so which country are you in ?

Buying from a suplier in the same country is mainly cost. ie: cheaper delivery and no import tax.
At your price range it's geenrally quicker and cheaper to fix the machie yourself than mess around with suppliers.
The prix is a decent looking machine and while it's not been around long - can't say I've heard anything negative about them - or anything at all for that matter :-)

filament wise. basically everything (except nylon) is better than abs :-)
I've lost count of the different types of filament I've currently got - and your friend here is globalfsd.com
try a sample before buying a big roll :-)

Pla is great stuff. As strong and tough as abs - in my experience, but way easier to print with. And shinier.

Actually if you plan on designing your own products then the printer is almost secondary to the design software. Pretty much any printer will produce similiar results - the differences are mainly in the design.

Have you any design experience ?