hey bike dealer lets talk about price now ;-)

[bikeguy11968]

How about this one "Ken, you got to go to X and fix their paper clips.
For free. And do a really good job becuase when we sold them the
things they got a great deal and we made zero money"

 

[bikeguy11968]

Why do you feel the need to deny someone their ability to make a
living? Who cares if the derailleur costs 40$. Or 50$. Do you want
it? Then buy it. If not, shut the hell up. No wait, better idea. Go
search online for 2 or 3 hours. Then find a derailleur for 35$. Then
pay to ship it. Guess what. Shipping for a big mail order company is a
PROFIT CENTER. Yeah, that's right. they CHARGE YOU MORE than it costs
them to ship something. That should send you weaselly little mind into
a frenzy. So now when you buy mail order, you get no service, no
support, and pay more for shipping something than you "should".
Loser.
Not to mention you get to wait 3-4 days fro your product.
Loser.
But I saved 5$.
But I spent 2 hours looking for it online to insure I got the lowest
possibly price.

Works for me, but only if you make $2.50 an hour.. Like the north
korean they just out sourced YOUR job too.

Support your local bike shop. They'll support you back.

 

[Ken M]

Yeap I know about shipping too! And yeah they do make profit there. And
I do support my local bike shop when it comes to some things.

Ken

 

[jj]

On 12 Jul 2005 04:53:07 -0700, "bikeguy11968" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>And then a holes like you wander in assuming that we make 400 % on a
>giant hybrid. Then they waste 2 hours of time *****ing to save 10$ off
>the retail price. Then they wonder dumbly why THEIR bike is the last
>one to get fixed, or isnt quite as shiny as the nice non *****ing
>customer's bike.

Well, to me, that shows horrible business sense. If a guy makes his
best deal then good for him - he should still get the same customer
service and the wrench's best efforts on his bike. Word gets around.
If I'm standing there and see a guy get the short shrift, that affects
me similarly to getting bad service myself.

Having said this, I do think it's good to support your local LBS - at
least until you find they've been mistreating you - which I did.
Despite tipping the wrench he didn't tune up my bike - he gave me a
'wall hanger tune up' - took the bike and hung it on a hook and when I
came back just gave it back to me largely untouched.

jj


>Then later they wonder why the LBS is gone, replaced
>by and antique mall, or an american girl doll store.
>
>Get a clue dumb ass. MSRP is a pricing structure set partially to
>insure that dealers can make money, survive and continue to provide
>excellent service to their customers. I don't know why you feel the
>need to "pay less" for something. Perhaps is because your LBS doesn't
>do a good job representing their goods and services. Or perhaps it's
>because you're a cheap *******. Hey, let's start out sourcing YOUR job
>to hungy North Koreans that will sell office products for us via the
>phone for 3 cents a month.. That will put it right in perspective for
>you.

 

[bikeguy11968]

But according to you no one has the right to make profit (off of you
anyway.). Hey, we should all pool our money into a big collective. Or
trade beads and honey for stuff.. yeah, that's it. honey..

 

[bikeguy11968]

But according to you no one has the right to make profit (off of you
anyway.). Hey, we should all pool our money into a big collective. Or
trade beads and honey for stuff.. yeah, that's it. honey..

 

[The Wogster]

Ken M wrote:
> Well I will bet you that you have a lot of competition. And that WILL
> put a damper on your ability to mark up items. I will not argue with
> that. However if you had little or no competition. You could mark your
> merch up considerable and people would pay the price.
>
> And I will agree with you again, about the mail order, and the web
> store competition. Many people will point and click. And however you
> have an advantage over this because people like myself like to be able
> to feel, touch and see certain items before they buy. This is your
> oportunity to hook them, so to speak.
>
> And I am sure there are big differences between the business suppy
> business, and the bike business, but I am sure there are many
> similarities as well. Some of which you probably don't want to admit
> to.
>

Mail and Internet ordering though, may offer a cheaper price, but can
also make product comparison, difficult. An LBS may be able to
recommend a better product then one you would buy online, because the
owner knows his products. The LBS may also either install it for you,
or tell you how to install it, something an internet site can't do,
except maybe give you a copy of the instructions, originally written in
Chinese, translated by a guy who kinda knows something about Chinese and
English, but knows neither very well.

