As far as darts go I would say length is more important than width, but it is nice knowing both. Not too fussed myself but tungsten content is also useful to know.

As far as stems go then the length excluding the thread part is very important - medium stems can be anything from 45mm to 50mm.

Flights - there are different sized standard flights - width of those would be nice but not essential as I know which ones I use. Thickness of them would be good to know - ie 75 micron, 100 micron etc.

Cases - the dimensions are very helpful - plus I also like to see piccy's of what they look like inside as well.

Price, Price, Price... I already know what I'm lookin for when I go to a web site then it's just a matter of finding the best price. I figure in shipping, tax, site reputation but what it all boils down to for me is where can I get the dart Im lookin for for the best bargin. Stems and flights I dont much care cause I never use what comes with them anyways 90% of sets come with standard flights which I dont use stems also I change..

Hat

I look at the price and level of grip myself - i've figured my perfect level of grip is now level 5 so that's my key purchase factor.

And Hatrick that's a nice looking avatar you got there!

Here is what I like to see:

Price:
Material: Tungsten 95%
Total Length (barrel only): 40.0mm
Maximum Diameter: 7.6mm
Weight: 16.5g each (Barrel Only), 18g Full Setup

Set comes with:
Shaft LARO SILENT 260
Tip LIP POINT
Flight A-flow Dee Flight.

Shipping is a major one.

Most all companies have products that are close in price. But expensive shipping will make me order somewhere else.

2nd, and most important thing is what the company does for me if something goes wrong. It's going to happen to every single dart supplier out there. If something goes wrong do you respond to emails or do what you can to fix the problem?

Customer service is SO important. Recently I had a fairly big issue with a company. Something I thought couldn't be fixed no matter how I looked at the situation. Not only did they fix the problem, they made it 100% better. Could of just given me a refund and been done with me. Nope, they went above and beyond to help me out. And by doing so, they have a customer for life.

Winmau wrote:

Shipping is a major one.

Most all companies have products that are close in price. But expensive shipping will make me order somewhere else.

2nd, and most important thing is what the company does for me if something goes wrong. It's going to happen to every single dart supplier out there. If something goes wrong do you respond to emails or do what you can to fix the problem?

Customer service is SO important. Recently I had a fairly big issue with a company. Something I thought couldn't be fixed no matter how I looked at the situation. Not only did they fix the problem, they made it 100% better. Could of just given me a refund and been done with me. Nope, they went above and beyond to help me out. And by doing so, they have a customer for life.

Fully agree that good customer service is a must! Also having accurate accounts of stock. I hate placing an order to find out it is out of stock a day or two later. Shipping needs to be reasonable, especially when making smaller purchases. I try to order as much as possible at a time, but every now and then a new product comes out that I want to give a go.

So Winmau, who gave you that great customer service? I'm sure they would like the vote of confidence.

All the stats on the barrel is a must for me. Of course a nice pic. Shipping costs major factor.

To Ireland for flights and stems about £2 would be great!!!

shixon wrote:

So Winmau, who gave you that great customer service? I'm sure they would like the vote of confidence.

Red Dragon Darts. They made a mistake with an extremely rare set of darts. Shipped me the wrong set and in the mean time sold the other handful of sets they had left. Mistakes happen. But what they did to correct the situation amazed me. Sent me a bunch of freebies while I'm waiting for an actual set of a pro players darts are coming to me. Actual, as in from his personal collection... with other signed stuff as well.

adzeds wrote:

Looks like shipping cost plays a big part in the decision to select your retailer....

What would you say is a reasonable shipping charge for:

--Set of darts?

--Couple of packs of flights and stems?

--Dartboard?

A lot of etailers have specials they run. Purchase $20 or more and shipping is free. Now I'd expect the shipping on a larger heaver item like a dartboard would cost more. Not sure about international shipping as it is hard to be competitive. I'd suggest looking at what some of the top rated sites charge for shipping any match that.

Price is a big deal for me. I have purchased a variety of brands to give them a go when it comes to the accessories. Now that I have found a few that I like I tend to stick with those and each order I will throw in a couple of randoms to see if there is something better.

