SCUBABUNNY as I will not try to summerize her words here they are as I agree with them, where applicable..
Scubapro tried to sue/close down Leisurepro for selling unauthorized gear. They lost. Leisurepro (and most online US discount companies) do not get the gear directly from the manuafacturers. Usually, from what I understand, they either buy out a dive shop, or make a deal with a dealer to buy a MAJOR amount of gear at just above the dealer cost...Scubapro did find some of the shops that did that, and they are no longer SP dealers.
I agree that the manufacturers have to get more lenient! It is a pain in the butt! I work for a dive shop, and we do email sales...but, we check the dealer locater for each manufacturer to see if we are stepping on any dealer's toes/territory. But, we still get in trouble from time to time because the manufacturers are pricing themselves (and shops) out of business.
I really wish all LDS could get together and change this..but with the manufacturers the money is the bottom line....for now. Hopefully, they will learn, but it might be the hard way!
Re: I know I'm beating a dead horse, but
quote:
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Originally posted by sea nmf
Scubabunny,
I can understand if they buy out a Dive store for pennies on the dollar. But, jeez, how many would they have to buy out to continue to supply merchandise to online buyers like they do?
The other method contradicts what some LDS owners have said in this forum. They claim that the online dealers can SELL the gear for LESS THAN their cost. If this is true, then even if the online dealers purchased gear at just above the dealer's cost, they would be losing money by selling it at a lower price than they purchased it for. You can't stay in business for long doing that.
The online dealers price versus LDS is so vast that if it were true that the online dealers are getting it for just above the authorized dealer's price, there should be some room to move on the price at the LDS. However, the LDS owners say that the manufacturer sets the selling price at the LDS. If this is true, then how could the LDS (authorized dealer) sell it just above their cost to the online dealer???
Somewhere, something smells fishy.
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Sea nmf, to answer your question of how can they get it cheaper, it is through Wholesale. That is also a way for non-authorized dealers to get their hands on gear. Our shop is a distributor as well as a dealer. And, we have a wholesale department that supplies other dive shops with gear from certain manufacturers.
I got an email (I'm in wholesale) from someone that wanted to buy 50 of one regulator, 50 of another regulator, 20 of each BC size, and 30 computers. It was from a "yahoo" address, and when I went on Yahoo I couldn't find the profile. I answered back that I needed to know where he was located and his shop's contact info. He came back with "I'm in the Marshall islands"...which is within our selling area...but I still didn't have any info. I asked him to fax me his business license...and needless to say, I never heard from him again.
For my shop to do wholesale, we need a business license and contact info. We check to make sure this really is a business..and then we can sell to them at dealer or wholesale prices.
We do buy gear at less than dealer prices..because we buy in volume. Most dealers, if they have a HUGE order can get a nice discount (and with this order...even at our pricing..we are talking about a $50,000- $75,000 order!)
If a struggling diveshop who is a dealer got that email...they would probably gobble it up! They could buy the gear at a HUGE discount...and resell it to Mr. Yahoo for still much less than dealer cost.
Scubapro already found many dealers that were doing this, and cut off their buying privleges. So, some of the gear is from buy outs...some are from shady dealers...and some are problably coming from inside the manufacturers.
Actually, it might be a good thing...if the manufacturer would face the music.
Hope this helps some.