KC Tool sent out an email newsletter today, announcing to customers that they have ended their relationship with Wiha Tools USA.
Thank you to everyone who wrote in about this via email and comments!
KC Tool has chosen to end our decade-long partnership with Wiha Tools USA.
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Since KC Tool was founded in 2011, our core focus has been to offer the best German brands while providing the best customer service. Staying true to this tenet has allowed our company to expand to the eighteen brands we currently offer to customers worldwide.
While we are sad to remove a brand from the product lineup and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, our commitment to being America’s #1 German Tool Distributor remains unchanged. We look forward to expanding our existing product lines and adding new brands in the near future.
KC Tool provided an additional brief statement on their website, but did not go into detail about what specifically led to this decision.
Unfortunately, Wiha Tools USA continued to be unable to meet KC Tool’s and, more importantly, customers’ expectations over the last year. Due to this, the decision has been made to end the long-standing relationship. KC Tool wishes them success in their future endeavors.
Some Wiha products remain in stock, and those that are out of stock are displaying the following message:
Due to circumstances beyond our control, out of stock Wiha products cannot be backordered at this time.
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Product listings for popular out of stock Wiha tools now have recommendations for alternate products with better availability. For instance, the Wiha MicroBit ratchet set includes a link to Wera’s Tool-Check Plus set.
KC Tool is a hand tool dealer that specializes in German tool brands, such as Wera, knipex, Hazet, and NWS.
If you’re visiting them for the first time, keep an eye on their Tool Deal of the Day page.
RD
Admittedly, there is a bit of a quality difference with some of Wiha’s stuff not made in Germany. The QC on their recent US-made products seems a bit iffy, so I can see where KC Tool is coming from. Guessing they had a lot of cross customers who didn’t like Wiha’s German-flag emblazoned packaging with a “made in (not Germany)” in tiny font on the back.
Jared
Pretty much what I thought too. Wiha has a lot of made “not-in-germany” tools. Those tools aren’t bad in my experience, but I suppose they are not a match for KC Tools’s German focus.
Lance
I’ve often wondered this too. I personally have no issue with where a tool is made as long as it’s good. The issue I see is people paying “Made in Germany” prices for tools made elsewhere obviously for cost reasons.
It’s definitely possible to make high quality tools in Asia and crappy tools in Germany. The company design/Engineering and QC are what determines quality, not location of production.
I have lots of Wiha tools, some of which are not German-made, and am happy with all of them so far. I think Knipex on average makes better pliers, but they are also more expensive and rarely found at a good discount.
Franklin Remodel
Could Wiha USA expansion in Lowe’s have caused this? I know it’s mostly bits right now though.
Stuart
It’s possible, but there would have to be something so big on the horizon for Wiha to possibly divert all inventory away from independent dealers. I don’t think that’s likely. One store near me has new Wiha screwdriver bits, another has that plus a couple of tools.
https://toolguyd.com/wiha-terminator-blue-screwdriver-bits-lowes/
Matt F
The supply and backorder issues with Wiha were probably the initial drive for KC to part ways with Wiha. The move to Lowes, move to sourcing in Vietnam and few in the US, and poor support to resellers were likely the things that made it a no brainer.
While limited in scope of P/N’s, this has to be annoying to KC tool:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Wiha-Wiha-5-Piece-PicoFinish-Precision-Screwdriver-Set/5000289439
https://www.kctool.com/wiha-26195-picofinish-mini-screwdriver-set-5-pcs/
Most of the P/N’s at Lowes are made in Asia.
rob
We know that they’ve been diverting inventory from independent retailers for “something big”…the BIG DEAL SALE on Wihatools.com 🤪😂. Ever since they revamped their website it has been getting worse and worse. Magically they simultaneously have no inventory for their best dealers while having plenty to sell directly to the end user. Ok, that’s not entirely true: Amazon had plenty of 6-in-1 and 11-in-1 drivers while nobody else could carry them.
