I've ordered an awful lot of stuff over the internet, both through secure and unsecure sites. As long as you choose your vendor with care your credit card is generally pretty safe - then you just have to worry about what sort of equipment you'll end up with...
Most of my equipment I have ordered from Leon Paul in the UK. This is due to a
number of reasons. My club owns mostly LP gear, so the quality was known to me
(generally quite good), and I knew my equipment would be compatible with the club
gear should I need to borrow it. Also they were cheaper than Allstar, and I've
heard unkind rumours regarding the even cheaper blades offered by some US suppliers.
Unfortunately the basic advantages of e-commerce seem to have escaped LP. My e-mail
was responded to with posted letters, which take rather a while to get to Australia,
and the online ordering form has been allegedly under construction for years.
For best results, fax them your order and arrange to recieve confirmation by fax,
or be prepared for slow turn-around time. I always underline or bold sizes and
left/right handedness just to emphasise them, but have never personally had an
order incorrectly filled.
Last time I ordered, LP offered 10% discount on orders over 1000 pounds.
They have an export price list available on request.
For Australian readers, we have an import duty on sporting equipment, it was
about 26% pre GST, I've heard rumours it's come down now but I haven't confirmed
this.
Addendum 2003: The Leon Paul website and shopping cart has improved remarkably over the last few years. They've also improved their service behind the scenes so I no longer feel obliged to issue warnings alongside recommendations of their equipment.
While compatability is a problem for some fencing items, with others one is free to
shop around. I ordered a pair of Victory shoes from BG, which I am most
happy with.
After 8 months of regular use (training 1.5 times a week, competing
once a month) thay are still holding together well and have required no
repairs.
More recently I ordered some bags, a testweight and a lame'. The bags are
excellent - HUGE, robust construction and materials, and lots of pockets. Much
better value for money than my Leon Paul bag (which was still pretty good). The
lame' appears to be well constructed, only time will tell how well the material
lasts. Being the cheapest lame' on the market, I'm not expecting great things.
The foil/epee testweight is very nice, the two weights screw securely together,
the hole is well insulated with a plastic sheath and quite deep.
Unlike LP, they apparently have grasped the concept of e-mail and on-line ordering,
though the online ordering system is a little clunky and could benefit from the
latest shopping-cart technology. Unfortunately response time to e-mail is a little
slow, you don't want to be in a hurry with these people. I think they may be checking
their mail once a week. However once the order is placed, delivery is quick, and the
packaging is minimal. (whether this is due to environmental concerns or penny-pinching
I don't know, I'm just glad not to have to throw out sheets of plastic and styrofoam
peanuts.) It should be noted that when they make pilgrimages to the US national
tournaments there is no one left at the shop to send orders or read e-mail.
They have special prices for international orders, my shoes cost me the same with postage
as that advertised in the catalogue. ($95 US) Purchases should also keep an
eye out for sale items, they have some real bargains occasionally, but be sure
to specify in you e-mail that you want it at the Sale Price, or they seem to forget.
Handy Tip: Apparently small items posted in taped-up shoeboxes escape the customs net.
There is no export price list, and their paper catalogue is pretty badly laid
out. I still haven't worked out what the numbers pointing to the shoes are refering to,
but on the plus side, it does have a lot of handy info in there.
Stick to the online catalogue if you know what you want, much easier to navigate.
Addendum 2001: A recent order of blades was received with astonishing speed, I
was most impressed. My Victory shoes have just had their first minor repair
after 1.5 years - gluing part of the sole back in place.
Addendum 2003: After becoming increasingly reluctant, BG are apparently no longer willing
to ship internationally at all (although they still need to update their website). Now
I need to find a new source of pommel nuts, darn it.
Love the hard-copy catalogue, a refreshing change after LP's outdated glossy. Low-budget,
humorous, and informative. If I hadn't been getting so much other stuff from LP at the time,
I would have got my bag off them.
As it is, I was going to get Starfighter shoes through them, but discovered that they only
send by insured air-mail, minimum postage $50 US. As I didn't much care to add a third
to the cost of my shoes, I went elsewhere, but at least they are prompt with their
e-mail. Online form and catalogue is pretty good.
I decided to go straight to the source when I need new fencing shoes this time, and so visited
PBT's website. Previously I ignored them because they have a pretty useless website, no prices,
little description, no online ordering system. But I requested their price list, and their prices
were good. More surprising, the customer service was good and fast, I now have new respect for
them. The order was sorted out in quick time despite the need to e-mail back and forth and my
shoes and assorted impulse buys were on my doorstep a couple of weeks later.
PBT take payment in US dollars, don't seem to charge excessively for postage&packaging, and communicated
well with this happy customer.