How Much Does Price Matching Hurt The LBS?

No loyalty when it comes to 900 quid.

Tbh I prefer buying from a LBS myself, but if it comes to it and it’s cheaper else where, well tough titty really.

If you feel loyalty to the LBS ask them to price match, I wouldn’t feel guilty about going elsewhere though, least you gave them the chance to make some profit, up to them if they want to take it/feel it’s worth it.

duplicate.

This is simple, be resonable ask them to price match, if they can’t go else where assuming your deposit isn’t bigger than 900 quid.

Not a moral dilema at all, you’re not being underhand and you don’t owe anyone a living. Not sure why some people treat bike shops as a charity?

This is true, if you walk away leaving your deposit (which is what I think you’re suggesting)

Zulu: Your model model of Capitalism is of course how the western world operates, and I suppose has proved more sucessful than alternative models. The architypal sucessful free market economy was of course Ancient Rome with its social mobility etc…the only teeny, weeny problem was that the folk at the bottom who did most of the work didn’t actually get paid at all. Is this not where unfettered capitalism leads to as a logical conclusion? Surely like any other model it can’t work in isolation?
I try and support my LBS..only that now that the manager of my local shop has admitted to eating at Macdonalds after riding at Glentress (on this forum?)I just don’t know where to take my business! 😆

such as the two helmets & a nice set of pedals (all will be purchased in this same store)

if youre going to buy helmets/pedals with the spare £900 see if they can add those in with the bike, rather than just asking for the money off then buying the bits afterwards.

also, i agree with zulu.

So are you saying the economy is benefiting less from online retailers like CRC than LBS’s then?

If you miss all the people out between ‘you’ and ‘the economy’, your arguements remain simple. Well done. You are better than that.

I bought a bike mail order from a remote LBS as it was the cheapest on the net, where does that fit in to the equation?

Back to the OP, you’ve paid a deposit so are likely to lose it if you do go elsewhere. I’d check out the facts about condition and availability of other bike and then mention this to your LBS – mention that you wouldn’t want an exact price match but ask if they can come to some arrangement.

And don’t forget “Simple economics, innit? Buy wherever is cheapest.”, I think that quote might come back to haunt you.

Hardly. I’ve said exactly the same thing on this forum several times in the past too. 🙄

Go and have a search. That’ll keep you occupied for a while. Of you go.

Now because your first sentence mentioned online, I took that as the context and therefore you were asking for price matching against online, subsequently you have said

several other retailers including indy shops
which changes the slant quite a bit.

Don’t really see how, quite honestly. Several other bike shops and online retailers were doing them at the discounted price. Was an end of season thing. I thought the shop I went into would do the same deal. Seems I actually just missed out by a couple of weeks as it turned out. Such is life.

So here is a question for you; there’s a jacket you would like rrp £120, you know the online retailers have it at £72 (40% discount unlikely to be price matched by an indy lbs). Do you buy it online or do you go try them out for size first in an indy lbs

Is there a law against trying something on in one shop yet buying it somewhere else?

Course I’d bloody try it on; I’d need to get the right size regardless of which shop I bought it from. I’m still ultimately buying it off the manufacturers, in’t I? If the shop I try it on in won’t come down in price, then I’m not going to waste my money, which I don’t have a lot of anyway, paying all that extra just to appease the morally outraged on here. 😆 I woon’t be doing anything anyone else on here woon’t do, no matter how self-righteous they pretend to be. At least I’m honest about it.

If a lot of other places were doing it at a discounted rate, I’d at least expect them to come down a bit if they want the sale.

I’ve had to go into a bike shop to try a helmet on when I had to have one replaced under the crash replacement scheme. How was I sposed to find the right size without doing so? I told the people in the shop what I was doing, they were ok with it. I’ve asked to try stuff on I have no intention of buying at full RRP, they’ve let me. I’ve actually then got a good discount that way once or twice. 🙂

I am of course morally and ethically bankrupt. I expect all those shops will be bankrupt soon too as a result of my despicable behaviour. 😐

Oh whell such is life.

Cheapest price possible, low perceived value, high sales volume requirement. What a doomed place for any small business.

I’m still ultimately buying it off the manufacturers, in’t I?