David
I’ve broken and sent back to Wiha so many L keys it’s not even funny anymore. Pretty much anything with a rounded hex of mine, made by Wiha, has been returned within the past 3 years. Wiha always warranties them out and sends me new ones, but still, gets old quick quick.
rob
I had many issues with quality control on their l-keys and hex screwdrivers a few years back. It turned into a bit of a three way email with myself, Wiha and KC Tool, if I recall. Issues with torx screwdrivers breaking off their tips. Issues with hex keys not fitting because of finish blobs. So on and so forth. There will be a bunch of armchair COO junkies down south in the comments section, guaranteed. However, in my actual real life experience, the German QC has always been inconsistent and the stuff from their newer Vietnam plant has been perfect in comparison.
ToolUser
Even their screwdrivers have tips that can wear down or are not fitting according to spec. Soft Finish Ph2 tips don’t fit precisely either there’s Amazon reviews pointing this out.
Heywood jablome
Agreed. People think everything from “insert nation here”. Is great, when every country has winners and losers. in my experience, German tools haven’t been very good to me, and much to expensive to me in the USA (knipex is a prime example.), while Taiwan made stuff has treated me well, for cheap. I prefer USA made, when I truly feel it’s the best tool for the job (bondhus, looking at you!), but I prefer to buy the best quality/value combination I can get. Shopping by COO is a good way to overpay for crap.
Jimmy
Interestingly, I have several of the microbit sets that have been perfectly fine, but I bought small (maybe 1.2mm and smaller) precision hex drivers (the screwdriver-shaped ones) over a period of several years, several years ago that were absolute garbage. On the first tight fastener the driver tips would round off instantly and then be completely useless. The worst offenders were the 0.7mm and 0.9mm drivers, which are very common fastener sizes in RC vehicles. I had this happen to the original ones I bought and a couple of rounds of replacements before finding the MIP drivers with hardened, ground tips with sharp edges that really grab fasteners. At the time, maybe 10 years ago, in the RC community, the MIP drivers were the only thing anyone I talked to thought worked at all on the itty-bitty sub-millimeter hex screws.
More recently, I wanted full sets and got Wiha microbit sets and Wera precision hex driver sets, and both have given me absolutely no trouble.
Matt F
For light assembly, I have liked Wiha’s magic ring hex screw drivers. We deal with a mix of metric and sae hardware. The drive sets have always been red for metric and yellow for sae. Well some bean counter decided to get rid of the yellow and make them all red without updating any P/N’s. KC tools had to eat the return of an order for this as I wasn’t going to deal with a mix considering I have a bunch of yellow drivers still.
I would like for Wiha to make hex screw drivers with their screw retention mechanism.
If you sort for Wiha and in stock, all items are 40% off MSRP. Not sure their is much want at the moment to get me to free shipping.
Matt
[redacted] I ordered a set of magic ring and magic spring hex and torx keys back in June off Amazon. The twist holders that move all the keys at once came in the correct Yellow/Red/Green colors. And they do make magic ring screw drivers.
https://www.wihatools.com/magicringr-ball-end-driver-1-8
Stuart
There’s no need for personal attacks.
Matt F
So I can’t even imagine what sort of personal attack my comment warranted, but thanks for the quick moderation. Maybe I should clarify that much of my work is not home garage shop stuff. It is medical manufacturing and R&D. We have essentially standardized toolset for specific work stations. Messing with them randomly isn’t cool. It is important that a vendor accurately represents what they are selling and it is important for them to hold their brand/supplier to the fire to support them in doing so. Wiha still hasn’t bothered updating their stock photos for this line of products (if you buy these, the will be red): https://www.wihatools.com/magicring-ball-end-inch-screwdriver-13pc-set
I realize now that I made a typo in my post with regard to screw retention hex screw drivers. I would like WERA to make them in Metric and SAE.
