well, i think manafont was better geared towards diy than the big retailers… they would let you swap smo/op reflectors, sold quite a few popular bare hosts etc
My last buy was via JohnnyMac - he had setup a couple of good deals with Manafont from his new website forum, which I did. Good deals, good products. I had several orders with MF from 2012 on - never had a problem, really. They had some good DIY stuff, but the site was so dis-organized, always had problems finding things - no categorization, etc. FT is such a pleasure in that respect.