I Feel Justified

[Grebel]

I recently found myself in a position of needing to buy a cycling related item. The said item was available locally as well as a click away on a local Amazon portal site(?). After making an enquiry with the local licensed distributor, I was quoted a price via email and after comparing the price of the item with the on-line price, there was a price difference of R531. This equates to more than 60% of the on-line price!

 

The differences between buying local and buying on-line were as follows:

 

On-line - save R531 but wait three weeks for delivery. Warranty claims would be a problem as the local distributor would obviously not honour any warranty claims

 

Local - Get the item within a few days but pay an extra R531. Warranty claims no problem (I assume).

 

Needless to say, I saved R531 and am currently bedding down to wait three weeks for my purchase to arrive!!

 

Why do the local prices have to be so high?! A mark up of more than 50% is crazy! Assuming that the local distributors are getting the items at a distributor's discount the mark up could be more... I realise that business is about making money and not about doing favours, but at the risk of chasing people away to on-line purchases, this can't be good business?

 

Just had to vent. Feel free to comment.

 

P.S. No names mentioned as the supplier was in no way rude or unpleasant. I asked for a quote and received it with in a few minutes. My gripe is the cost of the item locally vs on-line.

[servventer]

The reality is that any shop, not just Bikes shops, has higher overheads than pure online shops. A 50% markup is little, at any shop in a shopping mall the markup is closer to 100%.

[Gravity]

along the same lines , i would like to know if we use xmas as an example.

days before xmas shops are crowded and doing well, the general public are pretty much all getting ripped off, but the "vibe" makes them forget (ijits {i am also one})

 

then a week after xmas all the shops have like a 25 - 50% sale, my question is if they had that 25% sale before Xmas wouldnt they sell more than 25% more stock and make an even larger profit? If i was a retailer i would rather be sold out of an item before xmas than have to have sales after, incrementaly increasing the sale margin until the stock clears.

 

if you port the same logic to bike shops, why logically are they not cutting the margin with the goal of selling more stock?

 

This same question has probably been asked many times over on the hub, so we dont have to talk about it....but i find it doff.

[AndreZA]

I want to know why we never see end of season sales in this country. Overseas you get 60-80% discount at the end of seasons.

[Wannabe]

Been thinking for a while already that we are being ripped in this country. But not all dealers are unscrupilous sods. My LBS helped me out big time with the demise of my much loved all alu Omega at beginning of this year, and by looking at prices at other shops (even online) I do not know how he got to spec my new bike like this.

1) Solis Scoria full carbon with upgraded Time Avant carbon fork. (2nd hand but immaculate)

2) Fizik Arione (arium) saddle.

3) FSA carbon seatpost

4) KCNC stem and bars

5) Look Keo Classic pedals

6) Fulcrum Racing 5 wheelset

7) Kenda Kriterium tyres

8) Supra Carbon cages

9) ITM Handle bar tape.

10)Full Shimano 105 groupset (2011 version with "hidden" cables)

11)All clamps, spacers,etc also KCNC

 

All of the above except for frame and fork is brand new. This he did within my budget of R12 500-00. Bike has been evaluated by two other well known bike shops to the value of R28 000-00 (with my Mavic racing wheels R37 800-00)

 

So it seems as most shops have one HUGE markup, and we are paying through our *sses.

Edited February 28, 2011 by Wannabe

[Grebel]

The reality is that any shop, not just Bikes shops, has higher overheads than pure online shops. A 50% markup is little, at any shop in a shopping mall the markup is closer to 100%.

 

Disagree. If the price was competitive, they would sell a lot more and not "force" people to buy online. If you took a poll of the nujmber or cyclists that are buying online and the amounts that they are spending and transferred that onto the LBS, then they stand to make a shedload of money. More and more people are buying online nowadays because it isn't worth buying local anymore. It would be interresting to see how many R3k plus orders are being placed on CRC for example from SA...

 

along the same lines , i would like to know if we use xmas as an example.

days before xmas shops are crowded and doing well, the general public are pretty much all getting ripped off, but the "vibe" makes them forget (ijits {i am also one})

 

then a week after xmas all the shops have like a 25 - 50% sale, my question is if they had that 25% sale before Xmas wouldnt they sell more than 25% more stock and make an even larger profit? If i was a retailer i would rather be sold out of an item before xmas than have to have sales after, incrementaly increasing the sale margin until the stock clears.

 

if you port the same logic to bike shops, why logically are they not cutting the margin with the goal of selling more stock?

 

This same question has probably been asked many times over on the hub, so we dont have to talk about it....but i find it doff.

 

The same applies to all the other holidays. Valentines (Lets rather not go there) Easterfor example. A 100g slab of chocolate cost what R10-R12? A 100g chocolate Easter rabbit costs R30+! And we buy it ... WTF?! They call it supply and demand... I call it greed!