These are reasonably good, but I would like screw drivers up through 1/4″:https://www.kctool.com/454-10-hf-set-imperial-1/
Interesting when I bought these, one version (can’t remember if it was SAE or metric) was shown with white print. They both came in with blue print and Wera has updated the stock photos:
https://www.kctool.com/wera-023450-metric-hex-plus-t-handle-set-with-holding-function-7-pieces/
A curious (annoying) inconsistency between the Metric and SAE sets is that the Metric set has lengths ranging from 100mm to 200mm while all the SAE ones are 150mm long. Maybe some marketing team tested preferences in different regions and came up with this crazy approach? They look weird when you make custom shadow racking for them side by side.
rob
I feel your pain. But a correction, if you order those, it’s not guaranteed that they will be red. As a longtime Wiha customer, I will wager money you may get a set that is a mix of red and yellow. 🤪
Someone else has something exactly like magic ring out there. One of the Japanese manufacturers. I’ll see if I can turn something up for you. Wera and Bondhus (who still color code red/yellow/green) have socket cap retention options, but they are both different and nowhere as effective.
You may have already thought of this, but just in case, you could always try using a different brand for metric and sae. Wera next to PB Swiss is pretty obvious difference.
Matt F
You are very correct about the MIX of red and yellow drivers!
I just bought some straight magic ring power bits from KC Tool to try. I’ve been enjoying using Wera hex power bits in a stubby or ratcheting driver handle. This has been our solution to the Wiha drivers.
The Bondhus screw holder is just a little piece of rubber that wears out. I like the Wera one, but the only SAE option is the straight hex tee handles I have. Power bits in these with straight and ball drive metric and sae would be great. It seems like a stronger design. Although I can see having retention issues at an angle on a ball drive. The magic rings at some angle will lock into a screw really hard and require a bunch of force to remove.
Let me know if there are any other screw driver or power bit options.
rob
https://www.pbswisstools.com/en/tools/quality-hand-tools/hex-key-l-wrenches/product/pb-212lr-h-10
Speak of the devil. It was indeed PB Swiss I saw that had a similar compression ring style. Metric only. To be quite honest, I can’t find anyone that has them (only quality tools in the UK have singles) I would contact Count On Tools and Toollady before placing an order during these COVID times.
Peter Fox
I was starting to suspect that this might be the case. While putting together an order for work recently I noticed that the Wiha pozidriv screwdrivers I was looking for were not even listed on their site anymore. I ended up ordering the equivalent Wera drivers instead.
It is unfortunate as it makes it a bit harder to get Wiha easily. However I definitely understand the difficulties when you can’t get or keep product. If I recall it has been quite a few years since Chads Toolbox quit carrying Wiha. definitely running out of options to get some of the less common Wiha products.
fred
Wiha USA seems to be selling most everything directly to the consumer – should you wish. They also sometimes have promotions on specific packages that seem to undercut their dealer prices.
rob
I do believe that they’ve undercut their dealer network to the point that they no longer have one. 😂
Harry
Is Wera next? I can’t remember the last Wera tool I bought that was actually made in Germany.
fred
Most Wera items seem to be made in the Czech Republic – still in the EU.
Wiha – seems to be sourcing some items from Vietnam – but also seems to have a USA source too. They had been selling a line labelled “Proturn” that was made in China.
Tim E.
I think a difference is Wera has been made not in Germany for quite some time, but are also still just the “main” Wera company, not like a Wera USA subsidiary or similar. Wiha USA seems to be turning itself into something of a separate entity from the “parent” Wiha Werkzeuge GmbH, with their own products and more “designed by Wiha” stuff than the past has had. That to me means makes sense that KCTool wants to purvey “real” Wiha tools, rather than now-distinct Wiha USA stuff (which is commonly available in the USA already anyway, voiding KC Tools’ niche).
rob
To clarify:
Wera moved their whole production line from Germany to Czech Republic. I want to say it’s been over a decade. As they expanded into other categories (specifically ratchets), they decided to have the masterminds in Taiwan do their sockets instead of reinventing the wheel.
Wiha opened a plant in Vietnam to avoid German/EU regulations because they wanted to design and forge their own pliers instead of outsourcing them. This was within the past decade. They started manufacturing bits in that plant (I suppose they had bought new robots and decided to put them in Vietnam) and slowly and steadily that became where all of their bits are now manufactured. Wiha has a few other plants outside of Germany. Mostly through acquisitions.
Wiha USA used to distribute Heyco’s wrenches and sockets to bolster their product mix. That relationship ended and, a couple of years ago, Wiha USA tried bringing in some Taiwanese wrenches to little fanfare. The bit sockets pretty much always consisted of Wiha bits in Taiwan sockets, even when they distributed Heyco.
