in heavy bonded bags, which are very strong (you can't tear 'em) and very lightweight. The cardboard box that 3 Rivers Archery used was huge when you consider the size of the contents. It was literally 10 times the size required (it was filled with big plastic balloon spacers) and of course this was reflected in the price of the postage I had to pay, which was nearly twice what Kustom King charged.

So you can see by the above data who will be receiving the bulk of my business in the future.

Do check with our local suppliers before placing your overseas order, you might even save money. No long ago, I ordered one dozen POC shafts from the US (from Kustomking). The shafts were US$31, which isn't a bad price considering they're almost perfectly matched, however the postage was well over US$20, so they ended up costing a small fortune. I checked the price of the equilivent product with White Hawk, it was AU$42 with immediate delivery. So don't be in too big a hurry to buy from overseas and only do it when it's necessary.

Mick

[piggy]

Mate the last time I brought some gear from the US was from Blackwidow
I faxed the order to them on a Tuesday night and I got a call from my wife on the Thursday morning to say a package from the US had arrived.
I said it couldn't possibly be here that quick
Yes it arrived in two days.
My items were a bow case, spare strings, limb bolts and a few other bits and pieces.

Pretty good service I recon

[Mick Smith]

Hi piggy

I've never bought anything from Blackwidow. I did have one of their catalogs a couple of years back. They have some beautiful gear. I thought their shipping prices were a bit steep though. They worked on a system whereby you pay for shipping in a direct ratio with the value of the items in your order. As I said, the shipping fees seemed quite steep to me, compared to what I would imagine the actual postage costs to be.

I tend to stay away from mail order companies who charge more for shipping than what it actually costs them. Does this still apply to Blackwidow?

You certainly can't complain about the speed of their service.

Mick

[Tuffcity]

Mick,

The flip side to that is I ordered a dozen Tuskers from the source and had email confirmation almost immediately. Price was better than anything I could touch on this side of the pond, shipping was reasonable (I thought) and delivery time was pretty good (about 10 business days).

Very happy with their service as well.

RC

[Sparra]

Do you know what Lochmoy's web site is???

[jape]

http://www.wildwoodarchery.com.au/

I asked them yesterday, its just a front page at present, opening soon. If you contact them as below they will send pic, prices of gear etc.

lochmoy@westnet.com.au
03 5423 3131

[Stickbow Hunter]

Good post Mick. I like to support our local suppliers where possible, especially ones that are willing to cater to us Trad folks.

Having said that I expect reasonable prices and in that I mean they WILL have to cover shipping and import costs etc and make a worthwhile profit but I don't expect them to try and rip me off.

As a recent example l\from last year: I wanted to purchase a couple of rolls of Dyna Flight and there was a variance of $39.00 per roll between a number of Aussie suppliers!!! I think that is outrageous. I bought it through John at AMSO128 who gives great service and a competative price.

Jeff

[MaylandL]

I've used The Nocking Point Inc. for some supplies. They are a small trad archery business in Kansas in the states and the prices are very competitive with Kustom King and 3Rivers. Also postage is very good to, usually USPS rates and deliveries take about 7 to 10 days. Where possible I try to get stuff in Australia but I find that I have a much better range and price for 4 and 5" feather fletches and points from the Nocking Point Inc.

http://www.thenockingpoint.com/index.html

Happy shooting

[White Hawk]

Hey Folks,
one of the main factors in myself and Leigh starting Wildwood Traditional Archery, was for the very reasons some of you have out lined here on this thread. We found in ordering our own stuff that postage was a killer.

As we got further into trad archery, we decided that we would just do it ourselves. This added to the often rude and dismissive attitude we encountered in some mainstream archery shops confirmed what we had decided.

We have and will continue to try and offer good quality equipment for a price that is under what it costs to import from say the USA. We can do this as the postage costs can be spread out over more items.

As we are still a relatively new operation and it isn't our main income, Leigh and I are still building our stock. But it is building, and as time passes we will continue to cater for you folks. Added to this we can get any item from 3 rivers at a good price, again by spreading costs over bulk stock purchases.

Our full website will be up and running this weekend (hopefully! boy what a lot of work that was!) so have a look and see what's on offer, and if either myself or Leigh can help you out with an equipment inquiry we will be more than happy to assist you.

the website link is:

www.wildwoodarchery.com.au

and if you need to contact us you can email us on:

info@wildwoodarchery.com.au

I think trad archery in Aus is on the rise and we are all the better for its being. I must say this has been one of the most rewarding and exciting things I have done for along time, and has bought into my life some fantastic people I would otherwise have never met. So in my mind it is a success already.

happy shooting folks

Gav
_________________
~ The wise man seeks the harmony of the circle
The spiritual man seeks the nothingness it surrounds
The complete man understands they are the same

[Lochmoy]

I concur with Gavin and by the way great effort Mick.

It has been slow but steady progress with us. Both Gavin and I have full time jobs but our idea is to evently go part time and use our free time to expand our service to trad. archers.

Both Gavin and I, not exactly happy with our jobs decided to do something that was in line with our passion. Since starting Wildwood we have been on a steep learning curve and we thank Ozbowers for your continued support and tolerance when we slip up or don't have what you want.

Speaking of which Mick and Wing, I didn't know about those other suppliers. I will check them out and see if Wildwood can get stuff from them also.

We want to be able to get anything that archers want cheaper than they could themselves and faster. At present we send an order in every month or so but that is speeding up as orders increased.

Let us know what you want and we can try to get it for you.

Cheers and happy shooting!

[wheres the myrtle]

I want clear glass lams both 2" and 1.5... 0.50....and i aint paying $37 and $29 respectively per lam in AUS ............

$9 US whats that about $15 Aus bucks? adds up pretty quick at that rate.

We cannot seem to compete for price.

[Mick Smith]

RC

I've noticed the price of Ribteks and Tuskers in the 3 Rivers Archery catalog. I suppose it does work both ways. I'll bet you saved quite a bit by buying them in Australia.

Jeff

I've noticed wide variations in the prices of the same products within Australia too. It's good to find a genuine retailer, one you can trust.

Hey Mayland, I looked at the link your provided to The Nocking Point and you're right, their prices are very good indeed. I see that you can't actually buy on-line. Do you ring your order through and give your credit card details?

Gav and Leigh

I've just had a look at your new website www.wildwoodarchery.com.au and I see it's up and running now. I know you sell much more stuff than what is listed on the site though. It's really great to have somewhere this convenient to buy gear. It's even better when you know the seller and trust them completely. I'm sure we'll do lots of business in the future. I know you can supply pretty well anything that's in the 3 Rivers Archery catalog and I also know your range of products will be constantly expanding.

I think at last we have a good alternative to buying most of our gear from the US. With friendly and helpful locals, such as John McDonald and the boys from Wildwood Archery, I'm sure the future supply of good traditional archery gear in Australia at very reasonable prices, is assured.

Mick

[Al Kidner]

Good post Mick,

I too have used both 3Rivers and Kustom King many a time. Both very quick with there service and as you stated KK was the best in shipping cost. For a year or so now I've "Black Listed" 3Rivers and would not spend any more of my $$ with them as the postage cost for one of my orders was over $35.00, that was for 100 full length feathers and 2 Traditional Bowhunter binders.... ...

I have since found a small Trad dealer in the states (Lonewolf Traditional Archery) that when I wish to order something I just email them what I want and I have it landed in less than 6 odd days. They charge actual shipping costs and I do an order about every two months on average.

Having seen the new operation set up by Lochmoy and Gav I plan to pass all my orders through them as I like to support the small guy/underdog and I think we all should get behind them both. I'm sure for all there hard work thats the least we can do. .

al

[Mick Smith]

Al

$35 for 100 feathers and a couple of binders. No wonder you've given them a "big miss" mate. It made the binders very expensive. I bet they came in a huge cardboard box too.

I think we should all get behind our local suppliers and support them. It's time we had a reliable source of gear right here, in Australia. If we look after them, they in turn will be able to look after us.

Mick

[Lochmoy]

Thanks for your support Al and Mick. We will try to keep prices compeditive. It hard at times as the postage can be a killer but by getting bulk we can keep overheads down. It's a steep learning curve but we are learning quickly.

Leigh

[MaylandL]

...Hey Mayland, I looked at the link your provided to The Nocking Point and you're right, their prices are very good indeed. I see that you can't actually buy on-line. Do you ring your order through and give your credit card details? ...

G'day Mick

Yeah I give them my CC details and they charge my CC. I get a quote/ confirmation of the cost order from them inc postage and then put my order through. That way I know what I am up for.

Happy shooting

[Al Kidner]

No worrie Lochmoy. As Mick said though, if your web site has all items on it than I'm sure more sales will go your way. Being the internet world today people like to see what you have on offer.

Also I'm not sure if it's on your web site as yet but if you state that your a dealer for 3Rivers and you can get any item they have than I'm sure people will flock.

Oh and cool looking web site as well mate. Love the colours. Keep at it..."If you build it they will come".


Maybe an add in Cashy mag too?

[Len]

Great to see the boys at Wildwood Archery have thier site up and running, looks great fellas.

[Axe]

Top effort by all involved, CONGRATULATIONS, look forward to doing business with you

[jaselpool]

All looking good guys good luck with the new site!

I've been sorting out my new site as well so know what you guys are going through! Still gaining stock as well.

I obviously can't compete on pricing due to the AUS/GBP exchange rate but if there's anything I can do let me know:

http://www.thelongbowshop.com

I've just made my last order with 3 rivers as I've been stung on packaging and postage as well. I'll try KustomKing on my next run


Jase

[nimrod]

Hi jase you should contact larry murray (lost nations archery ) he is pretty good on postage and packing cheers

[Mick Smith]

jasepool

I'm very impressed with your web site, http://www.thelongbowshop.com/ . It's very professional. I particularly like the way you can buy your products on-line. As your range of products increases your business should go from strength to strength.

Mick