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[Closed] Same spec bikes more expensive in the UK?

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For a non retail guy like me then is this correct,

Uk price inc vat = £5200

Uk price exc vat @ 20% = £4350 (is vat 20% on uk bikes?)

£4350 = $7280, which is double what it is in the US

How much is duty and delivery to the Uk = $500 ?

I assume the retailers buy them at roughly the same cost?


 
Posted : 27/08/2014 3:08 pm
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so the above figures cant be correct as they sell them for $3500 before tax?

I thought they were £3500 before tax, I'd converted it all into £ first rather than last?


Buy from yeti USA, not China.

So what you're saying is Yeti design, build, globaly market, and make a profit on a bike, which results in a cost of £X per unit before it's distributed.

Yeti then distribute, market, sort warrenties, etc, internaly in the USA and Silverfish do the same in the UK.

What you're saying is Yeti are 'distributing' it to silverfish. Which just seems hugely ineficient, why is there any need for yeti's USA distribution arm to incur costs?

In buying my shopping from a single outlet; I get value in terms of convenience. Do I really need to point out how impractible it would be to buy all of the individual items from the different sources. Due to these reasons, it's a rather daft comparison.
It wasn't before the high street was killed off, in towns/villages that still have a highstreet you can walk to the butcher, the baker and the greengrocer easier than navigating TESCO's isles.


 
Posted : 27/08/2014 3:34 pm
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As for distributors arranging demo bikes I'm fairly confident in saying that I've only ever swung my leg over a shop (paid for and maintained by them) demo bike.

Warranty on the bike should be dealt with by the reseller not the distributor as with anything else, I wouldn't ring ford UK about my faulty car, why should I ring Silverfish about my faulty lappiere?

Better product knowledge? My lbs is pretty good for that, some aren't, that is what you're paying for in retail so vote with your feet.

You say a super market adds convenience, any retailer should, that's the point of them, one shop with brake pad, chains, wheels frames etc. Rather than a distributor or factory which doesn't or doesn't offer choice.

Of course the "distributor direct " model such as canyon is great because a lot of it is a retail fronting not a distributor. A distributor proper suits in a warehouse on am industrial estate and would happily sell you 20 sets of brakes four pairs of wheels and so on but one bike /chain what ever isn't in their business model.

The principal aim of retail is the distributor accepts a smaller margin in order to allow the retailer to add one, in return the retailer is supposed to add convenience in terms of small quantities, ready availability, demo models etc and to take on the "hassle " of dealing with Joe public. Not all that value is added for your benefit, some is for the distributor/manufacturer's benefit.


 
Posted : 27/08/2014 4:08 pm
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Canyon are of course a manufacturer who have innovated by not following the traditional sales route and by doing so offer very good value to consumers. They seem to be doing very well out of it, have lots of happy customers and sell a good product which (IMHO) is equivalent in quality to any of the major brands.
I hope that they do so well that all manufacturers take this route.
I don't wish death to LBS; there will always be a place for a good one but I don't feel like I owe them a living any more than I do any other type of shop. I want the best possible value and my opinion is that I'd get that from the man's/distri's by not providing mark ups for XXX number of companies.


 
Posted : 27/08/2014 4:44 pm
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I'd suspect that the

£1500 design build and import
is way over the top. I have a friend that owns a bike brand and they pay nothing like that for their carbon frames.

Also the marketing number sounds way to high too.


 
Posted : 27/08/2014 4:47 pm
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distributing' it to silverfish. Which just seems hugely ineficient, why is there any need for yeti's USA distribution arm to incur costs?

Its considerably less efficient for a retailer to buy direct in small quantities. By adding the distributor in the loop you add a level of stock holding your retailer wouldn't be happy with ink order to service warranties etc. Cost for shipping a single bike one at a time over the Atlantic is high bs. Low for 100 bikes at a time. Paying Silverfish is done in gbp and is cheap, every transaction you do in foreign currency costs you (£50 to receive a payment in us dollars to my business account, 65 to make one) I have a forex account for euro to get away from that but as a result I have to pre buy and hehe my euros at a lower rate, it's fine for bigger sums of money 50-60k a month, but much smaller like a retailer will deal with on a now and then basis is not viable.

