Why are all dealer prices the same??

[paratrooper]

The wife of a friend of mine suprised him with a Minelab detector at Christmas . I only spoke to her yesterday about it . She told me about agonizing with Kellyco over which machine to buy . She should have spoken to me but she didn't want to spoil the suprise . She got him a coin and relic machine and we live in the middle of the desert . We are 30 miles south of Gold Basin . I don't think they served their customer well .Good price is one thing . Not helping is quite another . He has a $60 off for another coil . We WILL work on that .

 

[George (MN)]

Many companies have what is called a MAP-minimum advertiseable price. But this doesn't necessarily mean they won't quote you a lower price by phone or e-mail. The posted internet prices are heavily regulated by mfrs, & not just for detecting stuff.

On some sites they say "price too low to advertise. Add to basket to see discount price". If not low enough, you can empty the basket. Best wishes, George (MN)

 

[syko]

I think since there is not such a big variety to choose from, we get stuck with no option but to get it at a high price. This doesn't happen in the major product world, like buying a Samsung HDTV, you can pick up the same model for hundreds less at a different store, not to mention the big sales they put on them.

You can buy most anything at all kinds of different prices,cameras, gps, electronics...... metal detectors are a specialized "toy", so I guess they feel that you have no choice but to buy at whatever price they set, or go to Radioshack and get a piece of junk.

To be honest....this is 2010...a lot of the detectors I see look like something out of the 70s-80s. Outdated looks,
knobs and toggle switches, I know if it ain't broke,don't fix it, but cmon.
Electronics are supposed to get cheaper and better each year, but they continue with the high prices when the manufacturing costs should be lower year after year. There's a new TV model year after year with slight changes and the prices drop while the size goes up.

I think they hold back on developing better technology because they know their customers are contempt with what is out there.They can milk it for a long time then add a new sticker and call it new & improved. If suddenly the whole world had detectors like if they were Ipods, the new designs and bells and whistles would suddenly start coming.

At least this is one of a few hobbies that has a chance of paying for itself one day, maybe even enough to cover multiple machines.

 

[Shortstack]

Dealers can sell for any price from the MSRP down to the 80% point; not below 80% or they will lose their franchis. A friend who was a multi-line dealer for years told me that with the overhead of running an actual store, he couldn't survive selling at 80%, so he could only go for 85%. His main competitors were the mailorder people who could undercut his prices by that 5%. He had to become a distributor to make up for that difference to his profit line. Plus, he tried to keep good THing books and tools in stock. