talkmagic.co.uk

Hello. I just thought i'd find out where you guys like to buy your little probs if you use them. I haven't bought much personally but magicworld.co.uk seems ok. I bought these linking polos from there which is ok but the gimmick is a little dull compared to real polos. Works ok in a darkish pub though.

Magicbox is particularly good - low prices, great service.

Top Secret Magic is also good for it's range of stuff - lots of unusual items.

Alakazam - particularly good for mentalists. Very good service.

Alakazam have some great effects that you don't find elsewhere.

MagicBox I've found to be excellent on price and service for cards and accessories.

I also occasionally buy from Penguin and Worldmagicshop.co.uk

Almost forgot - also check out cards 4 magic web site. They have some great stuff

Well for gimmicked cards etc, ebay is brilliant

The problem with ebay is that you never quite know what you're getting and if you read some of the posts on this site, you will soon find that many a trick has been bought on ebay only for the purchaser to find that the product supplied doesn't fit the description, it's a poor quality copy and not an original, the instructions are missing or incomplete etc.

Whilst not everything for sale is like this, you do take a chance when buying from ebay and trying to get your money back afterwards is a waste of time if you do happen to be ripped off.

totally agree with dat8962, I have taken the risk on a few items and results have been varied... It's a lottery I think, you just have to weigh the risks.

Online stores are good, but I prefer to visit and look at things, as well as seek the opinion of the proprietor. I visit Magic Box and Magic Cavern - the staff are very friendly and helpful. They're willing to spend time explaining things and demonstrating techniques.

So true Juan. Whilst I HATE shopping (just ask the wife), I'm happy to spend hours in a good magic shop just browsing, chatting etc.

Unfortunately they are few and far between!

If you receive an item from ebay that does not match its description or does not make it clear that parts are missing then under ebays policies the seller has to refund you. If they dont then ebay have the right to terminate their accounts and charge their accounts for your loss of monies.

It's all well and good having these rules but how often do they actually put them into practice? Not often judging by some of the emails.

Perhaps people just don't bother complaining when they've lost money, particularly if the sums are low.

Finally, those who are into the wholesale ripping off, and there are some, will not be deterred by this as they will start new ebay accounts, change paypal accounts etc; all of which makes it very difficult and labour intensive to track them down and I would suspect, perhaps cynically that ebay, with their millions of customers simply wouldn't bother. They're too interested in selling items like the Pope's old VW golf and the surrounding publicity that they get from it.

I know of at least one guy on ebay that sells pirate copies of Michael Ammar's DVDs.

He had them for sale on a 'buy it now' price of £2.50 - the details said to email him for further details, and not to bid.

He replied and said they were copies (he didn't even hide the fact!) and that I coudl have the whole collection of ETMCM (or whatever of Michael Ammar's collections it was) for £30.

I declined.

There is some good news about ebay con artists though:

Online Fraudster gets 12 months for £45,000 con.

They do catch 'em sometimes...

I get alot of stuff from The Merchant of magic (changed its name though now but forgot what it is) you can Phone them and they are very nice and will offer advice on the particular items you are after. also they are very quick at shipping the stuff out. (bloody 'ell i ought to be on commission for that plug) just shop around is my advice and find the best place for you.

www.magictricks.co.uk
www.davenportsmagic.co.uk
www.magicbox.uk.com

And sometimes i use the Paul Daniels magic shop which can be found here www.pauldaniels.co.uk