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Using ebay prices to bargain with stores - fair, or not?
Forums → Golf Equipment | 15 posts
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I've had my eye on a Wilson Staff FwC 5 wood for a while to
fill the gap between my driver and 3-iron, and the best price I
could find on ebay (for an Australian seller) was $180, including
shipping. So I went into Kerry Ellis golf today, and the off-the
shelf price they had on these was $255! I then used the ebay
price as a bargaining point, and got it for $120 - yes, $30 extra
but I've got the club in my hands 'now' and have put
the money into a local business. The sales person even said
'Thanks for giving us a chance to make the sale', but I
still felt - dirty. Well, just a little. Does anyone else use ebay / on-line prices as a bargaining point? I think it is slightly 'unfair' because on-line stores would often be run with much lower overheads than a bricks-and-mortar store, but on the other hand I assume RRP is set at a minimum 100% profit margin for stores, so they would still have made a decent profit. BTW, I bought a new bag from there recently ($170), and thought I'd give them a chance to match the price. After my experience today, I'm *much* more likely to go there again for shoes, balls etc. Mike
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i tried it once and thr guy dismissed e-bay and said all the clusb on there were fakes and only idiots buy off ebay. Needless to say I told him he was a clueless wanker and left.
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Last time I went to a golf store I asked about the different shafts on the display drivers. The lady said "The colour tells us what flex they are". I don't think she would have heard of ebay.
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I have used online prices before such as golf worksand shops are quite happy to match that price. However ebay maybe pushing it.
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The guy didn't express any surprise when I mentioned 'ebay', and even the way he said it (to confirm the 'ebay price') indicated some knowledge or familiarity. They were quite busy, and I think perhaps it's not so bad as they didn't have to 'work' for the sale at all -2 minutes, and I was out of there with the 5 wood. Half of that time was him looking up the pricing book, and - I guess - figuring out what they could do for me.
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Sounds all a very fair transaction to me. Remember though, it's made round to go round. Flat to stack doesn't work...
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Being a parallel importer of golf clubs - it ain't fair I can land clubs at below their wholesale price... easily. But if you want a good - hassle free warranty, and you want to try before you buy, without being a prick... You still cannot beat a retail store. They have the range and you can have it today.
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i just purchased the wilson fcw 3/5 woods from the pro shop and payed $125 each.i now think they would be one of the best fairway clubs i have ever hit.one thing i cant understand is why did they change the shape of the 06 model as they look f@$k,n awful!
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sigs are back – YAY |
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Firstly, I meant $220 in my original post. oops. Likely not a 100% margin for all items - but a chap above apparantly purchased the same club for $125, that's $95 less than I paid, and 50% of the original RRP. If the store is still making any profit from a $125 sale, then at $255 RRP that's a minimum 100% profit.
Anyways, as I mentioned, I'll be back to Kerry Ellis for
future purchases - and their practise range is the only game in
town (that's nearby anyway)!
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Retail stores have much higher overheads than the average ebay seller who conducts business from their garage or spare bedroom. That makes it very difficult for a retail outlet to match ebay market values.
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But the distributor... That is another question.
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Got a set of Mizuno MP60s over the weekend from a retail shop . Their marked price was $1595, but the salesman said they could do it for $1395. I told them I'll buy it off them for $1300 no more questions. After a bit of hesistation and a word with the boss, the sales guy said yes. I knew the ebay price was about $1100 but I chose to pay an extra $200 for peice of mind and the service (they checked my lie angle and swing speed). However, if the salesman was a dick, I would've walked out the door (that's why I never go to Drummond golf because of a bad experience). I think ebay forces retail outlets to offer better customer service. That's their only point of difference. I don't mind paying a premium for good service.
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I went into a house of golf with a putter I bought on ebay to check if it was a fake... he said it wasn't, but that even if it was, who cares... he said putters don't make any difference it's who's putting (sort of get his point) but he then went on about how fake clubs weren't so bad cause they were all made in the same factory as the originals and were probably just stolen by staff. Basically he was talking me out of buying anything from their store. I thought it was a strange approach.
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While it's possible some fakes are made in the same factories (it's common in China, for example, for factories to do another 'run' of production, or to sell blueprints/tooling/production info with another factory to make some extra $$$ on the side), most fakes seem to be copies by getting the original, measuring it up and reverse engineering things. Often in the past Asian countries have done such 'reverse-engineer' on - for example - guitars, with the result that the visual appearance is usually pretty ok, but they lack the understanding necessary to produce something that plays and sounds as good as the original. All the 'copying' is done at a superficial level without understanding the engineering basis. Hearing of 'copy' clubs breaking, or hitting inconsistent lengths, reinforces this in my mind. One think I don't understand is why there apparantly any 'copy' golf-balls. I guess they're relatively cheap anyway, and so the profit margin isn't attractive enough for 'copiers' to have a go at them.
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