What's Up With 3DHS??

[MM2ICBM]

Does anybody know what is going on with 3D Hobby Shop? Placed an order on Monday, 8/18, and as of today the status of the order still shows "processing". I have sent a couple of emails , called and left voice-mail; all to no avail. There is no posting on their web site stating they are out of the office on "official" business, so I am curious as to whether or not they are still in business. I would welcome any information provided. Thanks!

 

[gyro]

Does anybody know what is going on with 3D Hobby Shop? Placed an order on Monday, 8/18, and as of today the status of the order still shows "processing". I have sent a couple of emails , called and left voice-mail; all to no avail. There is no posting on their web site stating they are out of the office on "official" business, so I am curious as to whether or not they are still in business. I would welcome any information provided. Thanks!

I'm certain they're not out of business... However they occasionally take unannounced/unofficial breaks from the office, and can also be occasionally difficult to reach regardless.

 

[xlr8tion]

Let me say I respect Ben and Scott to the max! But their business model is awry as they are always OOS(same with EF). I was a COO(and co-owner) of a private 175 employee company with 400 clients so I know how it goes on scaling supply to demand. These guys are losing money hand over fist by always being OOS on their AC's. IMHO...they need to get their mfg'in China(wherever) scaled up FAST as too much business is worse than too little. I scaled correctly and was acquired in 1998 by CHEMED a NYSE listed corporation. Retired at 36 in 1998. This is why HH is eating them up and their niche is shrinking to larger Aircraft.

I called PA, EF and 3DHS on Friday and Cheryl from PA was the only one that answered. Guess where I ordered my AC from? Rhetorical. Stop Bashing guys and start scaling up. I don't know "jack" about 3D flying but when 80 percent of your inventory is OOS you need to slap your mfg upside the head or find another one.

PS..I know Scott is/was a Commercial Airline pilot so this is more of Ben's prob...Just had to say that as these guys could have 10x the sales if they got their buusiness MOJO tweaked. While they are flying no one is buying OOS AC.

Unbelievable.

Good guys...bad business model.


PS...MM...Blucor Basher(ben) is still posting over at RC Groups as of yesterday. BoneDoc(one of thier sponsored pilots) a great ortho surgeon and 3D flyer has not posted since June. Ben posted today. Just go to RC Groups and post up on one of his threads.

 

[AKfreak]

BoneDoc is in the UK and not active in many months.

 

[xlr8tion]

Thanks AK....

I wondered where he went. We used to email back and forth a lot back in 2007 and I think he was still doing his Orthopedic Surgeon gig in TX and producing alot of awesome 3DHS flight vids back then.

After my quasi rant above was thinking about HOW I would run EF or 3DHS...They sell the Airframe and try to get you to buy a powerplant/ESC/servos.. Long to short...I think they have it backwards. With this tight economy and immense expense of quality mega electronics and 6S+ lipos-the market is in the 3S/4S sizes. How many 91" AC's are sold per every 48"? Unless you have big money to go big scale(this economy has restricted that) some can afford a 41"-50"; less can afford 60" to 75" and few can touch a quality large scale build-say 125". I saw when 3DHS was kicking a$$ back in 2007(and EF as well & PA)) and it was with the 55" and under models. Nitro is for old school and sponsored pilots of very large scale. Electric is the recent past and will envelop the future especially when Elon Musk of Tesla drops the price of Lipos in half with his Billion Dollar Battery plant to be built. Flying a 91"electric Yak is for the few, sponsored and the talented or the untalented with stupid money. Most of us started on the sub 50" inch size and that is where the majority of the money is in- VOLUME. I could digress for hours on where they went wrong but it is better to sell more of a smaller size to those who can afford it than selling airplanes as a sideline to your obsession of flying. I am sure I am angering all the 3D pilots here but no one started flying 3D straight on a 91" Yak that needs a 650 dollar hacker motor. As we speak....3DHS STOCKS 11 % of what they have on their website! 5 out of 44 models.

EF CRUSHES 3DHS by stocking 50 per cent of their offerings(10 of 20) with a majority of the OOS in the sub 50" sizes. Plenty of 125"s available.

So...3DHS is losing business to EF and EF is open 28 hrs a week but does not answer their phones on Friday at 1pm(they close at 2P) and if you look at 3DHS hours its 10 to 4 daily(30 Hrs a week). That's a 30 hour French work week which would be OK if they stocked their planes and let their website be a portal to sales and not frustration.

So you are either in business to stock and sell or out of business if you can't stock what you sell and don't answer the phones. It's supposed to be a hobby to us and a hardcore biz to them. That's how HH rolls... HARDCORE So I'll just buy a LPU or anything similar but not as "pure" at HH. How many times has a 51' AJ Slick been resold; or an 47" Extra as they are always OOS? You don't see many circa 2008-2014 NIB kits for sale here or on RC Groups as they construct fast and those who wants to build BUT find all the models are OOS so they come here/ RC Groups/RC Universe and CL looking for RTF's.-LPU.

Time for Scott and Ben to get their paradigm shifted as I make low six figures as a consultant a year and would never spend 2K on an AC (91 to 125 inch). I will spend 500 four times. Time for these companies to get back to basic and stock their bread and butter models that put them on the map or let Horizon Hobby knock them out...eg....$199 BNF Eflite Splendor on 6S vs 450-500 for a OOS 4S EF Vanquish MK II that will get crushed by the splendor. HH see's the void and will fill it. It's a hobby to the buyers and a SERIOUS BUSINESS to EF and 3DHS. Both companies are established enough and have proven designs that they need to ramp up production or get knocked out of business. HH is monolithic. 3DHS and EF have slid into "boutique" status- lets have fun and sell some planes. The Monolith will crush 3DHS, EF and PA if the don't do a paradigm shift

 

[Only Fine Helis]

I've owned my own business for over 22 years.

You have some very valid points.

 

[gyro]

Great observations....
I'm constantly baffled about the stock challenges. I've heard many complain about costs of labor, and this or that. If the costs are higher, raise the prices 10% and move on.
Bottom line: I completely agree personally.
Also, FWIW, Noll Smith runs 3dhs operations here in the US now... Ben is more the "face" of the company and a developer of future stuff.

 

[MM2ICBM]

Thanks for everyone's input and responses, something I would like to see from 3DHS. I'll hop on over to RCG and see if I can get in touch with Ben.

 

[Lojik]

And not just US based as well, if they want a higher international market they need to keep their distributors overseas stocked or give them the availability to stock more.

Case in point, I was in the market for a 30cc aircraft, 3DHS AU were out, EF Distributor had little choices in my size range so I went with the local Pilot RC Dist, had lots in stock and a few choices, was so happy with the purchase I went back a month later and got a 50cc from them

 

[njswede]

I think one reason that so many things are out of stock is that they're doing a major refresh on their product lines. New extras, New edge etc... not an excuse for not answering the phone, though...