I used plumberssurplus.com to purchase my tankless water heater and it was great.

I have used Amazon for tools and everything else but a mail order bride. Never a bad experience.

Look, the web is great if you know exactly what you want and don't need the value added by a sales consultant or much hand holding afterwards. If you are a high-maintenance consumer, forget it and go with a brick and mortar store.

The other thing that you might do is give the brick and mortar supplier the option to came closer to the on-line price. The may not know that they aren't competitive. Be honest and let them know that you would like to give them all of your business but can't afford to do that when there is that much of a price difference.

Also, make sure you are comparing apples to apples and include shipping.

I actually have purchased a lot of home improvement products online. The first purchase I made for my house was through PlumberSurplus.com, I had a really good experience with them. I did check out home center on Amazon, but their ratings were so bad that I was afraid to order from them. Since I had a good experience at PlumberSurplus.com I have been ordering all of my additional products from them. I have found that even the items I have ordered with free shipping arrived earlier than I had expected.

Here is a link that might be useful: PlumberSurplus.com

I actually have an account at a Winnelson(plumbing wholesaler) in CA so I get wholesale prices. Even they can't beat some of the online prices I have gotten.

I found irawood.com to be the cheapest even with shipping.

I'm building in Wyoming so there aren't a lot of places to comparison shop. I do all of that on the internet. You could even try ebay but they aren't always a bargain.

Be careful that the builder doesn't jack up other costs to compensate for the profit loss on the plumbing fixtures.

irawood.com is a website for writers.

I bought an Elkay sink from HomeClick. The price was almost $100 less than Home Depot but it took over five weeks to arrive. The packaging was not very protective and it arrived with a dent in the front. My plumber was able to straighten it enough to install it since I couldn't wait for a replacement and my kitchen had been designed around that particular non-standard sized sink. Also, there were places underneath where it looked as though the sprayed on insulation (or sound deadener or whatever it is) had been scraped off. When I complained to HomeClick, I got a $50 dollar credit. It's supposed to be 18 guage stainless but I noticed a rust spot after only a few weeks of use. I'm wondering if the lower price reflects second quality merchandise. I'd be very reluctant to make this type of purchase on-line again. Or if I did so, I'd order months in advance of when I needed the item in case it was unsatisfactory. Watch out for "restocking" fees, too. They can be substantial.

When we upgraded our bath fixtures (two faucets, one bath and one shower), my wife found the ones she wanted at HD, copied down the make and model numbers and we found them on Amazon for $300 less!! They were brand new, sealed in the box and worked great. I know people who have purchased thier new kitchen appliances online and also saved lots of $$$.

Purchased faucet from thefaucetdiscounters. Nice quality and fast delivery, but hard to get answers from them that are directed at the question asked.I saved at least $100.

i bought all of my moen faucets/valves from faucet depot. quick & packaged well. when 2 screws were missing, they said they could have gotten them to me, but since the screws didn't have their own parts #, i had to call moen and explain which ones they were over the phone with the exploded diagram in hand. moen got them to me within a week, just before c'mas. impressive, though nothing to do with faucet depot i guess :)

haven't had to do any returns, but the prices alone made it worth it so far, even with shipping. i'd guess if you weren't positive that you knew what you wanted, it may be safer to buy locally so you keep that option of convenient, shipping-free returns.

lisa

I've purchased bathroom fixtures from Absolute Home, kitchen and bath faucets from Faucet Depot, and an awesome stainless kitchen sink from Galaxy Tool Supply. I saved a bunch on all of them and had no problems at all with ordering, delivery, packaging, damage, etc. As previously stated, online is great if you know exactly what you want and are comfortable doing the research and hunting. In some cases, you can find a local showroom to play with things before you order, but I agree that you should also then give the local guy a chance to price match. Many people, including me sometimes, have a tendency to use their local showrooms for window shopping and then never throw any business their way. Try to support the locals, but if the price difference is too great, buying online is a great way to go.

What about for bath vanities and sinks? any online source? or do I have to use the HD and lowes?