Most of the “exclusive to Wiha USA” outsourced products are limited to things like sae nutsetters, budget bit holders, bags, toolboxes and bitcases. Some other behaviors aren’t exclusive to Wiha, whatsoever. I think my old Gedore bit ratchet is made in germany, but pretty much everyone else makes their’s in Taiwan.
ToolUser
In over a decade? No it’s been much longer actually.
ToolUser
Wera hasn’t been made in Germany since the 2000s.
Evan
Not a fan of KC Tool whatsoever. I’ve found their customer service to be abysmal each time I’ve ordered from them, so I guess this isn’t a loss to someone who avoids their site like I do.
Jim Felt
What’s odd. I’ve bought a little here and there from them for a number of years and except for the occasional overseas b/o on a apparently popular Toolguyd recommendation I’ve never had an issue.
Plus they always respond to my emails.
fred
My experience with KCTool has also been very positive over many years of buying from them. They respond to emails, keep me up to date about shipping etc. When I was introduced to them (possibly from a ToolGuyd post) I switched over to to them – having previouslt bought from Chads Toolbox (who I had found to be less responsive)
Peter Fox
I have definitely had better service from KC tool than Chad’s.
I remember emailing Chad’s asking if they could special order a odd Knipex pliers for me and got a quite rude response that they did want to. Ironically they must have decided to order them as it showed up on their website about a month later and I did end up ordering them.
KC tool had been much more responsive and courteous in every interaction I have had with them.
It also helps to recognize that these companies are small specialty distributors not giant retail chains. They don’t have the same buying power and shipping from Europe takes time, especially in the last year.
Evan
Chads was also horrific. They easily take the cake when compared to KC Tools.
Evan
Nice! I’m glad you (and others) have had a good experience with them.
Art
I’ve never had any issues with them and appreciate what they offer. I’ve only ordered from them about five times, but never an issue.
rob
I remember when KCTOOL came around and they immediately became the best source for Wiha in the USA, overnight. I want to say that they only sold Knipex and Wiha back then. Is my memory correct?
COO has been mentioned in the comments, but that has certainly not been an issue. Wiha owns and established it’s Vietnam plant. They acquired plants outside of Germany before KCTOOL existed and KCTOOL picked up Wera after they moved to the Czech Republic and have also picked up Hazet, Stahlwille and Gedore who all outsource half their SKU’s from all over the world.
I am presuming that Wiha USA selling directly has been an issue. Specifically, Wiha USA not allocating inventory for their vendors while making it available as stock for direct sale has been an issue. This has not gone unnoticed.
As mentioned before, the other issue is Wiha’s inconsistency. Popular products will be discontinued on a whim. They went from an uncannily diverse screwdriver lineup to only offering red soft finish. Logos, injection molding, finishes will change, randomly and color codes will be eliminated without notice. Meanwhile, new and old designs will be mixed together in sets. They’ll use the same p/n when an outsourced product is replaced with a radically different in-house or outsourced product.
I’ve learned to accept Wiha’s caveats. They’ve been like this for as long as I can remember. The holding stock from their top vendor for the sake of selling directly thing…that’s only been obvious in recent years.
fred
Sometimes its is hard to read into or figure out a family-owned business (Hahn family in this case)
Mike (the other one)
They need to get their act together. I generally think Wiha is among the best of the best, but I’ve noticed that a lot of the things you mentioned. It’s made me not buy from them because I can’t be sure what I will get.
I do love their precision screwdrivers. They, by far, are my favorite.
Stuart
Wiha’s direct selling practices and sale pricing would have been a great source of contention if I had been a dealer. There direct practices seemed very unfair to me, as an outsider.
If they were in fact holding back inventory to prioritize their own direct-to-consumer sales efforts, then I can see that as being a reason (or final straw) for this split.
ToolUser
Wiha has plenty of caveats now and their products are a wide variety of different COO’s and different quality.
Robert Frampton
If I had to venture a guess, I would say it is a fulfillment concern. Wiha tools are not the best on the market, but they’re still pretty darned good. I think they are at least as good as other brands sold by KC, eg, Heyco and Gedore. I’d be surprised if this was due to quality issues.
