Buying and Selling
 

I'm pretty sensitive to component prices since I have to build everything up from scratch.

One thing that has become clear lately is that buying from an on-line store directly is becoming cheaper than buying from Ebay or Amazon.

Buying and Selling
 

On 2017-09-19 07:06, wrote:
I'm pretty sensitive to component prices since I have to build
everything up from scratch.

One thing that has become clear lately is that buying from an on-line
store directly is becoming cheaper than buying from Ebay or Amazon.


Not always. Often the shipping costs are high unless you exceed a fairly
high Dollar amount. One bike shop had that limit at $150 so I bought the
tube via EBay. Same price but free shipping.

Then there are the auctions. I got a pair of Mr.Tuffy road bike tire
liners for $1.25 plus $3.99 shipping. That's imposible at an online store.

Or the brake pads from China, $2/pair and free ship. As I have always
said the postage fees are grossly lopsided between Asia and the US and
that is one of the core reasosn for our trade deficit. Except that most
politicians (except manybe one ...) do not understand that.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Buying and Selling
 

On 9/19/2017 8:02 AM, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-09-19 07:06, wrote:
I'm pretty sensitive to component prices since I have to build
everything up from scratch.

One thing that has become clear lately is that buying from an on-line
store directly is becoming cheaper than buying from Ebay or Amazon.


Not always. Often the shipping costs are high unless you exceed a fairly
high Dollar amount. One bike shop had that limit at $150 so I bought the
tube via EBay. Same price but free shipping.

Then there are the auctions. I got a pair of Mr.Tuffy road bike tire
liners for $1.25 plus $3.99 shipping. That's imposible at an online store.

Or the brake pads from China, $2/pair and free ship. As I have always
said the postage fees are grossly lopsided between Asia and the US and
that is one of the core reasosn for our trade deficit. Except that most
politicians (except manybe one ...) do not understand that.

For some reason, often an online store will have higher prices, for both
the product and for shipping, when you go direct to the store than when
you buy via their eBay or Amazon store. They are selling to two
different market segments.

When I bought yard signs last year for my campaign, the price on eBay,
for the same signs from the same company, was far less, even though they
had to pay the eBay commissions.

I bought some stuff from Online Metals, and it was less to go through
Amazon than to buy direct. When I asked them about this the reply was
"you should buy through Amazon."

For bicycle stuff it varies. I bought some dynamo wheels and the eBay
price was less than the price direct from the same shop.

For both brick and mortar, and online, prices are set to reflect the
market. I recall when a former employee of mine told me about going to
buy a new computer keyboard in Berkeley. The store owner showed her a
used keyboard for $30. When she replied "I can buy a new keyboard at
Fry's for $8, he replied, "yes, but most people in Berkeley don't know
that."

Buying and Selling
 

On 2017-09-19 08:52, sms wrote:
On 9/19/2017 8:02 AM, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-09-19 07:06, wrote:
I'm pretty sensitive to component prices since I have to build
everything up from scratch.

One thing that has become clear lately is that buying from an on-line
store directly is becoming cheaper than buying from Ebay or Amazon.


Not always. Often the shipping costs are high unless you exceed a
fairly high Dollar amount. One bike shop had that limit at $150 so I
bought the tube via EBay. Same price but free shipping.

Then there are the auctions. I got a pair of Mr.Tuffy road bike tire
liners for $1.25 plus $3.99 shipping. That's imposible at an online
store.

Or the brake pads from China, $2/pair and free ship. As I have always
said the postage fees are grossly lopsided between Asia and the US and
that is one of the core reasosn for our trade deficit. Except that
most politicians (except manybe one ...) do not understand that.

For some reason, often an online store will have higher prices, for both
the product and for shipping, when you go direct to the store than when
you buy via their eBay or Amazon store. They are selling to two
different market segments.


Yes. A prime example is Bikewagon in Utah. I found some of their items
that I needed slightly cheaper on EBay and free-ship while their online
store charge substantial shipping costs. Considering that they have to
pay a hefty commission to EBay I do not understand that.


When I bought yard signs last year for my campaign, the price on eBay,
for the same signs from the same company, was far less, even though they
had to pay the eBay commissions.

I bought some stuff from Online Metals, and it was less to go through
Amazon than to buy direct. When I asked them about this the reply was
"you should buy through Amazon."

For bicycle stuff it varies. I bought some dynamo wheels and the eBay
price was less than the price direct from the same shop.


When my front rim is up I want to look at a 700c dynamo wheel as well.
Seems like slim pickens here in the US.

Then I can use a smaller Li-Ion pack on my road bike. However, it's not
super important so I won't pay more than $20-30 extra for the dynamo.


For both brick and mortar, and online, prices are set to reflect the
market.