[Grebel]

Been thinking for a while already that we are being ripped in this country. But not all dealers are unscrupilous sods. My LBS helped me out big time with the demise of my much loved all alu Omega at beginning of this year, and by looking at prices at other shops (even online) I do not know how he got to spec my new bike like this.

1) Solis Scoria full carbon with upgraded Time Avant carbon fork. (2nd hand but immaculate)

2) Fizik Arione (arium) saddle.

3) FSA carbon seatpost

4) KCNC stem and bars

5) Look Keo Classic pedals

6) Fulcrum Racing 5 wheelset

7) Kenda Kriterium tyres

8) Supra Carbon cages

9) ITM Handle bar tape.

10)Full Shimano 105 groupset (2011 version with "hidden" cables)

11)All clamps, spacers,etc also KCNC

 

All of the above except for frame and fork is brand new. This he did within my budget of R12 500-00. Bike has been evaluated by two other well known bike shops to the value of R28 000-00 (with my Mavic racing wheels R37 800-00)

 

So it seems as most shops have one HUGE markup, and we are paying through our *sses.

 

Don't get me wrong. Not all LBS are a rip off. If you have a rep with yours they can help you out a lot as shown. Generally though, prices are a bit high compared to online stuff.

[Chubba]

It's all over inflated pricing. The distributor most probably gets a discount on the goods anyway, so is making a huge profit.

 

Even local price discrepancies are huge, and unjustified:

Shop A 32GI - 2 X 1kg tub for R205 each or 1 X 1kg tub for R225

Shop B 32GI - 1 X 1kg tub for R259 no discount on 2. After some hard haggling, I get 2 tubs for R220 each. (The only reason i spent the extra cash is Shop B is easier for me to get to after work.)

 

Shop A - First Ascent Top R399.00

Shop B - First Ascent Top R349.99

Shop C - First Ascent Top R335.00 (bought 2 from these guys)

 

Lets just all bend and take this punishment!

 

The is no point in shopping locally and paying more. Unless you want to piss your money away.

 

My new wheel-set was R1500 cheaper from over the seas. With the spare cash got new rotors and cassette and had left over change.

[Grebel]

I recently spent a shade over R3k at CRC. If I spent it here I would have got a helmet (Bell Sweep) and a pair of Diadora MTB shoes. Instead I got the above, a Joplin 3 seat post and a shed load of bling for the change...?!? Why would I buy local? If you can wait spend the bucks online.

[Starvin' Marvin]

look my lbs has helped me out far to much for me to ditch them for online. I think my relationship vs money saved is far more valuble.

[Grebel]

look my lbs has helped me out far to much for me to ditch them for online. I think my relationship vs money saved is far more valuble.

 

Sure, that is your choice. The issue is not only LBS's but most things in general. PS3 games online are a fraction (Less than half) of what they cost here. I recently bought my son 5 games for the price of 2 (comparing apples with apples).

[Arkadion]

My girlfriend works at Maxxis, organised my old man a Crossmark and a Monorail from local distributors. Each cost R140excl. Vat, that means bike shops are charging over 100% markup, if not closer to 200%.

 

I vote with my wallet on CRC or wherever I can get a good deal

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Sure, that is your choice. The issue is not only LBS's but most things in general. PS3 games online are a fraction (Less than half) of what they cost here. I recently bought my son 5 games for the price of 2 (comparing apples with apples).

 

Yeah true, I dont buy a lot of bike stuff but if I need something I go online and I dont even look locally anymore.

 

I do however buy a lot of other stuff on line internationally like underwater camera's, strobes, electronic parts for radio's etc and its always cheaper than local.

 

There are reasons, one is we have a very expensive destination to ship to in bulk, another is most distributors have to pay their stock up front, then all shipping, clearing, storage and VAT costs up front, usually this requires an overdraft and / or a short term revolving credit bank loan, and the cost of money here is very expensive.

 

Yeah, its difficult, but if you choose to trade in SA this is well known to you and you either trade around it or close doors. So in general I dont hold much sympathy for them, I look for the best deal and buy there, its not personal its called business.

[Slowbee]

i dont think all cyclists shop online.

 

Iam convinced that a quicky survey at the world fun ride champs will show that most people who ride bicycles in this country dont even know who CRC are ......

[DMD 1]

On the flip side

 

Try and buy a Baracuda, Kreepy Krauly pool cleaner overseas and then compare the local prices. In good old SA we are about four times, yes that four times cheeper.

 

So in some yet rare cases it is alot cheeper in SA.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

On the flip side

 

Try and buy a Baracuda, Kreepy Krauly pool cleaner overseas and then compare the local prices. In good old SA we are about four times, yes that four times cheeper.

 

So in some yet rare cases it is alot cheeper in SA.

 

Yeah, possibly, but are they both not made here, I think so, but not sure, so then it would stand to reason its more expensive there.

 

Sure, its not everything, and in some cases its just not convenient to go international, its all about time / effort / cost / convenience / and loyalty to a supplier. You just gotta do whats right for you.