Thread: Who is ripping off who

I broke the aerial on the Commodore just after christmas.
I priced a replacement from Repco and other parts suppliers in SA at $135. Unfortunately they couldn't be ordered in time so I thought I'd buy one locally when I returned home.
The local Repco and other parts suppliers in Vic priced them at $159. When I questioned the price disparity, Repco dropped the price to $109. They got the order.
In business there are two ways of pricing an item. One way is "cost plus profit". The other way is "what the market will bear".

I once worked for an organisation that followed the second method. One popular item in their line they paid $4 pu and sold for $80 pu. Well, they did have lots of useless management to support on their junkets.

I buy many small tools from retailers overseas, have them delivered by air-mail, and can still sell them at anything from 1/8 to 1/2 what other local businesses sell at. Now they are buying at wholesale or distributor rates, delivery in quantity by shipping container, miles cheaper than air-mail. So why are they not competitive with me? Profiteering is the only reason I can think of.

Originally Posted by S3ute

Hello from Brisbane.

Don't want to get into the rights and wrongs of the topic - are apples being compared with oranges given the variation in parts qualities, sources etc.

However, I am concerned about how this thread was started. The question is posed "who is ripping who off" and two SEQ LR parts suppliers specifically named in that context rather than "company X" and "company Y". A fair reading of the thread given the Hobart price is that both named companies are ripping the customer off to the tune of about $100.

Is that really fair? Its certainly on the edge of libelous.

Presumably not the intent, but some future caution might be in order.

Cheers

Has the OP (reads90) edited his first post? I cant see any named business....

Oh and wasnt he getting a price on Bearmach part from each, i.e. apple for apple?

Originally Posted by uninformed

Has the OP (reads90) edited his first post? I cant see any named business....

Oh and wasnt he getting a price on Bearmach part from each, i.e. apple for apple?

the original post was edited by me because it was in clear breach of the sites name and shame rules.

whilst at first glance these sorts of comparisons seem like they may be a good thing, they rarely have a positive result.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

I buy many small tools from retailers overseas, have them delivered by air-mail, and can still sell them at anything from 1/8 to 1/2 what other local businesses sell at. Now they are buying at wholesale or distributor rates, delivery in quantity by shipping container, miles cheaper than air-mail. So why are they not competitive with me? Profiteering is the only reason I can think of.

your a back yarder, little to no overhead and don't employ staff, you should be charging half what you do....

I'm finding some Landie parts are just as cheap- or within cooee - in Australia as importing ( sub $1,000) from UK.
I think this trend will continue with the falling $ as it appears stock was purchased here at the high Aus $$.
Worth shopping around for each item ( if time permits) instead of just assuming its cheaper o/s.

Once upon a time in the good old days of Aus the usual mark-up by Business was about 10/12% from wholesale , now it seems what to be any where from 10 to 1000% .

I bought some brake lines from APT fabrications on Tuesday night (rang him close to his close time), price was 1/3rd what was quoted buy a well known fluids transfer company... and not only that but Ben included express postage in the price and they were at my door the next day at 11am (from QLD to NSW), it would have been more costly and taken much longer (needed them ASAP) to buy from overseas, gave me back some faith in Aussie distributors and manufacturers, I'll be posting a thread in the recommendations section shortly.

Moral of the story is shop around, someone will be more than happy to help you.

Cheers
Will