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Support the Irish suppliers.
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I think the core point Sheldon is making, is to perhaps give the Irish suppliers and in particular
the sponsors of the site a chance to quote if you are making a purchase.Mark wrote:
I think the core point Sheldon is making, is to perhaps give the Irish suppliers and in particular
the sponsors of the site a chance to quote if you are making a purchase.And the best way for them to do this is to display their prices on their web site :wink:
Just a link to an excel spreadsheet on their front page with all products and prices will do….
Anyhow that the last I am going to say on it, don’t want to get on anyones wick….
M
And the best way for them to do this is to display their prices on their web site
I’ll second that.
Anyhow that the last I am going to say on it, don’t want to get on anyones wick….
Ditto.
Hi,
Firstly hats off to Sheldon for sticking his neck out on this one and creating as a result a very interesting thread. It certainly made me think……
I would like to have thpught that I suuport local suppliers, but then when i look at what I have purchased in the last year or so, most of it was actually in NI where I got the same kit much cheaper thanks to (but surley not only to) exchange rates & VAT differentials. As photography for me is a hobby, I have to justify any outlay (to myself) and ensure that I get the best value for money.
I am shortly planning on getting another lens and have been researching options online. I can pick it up from the UK for about 425€ (plus delivery) yet online in Ireland it seems to be priced at 550€…. so we are talking about 100€, which cant be ignored. That said, also online in a well known store in Dublin, I see a second hand one for 400€. I will therefore pay them a visit to see what can be done.
Sheldon, I feel for you as your post was clearly not to seek advise on your web site, yet it seems to be that is what a lot of people are focusing on (along with price obviousley!). I will refrain from commenting in this thread, but will when i call you to discuss my upcoming purchase……. and thats what you want right? An opportunity at least. Of course its easy for me…. seeing Im only a short distance upstream from you. Otherwise I would be relying on your web page (thast not a comment so it doesnt count!).
We should all definitely be supporting local camera shops, especially the family run ones like Gunns, Conns etc. For all my smaller (€100 or less) purchases I will pop down to Gunns and ask them first, their prices are good(ish) and their service is second to none; then to Dublin Camera exchange, then to Conns etc. I bought a bag there l year and before choosing one I tried 5 or 6 different bags, and got sound advice – try that online. Also bought a quick release plate for a tripod for a tenner – and the cheapest online was 12 Stirling. So it pays to pop down there. You get some ***holes though that will go and try the stuff out in the camera shop and then buy online. :twisted:. Anyway, say for example, a flash bracket is €12 online and €15 at Gunns, I’d damnwell buy it at Gunns, becuase a) I get it immdeitely, b) I can see before buying, so never end up buying the wrong thing c) It’s only a small difference. For my larger purchases I’ll buy second hand, either on the PI or adverts.ie websites. I simply can’t afford to pay Irish high street prices (which might be the highest in the world, certainly higher than the UK and US – similar to Italy) for that kind of stuff, if I did, I’d only have half the kit I have now. I avoid the local chain store camera shops, prices are ok, but the service is poor, the staff not that knowledgable, and their range of products is poor. I would never buy camera gear from Argos, PC world or Harvey Norman etc. even though they sell the stuff it’s just not their game.
“A few camera stores in Dublin you’d think the staff had never seen a digital camera before, that just being suitably smug and smarmy was enough to be getting on with thank you very much mister man I’ll be with you when I’ve finished preening myself. Two places in Dublin I can think of i’ll never set foot in again, absolutely brutal and ignorant in-store customer service.”
I’ve had one or two similar experiences, that kind of stuff really irks me – especially since I’ve been made redundant and I know I could do a better job than that. A heads up email to the boss, saying here’s what your staff is up to with a link to a post on PI or similar bitching publicly might sort that out.
I will shop anywhere, where the staff, owner etc know what they are talking about and have a genuine interest in fulfilling my needs. I travelled recently to Nenagh to purchase lenses, a 50D, flash transmitter, flash units, filters etc. Denis in Finnerty’s pharmacy is interested in photography, stocks a good range of Canon gear, is always willing to order stuff and follow it up if there is a delay, always available to give advice, always willing to cut the prices if possible (no need to haggle either). This is the kind of service I expect as a consumer, not some guy who never had a camera in his life trying a sales pitch on me and charging crazy prices. It cost me 24 Euro on the bus to get to Nenagh, but to me, I got great value and will shop there again. Any company who do not strive to satisfy their customers needs in this day and age deserve to go bust whether that is a physical shop or an online one. I do think that our sponsors should get our support where ever possible as they are supporting us and the PI site after all.
