Price gouging ?

[Druid799]

We’ve all seen the variations in the price for the same product from different retailers but last night was looking for a couple of taco ‘style’ pouches for SMG mags , I settled on the ‘Kombat extended pistol magazine pouch’ and really saw how bad it can be ;

9th place(and should be very proud of it) Fubar Bundy , only £4.96 . 

8th , Bullseye country sports £5.29 .

7th , Kimbers kit military supplies £5.75 .

6th place there’s quite a few , Bomb up Airsoft/Platoon stores/Just Paintball/Airsoft World/Surplus store/Only Airsoft all £5.95 .

5th place and with quite a jump in price a couple of joint holders , Airsoft Operator Box/Coldbore Airsoft/Back Alley Army Stores/Kombat UK all £6.95 .

4th (just) , EagleSix £6.98 .

3rd , Socom Tactical/Tactical Airsoft/Urban Airsoft £7.00 .

2nd , TSAIRSOFT £8.00 .

And in 1st place and the winner of the award for price gouger of the year(so far anyway ?) goes too ?

LEICESTERSHIRE AIRSOFT for charging £9.99 each ! ?
AND this is without even starting on the P&P cost which all where £4.95 and upwards unless you chose ‘pick up in-store’ or they had their own or were linked to a site where you could collect it your self so there would be no charge(there’s kind of them !?‍) 

So for me this does say a lot(and I don’t think you can’t use the excuse of low turnover/niche market due to the market place presence of some of the higher priced retailers) , ‘gouging’ or not ? Up to you to decide .?

 

[BigStew]

It maybe gouging or just economies of scale bought at the right time or bought enough from the importer to hit the price point.

 

[Asomodai]

I do find that Leicestershire Airsoft commonly has the highest prices of many things in the UK.

 

[Druid799]

It maybe gouging or just economies of scale bought at the right time or bought enough from the importer to hit the price point.

Valid point , but you’ve got Socom amongst the most expensive and there not exactly a ‘one man in a garage’ retailer ? and then you’ve got Kimbers Kit (who I’d never even heard of before) selling at £1.25 cheaper than Socom ? If you expand these price differences up to AEG prices your moving in to the realms of 60-70-80 or even 100’s of pounds difference between the prices . Still looks a bit like a “pick a number between 1-10 , now times it by 4 , now takeaway your starting number , now divid by 3 , now forget that number and charge what you want !”?

 

[BigStew]

Valid point , but you’ve got Socom amongst the most expensive and there not exactly a ‘one man in a garage’ retailer ? and then you’ve got Kimbers Kit (who I’d never even heard of before) selling at £1.25 cheaper than Socom ? If you expand these price differences up to AEG prices your moving in to the realms of 60-70-80 or even 100’s of pounds difference between the prices . Still looks a bit like a “pick a number between 1-10 , now times it by 4 , now takeaway your starting number , now divid by 3 , now forget that number and charge what you want !”?

It is all over the place. There are at least 4 or 5 wholesalers in the UK and a some of those will be buying from a eroupean wholesaler, who buy from an Asian wholesaler, who buy from the manufacture. So you can so I can easily see why price differs so much between shops. There is most certainly some piss taking with prices but most shops need a 30 to 40% mark up from wholesale to make it worth their while selling products. I'll bet some of these prices are maybe 5% to 10% mark up just to get them out the door.

 

[Rogerborg]

most shops need a 30 to 40% mark up from wholesale to make it worth their while selling products

Exactly, and it'll vary from shop to shop, and whether they're making their money on flogging many small items, or a few bigguns.

It's annoying to have a range of prices, but that's how free markets should and do work.

 

[Lozart]

Valid point , but you’ve got Socom amongst the most expensive and there not exactly a ‘one man in a garage’ retailer ? and then you’ve got Kimbers Kit (who I’d never even heard of before) selling at £1.25 cheaper than Socom ? If you expand these price differences up to AEG prices your moving in to the realms of 60-70-80 or even 100’s of pounds difference between the prices . Still looks a bit like a “pick a number between 1-10 , now times it by 4 , now takeaway your starting number , now divid by 3 , now forget that number and charge what you want !”?

Socom Tactical have always been on the expensive side but it does very much depend on the supplier and what discounts they're prepared to offer.

As for Kimber's Kit, a quick google shows that they're a domestic address so their overheads will be very low in comparison to the likes of Socom who have staff pesky little things like rent and salaries to pay.

 

[Cannonfodder]

It doesn't really make a difference to me as my loyalty is to my bank account so I'll shop at wherever is cheapest. If a shop is going to raise their prices then I go elsewhere 

 

[Tommikka]

It doesn't really make a difference to me as my loyalty is to my bank account so I'll shop at wherever is cheapest. If a shop is going to raise their prices then I go elsewhere 

I have retailer loyalty, based on the relationships I have with retailers.  But I still use multiple retailers and shop around.

A retailer that attends events that I attend, provides customer services and technical support etc ….. and fits my wallet

I’ll avoid a retailer that just sells, undercutting those who add something that I value 

 

[Lozart]

Generally speaking people buy from people, online ordering is somewhat impersonal but consistent good service does outweigh a small saving for me (from time to time at least).

As for in person shopping I definitely prefer to buy from someone that I can build a rapport with (as long as they don't take the piss on pricing). With that relationship usually comes better service and I am prepared to pay extra for that. 

 

[GothicGhost]

https://www.onlyairsoft.com

Really bad for higher prices.

 

[Druid799]

online ordering is somewhat impersonal but consistent good service does outweigh a small saving for me (from time to time at least).

Totally agree with this point , I do try and buy from a core of online retailers that I’ve had good customer service from even if they are marginally more expensive than others . Take ‘Bullseye country sports’ for instance they drive me demented how much of their inventory is always ‘out of stock’ BUT I still go back to them as A; they have a very good turn around and B; the two occasions I’ve needed to contact them with an order problem they’ve gone above and beyond to sort it asap , and to be honest ultimately that’s all I want from a retailer .

 

[kasaran]

kinda off topic, but anyone done the order TG through patrol base? whats their mark up?

 

[fbc]

It’s a different business but hopefully will give some insight from a retailers perspective. 
 

I had someone posted that we had price-gouged him on a pair of tyres. Our sale price was the manufacturers recommended retail price, at which we made 25% profit margin. He purchased his tires as a walk-in customer at 7.30pm - we used to stay open until 9pm to accommodate bike riders working all day. In addition we fitted the tyres for him. Most shops close at 6pm. For us to stay open cost us £80 per hour. So staying open that night cost us £240. I checked the toll records and that night we made 2 sales - the tyres and one cup of coffee. Total sales of £82.50 from which we made a gross profit of £21.50. As a result we lost £218.50. In his negative Google review he suggested that we should have price matched an online discounter. Had we matched their price we would have made 50p from the tyres! And the online guys don’t offer to fit them for free, or give him the convenience  of picking him up his tyres in time for him to ride to work the following morning.

 As you can imagine the words ‘price gouging’ is a very emotive one for me.  So all I would say is don’t always jump to the conclusion that the retailer is always out to gouge you. There’s always the option of not buying from anyone you think is gouging. But sometimes perhaps they’re just trying to make enough to pay their bills and feed their kids.