So, unless we can develop some sort of barter process, there needs to be a capitalist transaction – at least one if buying from the manufacturer – to get these goods.

Your oversimplification to get your weasely words to fit your arguement gets worse with every post. I am well down your Christmas card list, but I expect far better of you than this. I think Z_11 is the Nemesis to your Torqetoomuch and he is actually getting to you now.

So here is a question for you; there’s a jacket you would like rrp £120, you know the online retailers have it at £72 (40% discount unlikely to be price matched by an indy lbs). Do you buy it online or do you go try them out for size first in an indy lbs?

Solve that and you can become a real capitalist – the most informed consultant for the retail industry – and you can buy whatever bike you want! Elfin the new Mary Portas!!

Elfin the new Mary Portas!!

Yay! 😀

Your oversimplification to get your weasely words to fit your arguement gets worse with every post.

Right. You go into a shop with the intention of buying something, try it on, don’t like it, walk out without purchasing.

Tell me what the difference is with me trying it on with no intention of buying it? Cos, like, the shop still does not in any way get a sale.

Have you bought every single item you’ve ever tried on? No. So please, don’t lecture me, eh?

I think Z_11 is the Nemesis to your Torqetoomuch and he is actually getting to you now.

No; he’s just Wrong to my Right, is all. 😀

Well. I think a little less of you than I did, not that I expect you’re at all concerned.

That’s something that you can’t tell me I’m wrong about.

🙁

I went to buy an oak faced bookcase yesterday at a major office suppliers, Staples, asked if they had one in stock , no they said, only to order, and the warehouse is closed till 3 jan, then possibly 10 days delivery time.

So they failed on shed sale and male order sale.

Went to Band Q in stock ,bought and asembeled, bit not available for home delivery, no stock it appears.

Evenin’ gents. Would you mind taking your slagging match to PM. Its becoming a ball ache trying to find the posts that aren’t a E-peen contest. Cheers.

not that I expect you’re at all concerned.

Actually I’m absolutely devastated and from this moment on, I shall vow to change my ways and become the fine upstanding moral citizen all youse lot obviously are. 😥

Would you mind taking your slagging match to PM.

Fair point. Email in profile. Actually I must go and sort my prawns out….

Chickenman

that the folk at the bottom who did most of the work didn’t actually get paid at all. Is this not where unfettered capitalism leads to as a logical conclusion? Surely like any other model it can’t work in isolation?

I’m not necessarily going to agree or disagree with you, however the paradoxical situation we’ve gotten into here, is that its Fred/Elfin being the one promoting the free market capitalist vision of “buy wherever is cheapest and damn the wider social consequences” – I’m just calling him a hippocryte for taking that position as it fundamentally conflicts with his self promoted left wing ideology 😉

however the paradoxical situation we’ve gotten into here, is that its Fred/Elfin being the one promoting the free market capitalist vision of “buy wherever is cheapest and damn the wider social consequences”

No, let’s have it right, eh? That’s something you’ve made up in your own head, it’s not what I’ve said at all.

What I did say, was that in a situation where it’s one Capitalist Enterprise versus another, I’ll probbly go with the one which offers me the best deal according to my economic situation. Which I’d imagine is what the vast majority of people would also go with.

Other people understood this, but that’s probbly cos they’re not clouded with the pathetic need to get one over someone on the internet.

So, don’t be misquoting me and making up crap to suit yer own narrow minded agenda, eh?

Right, prawns are defrosted….

This moral question works both ways. When I went in to ask for a price match at my LBS they were more than happy to do it..the reason they stated was that a: they’d rather make some profit than no profit, and B: they be putting it in the sale after christmas anyway (its now down at 1600, I paid 1400 (in Nov), it was 2150 originally). The point is that if I hadn’t asked I’d have lost out on £550 quid and they wouldn’t have thought twice about it. And this was regardless of the fact that I spend a small fortune in there over the past 12 months.

Ultimatly as a consumer the biking population get shafted by prices. An equally you are entirely justified to walk away. If any of the people on here would honestly pay the 900 extra for the LBS shop service then good luck to you, you’re obviously much richer than me. I suspect the vast majority of the population can’t afford such luxury when it comes to morals…

No, let’s have it right, eh? That’s something you’ve made up in your own head, it’s not what I’ve said at all.

