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Buy local - Support local industry - Rant


Goblin

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What grinds me is when the rand vs all other currencies tank the prices in the shops rise within a week. Now that it's almost back to levels of 2015, prices still continue to rise. We should all just stop paying and start demanding a reduction before paying. That will enforce economics 101. But there's always someone who is willing to pay more than what it's worth.

When the prices rise, shops would normally increase prices as they need to replace the stock at the current price. When the rand strengthens again, the shop will not normally be able to reduce prices until they have sold the stock they got at the higher exchange rate.

 

 

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Well at least they admit they made a mistake with the listing.

 

 

 

Dear Paul 
 
I would like to apologise for my mistake. 
 
I made a typing error with regards to the listing, really did not ment to rip you off. 
 
I corrected my error. 
 
 
If you are still interested please feel free to purchase it for the reasonable retail price. 
 
Have a lovely day.
 
Kind Regards 
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When the prices rise, shops would normally increase prices as they need to replace the stock at the current price. When the rand strengthens again, the shop will not normally be able to reduce prices until they have sold the stock they got at the higher exchange rate.

 

 

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hang on a moment of a second.

 

  • so the LBS pays R10 for a part and sell for say R15
  • Z.A.R goes to hell because our honorable president builds a fire pool
  • LBS then discovers that the part will now cost him R11 and that would then need to be sold for R17 to make his profit margin.
  • LBS then walks onto the floor and marks up stock bought at a lower price by R2, dirty extra profit over his existing markup? 
  • new stock arrives, he covers his extra R1 cost to shop when he sells the product at R2 more (R17) and gets a clean profit

hope you noticed what I see as clean and dirty profit.

Edited by Hairy
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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.

 

Sent bike in for quick "service" after holidays.

New damper for rockshox fork = ZAR2,900

Total service (incl damper) on my mtb was almost ZAR5k.

:eek:

 

 

I cannot afford to ride my MTB "for fun" anymore...

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Sent bike in for quick "service" after holidays.

New damper for rockshox fork = ZAR2,900

Total service (incl damper) on my mtb was almost ZAR5k.

:eek:

 

 

I cannot afford to ride my MTB "for fun" anymore...

 

How old was the fork that it required a completely new damper? Was it a Charger?

 

What was the other R2k for?

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How old was the fork that it required a completely new damper? Was it a Charger?

 

What was the other R2k for?

 

Fork is std on a 2016 spez camber - Rockshox Revelation RC3, IIRC.  

 

Basically, less than 18 months of intermittent / low mileage riding (only weekends)

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Fork is std on a 2016 spez camber - Rockshox Revelation RC3, IIRC.

 

Basically, less than 18 months of intermittent / low mileage riding (only weekends)

Very interesting post, my bike recently went to my LBS for a full service and also a service of the lowers and they also told me there is something wrong with my damper and I have to send it in.

Also a Relevation RC3 on a 2016 Camber Comp Carbon.

 

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Very interesting post, my bike recently went to my LBS for a full service and also a service of the lowers and they also told me there is something wrong with my damper and I have to send it in.

Also a Relevation RC3 on a 2016 Camber Comp Carbon.

 

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

 

that IS very interesting and EXPENSIVE.

 

LBS said that "some dampers last and some don't.......your's didn't".

 

 

BTW, mine was leaking oil out the seal, so it was damaged in some way (and not a fake repair).

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One of my biggest  issues with any LBS is that they think I am stupid.

One thing they must realize, IT IS JUST A BICYCLE. 

It is not complicated. It is not mystical. 

Don't try to b#llsh*t me.

   

Rather spend time on good customer service.

 

Example.

 

Just the other day. 

My XT brake leaver finally gave up the ghost after a few years. 

So, to be fair, of to the LBS I go, to  get the price for a new lever assembly as I know they can not really be serviced.

 

Their response . . . It is not made anymore.

I have to get the whole new XT M8000 brake lever and hose and caliper and all.

And then It will probably not fit together with my old shifter.

 

I said thanks, went and ordered the brake lever assembly online for about R600. 

I have the bleed kit and the red OEM oil.

 

But

I want to be fair. So I normally give them a chance.

 

I normally ask the LBS for a quotation  on the item I want and if the price is with in range of an online shop, then I'll buy from the LBS

 

99% of the time. 

They are much more expensive, don't have it in stock and I must wait some weeks.

 

In the case the LBS do have the product for a good price, I buy it.   :thumbup:

Edited by IH8MUD
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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.

SRAM in SA has a local agent - Cape Cycling Systems.  EVEN IF we ignore the massive price differences that we are forced to pay in SA, my beef is that they never have stock of the most basic things.  When you need a component just to be able to ride your bike, I think most of us usually just suck it up at cough up a lung and pay, but CCS don't even give you this!! 

 

Since they have embargoed SA (i think since late last year) I have waited MONTHS for some of the most basic components.  And if you ask any LBS you will get the same answer - CCS are a nightmare to deal with, never carry stock, always have some BS story, etc etc.  They insist on a monopoly situation to protect their business, sell at massively inflated prices, and then carry bare minimum stock - how can this be right?

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perhaps th Bikehub team should contact CCS and ask for a interview with them on this matter, free publicity for them and maybe, just maybe, they have a valid explanation, solution, whatever for this embargo on private import of sram products.

 

maybe they struggle to get stock from Sram overseas as they are very small distributor and are at the back of the queue?

 

chances are they'll just say no.

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So my LBS is run by a buddy of mine. All my day to day stuff I just go straight to him and don't even look around(admittedly on most stuff he gives me a small discount). When I need something a bit bigger and more expensive I go to him first and say I am interested in this, see what you can do. I then go and look around online both local and overseas. We then chat about what prices we got and come to an agreement. Sometimes he tells me that he literally cant do it for that price and I must get it from that store. But I don't always go for the cheapest deal, For eg when my wife got her new car recently I wanted some thule roof racks for it, My LBS came in about R500 more and Yes the dealer that gave me the best price isn't that far from me but it's in a busy area and it probably would have taken 2 hours out of my day. So I paid the extra and got the racks the next day. But when I wanted some new LOOK keo blade 2 pedals last year, CRC was less than half the price of both LBS and local online, all inclusive. So I bought them from CRC.

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Right, so I ordered a wheelset from a local shop that sells online, in the Cape.

The same day, I ordered items from CRC.

The latter was delivered on the second business day after the order was placed. I don't think the wheels have even shipped yet.

 

Crazy to think that something can get to my door from the UK in a third (and counting) of the time it takes to get it from the Cape.

 

Edit - a follow-up email later and I've been informed they just shipped. So doubt I'll get them this week still.

Edited by Eon du Plessis
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Since they have embargoed SA (i think since late last year) I have waited MONTHS for some of the most basic components.  And if you ask any LBS you will get the same answer - CCS are a nightmare to deal with, never carry stock, always have some BS story, etc etc.  They insist on a monopoly situation to protect their business, sell at massively inflated prices, and then carry bare minimum stock - how can this be right?

 

Sounds a lot like CoolHeat

 

They dont have stock of a lot of Shimano items freely available overseas, and what they do have is overpriced.

OK, that is maybe a generalisation, but I wanted to order the new M8000 chainring. They only ordered a few, and sold out quickly. They wont get stock until they sell the older ones @ R1250 a pop.

 

I ordered one in the US&A and paid R730.00

(my sister brought it back for me, so I didnt have to pay for shipping)

But still. a R500 difference?  :cursing:

 

Edit: There is a reputable bike shop down the road that does regular CRC orders for items that arent available here.

Like new Shimano XT Boost cranks, and older Shimano 10spd components...

Edited by splat
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