Dirt cheap trading.com Review

[Arimack]

  I have been looking to build my own cabinet from scratch but decided to start with a control panel first then move over to a cabinet.  As part of this, I decided to buy some initial parts and play around with my control panel design first before I settle on a plan.  So instead of the full four player, six button each, track ball/spinner/dedicated 4 way joystick/analog joystick buy, I wanted to work a bunch of different controls in a smaller test panel first to see what I like and o not like in the setup and spacing on the panel.  Because of this and because I am not looking for everything on my testbed to find its way onto my final panel, I wanted everything cheap initially. The stuff I don't use on my final panel will become part of my next project or makes it way onto eBay.  Either way cost was the main qualifier I was looking for.  
  After checking out all the usual suspects and confirming with other reviews here on BYOAC, I settled on Dirt Cheap Trading.com (www.diretcheaptrading.com)  There are several comments (pretty positive) on other parts of the forum but nothing under reviews so I thought I would add this post.
  I will review the order once I get it with details about the timeliness of the order processing, communication throughout the process, etc.  

  I placed the order on June 2, 2012.  Paid through paypal.  Ordered an assortment of joysticks, buttons, trackball, encoder.

  Received an email within minutes on 2 June 2012 confirming my paypal payment.

  Received an email on June 3, 2012 through paypal indicating my order had shipped and included a USPS tracking number.

  The tracking info indicates I should receive it today, June 6, 2012.  I will let you know how I make out.

[Arimack]

One minor annoyance  which may or may not be related to my order.  The email address use for my paypal account is not used in any other transactions, except with my bank.  I never get spam on this account due to filters on it and the lack of use in transactions.  But within a couple of hours of placing the order, I got a Chinese character laden spam to this account.  Never happened to this account before.  I can not guarantee the two are related but it is a pretty strange coincidence.

[Arimack]

Okay, here is the update.  I got the package on the 6th and opened it like a little kid on Christmas morning.  Everything was as requested except I got two 1 player buttons and not the 2 player button I thought I had ordered.  I will post some pictures of the packaging and contents of my order next post.  The packaging was okay, nothing special, not a lot of padding but it probably didn't need much with what I ordered.  Not sure if the mistake was mine or not on the 2 player button as no receipt was included in the package and my paypal receipt did not include an itemized list.  One minor quibble was that I did not receive an emailed itemized list of confirming my order.  Might have caught this mistake (as it turns out it was my error) if I had gotten some confirmation outside of paypal. 

Also, something rattled around inside the trackball and the roll on it was not smooth.  I know I ordered the cheap, MAME trackball but this did not feel right even for a cheap knockoff. 
http://www.dirtcheaptrading.com/arcade-parts/arcade-controls.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=80&category_id=2

So I emailed Dirtcheaptrading and asked about this on Wednesday night, June 6th.

I quickly got a response from Justin at Dirtcheaptrading the next morning explaining that 1) I had ordered two 1 player and no 2 player button -DOH!- (he included my order receipt in the email) but he would exchange it for me and 2) the MAME trackballs were good but I should not expect HAPP quality feel in it. 

I decided to plugged the trackball in and my fears were confirmed as it only worked in one axis. 

So on Thurs, June 7th, I emailed Justin back and proposed that I send the extra 1 player button and broken trackball back at my expense if he would send the replacements, 2 player button and new MAME trackball, at his expense.  He quickly agreed and this morning I sent them to him priority mail.

My take so far:
Products: 5 Stars
Pricing: 5 Stars
Processing/Shipping: 5 Stars
Packaging: 3 Stars
Communication: 5 Stars  (All responses have been super fast and I know this is huge for these small shops.)
Returns: 5 Stars

I do not expect these small shops to give Amazon like customer experience but so far dirtcheaptrading.com has done an excellent job with customer service.  Great experience even with the minor slips on my part and the defective trackball. The prices are great, best I have seen on what items they carry. I would definitely order from again.

I will update with pictures of the order and results from my return soon.

[Arimack]

@PBJ
  Well this seems like a rite of passage around here, getting slapped around by PBJ in a discussion, so I guess, being as this was my first post, I should be happy you noticed! 

 -Had not seen Spark Fun discussed on the forums before so thanks for letting me know about this vendor.  Their site has some pretty interesting stuff.

 -As for sounding like a nut, thanks for the constructive criticism.

[phyrosis]

i dont see how he sounds like a nut... i read this all, and hmmmm nope seems like somthing i would do, the return and exchange and all...

[backupguy]

Couldn't you just have kept the player 1 button since you will be needing another for your next build?

[Arimack]

@backupguy. Yeah I am starting to see this hobby might become an obsession. I am already debating a sit down cab or a portrait screen setup (my first will be landscape).  I guess this was my little attempt to try and keep my new hobby under control.  Wife sees too much lying around after I am done with #1 and her support might dry up.
  Plus I think I will go with black player buttons on my next build!

[lordnacho]

Wife sees too much lying around after I am done with #1 and her support might dry up.

My bin o' random parts/wires/do-dads is hidden from the woman, just like the folder on my pc for the....nevermind

[rooter]

i dont see how he sounds like a nut... i read this all, and hmmmm nope seems like somthing i would do, the return and exchange and all...

Because he started reviewing the site before he even received a product.  It would make more sense to just make one post with a full review than 4-5 throughout the entire process.  That was the crazy part to me.  Maybe I'm just lazy.

[yotsuya]

Wife sees too much lying around after I am done with #1 and her support might dry up.

My bin o' random parts/wires/do-dads is hidden from the woman, just like the folder on my pc for the....nevermind

 

[Arimack]

@rooter. Like I said I am new and learning.  Probably would have made more sense but as this was my first order of anything in prep form my first build chalk it up to being excited about actually jumping into the whole process and wanting to start posting to the boards.

@lordnacho. Right, must increase space in garage near the cubby hole where I hide the new tools. Got it.