Buy local - Support local industry - Rant

[Goblin]

I have heard the argument for buying local and supporting local Industry and I will normally prefer to buy from a local shop, but does supporting them mean that I have to be shafted in the process.

Was looking for a new air shaft for my pike as I wanted to change the travel.

Best price I could get locally was about R1400.

 

Went online and found it for 25 Euro's. thats R357  at online retail pricing, now factor in shipping with DHL at about R250 the price will be about R600.

How do local guys justify the markup?

Import duties ... 0% on a bike part

Vat = 15%

Shipping , I cant believe I'm getting it cheaper than them. 

Cost of new Ferrari, maybe..... 

 

To add insult to injury Sram no longer allows online vendors to ship outside of their country, effectively enabling and promoting the insane markups

 

Ended up having it shipped to a friend in Germany (free of charge) and he will in turn ship it to me via dhl.

 

I will happily support local if I am not being screwed in the the process,  but all their arguments (no support / no warranty etc) are null and void if I can purchase 4 of the same item at the price they want to charge me for one.

 

 

[Grease_Monkey]

Agree with you 100%. I will support local (hell I am one of the local online shops), but when you can buy 4 of the same units abroad for the same price as 1 locally then someone somewhere is getting shafted...

[Brickleberry]

I just love how they all cry they so poor. If you are going to shaft everyone at least own it . But it's the South African way . Make something popular , then pull the piss on price , then cry when you get competition. I see even warrior race is 500 bucks a shot now ? Are you kidding ? The greed will never end .

[Eugene]

A good couple of years back, I subscribed to an American magazine. It was delivered to my door for R18 per issue.

 

CNA sold that same magazine for R65 back then.

 

If I could get a single issue for R18, they surely got their bulk order much cheaper. That means a minimum of 300% markup.

[amasendeinja]

Have to agree. I am generally a strong local supporter and typically take most of my business to a single bricks & mortar bikeshop. And whilst I am certain there are bike shops that pull the p*ss on pricing, mine is not one of them.

 

On Friday I was looking for a set of wheels for a mate after he had been quoted R8k rebuild his Hope/Stans Crest rear wheel. First add I found on bike hub was for a set of brand new SRAM Roam wheels for R8,500. A good price considering the ad says they retail at R12k (and the guy advertising them I consider to be upstanding so I believe what's in his ad). Then I went into the SRAM website to check what the rim width was. And what do I find? Recommended retail pricing of $322-374 or €336-390, the Euro price being inclusive of European VAT. Actually it clearly states maximum recommended retail price. Using the highest Euro price which already includes 20% VAT I get to R6,240 using an ROE of 16, which is pretty conservative. So other than shipping to SA this should roughly be parity pricing to Euro pricing. The USD calculation comes out at a very similar value.

 

And retail for these wheels is R12k here!? No duties apply, so shipping costs to SA must be astronomical nowadays

[BaGearA]

I support local but I have to drive very far to actually get to a shop that knows what they are doing.

 

i.e. Dirt merchant, The trailhead , Trail wolf and Summit cycles have always been helpful and i will continue to support them.

 

Not talking about the 80 other shops in Gauteng that are pretty much useless and they help to motivate people to rather buy online.

 

my 2c

[Paul Ruinaard]

Just bought an E THirteen 44 -9 11 speed Cluster and an XO free body for my hope hubs from CRC. Could not get it anywhere locally and when i did get the price was at least double and they didnt have stock.

 

Dont get me going on the thieves that have the Shimano agency again.

[The expat cyclist]

Look, I fully agree that most of the time it is cheaper to buy online than shop locally. But I cannot imgaine that the overheads of an online store can be more than that of an LBS?

 

Thus, I can understand why it is possible to get things cheaper online.

 

With that said, one day in the not so distant future, I foresee the death of a salesman. Good products will sell themselves.

[LOOK695]

It is often also more than just a pricing issue with many shops failing in delivering a good service resulting in us moving our business overseas

[etienne_jordaan]

It's not only the online vs LBS price difference. What sometimes boggles my mind is the price difference of the same product from shop to shop. How do they explain that?

[Geronimo]

I have been buying online parts since 2012 for the SOLE reason that I pay 40 to 50% less than what I would pay  in South Africa. Surely importers of Shimano/Campy and SRAM in the UK are paying the SAME price for their parts from the likes of Shimano etc so why do the bike shops in the UK sell their parts for up to 50% less than here ??

 

I support my LBS when I can but someone is seriously shafting us.

[Jaco-fiets]

One of my training buddies just received his edge 520 from the UK. Paid R3600.

[Eon du Plessis]

So I've been looking for a replacement derailleur hanger. Went to a well known local shop who proceeded to order me a generic unit that they said would fit, after looking at my hanger.

Turns out it didn't fit and I was still expected to pay for it because it was a custom order.

Now I'm having one made by someone here on the hub.

 

I also recently got a quote for replacement Dura-Ace 9000 shifters. R12k for the set. Twelve. Thousand. Rand. For two shifters.

Ended up getting a set of 9001 shifters for R4.5k on CRC, along with a whole bunch of other stuff, still coming in under R12k.

[ZakAttak]

I buy online from CWC, if they don't stock it, I'll buy online from overseas... screw this local economy, our tax charged on items are making the president and his cronies rich alone anyway... I'm not in support of that either!

[Shebeen]

this is a massive misconception.

 

Support local means just that. Given an imported and local product, you buy the local one.

 

If it's the same (eg.) Shimano part on offer then there is zero value add from the local middleman so you don't have to feel bad buying on price.

 

this is moot if there is a value add on:

local warranty/backup

warm fuzzy feeling from a one on one transaction with a human in a bricks and mortar store

[Pure Savage]

I dont mind paying a premium if the local shop or online store has amazing customer service and good back up of stuff. 

 

Like when a buckle on the shoe snaps, I walk in they hand me one, I smile say thanks over a CC and the store says no probs. 

 

Or when there is a warrantee issue, the shop takes it back and hands you a new one with a smile, no invoice, nada. 

 

Thats why I use local. No online shop has done that for me yet.