Handling LDS fee?
- Thread starter elitegoodguy
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Minimum Advertised Pricing can be very important.
My wife and I are good cooks, and we have a high quality knife set. Even though those knives never leave the house, we managed to lose one of the ones we use the most. We tried the local shops that sold that brand, and none had that knife in that design in stock. We tried online stores, including Amazon, and, yes, we could get it from them. We could even buy it online direct from the manufacturer. The knife was on sale at every location, including the manufacturer, for exactly the same price.
In contrast.....
Years ago, the dive shop were I worked offered employees a 20% discount for our purchases. I wanted a pricey primary light (in the $1,500 range). The shop had just entered into an agreement with UTD to be the vendor for technical diving equipment, and I sat down with the shop's buyer to review the catalog. I could see the suggested list price and the dealer price as we looked, and the suggested price was about 40% markup for each, meaning the shop would make a small 20% profit after giving me my discount. I was not sure which of 3 models I wanted to buy. I went to the UTD web site to get more information, and I was frankly surprised to see that I could buy those items directly on their website. In all 3 cases, if I bought it from the UTD website at their full list price, I would pay much less than my 20% discount at the shop. In one case, UTD's online price--available to anyone in the world--was less than the dealer price our shop had to pay. So UTD was competing with its own retailers, and it was underselling all of them.
No shop can succeed in an environment like that.
My wife and I are good cooks, and we have a high quality knife set. Even though those knives never leave the house, we managed to lose one of the ones we use the most. We tried the local shops that sold that brand, and none had that knife in that design in stock. We tried online stores, including Amazon, and, yes, we could get it from them. We could even buy it online direct from the manufacturer. The knife was on sale at every location, including the manufacturer, for exactly the same price.
In contrast.....
Years ago, the dive shop were I worked offered employees a 20% discount for our purchases. I wanted a pricey primary light (in the $1,500 range). The shop had just entered into an agreement with UTD to be the vendor for technical diving equipment, and I sat down with the shop's buyer to review the catalog. I could see the suggested list price and the dealer price as we looked, and the suggested price was about 40% markup for each, meaning the shop would make a small 20% profit after giving me my discount. I was not sure which of 3 models I wanted to buy. I went to the UTD web site to get more information, and I was frankly surprised to see that I could buy those items directly on their website. In all 3 cases, if I bought it from the UTD website at their full list price, I would pay much less than my 20% discount at the shop. In one case, UTD's online price--available to anyone in the world--was less than the dealer price our shop had to pay. So UTD was competing with its own retailers, and it was underselling all of them.
No shop can succeed in an environment like that.
I think you are confused. The online retailers ARE selling at 100% markup.
Diving is not huge here in my part of the world.... some think it's too cold
I understand what you're saying 1000% and I agree, and I would NEVER want to own a dive shop, and I never have in the past....so technically my ramblings are that of someone who honestly doesn't have any stake in the game and is just a random person on the interwebs.
With that said, I would be MUCH more inclined to buy stuff at my local shops if they went out of their way to treat me right. Not once have I felt it was about me or my diving and not the sale.... not to mention all the nickel and diming bs. $12 bolt snaps and $10 bottles of defog...come on.
In a perfect world I would think starting a dive club or maybe a group that met at the pub. Maybe have small presentations like I know they do down around DC. Maybe not huge amounts of volume up this way, but make it about diving and the money will trickle in. Make it about money and slowly fade away... no skin off my teeth.
What do you think a bottle of defog and a bolt snap costs us?
Ok, people are talking bolt snaps and defog.
I bought a cheap stainless steel bolt snap a long time ago from a hardware store and used it. The body was stainless the springs and rest were not. It failed very quickly. In comparison the bolt snaps I bought from a LDS are still working 10 years later....
Defog is something I don't even care about you use so little the cost cost matter in comparison to rest of our gear.
As for keeping LDS around I'm starting to save for a compressor for personal use. I have tanks rated for 2650, 3000, and 3442 pounds so my plan is a small compressor with a single bank bottle, set the bank for 4500 run through a reducer which I set to the pressure of my tank for filling tanks. Cost is going to around 7k just for materials. My original plan was to have a single bottle bank for each pressure and one feeding those banks, cost 11k. Note this is for filling two tanks if you want to fill at shop level your talking 11k just for the compressor and will need much lager banks.
I bought a cheap stainless steel bolt snap a long time ago from a hardware store and used it. The body was stainless the springs and rest were not. It failed very quickly. In comparison the bolt snaps I bought from a LDS are still working 10 years later....
Defog is something I don't even care about you use so little the cost cost matter in comparison to rest of our gear.
As for keeping LDS around I'm starting to save for a compressor for personal use. I have tanks rated for 2650, 3000, and 3442 pounds so my plan is a small compressor with a single bank bottle, set the bank for 4500 run through a reducer which I set to the pressure of my tank for filling tanks. Cost is going to around 7k just for materials. My original plan was to have a single bottle bank for each pressure and one feeding those banks, cost 11k. Note this is for filling two tanks if you want to fill at shop level your talking 11k just for the compressor and will need much lager banks.
Markup from what, though? There have been several posts in this thread about brick and mortar shops being unable to purchase items for resale from the manufacturer as cheaply as a consumer can buy them online.
You’ll never break even filling your own gas. But convenience is awesome.
I keep a vehicle at an airport so I do t have to Uber. I could spend years Ubering and not break even. Yesterday I bought a One Wheel so I didn’t have to Uber when I landed. Convenience has value.
We did the math years ago. At 5000cu’/day it cost us 3c/cu’ to make gas. A few tanks per month or even per week, you’ll never break even. Which is okay.
That’s embellished, and as far as I can tell, simply not true in most circumstances. Especially if we’re talking authorized retailers. Except for a few product lines, I get best pricing on everything we sell. There is one product that comes to mind that has a super secret price list that doesn’t even exist to most dealers, cheaper than “platinum” pricing. But, even though they are getting product 10 or even 20% cheaper than I am, their website still lists the item for sale at MAP.
I can compete with that. Yes, they are making more money than we are, but if you wanted to get rich in the dive industry, you’re not a brilliant business person.
Going off of this thread...about 50% I suppose
Yup, and a good small bolt snap costs us $6. Guess what the markup is on a scuba tank? Lol
Similar threads
