I am currently working with supply.com and pleased. shipments started arriving almost immediately, multiple carriers, good communication. I opened a contractor account and have an account specialist and got a few % points off the advertised pricing. So far, so good. Ordering sinks, tubs, showers, vanities, accessories, toilets.

Your plumber should be sending you to his local supply house rather than you buying stuff off the internet that he will not warranty. You’re the warranty point for things you buy.

If you know the items you want, let's say a Blanco sink for example, you should go to Blanco's website (or whatever manufacturer you are looking at), and look for their listing of authorized online retailers. Sometimes they even divide the list between online retailers and brick-and-mortar stores. I used Blanco as an example because of the number of stories here of people buying Blanco Silgranit sinks from non-authorized retailers, which did cost less--maybe less by $50 for the sink--and having the sink arrive poorly-packed and damaged. Those that bought from authorized Blanco retailers received their sinks double-boxed with lots of styrofoam, and in perfect condition. So look for authorized online retailers.

I do not agree with Sophie that you need to go through your contractor's supply house. Usually you will pay more there than buying on your own. There are contractors who don't mind if you are the one to deal with the hassle and time spent on researching the correct item, purchasing it, dealing with delivery, and inspecting it once it arrives. My electrician was happy for me to supply the lighting, switches, and receptacles. He said (using his pretty-decent Dr. McCoy voice), "I'm an electrician, not a hardware salesman".

I would suggest going through a local plumbing supplier. They will have the genuine product and be able to supply you with good service. They will also make sure you get all of the required parts & pieces to go with whatever fixtures you are buying.

Big box stores like Home Depot are not really a local source, and they usually have an inferior product made specifically for them. Unless you are buying one of the few items they stock in basic finishes, they can actually cost more money also.

Wherever you are at, look up a plumbing supplier. Most will sell to consumers direct.

Where you buy faucets and fixtures depends on the plumber installing them. My plumber made it very clear that he intended to make a certain dollar amount on the job of re-doing 3 bathrooms in my house. If I bought the faucets/fixtures myself, then he would not be making a profit on them and would then up the labor charge in order to make the profit he intended on this job. He was quite clear about this upfront.

I was on a tight budget and ended up not using my regular plumber. Instead, I hired a one-man operation a very picky friend had raved about. He didn't care who bought the fixtures/faucets - he gave me a labor price and I hired him and got them online myself and saved several hundreds of dollars.

Unfortunately, my friend "forgot" to tell me that the last job he had done for her had not been up to his usual high standards. I can tell you that the one he did for me, was not good and I ended up having to hire my regular plumber to come out and fix them - installing plumber had sold his tools, gone out of business and was now doing computer software!!! I ended up paying more. Lesson learned.

Ferguson is probably the safest place to buy plumbing items, but it also looks like one of the most expensive online retailer. Has anyone bought plumbing items which are shipped/sold by Amazon?

Some of my supply.com items are arriving and the shipper has been Ferguson.....

I stuck to known name brands.

I was really happy with faucetdirect.com (part of build.com). I’ve used them for several items with no problems.

One time I did get a defective part and I didn’t know until the plumber was ready to install it. I called them and they overnight shipped a complete new faucet and told me to use whatever part I needed. They then had me ship the broken and extra parts back using the shipping label they sent with the replacement faucet. It was very painless.

You might also want to take a look at this thread:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/contraband-and-illegal-faucets-on-houzz-dsvw-vd~5324956?n=83

I purchased every single item through my plumber and honestly his prices were as good as the online prices. Exclusively Koehler and I’m confident I’m getting good (safe) products. Plus he and his wife spent hours with me, at his dining room table, picking everything out, recording it, and making sure everything was correct.

But it’s a whole house. I might not have gotten those prices on a smaller job.

now I just wish my electrician had this kind of lighting connections.

i have purchased lots of stuff from Amazon in the past and after the recent stir up here about illegal faucets I wonder if the products were legit. I bought my dd a new faucet and now I wonder if my grandson is ingesting crap.

ILoveRed, I am also reading that items that are fulfilled by Amazon can still be counterfeits.

I posted on a different thread about a week ago that I favor Moen for kitchen and bathroom fixtures, in great part because of their price point and their customer service. I bought most of the Moen kitchen and bath fixtures for our new house (which we're building ourselves), and our Toto toilets, from plumbingonline.ca which has the best pricing I could find in our part of Canada, plus fast free shipping. I bought a few Moen items at big box stores on sale.

We recently had a shower valve fail in our current house (which makes the tub spout leak); the shower is 19 years old and my husband recalls that the valve was replaced once before, about 10 years ago. Then and now, Moen cheerfully and for free sent out a replacement valve.

I purchased my bathtubs through Fergusons - they were actually the cheapest and were willing to deliver them to the job site. Build.com is owned by the same company as Fergusons by the way. I have ordered some items from Build.com and found them to be great. I have also ordered some of my delta faucets from Lowes and Home Depot. I did check the delta website to make sure that they were models that were not made specifically for big box stores and were models sold at the plumbing stores as well. All faucets were shipped directly to me from Delta. My plumber just wants to install and was happy for me to provide all the fixtures.

I was an automotive mechanic for several decades and a remodeler/handyman for 20. I ran my remodeling business on labor costs only. Had my customers buy their own materials. That created two problems. One, often I had to research how to install a product. Not a huge problem for me because my remodeling business was not making me a living, so I could take that kind of time. It is surprising the different requirements manufacturers have for similar products---and when not followed void a warranty. This is the major reason companies stick with certain brands---ease of use and familiarity of the products minimizes mistakes and makes installation faster.

Second was warranty work. Often, I would recommend a particular brand, because I had used that brand before and had confidence in the brand. I also was able to do a lot of work for folks on fixed incomes(most of the time materials were paid for or donated by neighborhood groups) and did not want to do basically free work twice. It was comforting to me to know warranty issues were minimized.

For paying customers, the deal was if what they bought needed replacing, I charged labor to replace it as long as it was not my mistake. They dealt with getting the product warrantied.

Most companies cannot operate like that. Too much time lost in research/new installation requirements/warranty work. They use what they trust. Mark up does factor in, but customer service and labor guarantees make a huge difference. So, a higher charge often means no later or minimal problems.

I ended up ordering from Home Depot and Amazon (sold and shipped by Amazon). My general contractor is doing the plumbing work. Yes, there is some risk in not hiring a plumber who supplies the parts.

Big box stores like Home Depot are not really a local source, and they
usually have an inferior product made specifically for them.

That is not true - they usually have a special SKU for their products, but that is for the convenience of the manufacturer. It lets them easily track inventory meant for the large volume customer.

Every manufacturer I worked with that had "volume" customers for something that was also sold to small retailers did this.

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I have had no problems with buying my own fixtures, because I clear it with the tradesman first and let them know what I am buying (brand and model) so they can buy the right connectors and supporting parts.

Our agreement is that if the toilet tank crumbles, it's my problem. If the connections leak, it's theirs.