Meritline vs. Rima - 4 Jesterrace

Living Room Bargain Basement
#1

Jesterrace :bow: ,
I’m not trying to start something, I just wanted to put my two cents in for Meritline. I needed some good DVDs and cheap cases for a job and I have a hard time finding TY at stores near me so I headed over to Rima.com to take your advice :bow: .
@ Rima.com:
100 Taiyo Yuden DVD-R 8X TYG02 = $26.99
100 DVD cases = $21.60
100 CD jewel cases = $16.00
Subtotal $64.59
I was calling you a genius! But wait, not so fast, they wanted $32.70 to ship it to me by UPS Ground?!
Big Total = $97.29

That seemed a little pricey, so I headed over to my old standby, Meritline.com, to see what they had (it’s been a while since I had to buy this much bulk at once).
100 Taiyo Yuden DVD-R 8X TYG02 = $31.99
100 DVD cases = $20.99
100 CD jewel cases = $24.99
Subtotal $77.97
I was ready to head back to Rima when I noticed that all my selections for today qualified for free shipping via FedEx Ground! :clap:
Big Total = $77.97

So, I saved $20. I ordered everything at about 2PM on 1/17 and it all arrived well boxed and in perfect condition via FedEx today, 1/19 at 3PM. This is par for the course for me. I will say that I’ve only had a dozen or so shipments from Meritline over the past 2 or 3 yeas, but they have all been like this.

I’ll let you know how my first TY’s burn!

#2

Rima’s the place to by Taiyo Yuden media, NOT the place to by hundreds of cases. :wink:

JD

#3

Yo Icy-

I would have compared prices at supermediastore and shop4tech too - to get my very best prices-

I too have had nothing but good dealings with the few times that I have shopped Meritline - [B]but[/B] when you read the reviews on www.resellerratings.com for both Rima and Meritline - it shows where the big differences are between the two-

Seems that with Meritline - you shake the dice and take your chances-eh!

#4

Something to consider about user reviews on various online stores is that people will rush to post about a negative experience they’ve had whereas they are much less likely to post about a positive one. It’s just human nature to bitch.

#5

Yo Doc-

[B]That’s[/B] exactly why the reaction to Rima is just so fantastic-eh!

#6

Yo, Joe, fair enough (see, I KNEW I’d start something :wink: ). Shipped price for 100 TY’s in the example above: Rima, $33.85; Meritline, $31.99. I can’t get them that cheap if I drive 45 minutes to find an Office Depot.
BigMike,
I’ve seen supermediastore and shop4tech start to pick up some +++ on cdfreaks. I’m one of those predictable guys that stay loyal to the shops that do me right. Meritline for media/stuff to put it in. TigerDirect.com and Newegg.com for hardware like my DW1655. The Meritline scores at resellerratings have been trending up and I was floored enough by a 48 hour delivery to post, I wasn’t just having a dig at Jester.

BTW, the TY are burning well and I’m fixin’ up a long overdue post in the Benq forum on my experience with the legendary Taiyo Yuden. Oh, poop, I can’t stand it, my first 99!!!

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#7

Not impressed with shop4tech anymore got two orders of tys that were not very good.
I now purchase from supermediastore when they have tys on sale and never got a bad one with there valueline or premium.

#8

I purchase my TY DVD-R’s from Shop4Tech. Rima’s shipping rates are just ridiculous. I only purchased from them twice because I was unaware of Shop4Tech’s existence until I visited CD Freaks.

One negative about Shop4Tech is that it’s not clear if you’ll get TY2 or TY3. I’ve had bad burns with the latter, but never with the prior.

#9

What do you mean you don’t know what you are getting? TYG02 is 8x DVD-R and TYG03 is 16x DVD-R. And +R are T02 T03. So when you buy from Shop4Tech do you get value line or premium? But when I buy from Rima I buy in bulk, so the $18 for shipping is worth it :p. Plus remember that gas prices are expensive now, even the post office charges a lot for a 5lb package.

#10

I’m referring to the DVD-R 8X Silver Lacquer (Valueline). They’ll either send you TY02’s or TY03’s. You won’t know which you’ll get until they arrive.

#11

That’s hardly a fair comparison then since rima doesn’t even offer the questionable value line media. Only the premium stuff from rima. Don’t get me wrong the value line can be some decent stuff but there definitely is a difference in my scans. My premium TYG02 from rima.com almost always give me less than 500 total PIF (and I have never seen any above the 1000 total PIF mark) and my value line media (TYG02) averages between 1000-2000 total PIF and can have up to 5000 total PIF. This is when burning both of them at 8x and 12x speeds. @the original post, as was pointed out above we were talking strictly about the discs themselves and not adding in a bunch of other items, and there are plenty of people who have ordered from meritline without any trouble. That being said I still wouldn’t trust them with my money on a regular basis. As for shipping charges being horrendous, I don’t know where you guys are located but ground shipping has never cost me more than $6.50 for a spindle of discs.

#12

Shipping on cases is always about the same price or more than the cases. That is what made the shipping so high, so you have to look for shipping deals. A box of 100 DVD cases is large box, but weight is low causing different rate because UPS & FedX determine rate accordind to size and weight combination. That is reason sometimes small products are shipped in large boxes because they have boxes that will fall within the standard rate.

Mack

#13

I love rima. meritline not so much :slight_smile:

#14

That’s an excellent point that I hadn’t factored into my buying. Thanks for mentioning this.

#15

So, if you end up getting TYG03 and they don’t burn well, exactly how much money did you save?

JD

#16

yeah i agree…supermediastore is awesome :bow:

#17

You are correct, for a spindle of 100, Rima was <$2 more, not really a big deal. $26.99 for 100 TYG02 plus $6.86 shipping to Ohio.

#18

I solved the shipping problem last year when I made a trip to southern calif. I picked my 500 cases up at shop4tech so I did not have to pay shipping.