feather emporium

[BREECHESANGLER]

Never bought from them but their prices on hackle are hard to beat. Anyone ever bought from them, quality?

 

[Cold]

No direct experience, but from what I read online when I was considering ordering from there, my takeaway was this: good prices, generally good feather quality, absolutely atrocious customer service.

Things like getting your card billed immediately, and a 4-6 week delay without any feathers shipping...regularly needing PayPal to step in to resolve disputes, impossible to get anyone on the phone or to answer an email about the status of orders...etc. The owner showing up on forums to bash customers...

Again, I personally have never done business with them...but it was because of stuff like that.

 

[Midge22]

ive ordered 2 times from there. both to buy cdl tailing packs and other random stuff. it was super fast shipping for me and had no issues at all. id be weary tho of spending lots of money unless you use paypal. that way you can at least dispute it and get your money back

 

[nfrechet]

i have ordered from the emporium a number of times and have had excellent customer service and quality hackles.

however, while these are whiting hackles they do not come packaged in with the normal card that retail whiting hackles come with. just a clear zip lock bag. that fine with me but others object to it.

if that changes anything then i would suggest buying from jims fly company in montana

heres a thread you all should read before judgement. then decide

http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=80549&hl=%2Bfeather+%2Bemporium

 

[joebamboo]

I have made several purchases and have not had a problem. Feather quality is very good and many sizes and colors are available. I highly recommend dealing with them.

 

[billfrech]

I have only ordered once but was quite pleased with what I got and had no problems

 

[MKern]

The whole, "Whiting hackle, but in a Ziploc bag and not the packaging the Whiting puts it in," is a little shady.

 

[PennKev]

Quality is good. Customer service has potential for an atrocious experience. Google them and read some of the posts on other boards. Decide for yourself. Personally I had an awful time with an order I placed last summer. Long story short, I didn't get my order until the end of September after ordering in early August and that included a bunch of emails, phone calls, andfinally recieving incorrect merch that I had to ship back on my own dime.

 

[joebamboo]

MKern why pay $20.00 just to see the Whiting label on the package?

Thus far, I have been extremely pleased with the quality of he feathers and have no reason to believe that I am receiving something other than Whiting products.

 

[JohnPowers]

I bought half a Cree and it's nice. But if it hasen't got a whiting label to me it isn't a whiting. So if I pay less and it's good that's fine.

 

[Cold]

Basically, as I understand it, the stuff FE sells is indeed from Whiting, but it's their seconds or something...basically, they raised the bird, but for whatever reason, it wasn't a pelt that they wanted to put their name behind.

Whether the reasons for this, it is up to the buyer to decide whether they are significant enough to affect their purchase decision.

 

[nfrechet]

it certainly wont affect my decision to order from FE in the future

i dont need $$$ necks or saddles to tie flies

if you dont tie dry flies theres really nothing to worry about

 

[MKern]

If Whiting won't put it's name on it, then is it truly a Whiting?

 

[joebamboo]

Probably because it's not Whiting selling them!

Do you think Whiting would allow them to use their brand name knowing that the feathers were not truly theirs. Surely you don't think Whiting is not aware that FE is selling their products.

 

[PennKev]

I hate to defend Feather Emporium after my experience, but I fully believe their products are Whiting seconds. FE sells first quality Whiting products also. I received two first quality saddles from them that seemed completely legit in regard to quality and packaging.

Also consider this, Whiting is the biggest name in the hackle business and their products demand a premium. Like many producers of products they end up with "seconds" or "blemished" goods. They likely have plenty of necks that don't meet their standards for first quality. Damage, feather count, and overall size are all possible reasons for rejection. They have two options, sell these necks through a secondary channel or destroy them. The skins have value so why not sell them off without standard packaging? Doing so protects their brand to a degree while allowing them to get something in return for what are in reality a quality tying material.

Also on the topic of brand protection, I would think that Whiting would make it known if there was a company selling hackle fraudulently under their name. Feather Emporium has (amazingly) been in business a long time now. If there was something nefarious going on, they'd have been outed already.

 

[RCFetter]

Whiting does not have a problem with Feather Emporium. In the flytyingforum thread an email from Dr Whiting was published. Dated April 2015, he stated:


"We do sell directly to Dave Roberts at Feather Emporium, and I am aware that
he resells pelts without our packaging. Dave buys a lot of our unusual
pelts, and peddles them as they are not regular items. He also does
taxidermy work for us."

 

[MKern]

Oh, so Whiting likes them enough to peddle goods that Whiting doesn't want its name on.

I still state if it's truly a hackle that Whiting is proud of, it would put its name on it.

 

[joebamboo]

Don't know how much proof you need regarding this issue. You could always do a comparison purchase with both FE and Whiting packaged feathers.

Or, just don't deal with FE at all.

 

[nfrechet]

I still state if it's truly a hackle that Whiting is proud of, it would put its name on it.

if 2 capes where removed from their packaging and placed side by side on a table, could you tell which one came from a zip lock bag with the magical whiting card and one without the card?

could anybody?

 

[MKern]

I never said it was poor hackle.