I'm purchasing most of my new kitchen items online. I just received my sink in perfect condition saving $291 from MSRP (via eBay). I just won the bid on eBay for the garbage disposer (saved $57). I'm also purchasing the faucet next, expect to save about $230. These are just a few examples. Do your research! Be sure that the item it exactly what you want (visit a local store) and check the description carefully. But I save lots by shopping online, with the minimum always being the local sales tax (7.75%), if I buy from a vendor out of state. Be sure to figure in shipping costs. I have more time than money, so I take the time to check out lots of web sites in addition to eBay. But you can be successful! Good luck and good buying!

I am interested in buying Rohl faucets, farmhouse sink, etc from QualityBath on line. They list themselves as an authorize dealer for Rohl saying that their showroom is associated with Island Showroom in New York, and since they have a "showroom" then they are an authorized dealer, making the Rohl warranty good (defective Rohl products must be sent back via an authorized dealer). However, when I called Island Showroom (they answer the phone as Home & Stone), they say that "technically" they are QualityBath's showroom. However, if problems arise with any of the Rohl products, they must be returned by QualityBath, not Island Showroom. So my question becomes, has anyone ever had to return anything to QualityBath due to a warranty problem, and if so, were you satisfied with your customer service. Thanks,

I purchased from AJ Madison. No complaints.

As a contractor: Buy it from someone else if you want - Anyone else - but if you do so, do not expect me to guarantee it. In other words, if you buy it elswhere, I will not repair, remove, or replace it for free.

If you do have a problem, neither will butitonline.com.

At least if you buy it from a wholesaler, Hell Depot, or a local store, you can return it if you need to.

I bought my Danze faucets from the danzefaucetwarehouse (AKA HMWallace). One of the shower valves had a mfg defect. They sent another immediately, no charge, and arranged for Fed-X to pick up the defective valve. I am buying everything I can from them because they have been great.
I also had good experiences with faucetdirect.com for Toto toilets and wamhomecenter.com for an in-wall ironing board. I plan to go back to wamhomecenter for my vent fans.
I've bought lots of non-remodeling stuff from Amazon and always had good experiences, but I can't vouch for the others.

OK> So, I'm reading this post due to a recent experience with the plumber my GC is using for our renovation.

I got a babysitter to watch my toddler so I could go look at fixtures at their showroom with my baby. So, I get there and they don't have many of the nicer brands on display- they want to show me everything in a catalog!! Well, thank you but I can do that at home. So, fine- I briefly look at the catalog and pick a few things to get prices. They gave me some pricing and I left.

So- wouldn't you want to see products in person if you plan to invest nearly $2000 on them?? I dragged my two small children to another local plumbing outfit to see the higher end stuff I got quoted for at the previous place. The prices were more than $500 different!!! I mean to do I have stupid written on my head b/c I have a newborn? Do they just think I don't have time to research and will just take their price?? This mother has an MBA thank you very much.

Fine. So I talked to my contractor and he said to approach them on the issue. I did. They claim their product is better quality and that you can get the same things from other dealers but they aren't as heavy... blah blah blah. That may be true for some Kohler fixtures, but not Rohl!!! And I don't even believe them at that. For the amount of money saved I can buy a whole new fixture in a few years if I decide to change it or it goes bad!!

Can someone please tell me if these people are just jerking around with me?? I thought about how they may try to pad the rest of the bill if they adjust the fixture prices, so I'm not really sure what to do with this mess.

This is why I do NOT trust vendors like this- b/c of dishonest people who try to make excuses for their ridiculous prices.

Just don't purchase them from Homecenter.com. This is a drop ship scam. They advertise low prices to get you to purchase, then attempt to collect large drop ship fees or order cancellation fees.

Homecenter.com is rated F by the New York BBB. You can see how many people they've victimized when you do a google search for "homecenter.com complaints".

I've ordered from many online merchants over the past 10 years. The only company I ever had a serious problem with was Homecenter.com.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Horrible Experience with Homecenter.com