Right, here we go to the slaughter again. :D
DSLR Cameras in particular……Those that know me know that we sold a serious amount of DSLR when they started to become popular and when Olympus launched the E10 (An affordable bridge camera at £2500 Punts in 1999). Cameras at that point allowed us to make about 20% profit so after VAT the profit on £2500 was about £413. Our main customer base was and still is, labs and professional photographers whom I met on my selling trips around Ireland and trade shows that we organised. When the prices began to drop and cameras became more mainstream the competition got stronger and margins were reduced. (All normal commerce I here you say). Today however is a different story with DSLR camera margins at about 7-8% at Dublin prices. A €1000 camera after VAT makes a profit of about €57-65. Canon was our fist victim as their attitude was that they were selling more than their allocated stock to Ireland so if we did not buy, somebody else would. At this point Canon were distributed by Pemberton Marketing a division of United Drug. When the agency was changed a few years ago the promise of a Europe wide base price was introduced but still the prices were higher for us to buy wholesale than you guys could get on the www.
Now as a small supplier we clearly cannot compete on the www unless we can grow our business to such a level that target discounts kick in and the manufacturer gives us an extra few % back at the end of the year with every €500K that we buy. A statement was made that to make money you need to spend money but for us to get to Big Boy League we would probably have to sell at €668K worth of kit (Dublin Prices) at a loss €25K just to break even when we would sell a million €’s worth. After that we could make about 4-5% profit before credit card charges which at the moment are about 2%. These figures have also taken no account of the VAT difference between the UK and Ireland which currently stands at 6.5%
Very few people in a population of 6.1 million (N&S) would risk that amount of money to make such a small profit on products that change like the wind. So, with regard to DSLR’s, unless the manufactures change their business model and the government changes the VAT, Irish camera shops will have to rely on valued added services such as sensor cleaning, loan equipment and trade-ins to maintain business.
These are some of the real reasons that Irish camera shops do not market their prices online, have a poor web presence and why prices are so high on the high street. It is time that we stop knocking the high street prices and buy online to save money if we want to (Short term as where will our children work if we all do that) or knock out the best local deal we can and not refer to Irish suppliers as rip off merchants as even with the inflated prices the margins are very small.
In saying all the above I do so with no vested interest in DSLR sales as we now sell single digit units per model per year.
Mick451 wrote:
other than the telephone number and the address being on it I really can’t see much point to it being there.
That is why its there.:oops: Again your comments are mostly true but again I was not requesting a valuation of my website.
Sheldon wrote:
Again your comments are mostly true but again I was not requesting a valuation of my website.
True, but you do suggest that we support Irish suppliers and I think this is a suggestion on how to make it easier. I have to admit I went to your site with interest when you mentioned you had strobist gear and the lack of pricing made me feel dumb for checking. All it did was give me fuel for Ebay.
Still, it was interesting for you to suggest you had the Spydercube for sale on another thread and at prices that Ebay couldn’t beat when you include shipping etc. When I do invest I will be calling so this is one vote for open pricing on-line.Alan.
I can see both sides of the argument. I’m much more likely to buy Irish these days than a few years ago but thats more to do with the relationships I’ve built up with some people and the sinking feeling I get when buying abroad that I’m making the budget deficit that little bit deeper.
I’ve only met Seldon once, buying a CF card that I suppose I could have bought from Hong Kong. But as soon as I mentioned PI, he applies discount and then gives me some Ilford darkroom photo paper for our workshops. Sound bloke and I wish him well.
BTW I would hate if Gunns did a full e-com website, theres nothing to compare going in there for a chat+splurge, even if it is a long trek for me.
Fintan wrote:
I would hate if Gunns did a full e-com website, theres nothing to compare going in there for a chat+splurge, even if it is a long trek for me.
Thats more like what need. Unique selling points. I have often had the cup of coffee in Gunns at around 11.00 :wink:
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