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Model Expo questionable practices.

I wanted to update my post #20. Carlos (and Rick) contacted me over the weekend and this morning. Thanking me for bringing the (old) Amazon price error to their attention. They also wanted to discuss how to remedy the problem. But, I had already sent a reply that I no longer wanted to buy the Fair American as I'm trying to fix the errors in the one I have. I feel better about the situation as (though it took a while for them to respond) they were offering to rectify the situation.
 
ModelExpo did it again. There was a 33% off sale for everything on the site a few days ago. I was considering a Proxxon - Micro Mill MF 70. However along with the sale being posted the Mil became out of stock.
Screenshot 2026-06-02 at 10.01.24 AM.png

As soon as that sale has ended, it has become available again. Still on sale but at a $100 more. Funny how those sales work.
Screenshot 2026-06-05 at 1.35.00 PM.png
 
Kurt Konrath said:
turn a complaint into the Federal Trade Commission.
Click to expand...
Alas, this is a remedy from the past. The necessary bribes needed now make it too expensive. Companies can out send you anyway. It is now a profit center instead of a protector.

The sort of sale that is being hoped for fits with: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Work the numbers.

That Proxxon Micro looks like way too many compromises - on the hoof - a niche tool at best. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Little Machine Shop - smallest benchtop mill is $2500 for the bare machine.
Grizzly $700

These are metal working machines. So is a metal lathe. They are machines used to make other machines.

For wood working
At the bottom - if you want to push the limits OttoFrei has its branded version of a Eurotool DRL 300.00 for $135 the QA is worth the extra
Adding a quality XY table is about the same.
Sharp cutters sloooow feed.

A versatile option is
Foredom Flexshaft - SR for reverse rotation - TX for power
HP are designed for a side load
MasterCarver stealth 1/4" HP
VandaLay Acra Mill Plus with the Foredom tool mount instead of for a POS Dremel.
for a bit more get a small wood lathe and or a drill press
Foredom has a drill press accessory and an XY table can be jury rigged to fit. A larger XY table will get a 9" travel.
 
A suggestion. Next time one of these”sales” pops up, don’t use the on-line purchase feature. Call them! It might make it harder to claim “ out of stock”.

Roger
 
It is true, about the Proxxon MF 70 mill being out of stock during the sail, then in stock afterwards. I too was interested in one, having purchased the mill along with a PD250/E lathe from Amazon just weeks earlier, at 10% cash-back. But I was able to re-order the lathe, then a Proxxon band saw and Proxxon steady rest and vise, for less than I had paid for the lathe alone from Amazon. (Obviously I'm returning the duplicate items to Amazon.) A day later, after they extended the sale, some of the things I bought were no longer in stock. Also, while Amazon took over 2 weeks to get me my lathe, having it sent from Germany, Model Expo got me all my stuff in 4 days, direct from New England.

I'm thinking that they are getting stuff in and selling it all the time, especially with this 33% off sale, so it's possible they really did run out, then get new stuff. Or - it's possible they set a limit as to how many of certain expensive items they were willing to mark down that much. I don't know. Sounds semi-legit to me. I do know that this is the first sale where their "sales price" on Proxxon was cheaper than I could buy it from elsewhere. And I'm very happy they had it!
 
Hi everyone,

I've been reading through this thread, and I wanted to step in directly rather than let it sit. First, I'm sorry for the frustration this caused. Looking at it from your side, items vanishing right around our sales and reappearing right after does look shady, and you're right to call it out.

Here's the explanation, not a spin on it:

Proxxon restricts how far we're allowed to discount their whole line of products. That's a standard, industry-wide policy, not something we chose. On top of that, our margins on Proxxon are thin enough that even where we have some room, a sitewide 33-40% coupon would often mean selling at a loss. That's specifically why Proxxon gets excluded from our sitewide/category-wide promotions. It doesn't mean we'll never offer deals on Proxxon. We will still run occasional, significant discounts on specific Proxxon items, either through special manufacturer-approved promotions or when we have the margin room to do it right.

The mistake was in how we handled the sitewide exclusion at the technical level. Rather than just excluding Proxxon from the discount and leaving the listings up, we pulled the products entirely so the discount code wouldn't misfire on them. That's on us. It saved us an engineering headache but created exactly the "disappearing act" that looks deceptive, and "No Products Found" instead of a clear explanation made it worse. That's a communication failure, full stop.

Starting with our next sale, Proxxon items will stay visible, clearly marked "Excluded from promotional pricing". No more disappearing listings.

I know an apology doesn't undo a pattern. The fix has to actually show up next sale for this to mean anything. I appreciate you all holding us to that.

All the best,
Rick
 
Model Shipways said:
Hi everyone,

I've been reading through this thread, and I wanted to step in directly rather than let it sit. First, I'm sorry for the frustration this caused. Looking at it from your side, items vanishing right around our sales and reappearing right after does look shady, and you're right to call it out.

Here's the explanation, not a spin on it:

Proxxon restricts how far we're allowed to discount their whole line of products. That's a standard, industry-wide policy, not something we chose. On top of that, our margins on Proxxon are thin enough that even where we have some room, a sitewide 33-40% coupon would often mean selling at a loss. That's specifically why Proxxon gets excluded from our sitewide/category-wide promotions. It doesn't mean we'll never offer deals on Proxxon. We will still run occasional, significant discounts on specific Proxxon items, either through special manufacturer-approved promotions or when we have the margin room to do it right.

The mistake was in how we handled the sitewide exclusion at the technical level. Rather than just excluding Proxxon from the discount and leaving the listings up, we pulled the products entirely so the discount code wouldn't misfire on them. That's on us. It saved us an engineering headache but created exactly the "disappearing act" that looks deceptive, and "No Products Found" instead of a clear explanation made it worse. That's a communication failure, full stop.

Starting with our next sale, Proxxon items will stay visible, clearly marked "Excluded from promotional pricing". No more disappearing listings.

I know an apology doesn't undo a pattern. The fix has to actually show up next sale for this to mean anything. I appreciate you all holding us to that.

All the best,
Rick
Click to expand...
Hey Rick,

I really appreciate you posting on this and the reasons why you did it. It says a lot about you and your team.
 
This happened during their last sale. I am looking to purchase some Proxxon accessories. When I checked Model Expo, where I have previously purchased Proxxon goods, I saw that the search found no items from Proxxon. I promptly emailed Model Expo and asked if they had discontinued stocking Proxxon products. Within twenty-four hours of sending the email I received a very nice reply from Model Expo stating why Proxxon tools were not part of the sale. By the way, I didn't know that Model Expo was having a sale. I didn't think anything of it. I never thought Model Expo was trying to do something underhanded or shady. I have only been in the model ship building arena for a short time and in that time Model Expo has been one of my go to suppliers.

Bill
 
Interesting,

I've had only positive results trading with Model Expo. The latest was also excellent ---

I have been SO following Chuck's @The Gavel -- L'Orenoque build - and found this ship to be so interesting...So;

It was hard to pass up at a discounted $435.00 ordered one two week ago (on back-order) all good.

On (7/01) went to their site looking for other items - Oh Oh!! - July 4th sale ALL items were 50% off. Of course looked at the L’Orenoque - indeed sale price had dropped to $335.00. Hmmm…

Big “shout out” to Model Expo.

Called them. Voice mail. three times - I did not leave any messages - BUT they called me... How about that!. We went through my pre-order. I said, “I know that I already purchased this item for $435.00. It’s ok, but, if you could accommodate the $100.00 discount to its now current price on your site that would be nice”?. If not, still all ok look -- I forward to the kit when it arrives”.

Well, Model Expo said, “no, not ok, we’ve just credited your CC pre-order for a $100.00 - So nice of them!!! Even after I said if you can't not an issue!!!

PS; credit to my CC did post.
 
My Model Expo purchases are limited to a minor one. It went well. Regarding Corsair’s post above: Model Expo may not write and issue advertising on a real time basis. In other words the ad posted above, although misleading, might have been “in the works” by an advertising agency when Rick posted on MSW. Like the old movies it was too late to Stop The Presses.

Roger
 
lakedaisy said:
ModelExpo did it again. There was a 33% off sale for everything on the site a few days ago. I was considering a Proxxon - Micro Mill MF 70. However along with the sale being posted the Mil became out of stock.
View attachment 609634

As soon as that sale has ended, it has become available again. Still on sale but at a $100 more. Funny how those sales work.
View attachment 609635
Click to expand...
I have read that the Proxxon circling vulture lawyers do not allow sites to discount their tools without first getting an OK directly from them. And discounts are usually minor at best. Some retailers have decided to no longer even offer Proxxon products on their sites, no longer wanting the hassles..

The several of their tools that I have were either purchased directly from their site or at Amazon - given free shipping even for heavy items. As "expensive" as their
products are - I do find their quality and reliability way up there. Their MF 70 is excellent !! IMO

Proxxon sale discounts are infrequent and very controlled... So it goes. Some sites when offering site wide discounts sometimes forget to not include their Proxxon items - hence the hassles and buyer anger, and annoyance after ordering.
 
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