There is also another pair of issues with Internet ordering, the price
may look good, but you need to include shipping and handling costs, and
when they bill your credit card. That brings us to the other issue,
ordering online always seems to involve using a credit card, some people
don't like credit cards (me for instance). You can always pay an LBS in
cash.

W

 

[bikeguy11968]

But according to you no one has the right to make profit (off of you
anyway.). Hey, we should all pool our money into a big collective. Or
trade beads and honey for stuff.. yeah, that's it. honey..

 

[bikeguy11968]

How is MSRP a rip off? If I tack on 20% on to pof MSRP then sure it's
unfair. And your mai lorder chain lube, by the time you factor in
shipping, and hassle of finding the ultra cheap price, saves you what,
1 $? Face it.

You're cheap.

 

[C]

In article <[email protected]>,
Ken M <[email protected]> wrote:
>well perhaps the mark up in the bike business is not as high as in the
>business supply business, but I still think it is higher than most LBS
>owners will admit to.

How many rich bike shop owners do you know? A lot of them go out of
business because their profit margin is not high enough. Maintaining
an inventory, renting a showroom, paying employees, helping customers
with test rides and free fitting, etc. all costs a lot of money.
Most shops make most of their profits off of clothing and accessories,
not new bikes and especially not off entry-level bikes.

 

[The Wogster]

C wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Ken M <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>well perhaps the mark up in the bike business is not as high as in the
>>business supply business, but I still think it is higher than most LBS
>>owners will admit to.
>
>
> How many rich bike shop owners do you know? A lot of them go out of
> business because their profit margin is not high enough. Maintaining
> an inventory, renting a showroom, paying employees, helping customers
> with test rides and free fitting, etc. all costs a lot of money.
> Most shops make most of their profits off of clothing and accessories,
> not new bikes and especially not off entry-level bikes.

Unfortunately for bike shops, the profit is highest on items that can be
bought online, or from other kinds of stores. What may eventually
happen, is that bike manufacturers will need to take over the bike
sales, or that you will get chain stores, which can buy higher volume.
In either case, you will probably find bigger shops in malls in major
cities, and none at all in smaller locales. With much lower
competition, and fewer dealers, guess who loses.....

W

 

[Dane Jackson]

Mike Jacoubowsky <[email protected]> wrote:
> They'll help you come up with ways to
> rationalize to your significant other why it's a good thing you spend so
> much time on your bike (the most-common one being, hey, isn't it better to
> be having that mid-life crisis/affair with a bike instead of another
> person?).

Oooh! I haven't tried that one yet. I'm a little young for a mid-life
crisis, but maybe I can save that one up for a few years...

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
There are two kinds of fool. One says, "This is old, and therefore good."
And one says, "This is new, and therefore better"
-- John Brunner, "The Shockwave Rider"

 

[Tom Weaver]

Bill Sornson wrote:

> Rick wrote:
>
>>Thanks for your input guys. I understand pretty well that I need to
>>build a good relationship with my LBS. I have no intention to haggle
>>for hours. I went back there today without my son to talk a little
>>more with the owner and to visit the shop.
>>
snip
>
> Check the shop's ads or flyers. Lots of places will offer 10 or whatever %
> off on accessories purchased at the same time as a new bike, along with free
> minor tuneups for a month, year, or even life. Higher-end bikes can come
> with $100 in accessories, but only now and then.
>
> Like others have said, if you've found a shop you like and trust, then
> that's worth much more than X amount of dollars.
>
> Hope your son likes his new ride!
>
> Bill S.
>
You may also check out local bike advocacy orgs. By joining MassBike I
get a 10% discount on accessories. So I get to donate a few bucks to a
good cause and get it back whenever I go into the bike shop.

