LDS vs Online... help me out

[carldarl]

Sorry to bring it up again but help me out here. I need two new steel tanks. I've decided on 2 HP120's and then need a couple AL80's for my wife/kids.

LDS pricing after a 3 day wait for quote and 3 phone calls is $450.45 each or $900.90 for the two HP120's

Online pricing including freight is $332 each or $664 for the pair.

That is $236 more or almost enough for the 2 AL80's. So help me put here. Why should I pay that much extra for the steels? I told him what I could get them online for but that I would prefer to buy locally and this is apparently his best price. Kind of hard to swallow that big of difference when they are actually the same tanks. The LDS also has to order them so there is no time advantage.

What would YOU do here?

 

[Wayward Son]

How much a shop has to charge for them can vary widely. I have an LDS that wants all the business they can get but are reasonable about it. With that big a difference, I'd buy them online, take them in & pay them for a VIP & fill & be done with it. They wouldn't give me any static about it, they'd be pleased knowing that they will be servicing those tanks for years to come & ready to take care of the next sale they can make to me.

Some apparently don't handle things so maturely. This one asks for the chance to make the sale, but if they can't, they can't & don't make any bones about it.

 

[redacted]

I'd find another LDS. And I would re-evaluate my "needs".

 

[careerdiver]

I know there is a big price difference, but there are a few things you should consider.

1. If you buy online, and a lot of other people buy online, and that Local Dive Center goes under, who is going to fill those tanks? Can you get air fills online too? Can you get a VIP/Hydro and burst disk replaced, without paying shipping?

2. When you buy things in a local dive center you build a relationship, most dive shops will not forget that. Try calling back an online retailer and see if they know you and your equipment.

3. Try this. Every peice of equipment I buy I break down to cost per dive. With steel tanks you are going to get many years out of them, that 200+ dollars broken down over those years will be pennies. Is that not worth the money upfront.

Yes I am bias because I work at a local dive center, but in diving I have found met a lot of people and there is almost a comeradre there, and if you are only in it for the money then buy online, but if you are looking for a hobby that gives you a place to go and talk to someone about the love of diving, then spend the extra money. At the store I work at people will come in just to talk about diving, those are the people that understand that a couple hundred dollars is less important then the bond. But then again, I will take some abuse for tell you to spend the extra money.

 

[daniel f aleman]

I buy six new tanks every year for my guide business, and I only buy online.

If you buy those tanks from the LDS, given what you wrote, then you had BETTER get something in addition from that LDS. Remember, we at Scubaboard, aren't shelling out the cash...

 

[Wayward Son]

My my shop, they're very competitive & do what they can on prices.

On 80AL Luxfers they're great, bc they sell tons of them & most of the customers want them.

Steel tanks are a different game. Sometimes their prices on them are excellent, other times horrible. All depends on what they have to pay for them. Since they don't have a large customer demand for them, they can't commit in 2005 to buy $10,000 worth of steel tanks from PST in 2006 -which is what the PST rep tries to get them to do every year- so they have to order them when a customer wants them. That leaves them vulnerable to pricing based on availability at the time, with zero leverage for volume.

They know it & do the best they can under the circumstances.

 

[Floridawannabe]

All I can say is CALL SCUBATOYS.COM they have the tanks HP120 for $309. and if you call them directly and tell them you are Scubaboard member they give you a discount. THEY ALSO ARE A LDS but have taken to the internet also. They have always done me right.

 

[lowwall]

Buy 'em online. If you feel guilty, split the savings with your favorite charity.

The dive shops who haven't figured it out yet are going to have to realize they can't get away with gouging customers as a substitute for building a business based on the areas where they have built in advantages such as training, personal service and convenience.

Alex

 

[johnnyseko]

Yup! Online.

If it would make you feel better, ask the LDS to try to match the online price or maybe come a little closer. Maybe throw in free fills with the purchase?? I dont see how wasting the extra cash at the LDS will make you feel like there's some sort of comeradre. I'd feel more like a sucker and would probably resent ever spending a dime there.

 

[Humuhumunukunukuapua'a]

Online. No question. It's a dive shop not a charity. They need to earn your business like anyone else. If they can't be competitive at some level (say, giving you a bunch of free fills for buying the tanks), no sale.

Watch they don't gouge you on the VIPs and such. My folks have some really tyrannical LDS and when they bought tanks for a third of the price of online, the guys at the LDS gouged them for VIP (the tanks had VIP stickers on them from the online shop).