I'm going to be buying a Millermatic 175 MIG and a Hypertherm Powermax 380 plasma cutter soon. I'm sticking to these brands because I have used both and they are the brands that my local welding shop stocks consumables for.

The best prices I have found online are on ebay, but I thought there might be other online welding shops that may be harder to find but perhaps cheaper. I'm shooting for a total of near $1700. Out of CA is good to avoid sales tax. Any suggestions?

I know you can get it things cheaper online, but I bought my welding equipment from the local welding supplier ( this was before Al Gore invented the internet). You will end up buying consumables ans gas from him.

Why not see if he is willing to match prices? its worth a try

Hmm, price matching. I doubt they'll do it but I'll try. My local place is airgas, I don't think they need my business enough to price match. The difference is about $300. I'd save on shipping, but I'd lose on tax. (shipping is $30, tax is about $125) It really is hard to beat al gore's internet

JUST bought a millermatic 135-same thing but 110v- and bought it from cyberweld.com for $630. w/ free shipping. Usually 800+ from miller or distributors.

Indiana Oxygen Supply is my favorite AND they're online and Ebay...pricing is good, but your local guy (or one of them) will probably get you real close to the price, and you'll need to get a bottle too, so go to your local guy and get the best deal you can.

oh, and when you call around, make sure you get pricing for the gas and a bottle...it's amazing how much difference there is in price on the bottles.

I bought my MIG from this on-line company:

NewSales, used to be Salesco or something like that...

I've already got the bottle. I'm just upgrading from a harbor freight MIG... which will probably be for sale soon.

Indiana oxygen was the place with the cheapest mig, but they don't carry hypertherm plasma cutters.

I got my Millermatic 175 from here. Very good people to deal with, free shipping (got a tank, FULL set of consumables, all sizes of liners etc) for about $900 for all.

http://stores.ebay.com/Welding-Supplies-fr...Zkm?refid=store

that's the same company
IOC is Indiana Oxygen