Tool sites—the good, the bad, and the ugly

[Yukon]

We see all these deals at the usual places. I’m just wondering what tool sites anyone uses/used that they like or cuss at the thought of, now?

I recently made a purchase at Tooltopia. Ordered the stuff on a Thursday at noon. Received product by Saturday at noon. I was impressed. 

I’m also curious if anyone knows much about National Tool Warehouse. I wanted to buy from them but had a hard time finding stuff in stock.

[Andrew]

Never heard of tooltopia, also curious about National tool Wearhouse.
Where else do you find deals?

[PJ]

I don't have much of a preference on the tools sites other than I wish they all had free shipping and the free shipping thresholds were a lot lower. Acme went to $49 around Christmas but has jumped it back up to $199 for free shipping now.

Lowes and Northern Tool have to be the worst when it comes to cancelling an order on you. Not sure who all was around for the Sunex Lowes deals maybe a year ago but they had a ton of tools for great deals on the website and I ordered probably 8 different things myself. Also posted it on the website and video and they ended up cancelling everyone of them. On my end its not just the disappointment of not getting the items but also I obviously don't get an affiliate commission if the order gets cancelled and its just a huge waste of time. So places that cancel a lot of orders kind of piss me off.

Also because I have had some sort of discussions with employees at most of these places I have learned that in different ways they can all suck and be a pain in the ass and I cant cut ties with one because they do something incredibly stupid. If I did I wouldn't have anything left to post.

Also ToolBarn and ToolNut seem to have the highest prices. I am pretty sure the ToolNut affiliate agreement makes a big deal of not doing price comparisons.... I wonder why lol

[MiscellaneousDave]

I find Northern Tool to be very expensive 99.9% of the time, and don't shop there much. Though their products seem to be decent.

A great site that I occasionally use for some deals it https://www.directtoolsoutlet.com/. The great thing about them is that for Ridgid tools specifically, if you buy the ones marked as "Factory Blemished" they are still eligible for the LSA agreement, and usually are really a good price. I have got 2-3 tools from them and I couldn't see a single blemish on them.

[Orion1876]

I find Northern Tool to be very expensive 99.9% of the time, and don't shop there much.  Though their products seem to be decent.

A great site that I occasionally use for some deals it https://www.directtoolsoutlet.com/.  The great thing about them is that for Ridgid tools specifically, if you buy the ones marked as "Factory Blemished" they are still eligible for the LSA agreement, and usually are really a good price.  I have got 2-3 tools from them and I couldn't see a single blemish on them.

I have had good luck ordering from Acme Tools, and CPO.   I know some have had issues with CPO, but I didn't have any issues ordering from them.

I also have seen a lot of negative reviews of Northern tools.  They have been cancelling a lot of orders recently.

International tool has been ok as well.   I have ordered from them a few times and most of the orders were fine.  They just tend to not do a very good job of communicating when there is a need to cancel an order.

Direct Tool Outlet has been fine as well.   I have only ordered from them once and there were no issues with the order.   They tend to have great deals on Ridgid,  and Ryobi tools.

[MiscellaneousDave]

I have had good luck ordering from Acme Tools, and CPO.   I know some have had issues with CPO, but I didn't have any issues ordering from them.

I also have seen a lot of negative reviews of Northern tools.  They have been cancelling a lot of orders recently.

International tool has been ok as well.   I have ordered from them a few times and most of the orders were fine.  They just tend to not do a very good job of communicating when there is a need to cancel an order.

Direct Tool Outlet has been fine as well.   I have only ordered from them once and there were no issues with the order.   They tend to have great deals on Ridgid,  and Ryobi tools.

I ordered once from Acme, and it was bad on arrival.  They basically said to go through the manufacturer for warranty.  That kind of sucked since it wasn't as easy as one would like (BOSCH).

[PJ]

I find Northern Tool to be very expensive 99.9% of the time, and don't shop there much.  Though their products seem to be decent.

A great site that I occasionally use for some deals it https://www.directtoolsoutlet.com/.  The great thing about them is that for Ridgid tools specifically, if you buy the ones marked as "Factory Blemished" they are still eligible for the LSA agreement, and usually are really a good price.  I have got 2-3 tools from them and I couldn't see a single blemish on them.

I have had good luck ordering from Acme Tools, and CPO.   I know some have had issues with CPO, but I didn't have any issues ordering from them.

I also have seen a lot of negative reviews of Northern tools.  They have been cancelling a lot of orders recently.

International tool has been ok as well.   I have ordered from them a few times and most of the orders were fine.  They just tend to not do a very good job of communicating when there is a need to cancel an order.

Direct Tool Outlet has been fine as well.   I have only ordered from them once and there were no issues with the order.   They tend to have great deals on Ridgid,  and Ryobi tools.

I hear some complaints about CPO and have ordered from them on a few occasions. Never personally had a problem and no one has ever contacted me directly about a problem.

I have had good luck ordering from Acme Tools, and CPO.   I know some have had issues with CPO, but I didn't have any issues ordering from them.

I also have seen a lot of negative reviews of Northern tools.  They have been cancelling a lot of orders recently.

International tool has been ok as well.   I have ordered from them a few times and most of the orders were fine.  They just tend to not do a very good job of communicating when there is a need to cancel an order.

Direct Tool Outlet has been fine as well.   I have only ordered from them once and there were no issues with the order.   They tend to have great deals on Ridgid,  and Ryobi tools.

I ordered once from Acme, and it was bad on arrival.  They basically said to go through the manufacturer for warranty.  That kind of sucked since it wasn't as easy as one would like (BOSCH).

That sucks. One thing I like about places with a physical store, if you have a problem you can stand in front of them. I have been known to cause a scene on more than one occasion. Usually its Monica's fault with her damn couponing though lol.

[Orion1876]

I find Northern Tool to be very expensive 99.9% of the time, and don't shop there much.  Though their products seem to be decent.

A great site that I occasionally use for some deals it https://www.directtoolsoutlet.com/.  The great thing about them is that for Ridgid tools specifically, if you buy the ones marked as "Factory Blemished" they are still eligible for the LSA agreement, and usually are really a good price.  I have got 2-3 tools from them and I couldn't see a single blemish on them.

I have had good luck ordering from Acme Tools, and CPO.   I know some have had issues with CPO, but I didn't have any issues ordering from them.

I also have seen a lot of negative reviews of Northern tools.  They have been cancelling a lot of orders recently.

International tool has been ok as well.   I have ordered from them a few times and most of the orders were fine.  They just tend to not do a very good job of communicating when there is a need to cancel an order.

Direct Tool Outlet has been fine as well.   I have only ordered from them once and there were no issues with the order.   They tend to have great deals on Ridgid,  and Ryobi tools.

I hear some complaints about CPO and have ordered from them on a few occasions.  Never personally had a problem and no one has ever contacted me directly about a problem. 

I have had good luck ordering from Acme Tools, and CPO.   I know some have had issues with CPO, but I didn't have any issues ordering from them.

I also have seen a lot of negative reviews of Northern tools.  They have been cancelling a lot of orders recently.

International tool has been ok as well.   I have ordered from them a few times and most of the orders were fine.  They just tend to not do a very good job of communicating when there is a need to cancel an order.

Direct Tool Outlet has been fine as well.   I have only ordered from them once and there were no issues with the order.   They tend to have great deals on Ridgid,  and Ryobi tools.

I ordered once from Acme, and it was bad on arrival.  They basically said to go through the manufacturer for warranty.  That kind of sucked since it wasn't as easy as one would like (BOSCH).

That sucks.  One thing I like about places with a physical store, if you have a problem you can stand in front of them.  I have been known to cause a scene on more than one occasion.  Usually its Monica's fault with her damn couponing though lol.

This is true there is a definite benefit to buying from a store that has a  physical location near by.  Typically online dealers try to sweeten the deal as much as they can in order to beat the prices in the physical store.  Good example of this is CPO.  Sometimes they have deals that seem a bit better than my local stores.

[MiscellaneousDave]

Blame poor Monica for saving money!!! lol...  Even Amazon has a great return policy without a physical store (as long as you don't abuse it).  But obviously Acme is a mite smaller.

[Orion1876]

My one warning for anyone ordering from CPO is that I have heard several reports of people receiving used batteries and tools when they were expected to be new.

Supposedly they are making an effort to clean up their act, but it is something to keep in mind.