Retailer: CWI Airsoft / BB Dragon

[kullwarrior]

Alright so I bite the bullet and went with this retailer and here's my review.
I'll be comparing against Redwolf Airsoft which seem to be the bench mark in terms of retailer

Right off the bat I will say I ordered:
3X 20 Rounder KSC MP7 Magazine (Japanese Version) @ $33.30USD/each
3X 40 Rounder KSC MP7 Magazine (Japanese Version) @ $39.96USD/each
The total shipping Price was: $30USD
Total: $249.78USD
Order placed: August 19th
Shipping quote and paid on Aug 21st
Received Aug 31st
Reason for going to CWI Airsoft: Most stores I shop at are either out of stock for MP7 Magazines or only sells Japanese version mags at ridiculous prices $63.50USD/each for 40 rounder and $52.00USD/each for 20 rounder.

Price compared to...
Redwolf Airsoft (Japanese Version Mags: $400.50 -Short Mag Out of Stock
EhobbyAsia (Japanese Version Mags): $358.92 -Long Mags Out of Stock
EhobbyAsia (Taiwan Version Mags): $375.97 -Long Mags Out of Stock
RA-Tech Airsoft(Taiwan Version Mags): $276 -Long Mags Out of Stock

Navigating the shop:
I will say that the English is so badly translated that if you do not understand the colluniqual language from Taiwan you will wonder stuff like "Cash Box" is. (It means Cash Register or Check out) There's no additional description of the product most of the time. It has a product title usually quoted directly from the manufacture and a picture. You have to rely on those two to get your stuff. At first I thought my KSC MP7 magazines are Taiwan Version (Japanese Version are approx. $15 more expensive) since the prices is approximately the same for a Taiwanese version but the picture shows a Japanese one. When I got it, it was a Japanese one like the picture, this is what I love about them; what you see is what you get.

Shipping:
Like Dentrinity, WGC, UNCompany, there's no automatic calculated shipping prices. This means you will have to pay twice, once for the items, second time for the shipping. The down side is you will take longer time to get your stuff. My order got opened by custom agent and it took 8 Business Days, typically a Redwolf one is 5 Business Days with Custom poking into it. The main reason stated by the owner Robert is simply often times precalculated ones will overcharge it. I'm not too upset about it considering I saved closed to $24 on shipping compared to Redwolf ($30 vs $54)
Communication:
This is the biggest downside on the store, if you don't speak Mandarin good luck resolving a problem. The guy has such a heavy accent I actually ask him to stop using English words and say everything in Mandarin. I only used once on Skype to confirm shipping to Canada and ask some question about getting parts.
Selections:
While the selection seem to be small, Robert, the owner actually told me if you want certain parts (Manufacture has to be in Taiwan to work) just give the product ID number from the manufacture site and he'll get it for you. This is a huge bonus if you want LCT parts. For those who don't know, LCT is a the OEM manufacture for Inokatsu's AK series, WGC is the biggest distributor, and it is ridiculous to pay $30 wire transfer for every order with WGC.

Conclusion:

PROS: If you want cheap hard to find items made in Taiwan this is the place to go. Item pricing is cheap, shipping is cheap.

CONS: Navigating the shop as well as communicating will be near impossible if you cannot write Chinese or speak Mandarin. I hate to say this, but for those non-Taiwanese folks, this is almost like a off-limit site.

Shipping Price: 5/5
Shipping Speed: 4/5
Item Pricing: 5/5
Navigation: 2/5
Communication: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

Reference Rating: (Personally dealt with)

• Ehobbyasia Overall: 4/5 (Product is cheaper but service isn't as good as RWA)
• Redwolf Airsoft Overall: 4/5 (Service is good, but more expensive product)
• UNCompany Overall: 4/5
• RA-Tech: 5/5 (Prices is a little bit expensive, but service is excellent as well as defective replacement)
• Den Trinity Overall: 3/5 (Harder to find the product, takes longer time to respond)
• RSOV: 2/5 (Apparently they're on the CBSA black list, all their shipping stay at custom for atleast 3 weeks, comms is meh)
• EBAirsoft: 3/5 (Shipping is included, Comms are okay, nothing special)