Laurie
We are a reseller and it has been backorder, backorder, discontinued, color changes in the SoftTouch handles, in the pouches, etc… with Wiha the past couple of years. We have to be able to supply our customers with high quality, consistent products, consistently supplied and timely. That hasn’t happened. I know COVID has affected everyone’s business and we aren’t selling as we used to but you have to work with your customers to keep them or you’re out of business, which we have not seen lately. We are seriously considering a switch to Felo and/or Wera in addition to our other suppliers for future order fulfillment.
rob
^ This. And don’t worry about Felo and Wera’s consistency. Wera does change up it’s printing (design and color) and adds different size markings every season. However, they provide new EINS (I’m pretty sure). When it comes to finish of the tool, machining, injection molding: Wera are probably as consistent as it gets. I don’t care if it’s bits, screwdrivers, hex heys. You name it; your lot will be identical. Something I’ve always noticed with them (and I’m saying this as someone who prefers wiha over everything they make).
My only issue with Wera is that they all of a sudden want to jack up their prices in the USA to two to three times as the rest of the world. I don’t believe this is to do with what they charge the retailer nor tariffs. I believe they actually have a MAP agreement with US vendors. This hurts American dealers the same way it hurts people who sell Gedore, Hazet and Stahlwille here. I can grey market this stuff for a third to a fourth of the cost (including international shipping) of buying from an official US representative.
Felo are pretty close to Wera with consistency. Their regular insert bits are excellent. Their impact bits are hit or miss because of the coating. Their screwdrivers are as good as any other but the handles are tiny on the standard sizes and large on the precision sizes. Felo has the most reasonable prices of the the three. They are also easily available through Bondhus. I’ve never heard of any issues there. The only con is Bondhus does limit the Felo offerings so as to not cannabalize their own Bondhus sales. I don’t recall if they did that with Wiha when they represented them.
Brian M
I’m glad KC Tool is done with Wiha. They should have stopped when Wiha started selling direct and undercutting their retailers with sales, that’s a shady practice. A lot of Wiha’s stuff is being made overseas now so they’ve been losing my interest even before they did that to their retailers.
Fazal Majid
I’m fine with Czech-made (fun fact: before WWII, Czechoslovakia was actually a more industrialized country than Germany). I am also fine with Japan, Korea and Taiwan, but not China or Vietnam.
ToolUser
It actually wasn’t even if you include the Skoda works.
Greg Koenig
Good for Wiha.
Can someone please tell me what great value KC Tool brings to the table? Do they design the tool? No. Do they manufacturer these tools? No. Do they import them? No. Do the do the bulk of marketing? No.
KC Tool is just an online tool seller who’s unique novelty is the focus on German Tools (and the German tools made in China, but I digress). I don’t even think we can say KC Tool has a banger of a website that is massively easier to use than anyone else’s.
As far as online sales, they aren’t even a very compelling option. Their prices are high, and they charge somewhat high shipping rates. I just looked up the 10″ Knipex Cobra with dipped handles – $35.41 on KC Tool, but also the cheapest shipping option was Fed Ex Ground (humh!) for $12.98. By contrast, Amazon has a dedicated Knipex store that looks to be done by Knipex themselves. The same Cobras are $32.45, with free prime shipping that will show up the next day.
The internet is dissolving middlemen like KC Tool. The only value retail has is in running a physical store, close enough to me that dropping in and picking up what I want is a practical option. Amazon is kinda the king here, but buying direct from the manufacturer with free shipping (and a decent shopping cart that takes PayPal or Apple Pay) is fine in my book as well.
Rob
When KCtool came around, everyone else was selling Wiha for twice the amount of money. They forced everyone else to charge something more reasonable. Knipex’s quantity discounts help bigger buying power hurt the little guy. That’s a known issue. KCTool aren’t particularly higher than anyone that is not Amazon or Grainger with a company account (or Zoro with a coupon). Things like Gedore, Hazet and Stahlwille…their US operations expect Americans to pay Snap-On prices for whatever reason.