I have the strong feeling that many brick & mortar owners and also many
marketing "experts" do not truly understand today's market. They don't
seem to grasp how fast a computer-savvy person (meaning almost anyone
these days) will find out the lowest cost source within tens of seconds.
Or they use a fancy shopper search engine which drops that to single
digit seconds.

Just like I thought that Amazon is going to let blood when they upped
free-ship to $49 and people like us bought less there in consquence.
Then they obviously did and dropped it down again, to $25 which is even
lower than the original $35. I guess a hard lesson has been learned.


... I recall when a former employee of mine told me about going to
buy a new computer keyboard in Berkeley. The store owner showed her a
used keyboard for $30. When she replied "I can buy a new keyboard at
Fry's for $8, he replied, "yes, but most people in Berkeley don't know
that."


I don't buy at Fry's anymore and got my reasons. Newegg and CDW are
pretty good places to buy computer stuff.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Buying and Selling
 

On Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at 9:13:10 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-09-19 08:52, sms wrote:
On 9/19/2017 8:02 AM, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-09-19 07:06, wrote:
I'm pretty sensitive to component prices since I have to build
everything up from scratch.

One thing that has become clear lately is that buying from an on-line
store directly is becoming cheaper than buying from Ebay or Amazon.


Not always. Often the shipping costs are high unless you exceed a
fairly high Dollar amount. One bike shop had that limit at $150 so I
bought the tube via EBay. Same price but free shipping.

Then there are the auctions. I got a pair of Mr.Tuffy road bike tire
liners for $1.25 plus $3.99 shipping. That's imposible at an online
store.

Or the brake pads from China, $2/pair and free ship. As I have always
said the postage fees are grossly lopsided between Asia and the US and
that is one of the core reasosn for our trade deficit. Except that
most politicians (except manybe one ...) do not understand that.

For some reason, often an online store will have higher prices, for both
the product and for shipping, when you go direct to the store than when
you buy via their eBay or Amazon store. They are selling to two
different market segments.


Yes. A prime example is Bikewagon in Utah. I found some of their items
that I needed slightly cheaper on EBay and free-ship while their online
store charge substantial shipping costs. Considering that they have to
pay a hefty commission to EBay I do not understand that.


When I bought yard signs last year for my campaign, the price on eBay,
for the same signs from the same company, was far less, even though they
had to pay the eBay commissions.

I bought some stuff from Online Metals, and it was less to go through
Amazon than to buy direct. When I asked them about this the reply was
"you should buy through Amazon."

For bicycle stuff it varies. I bought some dynamo wheels and the eBay
price was less than the price direct from the same shop.


When my front rim is up I want to look at a 700c dynamo wheel as well.
Seems like slim pickens here in the US.

Then I can use a smaller Li-Ion pack on my road bike. However, it's not
super important so I won't pay more than $20-30 extra for the dynamo.


For both brick and mortar, and online, prices are set to reflect the
market.


I have the strong feeling that many brick & mortar owners and also many
marketing "experts" do not truly understand today's market. They don't
seem to grasp how fast a computer-savvy person (meaning almost anyone
these days) will find out the lowest cost source within tens of seconds.
Or they use a fancy shopper search engine which drops that to single
digit seconds.

Just like I thought that Amazon is going to let blood when they upped
free-ship to $49 and people like us bought less there in consquence.
Then they obviously did and dropped it down again, to $25 which is even
lower than the original $35. I guess a hard lesson has been learned.


... I recall when a former employee of mine told me about going to
buy a new computer keyboard in Berkeley. The store owner showed her a
used keyboard for $30. When she replied "I can buy a new keyboard at
Fry's for $8, he replied, "yes, but most people in Berkeley don't know
that."


I don't buy at Fry's anymore and got my reasons. Newegg and CDW are
pretty good places to buy computer stuff.

I just bought a cassette from Chain Reaction on-line paying $10 for shipping and still paid $37 less than I could get it elsewhere.

Buying and Selling
 

On 2017-09-19 14:03, wrote:
On Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at 9:13:10 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-09-19 08:52, sms wrote:

[...]


... I recall when a former employee of mine told me about going
to buy a new computer keyboard in Berkeley. The store owner
showed her a used keyboard for $30. When she replied "I can buy a
new keyboard at Fry's for $8, he replied, "yes, but most people
in Berkeley don't know that."


I don't buy at Fry's anymore and got my reasons. Newegg and CDW
are pretty good places to buy computer stuff.

I just bought a cassette from Chain Reaction on-line paying $10 for
shipping and still paid $37 less than I could get it elsewhere.


Sometimes you can get lucky but it almost has to be an overstock or
firesale situation.

Other times one simply cannot buy things elsewhere, such as with my
Daytrekker Panniers. There will come a day when the one on the MTB is
worn through and only Nashbar sells those. No Ebay.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Buying and Selling
 

On Tue, 19 Sep 2017 08:02:44 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

On 2017-09-19 07:06, wrote:
I'm pretty sensitive to component prices since I have to build
everything up from scratch.