Works for me.

Tom

 

[Claire Petersky]

"Dane Jackson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Mike Jacoubowsky <[email protected]> wrote:
>> They'll help you come up with ways to
>> rationalize to your significant other why it's a good thing you spend so
>> much time on your bike (the most-common one being, hey, isn't it better
>> to
>> be having that mid-life crisis/affair with a bike instead of another
>> person?).
>
> Oooh! I haven't tried that one yet. I'm a little young for a mid-life
> crisis, but maybe I can save that one up for a few years...


When it comes to a new bike purchase, you are allowed multiple mid-life
crises between the ages of 25 and 60.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

 

[gds]

Claire Petersky wrote:
>
> When it comes to a new bike purchase, you are allowed multiple mid-life
> crises between the ages of 25 and 60.
>


Nah! I am now 60 and have my next two bikes planned. This is a crisis
you don't out grow.

 

[JJ]

"Ken M" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Oh but I DO know about the car business. What I am saying is that
> "invoice" maybe advertised a lot, but that is NOT what the dealer
> "pays" for the car!! "Holdback" is what I think you are calling the
> real price that the dealer pays. And incentives are a joke!
>
> That Deore rder probably has a dealer cost of close to that $20 mark.
> When purchased in certain multiples. I am not sure about the 820, I
> have no clue what they are selling for, and I am not going to waste
> time looking it up.
>
> Ken

Sorry, you don't know what you're talking about. Dealer holdback is the 2-3%
rebate of cost the dealer gets from the factory after the car is sold.

The Trek 820? Do the reverse of your markup claim on the $80 and see what it
retails for.

 

[Steven M. Scharf]

Rick wrote:

> My son will likely buy a Giant OCR3 2005. We are Canada and the price asked
> before any haggling is 850.00 tax in, so out the door. It is a reasonable
> price ? How much room do we have to play ??

Sounds about right at $850 including tax. It's $600 in the U.S..

> Can we get more if we ask for free stuff , e.g. speedometer, water bottle
> etc etc instead of price reduction ??

Usually this is the case, because the mark-up is lower on complete
bicycles (35-45%) versus the mark-up on accessories and clothing (100-200%).

> Thanks for your input

Technically it's our output.

 

[Mike Jacoubowsky]

>> > I don't know about whole bikes, but I know the markup on my new
>> > frame/fork
>> > was pretty steep. I paid $1100 with a paint upgrade, and the invoice I
>> > saw
>> > was for about half that.
>>
>> I'll have what your dealer's having! Perhaps if it were a lesser-known
>> brand
>> the dealer could make that much money, but for name-brands, the markups
>> aren't even close to that. ....
>
> I usually hang on every word Mike J writes around
> here, but hmmmm.... Come on, MJ.
>
> Everybody knows the "pro deal" is 50-60% of retail.

"Pro deals" are offered by the manufacturers, not the bike shops. They are
always below wholesale cost, sometimes significantly so. For example, a "pro
deal" on a Trek bicycle, to an employee who meets the qualifications, is 20%
below *wholesale.* If one was under the impression that such bikes were sold
at wholesale dealer pricing, I could see where you might get that idea.
Parts are sometimes at up to 50% off wholesale, in an effort to get them
into the hands of influential shop employees.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

 

[Ken M]

What "bikeguy" doesn't realize is that by providing bad customer
service to the guy that got a good deal on his new bike, he is leaving
a bad taste in that customers mouth, and that guy is less likely to go
there to buy accessories that have a higher profit margin. I know that
is I bought a new bike from "bikeguy" and got the kind of customer
service he is describing I would not return there. And I would bad
mouth that shop at every chance I got.

Ken

 

[Ken M]

Well I would have to say that that trek 820 probably sells for about
$240 to $320 just assuming the 200 to 300% markup, maybe a bit less
from an internet seller.

Ken