Leisure pro now authorized scubapro dealer

[hypertech]

and what is your LDS gonna say about LP now? I mean the LDS's have been trying to discredit LP for years based on "all the stuff they sell is fake". What's their excuse gonna be now?

I know, I know! Where will you get your fills if you buy from the evil internet retailer?

I never thought the grey market thing was a big deal, but I second the suggestion of calling. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't, but its worth a try.

 

[RonFrank]

I would rather have lower prices, but I am not a big scubapro fan in any event. However I think LP is going to loose market-share by advertising there higher prices. A lot of folks will look at the internet, call locally and as the prices are similar they will buy locally. I have noticed LP prices have been going up. Maybe you just need to call them to get better prices.

 

[redacted]

Well, I just had to ask myself why Leisurepro and Scubapro would do this. The answer I come up with is that Scubapro was having good success in interrupting Leisurepro's supplies but they also do not want to lose the largest scuba retailer in the world. I think what will happen is that Leisurepro will abide by but push the limits of the Scubapro dealer agreement. That means that the advertised price, except for closeout items, will be MSRP. And that is what a customer will pay if they just click "add to cart" So customers will need to call. I expect LP will provide the allowed 10% off with little to no discussion and maybe even throw in some additional incentives if necessary to keep sales up. Many LDSs now make customers "do tricks" to get that 10% off. I expect that will come to a quick end among successful Scubapro dealers while others will continue to lose customers to online dealers who sell at the best allowed price.

 

[ams511]

So, I guess I will not be getting any more MK17/G250V's from Leisurepro any time soon.
Jim Breslin

I am depressed over this too. I would have bought some had I knew.

 

[ams511]

I've read on these forums instances where people call or email for more information about a product and are sometimes offered a different price than what is shown online. I haven't heard this about SCUBAPRO directly since it was only announced earlier today. It wouldn't hurt to ask the right people though. What I did say is that I'm not the vendor agreement or pricing guy

A friend of mine said he was able to get better prices calling LP. However when I tried to get a better price on a used reg I was told that the prices are firm. Maybe I should have called instead of emailed.

 

[scubamarketing]

A friend of mine said he was able to get better prices calling LP. However when I tried to get a better price on a used reg I was told that the prices are firm. Maybe I should have called instead of emailed.

I'm not physically in the office, but I know I've priced a few items of mine just to test to see what I could sell them to LP for, then checked used pricing and it's been (again, in my specific tests, can't say for everything) incredibly thin margins. Add in the cost to ship it and check it to make sure it's not a liability and those margins get even smaller. So I would be a little surprised if there was much flexibility in used item pricing. But again, I'm not in the office and that's pure speculation based on a few of my own experiments.

 

[scubamarketing]

I would rather have lower prices, but I am not a big scubapro fan in any event. However I think LP is going to loose market-share by advertising there higher prices. A lot of folks will look at the internet, call locally and as the prices are similar they will buy locally. I have noticed LP prices have been going up. Maybe you just need to call them to get better prices.

I just spent the week at DEMA and in the seminars a recurring theme is that people buy things online. They don't even think to go locally. I personally have an Amazon Prime account so I buy tons of items without ever checking locally. Occasionally I see later that I could have bought the same thing locally for the same price, but never a better price, and since I have free shipping (yes, I pay an annual fee for that "free" shipping), the convenience of buying online just outweighs having to drive somewhere to buy things. This is the reality amongst consumers and that applies to the dive industry as well.

 

[mike_s]

Well, I just had to ask myself why Leisurepro and Scubapro would do this. The answer I come up with is that Scubapro was having good success in interrupting Leisurepro's supplies but they also do not want to lose the largest scuba retailer in the world.

Maybe it was other dealers who weren't placing orders with ScubaPro because they kept having to deal with

* A LDS that agrees to "beat any price" but gets tired of having to compete against LP and doesn't order as much ScubaPro product if they are always having to "price match it." This has happened with certain LDS's complaining to manufacturers about LP and the manufacturer making LP and authorized dealer. Prices went up overnight. (imagine that).

* It's a faltering economy and ScubaPro dealers "just aren't ordering as much" as past years. LP is "perceived" as being the cheaper place to buy it. So lots of customers check there, and/or just go ahead and buy there. Especially when LDS's aren't ordering as much and don't have much in stock. When we had a local ScuabPro dealer, it wasn't worth much of going by there, because they barely stocked anything in the ScubaPro line.

I just spent the week at DEMA and in the seminars a recurring theme is that people buy things online. They don't even think to go locally. I personally have an Amazon Prime account so I buy tons of items without ever checking locally. Occasionally I see later that I could have bought the same thing locally for the same price, but never a better price, .

rarely will I find it locally at a better price. I would prefer to buy it locally, but say I want something advertised in Best Buy flyer in the Sunday paper. I have to leave work, drive across town, go fight lunchtime crowds..... only to find out that they only got quantity 5 of the item in and they are already out of them the day after the flyer came out.

a few times of that, and you quit going to that shop for stuff....



Even now days when you buy locally, with a Smart Phone (iPhone, Droid, etc), you can Google any item from the store to see what it costs online and what other vendors (online and local) have it for sale for.

heck... they even make app's that let you scan the barcode and gives you everyone's local and internet price.

 

[Splash-X]

Being an Authorized dealer brings about price fixing, hence the rise in price. If they don't maintain the minimum pricing (the same your LDS has) then they lose their Authorized status.

 

[robbcayman]

I'm so glad I bought all of my gear a few years ago. I bought a lot from Leisure Pro and I would advise calling them about their prices. No kidding, my local LDS wanted more than double for the exact same gear!! The days of LDS bending their customers over is gone due to the internet.