Hi Mike,
You seem to be reading more into my post than what I intended.
First off, I'm in complete agreement with you that it's unethical to go into a dive shop for the express purpose of trying on gear and picking the owner/employee's brain, yet knowing you'll be buying it online. I simply wouldn't do that. Chitchatting about the new gear arrivals while getting a fill is a different matter, however.
But, just because I ask for or you volunteer the information, doesn't make me duty-bound to buy from you, as long as I haven't already determined I'll buy elsewhere. When I bought my first OW gear, I shopped the packages around extensively, inviting the dive shops to bid on them and make suggestions as they saw fit. I had no idea from whom I'd be buying until the process was finished. You wouldn't realistically expect me to stop the process at the first shop I visited and buy there, would you?
As for the gear consulting fee, how are you going to compete with the free advice available all over the net?
And wouldn't you consider it unethical for someone to charge a consulting fee when he/she would have a clear-cut conflict of interest to sell whatever gives the highest return or happens to be in stock...instead of what the customer really needs?
As for the aftermarket service, that's impressive. It's undoubtedly a great way to build loyalty and confidence in your products and services. For me, that's the sort of value-added stuff that can make the difference over mailorder, though if the prices are still too high.....
This is in no way intended as a slur on you, Mike. Like I said, I think you're an ethical guy (based on the archives), and I really feel for LDS operators like yourself who are having to deal with internet/mailorder/telephone sales while under the onerous pricing constraints the manufacturers are putting on you.
Best of luck to you.
You seem to be reading more into my post than what I intended.
First off, I'm in complete agreement with you that it's unethical to go into a dive shop for the express purpose of trying on gear and picking the owner/employee's brain, yet knowing you'll be buying it online. I simply wouldn't do that. Chitchatting about the new gear arrivals while getting a fill is a different matter, however.
But, just because I ask for or you volunteer the information, doesn't make me duty-bound to buy from you, as long as I haven't already determined I'll buy elsewhere. When I bought my first OW gear, I shopped the packages around extensively, inviting the dive shops to bid on them and make suggestions as they saw fit. I had no idea from whom I'd be buying until the process was finished. You wouldn't realistically expect me to stop the process at the first shop I visited and buy there, would you?
As for the gear consulting fee, how are you going to compete with the free advice available all over the net?
And wouldn't you consider it unethical for someone to charge a consulting fee when he/she would have a clear-cut conflict of interest to sell whatever gives the highest return or happens to be in stock...instead of what the customer really needs?
As for the aftermarket service, that's impressive. It's undoubtedly a great way to build loyalty and confidence in your products and services. For me, that's the sort of value-added stuff that can make the difference over mailorder, though if the prices are still too high.....
From what I've read in the archives, you seem to be a very ethical guy, and run the sort of LDS I'd love to frequent. Your P&L are none of my business, but if some of the unscrupulous dive shop owners I've met gave me the line above, I'd have to ask how much they're paying themselves in wages and in consulting fees before I'd accept it as a meaningful statement.
This is in no way intended as a slur on you, Mike. Like I said, I think you're an ethical guy (based on the archives), and I really feel for LDS operators like yourself who are having to deal with internet/mailorder/telephone sales while under the onerous pricing constraints the manufacturers are putting on you.
Best of luck to you.
