Submitted by pcrecord on Wed, 12/09/2015 - 08:17

Hi,

I was just searching on Amazon.ca and found this SM57 + cable + stand for 1088$ :
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0064RH4XE/?tag=r06fa-20

This is a ridiculous exemple but I'd like to know how often do you save just by taking time to research better prices. Also do you guys have trusted places to reference prices

And on the oposite, how often did you made an impulsive buy and didn't check pricings at all ..

Comments

My post will self destruct in about 10 min as I'm not too happy about my life right now but it feels good to share the pain for a brief moment, with a colleague.
This is only getting worse. CDN will be at 70 cents to USD in 2016. Canada went from rocking to shit before we all had time to adjust.

I'm going broke as we speak. lol! Already lost $370,000 in my life equity and climbing. Where is a gun, I shoot myself.
And now we're bringing in more people. Yahoo! I just lost any ability to have some sort of leverage to work at a price I could afford to feed my family. Buying gear is no more until something changes.

I'm with you Marco, I know you have to watch them like some sort of big bird of prey renowned for its good eyesight.
Either someone has made a clerical error there, or they are just blatantly trying to rip people off. Sometimes it's more subtle (10¢ each OR 8 for a $1), but your Amazon mic package example is a huge error / rip-off.

I sure hope nobody bought that package at that $1088 price. Anyone with basic math skills could piece together the same package for under $175 CDN.

Sorry to hear about that Chris.

I wasn't doubting that it's a mistake.. But it did make me wonder how much we research for better price for one piece of gear and then buy another one on impulse another day !!

I think that I'm checking for special prices more and more in the last few years while before that, it was just going to my trusted store and not really debating prices..

I found recently when shopping around for some new gear there were big discrepancies on retail pricing for the same product, and I'm not talking about ebay here either.
Bigger music / audio retailers, where the advertised retail price could be the difference of a few hundred dollars if not more.

Don't get me wrong, I'm for a market economy and I understand the costs of running these businesses is probably higher than it has ever been, and those costs vary due to where they have that business located (rents more expensive in area A vs area B, size of the operation, number of staff employed etc) but huge variations in retail ticketed pricing for the same thing?:confused:

And this was a particular product that only sells with selected 'authorised dealers', not every second music store, so they have a monopoly on selling the product anyway.

- One thing I found is as soon as they realise that you have seen it somewhere else for a lower price, usually at one of the other 'authorised dealers' they are quick to jump and match that price to get your business, otherwise they expect you to pay what they advertise it for.

Then you jump online to see the same retailer listing it on ebay below what they quote you in the storeo_O

When I bought this to the attention of one particular retailer who was an 'authorised dealer' of a particular product I was looking at and enquired about by phone he stated it was because they didn't have the overheads selling online that they have with their bricks & mortar retail store...fair enough, but doesn't someone still have to order / stock / pack / ship that particular product from the retail store to process the online order from the web???:confused:

It pays more than ever to shop around in todays' market thats for sure.

Sean G, post: 434394, member: 49362 wrote: but doesn't someone still have to order / stock / pack / ship that particular product from the retail store to process the online order from the web???

Not necessarily pal... I mean, yeah, there are people who are employed and paid to do that, but some of these online "stores" don't even carry any actual inventory; instead they have the item drop-shipped to the customer from the retailer, or from another supplier.

This saves them a lot of money, because they don't have 50 salesmen and women standing around with their hands in their pockets, counting ceiling tiles on a slow business day, and probably most importantly, they don't have to pay taxes on un-sold inventory that's still on their premises every March.

So, yeah, it still costs these online stores expenses to process and ship orders, but not nearly at the same operational expenses that actual brick and mortar operations have - with rent, utilities, parking, salaries, insurance, security and shipping... and unsold inventory. And you'd be surprised at some of the companies who drop-ship for others...

A few years back, I purchased a Presonus VSL1818 from an on-line store ( I forget which one, maybe ZZounds) but when I received it, the sending address and company was listed on the packing slip as - and I kid you not - "Walmart, Shipping Satellite Location #14, Dallas Texas."

Dropships often occurs, we do it at my job (being an IT) to save shipping when there is no installation required.
I also seen stores (online or not) selling items that had third party identifications (price tag, rapping or shipping)
That happens when they buy an inventory from others or the store is part of a group or has been purchased by an other.
When futurshop was bought buy Bestbuy, it wasn't even annouced yet but an other I did from Futurshop got here with a bestbuy rapping !

So like you I'm looking for better prices everywhere, everytime now, when back a few years I was buying more in same few stores.
Initially I was under the impression I could have a better service and easier warranty support.. but after my known saffire 56 story, I just go for the better price and hope dealing with the company that made the item will be smooth.

pcrecord, post: 434409, member: 46460 wrote: So like you I'm looking for better prices everywhere, everytime now, when back a few years I was buying more in same few stores.
Initially I was under the impression I could have a better service and easier warranty support.. but after my known saffire 56 story, I just go for the better price and hope dealing with the company that made the item will be smooth.

