Andrews Comm... gossip

[33South (Chris)]

I nearly forgot, being tied up with a range of non astro things the last few days.

When I was in Andrews the other day Lee happened to mention that his main supplier wants to cut his discount in half, because he was buying so much stuff now. Strange - normally the more you buy the bigger the discount.

Hmmmm price increase on the horizon ????

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

or an excuse to raise the prices a fraction. Hopefully not as Lee seems to be very honest when I have talked to him.

You make a good point about the supplier going backwards though.

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

I wouldn't take much notice of it. I was told before I bought my ED80 last year (nearly a year ago now) to get one asap because the supplier is going to increase prices very soon. ED80s are cheaper now than ever before.

[iceman (Mike)]

There's more competition in Australia now - I think he (or any vendor) would be silly to raise their prices. There's always somewhere else to shop around.

[chunkylad (David)]

Price rise aaaaarghhh!!!!

Calm down, deeep breaths, it's just a rumour...........
Where's my medication????

[h0ughy (David)]

Dare I say it, the supplier might be trying to get money due to lack of sales of stock too. Stupid I know but if your on shakey ground that may seem plausable to them. maybe thats why Lee has seen the light and is chasing other product lines. I have to say that Extravision doesn't seem very stable to me, especially with the Sydney store closure of York Optical recently, and more vendors in the marketplace. You would think that they would come out with the best possible incentive for the retailer to be able to pass on to the consumer, which then generates more sales through word of mouth (or forum).

Gee if you have a gun retailer selling stuff wouldn't you want to keep up the momentum and supply all you can at great prices. Maybe other retailers have kicked up a stink on the price matching abilty of Lee and loss of sales to them?

[acropolite (Phil)]

As a reseller or wholesaler, if you halve your margin you have to sell double the quantity to make the same amount (a big ask!). That's why many resellers go bust when discounters pop up (and often go bust as well) in the same market. Given that the wholesaler may be giving better prices to the discount reseller, when the competition goes bust, all of a sudden part of the wholesalers market has dried up and they are quite often faced with supplying at reduced margins to the very people that caused their distribution margins to decrease in the first place. Discounting whilst initially good for the customer, ultimately results in reduced competition, less choice and little or no service. The ultimate result of this is dictatorial monopolies (supermarket chains for example) who market only those products which they make the most margin on, to the exclusion of other, often better quality (and locally produced) products.

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by iceman

There's more competition in Australia now - I think he (or any vendor) would be silly to raise their prices. There's always somewhere else to shop around.

Especially so when your major advantage in the marketplace is price!
If and when Andrews are no longer the cheapest they may loose a lot of business.

[casstony]

I had been considering buying a HEQ5 + c9 or c11 from Andrews but the celestron OTA's have gone up a few hundred dollars recently, making them that much less competitive with Bintel's Meade 10". It really annoys me that Celestron doesn't give a s... about Australian customers and pricing over here. I guess I'll just stick with Meade.

Tony

[casstony]

Another tidbit, Bintel can't bring in the Orion packaged Sirius(HEQ5) + c9.25. You'd think they could slip it into the country, with its military grey camouflage - doesn't look like a Celestron at all.

Tony

[ving (David)]

the more you buy the less its costs... he is now buying less so naturally it is going to cost him more.
thats just the way it works i guess...:cunfused:

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

read the first post again. prices are going up because he is buying too much! Next time I order something I will bring to the dealers' attention that since I am only buying one item, I deserve a big discount!

[ving (David)]

a bit of mind trickery there... I did read it but i read it the way i wanted to... buying more and getting less discount just doesnt make sense

weird.

[mickoking]

We have had it good for the last few years, very good, and not just Telescopes. Anything from the Middle Kingdom (and Taiwan) has been cheap as chips and the quality has been exceptional for the price. However, it is not going to last for ever. Make the most of it cobbers as prices will inevitably start rising as the Chinese workers demand more pay.

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by mickoking

Make the most of it cobbers as prices will inevitably start rising as the Chinese workers demand more pay.

Yes its time to fill the workshop with those dirt cheap Chinese made power tools.

[toc (Tim)]

Originally Posted by mickoking

We have had it good for the last few years, very good, and not just Telescopes. Anything from the Middle Kingdom (and Taiwan) has been cheap as chips and the quality has been exceptional for the price. However, it is not going to last for ever. Make the most of it cobbers as prices will inevitably start rising as the Chinese workers demand more pay.

Until they switch manufacture to a country with even cheaper labour...Dont you just love globalisation?

[mickoking]

Originally Posted by toc

Until they switch manufacture to a country with even cheaper labour...Dont you just love globalisation?

North Korea, Burma and Vietnam will be next