Buying gear: supplier vs shop

[DougK]

As I get closer to purchasing scuba gear, are there any unexpected things to deal with if I choose to purchase gear from a scuba supplier (such as scuba toys, etc.) instead of a local dive shop?

What I am looking for here is: if you need service or warrenty will I have to send it back to the place I got it vs. taking it to a shop that does warrenty work for the manufacter?

(I know my car warrently is covered by any dealer, no matter where I am in the country. Does this apply to local dive shop dealers?

I realize it would be nice to use my local shop but that is not always the best move.

What are the pros and cons?

 

[WellBelowH2O]

I chose to purchase all of my life support equipment (regs, BC, computer) from my LDS. It's nice to know that if I have problems with my most important equipment, I can go back to them and they'll help me without question, and because they're an authorized dealer, no warranty questions come up. It is also cheaper for annual servicing since they know I bought it from them. And, of course, it's always good to support your LDS--mine happen to have a great owner and some great people working there

Beyond that, I do continue to purchase from them and remain an active customer, having bought knives, exposure protection, fins, masks, and a ton of other things. (I'd like to add up the receipts, but would be afraid to look at the total). The more you take care of them, typically they more they'll take care of you.

A lot of my other equipment, though, came from online sources (a couple of wet suits, flashlights, O2 analyzer, misc. other stuff) because my LDS either didn't have the item I wanted or was much higher priced. For me, there's a definite balance between what you buy online vs. locally--you want to support your LDS, but you also need to be able to still support yourself after you've made a lot of your purchases. I'm probably at a 2:1 ratio, meaning I've spent twice as much at my LDS than online.

Oh, and never do the "try here, buy there" routine. If you're going to check something out and have your local shop go over an item with you, buy it from them, don't waste his time and then go elsewhere to make the purchase.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

There are some manufactuers who will not repair under warranty anything purchased online. Beware of that.

Give your LDS a shot at making the sale. We do things like throw in some specialities, free weights and things like that including free use of the pool and discounted repairs.

You also get free parts for life for your regs if you purchase from our shop. Eventually that works out to a free air delivery system. Can anyone online ever give you a free air delivery system?

I know it's tempting to save a couple of hundred dollars but if enough dive shops continue to fail you may need to consider a compressor purchase too.

 

[PhilEllis]

Hi Doug. Many of the online stores in this day and time are, in fact, local dive stores who also have an online presence. I operate one of those. In most cases, stores like mine have simply chosen a different business model. Our prices are lower because we operate with higher volumes, made possible by the expansion of the market possible on the internet. The result....you save a lot of money. In my store, we only sell items for which we are authorized dealers and have dealer agreements that permit us to sell on the internet. Everything is under the factory warranty, everything is sold with the permission of the manufacturer, and there are no "gray-market" goods offered. Your warranty is in full effect, including the free-parts-for-life aspect if it is offered by the manufacturer.

Sometimes, local dive stores that do not understand our business model get pretty angry about the internet operations. Let's face it...they want the much higher margin of profit on a much lower volume of sales. It's simply different from the model that stores like mine operate under. If you purchase from an authorized dealer over the internet, you local dive store SHOULD provide full warranty service if required. What we cannot prevent is your local dive store choosing to do what is completely within his right......refuse service (including warranty) to anyone. This is America and if he thinks it's best, he can refuse to service gear unless you bought it from him. Is this a smart business strategy? Absolutely not! But he is free to be a dumb as he chooses.

Remember, it is your money! You spend it as you see fit. Internet operations offer you a variety that cannot be offered by most local dive stores with a limited market. I fail to understand how variety, lower cost, and excellent service have EVER hurt any consumer. Just my viewpoint. Thanks and good diving.

Dive Sports Online
www.divesports.com
(800) 601-DIVE

 

[Scubaroo]

Actually Scubatoys IS a local dive shop, who also operate an online sales channel. Smart business model.

OTOH, there are online-only stores - some are authorised dealers for the goods they sell, some aren't.

There's a lot of discussion of this on the board. Spend a few hours browsing/searching and you should find your answers.

edit - Phil, statements on your website like "Many of the Apeks products offered for sale over the internet are illegally imported by foreign Apeks distributors in violation of their distribution contract with Apeks Marine LTD" are misleading and untrue. Parallel importation of scuba gear is not illegal in the United States, even if the supplying wholesaler is breaking an agreement with the manufacturer. Shops are free to import the same items available from local distributors, and it's not breaking the law.

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

Here we go again... The great online v. LDS debate.

Here are a few threads that I found in a quick search:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=78493&highlight=buy+gear+online

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=92965&highlight=buy+gear+online

http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=1029676&postcount=2

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=88592&highlight=buy+gear+online

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=89388&highlight=buy+gear+online

I know that there have been many more discussions on this topic. They provide very entertaining, sometimes informative, reading.

 

[ScubaSarus]

The dive shop my service if they like you and want the business but for warranty work you will have to hope the online retailer will help.

 

[Paco]

Build a good relationship with a good, reputable, likeable, friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, well equipped, highly trained, understanding, nice, neat, keen local dive shop and give them your business at the very least for the life support equipment. If you see a great deal on a whistle, safety sausage, dive flag elsewhere, go for it. But I think that as you build the relationship with the more excellent dive shop mentioned above, you´ll even want to get them that business too, and they will probably discount the price for you.

 

[spectrum]

Oh, and never do the "try here, buy there" routine. If you're going to check something out and have your local shop go over an item with you, buy it from them, don't waste his time and then go elsewhere to make the purchase.

Agreed

Pete