I think many retailers rely heavily on customer loyalty to their brand, or the customers' loyalty to the product brand they sell, as opposed to loyalty to the customer who continues to return to purchase from them, than offering the best price to those loyal customers...

- I see this every day, whether it be on music or audio equipment or anything in general.

A recent example of this in my experience was my cable tv provider, (who I bundle my home phone and internet service with, as well as my mobile (cell phone) service with as well mind you) advertising in the market for new customers at a 50% discount for a 12 month subscription...

- What about those loyal customers (me being one for near 20 years on the cable tv mind you)....nothing like that offered to us for our years of loyalty to your particular brand and product.

Once they get you in the door and signed up its a case of Stuff you, Jack....(n)

Retailers of products and services need to realise that brand loyalty is a commodity thats worth taking seriously.:mad:

I had the same special deal (tv, phone, internet) with Bell Canada at 90$ after 9 month the special was finished and the price jumped to 180 for the same service.
You know what I've done ? I called and asked for a better price twiced and they refused. Then I disconnected and 3 days later I received an email with a special number sayingt they could make a deal.. I called and got my special extended another year... After that they said to call the same number to get similar deals..
It's very sad that we have to fight for good prices competitive prices...

Sean G, post: 434417, member: 49362 wrote: I think many retailers rely heavily on customer loyalty to their brand, or the customers' loyalty to the product brand they sell, as opposed to loyalty to the customer who continues to return to purchase from them, than offering the best price to those loyal customers...

- I see this every day, whether it be on music or audio equipment or anything in general.

A recent example of this in my experience was my cable tv provider, (who I bundle my home phone and internet service with, as well as my mobile (cell phone) service with as well mind you) advertising in the market for new customers at a 50% discount for a 12 month subscription...

- What about those loyal customers (me being one for near 20 years on the cable tv mind you)....nothing like that offered to us for our years of loyalty to your particular brand and product.

Once they get you in the door and signed up its a case of Stuff you, Jack....(n)

Retailers of products and services need to realise that brand loyalty is a commodity thats worth taking seriously.:mad:

Funny you mention this example, because I actually did recently ditch a cable company I'd been a loyal customer to for years, because I was sent a direct marketing ad from them in the mail, offering 75% off all packages for new subscribers. I called them, and said pretty much word for word what you said, Sean.

Their response was ...well, I don't know that they actually laughed at me, but they sure didn't care, at least not enough to do anything about it. Their response was the pre-conditioned and scripted "we feel your pain" response, but at the same time, they knew that they were the only cable service provider in my area, so they knew that they had me over a barrel.

What they didn't know was what was about to happen next...

Fast Forward a month from that phone call, when I receive another flyer in the mail, for internet service from another cable provider who was new to my area, for hi-speed internet cable, at $29 per month and for double the bandwidth speed I'd been getting with TWC. They locked me down to that rate, for two years, with no contract, no bandwidth usage limits, and no installation (or other hidden) fees. So, I ended up with twice the connection speed, for less than half of what it was costing me with Time Warner.

Obviously, I called TWC to cancel my account... and yeah, okay, maybe to even gloat a little, LOL. Within 24 hours, I was being barraged by emails from them, offering me... wait for it .... 75% off all cable packages for two years... which was the exact same deal they had offered new subscribers, and what had originally got my kettle cookin' to begin with. And did I call them? Oh my, yes... indeed I did... to let them know that I wasn't the least bit interested, that they'd had their chance, that they'd lost a customer of over 20 years, and that they weren't the only choice for me anymore.
The emails continue... as do the calls, begging me to come back. And I don't mind in the least talking to them on the phone, to list the number of reasons as to why I cancelled them, and why there isn't a snowball's chance in hell of me ever coming back to them.

Sometimes the little guy does win. It's the small pleasures in life that count... LOL.

In our case, we knew they were gonna bend over because a friend did the same thing a month earlier. Once I disconnected, go figured I was considered a new customer ??? o_O
It's their business model, overcharge the service and if they get 1% to 10% of customers not reacting it's a win. I figured it's the same strategy as fishing. As long as they get some people trapped, even a small amount, they will continu. In my opinion, It should be illegal !! You offer a service, it should be the same price for all their customers..

Even more sad : Here in Canada employee are ask not to say how much they make. Why, so other employee don't realise they got screwed because they have less for the same job and years of service... Can you believe that ?:eek:

DonnyThompson, post: 434428, member: 46114 wrote: and for double the bandwidth speed

-Funny you should mention that too...my provider offered me an extra 100gig per month for my internet, double what the plan was...
Unfortunately for me and fortunately for them, their slow internet speed only allows me to use a maximum of 40 gig per month, no matter how hard I try.

-When I pointed this out, there was just silence down the other end of the line, they had absolutely no response at all:ROFLMAO: