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West Central Iowa | What do I have to do to be able to order items for personal use on my farm directly from either of these companies online stores? I know I can go into my local Fastenal and buy what they have in stock at a higher retail price than it shows online, but would like to be able to have things delivered to my home instead since they are about 30 miles away. I assume I have to set up and account with either one, but since both are wholesale sellers, I assume I will need a tax number or something to prove I am a viable business. Really like both stores online systems and hope I can get an account set up. Can anyone speak from experience on either of these companies? |
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northeastern Ohio | I set up an account with Fastenal when they opened a store in town 2 years ago. I don't remember the details, but I think it was a standard credit application: tax id, bank info, address, years in business, ect... You definitely want an account if you purchase any amount of merchandise from them. I usually pay when I pick up the merchandise, but I don't think there is any penalty for waiting for the monthly statement. |
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Ethridge, TN | Have ordered from both, only thing you need is a credit card for payment. The rest is just setting up the shipping portion online with address and such. I haven't ordered from McMaster-Carr lately, but Fastenal is going to add sales tax. Haven't ordered enough there to really worry about trying to get an exemption set-up, but I expect that might be no more than faxing them a copy of your tax exemption, or possibly just taking it to the local store??? |
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West Union, Illinois | mailman13 - I can go into my local Fastenal and buy what they have in stock at a higher retail price than it shows online I didn't realize that! I thought the in store prices were a bit high. If I have an account do I get lower prices at the store or is this just when buying online ? |
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northeastern Ohio | Mike, They have two sets of prices at the store: Retail and wholesale (guys with an account). I have never bought from Fastenal online, so I don't know if they have two prices there. |
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| McMaster-Carr accepts the AG tax exemption. I do not know what they require for a new open account. When I got one, in the 1980's, you just called and asked for one. No forms, no applications, they sent you what you ordered. Pay the bill and they keep sending you what you want. They have two warehouses, one in Chicago, Ill and one in Santa Fe Springs CA. The one in Calif is right next to a major UPS center. There is a conveyor running between the buildings. I have ordered on-line after 5 PM and got the order the next day via UPS ground. I do not know if the Chicago warehouse is the same. I have had two wrong orders in 25 years. One time they sent me someone else's order. The other one they substituted an EPA approved gas can (California environmental BS.) for what I wanted. Each time it took one phone call to fix. I believe that is an excellent record for 25 years. |
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| Fastenal is volume/history based. Here on "normal" items, you can buy them at the local hardware stores cheaper. They do have nice selection, but it is expensive. I bought a bunch of long bolts for some fence rebuilding and they charged plenty for the bolts and then there was a freight charge. I inquired about it and basically told me I did not have much history with them to get the better price. I told them it appeared it was going to continue to be that way. Freight....on normal stocked items....come on. |
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Sac & Story county IA | I have not done any business with Fastenal, but many years with McMaster. When I got my account with McMaster, someone called and asked the normal questions. Getting a catalog from them has tightened up the last few years. But their website is the easiest thing for ordering on the web. So, if a person had an old catalog just to see what they had, that would be fine. I have heard the comment that they ship with an ICBM missile. Second to none on speed of delivery. I have never been disappointed in quality of the stock. For example, pipe fittings are better than big box stores. McMaster does take plastic. I have no idea if the prices are the same. But on the website, when you order, the price shows before the method of payment, so I sort of expect the price is the same.
There have been some discussions of McMaster at Practical Machinist discussion. Read there for more opinions. I can tell you way more positive than any thing else.
A person could do worse than buy one of these;
http://business.shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=mcmaster+catalog&_sacat=1...
If you farm and fix much of anything. This is required reading.
Edited by E718 3/14/2011 11:38
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Brookston, IN | I ordered a Pulley from McMaster-Carr last Monday. Looked it up on line, called with PN same price was quoted as I saw on line, $5.00 shipping and it was setting on the porch Tuesday when I got home from work. I didn't set up an account just pd with CC. I was impress with both the shipping charge, usually $12 or more, and the speed it got to me. |
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E.Central MN | You don't need an account to order from McMaster Carr. Just call them up and order, they'll ask for your credit card. They are very good to deal with. Usually its next day delivery if they ship it by Speedy. I don't know about tax exemption for farm items, never bothered to ask. I'm sure they would send you whatever form necessary if you talk to them. They are very polite and professional and seem to be very well run. Fastenal on the other hand....doesn't try very hard considering how uncompetitive they are on most things. |
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| Most of my central Iowa deliveries from McMaster have come from Omaha and nearly always overnight.
Gerald J. |
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| I've not yet ordered on line from Fastenal. It can be worth shopping around and now that I've moved their nearest store (which was flooded last year and so is even more down on stock) is not all that well stocked and the prices are way higher than in their printed catalog from 2009.
All it has ever taken to order from McMaster has been a good credit card and a business name. With catalog in hand, I used to order by phone, on my nickel, but they didn't waste my time taking the order and confirming the products were in stock. I still like having a catalog, but my latest one is getting to be a little obsolete and getting a new one is difficult, begging hasn't worked well, and since I moved, the old one hasn't appeared yet. Most of the time their on line search is pretty good and often shows images of the catalog pages.
Gerald J. |
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| They send me a new catalog every year, maybe the open account is the reason. |
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| Gerald J. |
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Fastenal and McMaster-Carr account requirements