I definitely have caps on how much each item can cost. Otherwise, things get expensive quick. That's why I don't bother with the cosmo system

adzeds wrote:

Looks like shipping cost plays a big part in the decision to select your retailer....

What would you say is a reasonable shipping charge for:

--Set of darts?

--Couple of packs of flights and stems?

--Dartboard?

Shipping charges for dart boards can get carried away unless the shop you are buying it from is running some sort of special

In order of priority from most important to least i look at the following
*Weight.- I only use one range of weight. Period
*Style and Shape.-Does it suit me, or is it something I want to experiment with?
--I'd like to be able to sort darts from multiple brands by Shape Style, but i understand this is hard because there isnt much of a uniform industry vocabulary for classifying these--
*Grip Pattern.- I prefer a grip pattern that is uniform. I hate variety on the same dart
*length, if I'm debating between two sets, I prefer the shorter set

Things that NEVER matter to me
*Accessories, shafts, flights, cases. I only use slik sticks and with my own cut flights...

What I'd like to see more of:
Barrels only, or mix and match deals to make your own set IE pay for a set but pick your stems and flights out.

Also better filters for flights on store pages. Mind you, I mostly buy sigma flights, but I'd be more tempted to try others if there was a beter way to filter out the millions of pages of flights that only stores always have.

Also, a comparison feature. My favorite bicycle companies let you add items to a comparison cart then examine them and their stats side by side. wish darts did this

Im lucky enough to have a dart shop only 10 mins drive from home, so I have the luxury of being able to go and look at certain darts before I purchase. I can even have a throw with them in the shop. I will also see if any of my mates have the darts that Im considering buying. I dont like to buy without having thrown the darts.

Postage for me is also an issue. Living in Australia, it usually costs a bit to send. Thats why I like Darts Warehouse, free delivery on orders of $10 or more, excluding dart boards.

adzeds wrote:

Dartboards generally have to be couriered due to their weight which is why they cost more. We charge £7.99 currently as that is the cheapest we can get them delivered.

We currently run free delivery on orders over £50 (except dartboards), although we are thinking of lowering the limit, to cover a larger % of our orders.

Standard delivery is £1.99 this would be for a set of darts etc.

I'm assuming these prices are all for delivery in the UK - I've got enough boards to last another year or two, but as we have quite a few overseas members how much would it cost to post a board over to say the USA/Canada or Australia as I think they are the main overseas countries here.

For me its mainly about dimensions and a good close up of the grip.
Lets face it if the dart has identical dimensions and same T% to another then it is going to fly nearly identical, this then allows me to purchase a dart without throwing the bloody thing if I am familiar with those dimensions.
I do like Vallyr's flight filter suggestion.
also I think darts corner's DART SELECTER tab is awsome.
The site should also be simple to navigate (again darts corner or A-Z darts)
I would also like to see individual stem weights (amazing what stem weight will do to the lie of the dart and is well over looked hence one person that likes alloy over another that likes nylon but neither know why).
A HUGE VARIETY. Every known dart and accesory known to man in the one site. I will pay a bit more for postage if I can get all I want from the one shop then I dont have to pay for postage twice.

Some fantastic points made here.. We are going to write them all down and implement as many as we can.

We have recently added a good filter system to our site to help customers narrow down their searches to their specs.

We can improve it further using the points you have all raised here.

Lately, I like to check out the latest darts or the "2013" models. You'd swear we were buying a new car. Obviously, I shop for price but I also like to see innovations whether it is in a new barrel, board or anything else and, as far as I'm concerned, you can judge a website's knowledge by how new their products are. Companies that constantly introduce new ideas get my attention.

I have to say that I learned many lessons when buying darts online - mostly not getting what I was expecting! Fortunately today it is much easier when websites list exact dimensions of barrels. It has come a long way.

I think the next phase of shopping would be for companies to list the ratio of grams per cubic centimeter for the tungsten used. Is a Unicorn barrel rated at 95% tungsten the same density as a Harrows dart? You would think so, but it isn't always the case. And is there really that much difference between a 90% and 95%?

For the most part, I use A180 and Puredarts - no comparison for price and service as far as I'm concerned, shipping included to Canada.

Just my two cents.