Matt F
I buy from KC tool on occasion, but always meeting their reasonable free shipping minimums. I think the vast majority of my purchases have come on their 20% off (black friday I think) sale.
Jordan Koehn
KC’s website is actually quite decent. The descriptions and the accurate pictures are very good. I often go there after visiting Amazon or Chad’sToolBox to verify what I’m after. I like to buy from Chad’s when I can as their prices are so good but man his website is awful. I buy from KC when I can to offset this but sometimes their prices are so high its hard to justify, better descriptions or no.
JR Ramos
Shot in the dark here but for such a drastic separation to take place it usually involves discord in either product lines, price structure (and/or freight fees). Margins on most of these tools aren’t as high as people might expect, so it’s very competitive and even being bumped to another tier with an extra 2% or whatever can be significant.
Given the out of stock/backorder situation at Wiha for quite some time, it was surprising to see them get into Lowe’s, and I did notice that out of stock flags fluctuated a lot at various retailers, at the time, and still. That said, I placed two orders directly from Wiha’s site in the last year and a half, and both took FOREVER to get shipped. The last was two weeks before Christmas, 2020. After maybe four weeks I got an email saying that shipment was delayed but they were working hard…and then I emailed them after six weeks had passed…slow response but they blamed covid staffing. Ok. I finally got a shipping notice after eight weeks but it didn’t actually ship for another week. All said and done it was two and a half months until I got my Vietnam-made bits and a few drivers. During that period I did look around and was unable to buy the bits in a complete order from anyone else, and several only had them in packs of five, etc. So those are imported and the whole world has been off and on shut down…ok.
My guess is that either they told KC that they wouldn’t be able to alleviate their stock/shipping situation for them (while entering the new market in Lowe’s). Or they wanted to force them into a different structure, be that MOQ for freight, or maybe just a large enough price increase to make it a deal killer. Worst case is that they implemented product line requirements where maybe KC would have been required to stock some things they didn’t think they could sell, or in quantities that would leave them holding the ball on unsold product that could affect timing of stock orders for product they did need.
Maybe Wiha will make all of their products fully available on the site – can’t quite order everything directly from them currently. With middlemen cut out that leaves them and perhaps amazon…can’t see Lowe’s ever diving deep into the brand, or keeping it for more than a season or three.
Rob
That’s interesting. I didn’t know Wiha wasn’t delivering on it’s direct to customer sales. Their website had given me the impression that they were holding stock from their dealers so that they could sell directly.
Addy
Late to the party here but did Whia ever made pliers in Germany? Should I look for NOS? Does their Vietnam made stuff hold up to some basic channellocks or kleins?
rob
As far as I recall, their pliers were sourced from European third parties before they started making their own. They set up the plant in Vietnam to make their own pliers. They look nice in person. I haven’t use any, but here good things.
Matt F
So I placed an order with KCTool back when this change was announced. I ordered only items that were listed as in stock. It has been 4 weeks now with no shipment or update. Anyone else in the same boat?
I’m used to this for out of stock items, but they have live inventory shown on their website.
It would have been reasonable for KCTool to say that they are not accepting orders for any backordered Wiha items and then just notified you if something isn’t available.
Stuart
It could have been a mistake, with one of out stock item holding things up. Email them for an update.
James B
Wiha is the brand that first got me into German tools. I had no idea who Wiha was or the difference that Quality tools make over mediocre ones, but I had 2 awesome precision phillips screwdrivers, and they were Wiha Germany. I bought them from a little electronics store in Goleta, CA. I have had good luck with KCTool and ChadsToolbox. I appreciate how their offerings overlap significantly, but not too much. I bought my Hazet 863 3/8″” ratchet from ChadsToolbox when it was out of stock at KCTool, and ChadsToolbox also carries some brands that KC does not like Grip-On and Bahco. I have found Wiha to do a very good job on their tools. I own one of their Vietnam made cutters, and it has been a go-to for me when I need a versitile cutter that can handle most anything. I still have the option of reaching for the Knipex or NWS, but the Wiha is a good tool.
I’d like to see KCTool add some more German brands like Gross-Stabil and Bessey. Maybe someday.