One thing that has become clear lately is that buying from an on-line
store directly is becoming cheaper than buying from Ebay or Amazon.


Not always. Often the shipping costs are high unless you exceed a fairly
high Dollar amount. One bike shop had that limit at $150 so I bought the
tube via EBay. Same price but free shipping.

Then there are the auctions. I got a pair of Mr.Tuffy road bike tire
liners for $1.25 plus $3.99 shipping. That's imposible at an online store.

Or the brake pads from China, $2/pair and free ship. As I have always
said the postage fees are grossly lopsided between Asia and the US and
that is one of the core reasosn for our trade deficit. Except that most
politicians (except manybe one ...) do not understand that.

Check aliexpress.com, dx.com and other Chinese sellers. Some of it's
OK and cheap, some not. I've had good luck with cycling shorts,
decent fabrid, stitching looks OK and good pad and waistband.

On the other hand, battery capacity and light lumen claims are
inflated by 50-1000 %. If I get a battery pack and capacity is 75% of
the listing I count it as a good one. And some 18650 cells have a
tiny cell inside along with flour filler. There's a video floating
around with a continuous shot of someone disassembling one.

Buying and Selling
 

On 9/19/2017 6:52 PM, somebody wrote:

On 2017-09-19 07:06, wrote:

snip

Or the brake pads from China, $2/pair and free ship. As I have always
said the postage fees are grossly lopsided between Asia and the US and
that is one of the core reasosn for our trade deficit. Except that most
politicians (except manybe one ...) do not understand that.

It's an international reciprocal postal treaty that no one worried about
when it was mainly U.S. residents of Chinese descent sending packages to
relatives in China. The origin country gets all the postage and the
destination country gets nothing with the assumption that the volume
will be roughly equal.

The small volume of direct-to-consumer low-value items from China is not
a core reason for the trade deficit. These items would still come into
the U.S. through other channels, at higher prices, were it not so cheap
to do international shipping from China, you'd just have a middleman.

Buying and Selling
 

On Wednesday, September 20, 2017 at 1:38:00 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Wednesday, September 20, 2017 at 12:40:59 PM UTC-7, jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, September 20, 2017 at 8:44:38 AM UTC-7, wrote:
On Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at 7:44:56 PM UTC-7, sms wrote:
On 9/19/2017 6:52 PM, somebody wrote:

On 2017-09-19 07:06, wrote:

snip

Or the brake pads from China, $2/pair and free ship. As I have always
said the postage fees are grossly lopsided between Asia and the US and
that is one of the core reasosn for our trade deficit. Except that most
politicians (except manybe one ...) do not understand that.

It's an international reciprocal postal treaty that no one worried about
when it was mainly U.S. residents of Chinese descent sending packages to
relatives in China. The origin country gets all the postage and the
destination country gets nothing with the assumption that the volume
will be roughly equal.

The small volume of direct-to-consumer low-value items from China is not
a core reason for the trade deficit. These items would still come into
the U.S. through other channels, at higher prices, were it not so cheap
to do international shipping from China, you'd just have a middleman.

Buying and Selling
 

On 2017-09-19 19:44, sms wrote:
On 9/19/2017 6:52 PM, somebody wrote:

On 2017-09-19 07:06, wrote:

snip

Or the brake pads from China, $2/pair and free ship. As I have always
said the postage fees are grossly lopsided between Asia and the US and
that is one of the core reasosn for our trade deficit. Except that most
politicians (except manybe one ...) do not understand that.

It's an international reciprocal postal treaty that no one worried about
when it was mainly U.S. residents of Chinese descent sending packages to
relatives in China.


More than a decade ago tyat has changed, big time. How long does it take
for politicians to turn on their brains? Or for some of them, do they
even have one?


... The origin country gets all the postage and the
destination country gets nothing with the assumption that the volume
will be roughly equal.

The small volume of direct-to-consumer low-value items from China is not
a core reason for the trade deficit.


It is rising, big time. I know people who buy just about anything other
than groceries on EBay. When they say "Oh, it always gets here in three
to five weeks" you know what's going on. Heck, I even had stuff I bought
on Amazon come via "China Post".


... These items would still come into
the U.S. through other channels, at higher prices, were it not so cheap
to do international shipping from China, you'd just have a middleman.


Same reason. The stuff then comes in bulk but the shipping charges are
grossly lower than if a US vendor sent the same items to Asia. It isn't
just China. For example, when we needed name tags for our therapy dogs'
vests (for nursing home visits) we ordered them via Amazon. A small
package arrived from Manila, Philippines. I couldn't believe it
considering that we had paid just a few Dollars. Looked at the postage,
calculated - $0.60. Airmail! It came from a seamstress who appears to
specialize in cloth name tags. The shipping cost discrepancy alone puts
similar seamstresses in the US out of business.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/