Importing from outside the EU for a company is costly and time consuming where as for you and I as individuals is relatively cheap and easy.

The "value add" is for the retailer first and you second. You get a warranty with your bike that the retailer is obliged by law to offer in some form, they wouldn't be able to do that without silverfish or who ever being able to back it up, despite the costs then deal with it in bulk as the cost of any one warranty claim would wipe out the profit. They save on a lot of hassle and incidental costs which they would have to pass on to you.

From the distributors point of view they get (supposedly) a knowledgeable and easily accessible distribution base which insulates them from the end user and the inevitable hassle that comes with them.

You should get a local accessible and friendly service from a retailer coupled with the backup and reduced costs of bulk buying the retailer gets from the distributor.

One retailer buying direct from yeti would be much more expensive to you.

You can of course go direct to the USA, not incur the banking costs (personal banking is cheap here) pay your own duty and VAT, accept the risk of carriage (cmr pays about 8.50 per KG, not much on a bike that cost 3k) and get no warranty.

It's all settings and roundabouts, you may think the risk worth the saving, a lot of ATGNI wouldn't, they need the backup.


 
Posted : 27/08/2014 4:50 pm
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Don't bike shops in the US buy directly from Yeti?


 
Posted : 27/08/2014 5:20 pm
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tonyg2003 - Member
I'd suspect that the

£1500 design build and import

is way over the top. I have a friend that owns a bike brand and they pay nothing like that for their carbon frames.

How much does design, tooling set up, prototype, testing etc. cost?
Canyon are of course a manufacturer who have innovated by not following the traditional sales route and by doing so offer very good value to consumers. They seem to be doing very well out of it, have lots of happy customers and sell a good product which (IMHO) is equivalent in quality to any of the major brands.
I hope that they do so well that all manufacturers take this route.

As for Canyon/YT etc. Can you demo a bike? See all the threads about the new Capra where people have ordered and have no idea which size they should have ordered.
Most LBS will set up a bike for you, test it run it up and down the road etc. then take it back a month or so later and sort out any niggles (it happens) for free along with offing support on set-up, size, shock features. My LBS spend a decent amount of time sorting somebody out on a new bike and then doing a post sales retune if required then handle any issues with warranty locally - such as lending people a demo bike if their forks have to go back for warranty.

The factory direct model works in some ways but there is a big difference between price and value.


 
Posted : 27/08/2014 11:43 pm
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As for Canyon/YT etc. Can you demo a bike? See all the threads about the new Capra where people have ordered and have no idea which size they should have ordered.

Granted it's not ideal, but that's taken into consideration during the value appraisal. You get miles more bike than you could get anywhere else but you have to take a punt by looking that the geo (which some of us can do).
I have zero interest in the saturday kid telling me how a bike should fit and certainly would not pay an extra £1000+ for that service. Fitting, set up etc etc is perhaps worth it for beginners but offers no value to me at all.
The major brands cannot ignore the fact that they are losing market share. Look at the clues; the Capra is like rocking horse shit because it is so popular. YT can't make them fast enough. Much of the Canyon Strive CF range was sold out until recently including the top of the range model.
It's the future.


 
Posted : 28/08/2014 8:48 am
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What surprises me about the YT/Canyon model is that even by taking pre-orders months in advance, they still aren't flexible enough to make more of the models that sell and less of the ones that dont. Even with the same frames.


 
Posted : 28/08/2014 9:57 am
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find the restrictive selling policies of some bike mnfrs not at all in the customer interest and very much in the interest of maintaining brand pricing - it seems pretty obvious from the way in which some products are advertised that retailers can only offer deals which don't have much actual impact on the retail sales price eg free extras
or like for like "factory sales"

bit grumpier than usual as live in Melbourne Aus' - local bike shop is a specialized retailer and I wanted two specific specialized items - a seat post and some leg warmers with zips, as usual no stock - seat post "about 10-14days" couldn't get the legwarmers not listed

back home was ordering a gore jacket from a UK retailer to directly replace one I'd lost (no local shop stocks gore - think nobody else rides in the rain) went to add the seatpost and the legwarmers to the order only to get the message "can't ship products from this manufacturer outside the EU"

grrrrrrrrrr......


 
Posted : 28/08/2014 10:12 am
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