I think pwople can make up their own mind what you said – and here’s some choice quotes

Simple economics, innit? Buy wherever is cheapest

Business is business; dog eat dog. My priority is to myself, I can’t be concerned with the profit margins of others.

Most of the time I just want the problem fixed for the cheapest price though, innit?

My financial resources are finite and limited. I, and most people I suspect, do not have sufficient disposable income to act charitably towards a private business. Are they going to give me a significant discount because i have less money than someone else? No. Ergo, I go where I can get a better deal for me. I don’t have the luxury of choice. And neither do most others.

ElfinPwned 😆

100

What, for favouring one capitalist enterprise over another? Since when was a bike shop a lovely wooly socialist enterprise anyway? It’s a business whose principal function is to generate profit for it’s owners, not some altruistic charity. Please explain how I can further Socialism by favouring one Capitalist Enterprise over another, cos I’d love to know…

eerrrrr….. http://www.bicycledoctor.co.uk/ 😉

I’ll get some servicing down if I can’t do it myself at the LBS. my local LBS’ are all chains though (zeroG and cycle surgery). I’ll also buy consumables (tubes, cables, lubes etc) sometimes gloves, jerseys etc if they have what I want in stock. I’ll never order anything from the LBS though, that defeats the object and even the offer pisses me off as much as requesting price match pisses them off. I don’t request price match any more, it upsets them so I just go online straight away.
Ultimately I’ll buy online if it saves me a good bit of money (by my standards) but try not to mess the LBS around.
In answer to the OP, I would feel a little conflicted but £900 is a lot of money. Money which you have worked hard for.

Should we now mention that STW’s own angry young mayn (sic) used to earn his pennies at a bike shop? 🙂

Money which you have worked hard for.

Well that’s debatable 😆

Cheers for the input guys and gals. I think I’m going to at least try to come to some sort of compromise as I doubt they want to lose the business & I’d like to continue using them after this purchase.

What’s the prawn defence?

(As per the tags).

I think this thread pretty much sums up why you lot are the worst kind of bike shop customers, and makes me happy I’m not running a normal bike shop 🙂

The LBS is caught between a rock and a hard place – the real advantage the LBS has is that you can actually go in and try stuff on or take it for a test ride. But they can’t stop you then taking that valuable information and going elsewhere. But then, if something goes wrong, again it’s the local LBS who often has to sort it out.

I guess there are several answers – one answer is that not everyone values money above everything else, and is perfectly fine to pay a bit extra to support a local shop. Not support in an altruistic way, but support so they’re still in business for warranty work, and for the next time you need them.

But hey, my MTB is built around a Tomac frame I got for silly money from CRC, so I’m a bit hypocritical about this 🙂

Is there a law against trying something on in one shop yet buying it somewhere else?

Of course there isn’t a law against it. This may seem strange, but I asked the question to get an idea of your attitude towards this sort of thing, which is quite clear. Bringing in the manufacturer is irrelevant is this.

I woon’t be doing anything anyone else on here woon’t do, no matter how self-righteous they pretend to be. At least I’m honest about it.

Well you’re doing something I won’t do; I have never gone into a shop to try something on for size knowing I had every intention of buying online. Whether you believe me or not is up to you, but I’m being honest.

Like I said before, if I want an online price I’ll buy online, I don’t bother asking for a price match. Because if you think about it there is no need.

Should we now mention that STW’s own angry young mayn (sic) used to earn his pennies at a bike shop?

As did your good self, iirc. 😉

Oh btw, thanks for the tip about Boisdales; my mum loves jazz, dun’t she, so she’s definitely going to check it out. She said to thank you for your help. She also told me to tell you something which was in Latin, but I’m afraid I’m a bit rusty on that score, and have forgotten what it was. Never mind. I’m sure it was something suitably complimentary.

We ended up going to that most sophisticated of venues; Wetherspoons in Victoria Station. Had a burger each, plus some fantastic dark German beer and a pint of Blue Moon American wheat beer, which is really nice.

Of course, it meant we had to mix with some ghastly lower class types, but one must grin and bear it, mussunt one?

X

What’s the prawn defence?

