Cost of Bike Gear in Australia

On Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:38:02 -0800, Donga wrote:


Quite - it's many goods. I recently landed two Timex watches from Amazon
in the US, including extortionate freight charge, for less than the
price of one locally.

Which demolishes the only remaining economically rational reason to buy
locally if you can 'self-warranty' for the same price.

"Tomasso" wrote in message
...

"Plodder" wrote in message
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"John Henderson" wrote in message
...
Rex wrote:

So does anyone know how Apple gets away with it for Ipods?
There are the same price everywhere - no discounting.

Resellers are all allowed to ask whatever price they like. RRP
is just that - a recommended retail price. There're obvious
advantages to retailers if they all stick to RRP (voluntarily,
of course) and nobody breaks ranks with a lower price.

John

There seems to be an unofficial code regarding prices. Although I can
charge what I please in my shop, when I recently advertised a bike at a
substantial discount I had a call from the distributor asking me to
withdraw the advertised price. The reasoning was that it put other
retailers under pressure to offer the same price. I thought that was what
was meant by 'marketplace competition'!

I didn't take it further and I did withdraw the ad. My first year in the
game and I didn't want to make waves. Leaves a bit of a bad taste in my
mouth, though. It has made me look to stock alternative brands, though...

Retail price maintenance is against the law. Have a look at:

http://www.ami.org.au/amimu/0703Marc...ale-price.html

I'm expecting Apple to get whacked before too long. Shimano may be on
the ACCC's list, but I don't think they'd be near the front.
Tom.

Cheers,

Frank

Yup - I know it's against the law. I had the impression that the guy who
called me was being very careful not to explicitly state that I must only
advertise at the RRP but I got the message nevertheless. I also suspect that
that was why I had a phone call, not an email or anything in writing.

It's also why I'm not stocking that brand... (no, I won't say which brand).

Cheers,

Frank

On Tue, 01 Jan 2008 04:01:21 GMT, "Plodder"
wrote:

There seems to be an unofficial code regarding prices. Although I can charge
what I please in my shop, when I recently advertised a bike at a substantial
discount I had a call from the distributor asking me to withdraw the
advertised price. The reasoning was that it put other retailers under
pressure to offer the same price.

Dumb. Doesn't even follow. I got sucked in by the bookies ring scam
where each race they'd have their 50/1 roughies but one bookie, never
the same would have it as 100/1. Value!
So if each LBS happens to discount a different bike then the punters
will perceive each as value. Every shop wins. Even the distributors
win since they can concentrate (mostly) on fewer shops.

On 2008-01-02, gplama (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
On a similar subject, I'm on the campaign trail for new personal
sponsor(s) for the year, I'm hesitant to approach any LBS at this point
because the standard discounts offered to "shop" riders are not
competitive with online purchasing. From my own experience, it's
cheaper to ride for yourself than to be a loyal "shop" rider. I'm
sending out the resume for a real sponsorship at this point - aiming for
the stars!

CV:

2004: First at BR(x)
....

--
TimC
An engineer is someone who does list processing in FORTRAN.

On Dec 30 2007, 8:45 pm, jcjordan jcjordan.32e...@no-
mx.forums.cyclingforums.com wrote:
As I am sure all of you are aware bike gear, such as tires, cassettes,
etc., are all hideously expensive in any bike store in Australia in
comparison to purchases from the UK and US and this is including
postage.

Having spoken to a mate who owns a bike store here in Canberra they
cant even get stuff from the distributors here at the prices that you
get from places like ProBikeKit and Parkers.

My question is why is it so expensive?

You're asking the wrong question. the real question is 'how can PBK
etc get it so cheap'.

On Dec 31 2007, 9:21 am, "Plodder"
wrote:
"gplama" wrote in message

...





jcjordan Wrote:
With the price comparision its getting to the stage that the friend who
owns the shop is considering not even stocking tires anymore. you cant
blame him when you can get two tires from the UK (including postage) for
less then he can sell one here

I've wondered the same thing for a while now. Do the distributors for
Shimano, Continental, (etc), make their living from the OEM supply of
components to local whole bike distributors? Could it be that the
single component and tyre market is really that small? In my bike
circles this isn't the case, everyone chews through tyres, chains,
cassettes like kids through lollies!!

Anyhow... on a related matter... I looovveee my Dura Ace SPD SL's
(PD-7810)... best pedal I've used by far. I'm even planning on kitting
out my TT bike and trainer bike with them... price comparisons:

PBK: $169
AU Prices: $240, $295, $299, $320..!!

I'd wear an extra $20-30 locally, but those prices just don't compute.
I'm really keen to understand the local industry more... are us racing
types such a small market that we don't count? By the sounds of it
importing is starting to hurt.

Lama

--
gplama

It would be good to find out why the prices are so high here. The $169 you
can import pedals for is less than the Aus wholesale, without GST! It is
surelybiting into the viablity of stocking parts in my bike shop. Sad,
really. Shimano offers a small discount for bulk buys and full groupsets but
even with the discount I'd make a significant loss at $169.

I'd love to be able to stock a much bigger range but even at break-even
prices it is often a waste of time. We have to rely largely on the lower
priced stuff that people won't bother shopping around for. The upshot is
that the retailer is deprived of business, the shoppers are deprived of
browsing for choice and someone out there (distributors, imporers, who??) is
raking it in.

I've noted of late that it's not just my shop (which I've only had for a
year) has dropped the range in stock. It seems to be a common thing around
the traps. The start of the decline of your LBS...

We're not stocking Michellin tyres anymore, but don't see that as a
demise - it's a change that's been long coming.

LBS's have to concentrate more on service, and yes, Llama, racing is a
-tiny- part of the market. It's basically irrelevant.

Remember, the people posting here are usually very net-savvy and also
enthusiasts, not the regular punter who comes in to an LBS for a
service or a new bike. This is not a representative sample.