A few months go I heard rumours (from France) about some issues there so I phoned them up and asked directly if they were still in business. A woman answered in a rather strange (not surprised) tone that all was fine.
Just been trying to order some Whelen Orion 600 LED wingtip lights
1.000 11-11367 WHELEN ORION 600 28V WINGTIP PTA GREEN OR6002G Delivery in 1 day 605.02 EUR 605.02 EUR
1.000 11-11368 WHELEN ORION 600 28V WINGTIP PTA RED OR6002R Delivery in 1 day 605.02 EUR 605.02 EUR
and the shop trolley crashes out each time with
Your shopping cart is empty
or, depending on some changes, with
CUSTOMERID is invalid.
SHOPID is invalid.
This is despite me being logged in and it showing the correct preconfigured details.
Their phone number +49 7634 9057700 is also showing up as invalid.
Now, it is possible there website has bombed (or been hit) and they aren’t planning to be back until 5th January, so they rigged their phone system to not take calls. But that’s a really strange thing to do. Incompetent, as a minimum.
So I bought the parts from Aircraft Spruce in the US. Total cost $1200, plus import VAT. The bottom line is very similar.
But then I got a few emails from Sandelving saying they are processing the order!!! No payment details were entered…
What about las? https://www.lasaero.com/parts/?search_part=11-11368 it seems as if everything is not going smoothly there.
LAS carry through A/Spruce part numbers, which is how you found the above, but they order it back to back from the US:
Ah sorry, didn’t realise you needed it quickly. I know it washes out at a similar price in £ to $ on spruce but it saves messing around with vat and ensuring you don’t get stung for import duty. When I’ve got stuff using spruce part nos through LAS I’ve generally find they arrive ahead of their estimated date.
<shrug> I ordered some stuff in late late 2019, it took so long to arrive that I ordered direct from the manufacturer in the USA instead and cancelled the order at Sandelving. I got many apologies from them. They were much more efficient around 2015/2017.
I thought Spruce has a new Partner in Europe? https://www.aircraft-parts.eu/
Interesting; in Germany too
AIRCRAFT PARTS EUROPE, Frankenring 29, 75038 Oberderdingen
+49 7258 9049936
Sandelving Aerospace GmbH, Münstertäler Str. 22, 79427 Eschbach, Germany
+49 7634 9057700
Not at the same address, at least 
Just rather near each other… coincidence? Of course that’s not possible.
My guess is that they are ordering A/S parts back to back, while perhaps stocking the most popular lines, just like LAS Aero in the UK (which probably does just back to back ordering and stocking nothing, IME).
Sandelving were good in Jan 2018 when I bought a load of the special PRxxxx sealant via them, for the TKS installation. Very hard to get it shipped otherwise.
mh wrote:
I thought Spruce has a new Partner in Europe? https://www.aircraft-parts.eu/
Interesting. They say they’re the official Aircraft Spruce partner in Europe and that they can ship all Aircraft Spruce products within a week!
within a week
That is clearly back to back ordering from the US.
The normal aim is to hope that over a week you get enough orders to bring a load in by air freight, or to get a decent discount from the likes of DHL. Or, with a really great week, bring in a container (but that would take much longer than a week, end to end).
Re the “official partner” and looking at Sandelving’s prices, they were quite possibly not getting a reseller discount from AS and just making money on the $ to € conversion, plus a margin.
But, hey, this is funny.
Sandelving:
Aircraft Parts:
Allowing for the 16% VAT, almost exactly the same. I bet neither is getting a reseller discount from AS.
Not for a moment thinking this is the same company 
I am sure somebody here will ask them to comment within, hmmmm, 30 seconds, so I am sure they will (possibly both) be around to confirm or deny.
I can’t see how any business model that kept stuff like that on the shelf in Europe could be sustainable – you just wouldn’t sell enough.
LAS in the UK keep a fair amount of stuff on the shelf and will have it to you the next day, but it is mostly either very common multiple-application parts or low dollar value. Anything unusual or expensive (i.e. something they sell about one a month of) just gets ordered from the US – I assume they have a shipment every X days. Last time I ordered some bits and bobs from them most of it arrived the next day and some slightly unusual washers took a week.