It’s when I’ve said what’s what, and others have just descended into talking cobblers once more/having snidey pops at me cos they’ve run out of owt intelligent to say, and I’ve got bored and toddled off to cook some prawns. Happens quite a bit tbh.

Proper lovely prawns they are too. Love the way they’re ‘Scottish’ blue, then go pink in seconds! 😆

Bought from an Independent LPS (Local Prawn Shop) rather than one of those horrible beastly online prawn dealers, you’ll all be very relieved to hear. 😀

Mmm.. prawns.

Frozen Planet on iPlayer- sorted. 🙂

Elfin – you played the prawn defence brilliantly. Well done on keeping cool under pressure and for avoiding a slagging match – impressive for STW. You dug deeper with excellent humour!!

And you buy Apple stuff………!?!!

Personally (and I may be alone in this) I think Elfinsafety has been hijacked by a Troll. I’m serious – previously I have thought he had a valid opinion. Tonight I do not. In addition to that he seems to be adding a y to every third word e.g. ‘thayt’. WTF?

We used to have standards on here but tonight it feels as if I’m listening to my 9 year-old daughter’s friends.

Whilst I’m having a rant, STOP USING “does not in any way” AND “IZZENT” THEY ARE NOT REAL WORDS YOU ****! Rant over.

TBH having read a fair few of the posts on this thread I find myself in general agreement with Elfin…

As much as some of you seem keen to turn buying a bike at the cheapest possible price into some sort of Socio-political, Thatcherite Mission statement, it’s simply being sensible with your own financial resources…

I’d contend that those who can actually afford to pay full RRP in their LBS and do so for the touchy-feely “personal touch” of buying a bike from a person rather than an interweb page are perhaps paid too highly to qualify as proper “socialists”. I wish I earned enough to have your high moral values…

Where do the great and the good stand on companies like on-one – direct retailers of far eastern produced goods?
Where do they figure in the great STW socialist republic?
I don’t suppose they’ve had any money from a single one of you have they?

cookeaa – While most folk appreciate that the online model is correct for many purchases, that doesn’t mean taking the piss out of local shops by using them as a handy changing room or a place to try out your proposed purchase. If you think the online retail system is the one for you, then at least let them bear the cost of sending you the wrong size, going through the re-stocking and sending you out the right one. If they need to increase their margins slightly to accommodate this overhead, that’s just making it more “fair” all round. Your small local shop isn’t being paid by CRC, Merlin or Wiggle to provide this service for you.

I don’t use my LBS as “Google’s Show room” I normally know what I want I find a reasonable price for it online first, I’ll go into a shop and discuss the price match options, and I’d be willing to pay a bit more than the cheapest price to walk away with the item then and there, but I’m not going to cut my own throat just like the retailer won’t.

If I go into browse I’m more than likely not going to make a purchase and I won’t try anything on I’m not serious about buying…

You can sentimentalize it all you want but its a simply business transaction if either party doesn’t get what they need from it they can simply turn the deal down.

I appreciate the difference in overheads between CRC and my LBS and understand they offer some things that an online retailer simply can’t but often the consumer proposition of the online retailer fits my needs better…

Each man has a price for his morals. Mine is certainly less than £900, but more than a pair of shoes 🙂

cookeaa – Member
I don’t use my LBS as “Google’s Show room”

Then you’re in agreement with almost everyone else on this thread.

I’ll go into a shop and discuss the price match options

This is the bit I don’t get. Today, my car wiper blade was flapping about. Looked online, and could get one for £10, but needed one right away, so went to Halfords and paid £18. It just didn’t occur to me to ask them to price-match. Perhaps I’m old-fashioned, but to me the price that’s on the ticket is the price. If that price is acceptable to me, I buy it, if it’s not then I don’t. It just seems rude to haggle.

It just seems rude to haggle

Sounds like your manners are costing you money then…

So you think if I’d shown the Halfords checkout girl the online price, I could have got some money off?

See here…

Halfords Guarantees
Price Promise

If you can buy the same product cheaper, within seven days and 20 miles of the store, Halfords will match the price. Even against trade outlets! Please ask in your local Halfords store for details of terms and conditions. Excludes online and catalogue orders.

Shop about a bit Halford ain’t the only ones in the wiper blade game… and they do have a price matching policy…