…do you do so when purchasing everything?

This thread got me thinking, afterr recent experience in a chain retailer and discussions re Lidl, Sports Direct etc.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/crc-when-is-best-to-place-an-order

Il’l use online vouchers and sales as much as possible, whatever the purchase. I dont haggle in shops, in fact I actively avoid shops where they vary price depending on who you are.

I am frugal when it comes to purchasing anything. I research things out as much as possible, find the best price I can then consider my purchase, and more often dont end up buying at all.
I think unless you have lots of disposable income then you’d be crazy not to.
Where I decide to buy from is based on who is selling the item at the best price Vs where offers the best warranty/returns. More often the best price will win.
I read threads on here and think there is an obvious difference between people who must have lots of money to spend and can afford the luxury of where to spend it based on their moral beliefs and those who have limited funds and so make purchases based on cost alone.
One thing I dont do is make impulse purchases of tat, that’s not economical.

Lidl / Aldi / SD are already at the extreme end of the value proposition, hence relatively fewer opportunities to hammer their already discounted prices.
Plenty of fat in some LBSs to go for though.

Lidl will be making a higher margin on most things than your average lbs at full RRP.

Plenty of fat in some LBSs to go for though.

🙄 😀

It’s different behaviour in different retailers I think. If it’s something that’s available in multiple outlets – Amazon, eBay etc – then people just shop around for the best price. If it’s something that’s only available in a few outlets, then people try to get the price down in those outlets. It also helps that there’s no point trying to haggle in the Apple store, they don’t need your custom – the LBS does.

People who moan about something going down in price after they’ve bought it make my teeth itch. Miserable bastards.

Lidl will be making a higher margin on most things than your average lbs at full RRP.

Depends what you mean by margin.

I will pay more for value add – for example when buying ski boots for the first time, I paid full RRP from a knowledgeable man in a LSBS, for the advice and skill. I could now buy the same boots for 30% less online.

If I were after a titanium rohloff Brompton I know where I’d go too…

But I refuse to pay premium for restricted distribution and import monopolies. I will seek out grey market alternatives or direct import if I can. Jungle and stif are dirty words in my dictionary.

People who moan about something going down in price after they’ve bought it make my teeth itch. Miserable bastards.

yes why are they not happy about spending more money for the exact same thing 😕

Not sure why they make you so cross tbh

I lived in a barter economy for a while – someone always got what you paid for 80% less and a reach round- and i learnt that the only thing to work out is are you happy with the price you are about to pay.

Ignore everything else is it worth that price to you?

I’ll very rarely haggle or try to beat down a price. If the advertised price doesn’t seem like good value then I’ll either buy from somewhere else or not buy at all. I’m generally pretty content to go without the things that I can’t afford.

After convenience and confidence (which wiggle or lbs with discounts usually wins for me) have been satsfied, why would you take any money from your pension and put it in someone else’s?

LBS struggle to get components from Madison at the same sort of prices as CRC can. I wouldn’t haggle with a LBS because they’re so small that it is their livelihood and will try to pick up something else if I can while I’m there. They need support for that one time you have something you can’t fix.

Happier to buy second hand to get a deal and built most of my bikes getting better components where someone else has paid the depreciation. No way I’d pay £375 RRP on XTR cranks, and still no way I’d pay the CRC price of £270 either.

Ignore everything else is it worth that price to you?

If we multiply this by 60 odd million, don’t we have the foundation of the capitalist system? Never had you as a capitalist Junkyard.

People haggle with me (though not so much these days). It’s their prerogative to do so. Including unspoken invitations to evade tax…of course it’d be me doing the evading, not them. 🙂 (Have an answer for that these days.) But generally, it’s on a case by case basis. If I really feel the indicated price is worth it at that moment in time, then the seller is more than welcome to it. I’d feel bad about haggling a few quid here and there with a local independent, but sometimes might ask for a discount for multi-buy, say.

I do wonder why more LBS don’t do what independent garages do and concentrate on charging for labour and fit parts that the customer bring in themselves. If you don’t sell complete bikes you could carry less stock and concentrate on stuff that is more for emergencies.

For example, my forks just shat the bed and I’m off to the alps tomorrow, the sidewall of my tyre just blew out and I’m meant to be riding tonight, my wheels is rubbing against the frame and I’ve got 10 miles to ride to get home, my saddle keeps falling off and I’m worried about getting a seatpost up my bum etc. (That last one happened to me on a trip to Åre recently, I didn’t mind paying Swedish RRP).

It’s the principle of Fast/Good/Cheap choose two.

I’ve never worked in a bikeshop so it’s entirely possible I’m missing something. If so it would be interesting to hear from someone who works in the business why it wouldn’t work.

BruceWee, I’ve never worked in a bike shop but have repaired / serviced stuff (various types) for a living so I’ll throw in my 2p worth anyway!

If someone knows exactly what part they want (I’ll come back to this in a bit!) then they are more likely to be able to fit it themselves, or at least have a go.
If they mess it up then come to you, they will probably be feeling unhappy about the whole thing so not only do you have to deal with potentially knackered parts / bike but you are also starting with a grumpy / embarrassed customer so if the job takes a long time due to the above it’s likely that you wont get repeat custom.

Then you have the situation where the parts supplied by the customer are either crap quality or not the right part at all. This could lead to you being blamed when they quickly wear out / don’t fit in the first place.

How do you warranty the work? Your labour has a warranty, sure, but what about when the part fails and needs to be stripped off, sent back then the replacement refitted? You might be surprised how many people wont want to pay for your time doing that.

There are things that can be done to minimise the above issues, such as specifying to the customer the correct part, but that’s time consuming too, so do you charge for that service? Why would someone who is confident they know what they want pay the LBS guy to tell them something they already know?

It’s all a bit of a minefield, so I’d suggest the reasons that more LBS dont provide that service are many and varied.

FWIW I don’t know any local garages that are happy for a customer to turn up with some parts and then just charge labour to fit them.

Si

But I refuse to pay premium for restricted distribution and import monopolies.

Indeed – alongside this there are, without any shadow of a doubt, companies in the bike trade that are up to their nuts in knowingly illegal retail price maintenance (gentlemens agreements, maximum online discounts, blocking supplies to discounters etc.)

Lidl will be making a higher margin on most things than your average lbs at full RRP.

Are you suggesting then that opening a bike shop is a pretty stupid thing to do then?

I always look for best prices on one off purchases (that includes all bike stuff)

Why wouldn’t you?

Having worked in the trade for a bit, I was somewhat shocked at the dodgy deals inflicted upon shops/buyers by distributors – contrary to a number of EU laws which is why they don’t get my business. Quite happily buy abroad / direct. The shops don’t help themselves sometimes, giving BS to customers often in return for limited choice and higher prices. The biggest wheeze is about warranty and service – if the product’s best feature is the warranty then it usually means its a poorly designed, under engineered product that’s likely to break so we might give you a new one/ fix it because we’re too incompetent to get it right!

Plenty of fat in some LBSs to go for though.

And yet you hear LBS owners complaining that they pay more for stuff ‘trade’ than some UK websites are retailing it for. Suppose it might depend on where your ‘local’ is..

Suppose it might depend on where your ‘local’ is..

And how well the shop is managed.

ovebiker – Member
Having worked in the trade for a bit…

You boycott shops because distributors treat them badly?

Ie kicking them when they are down?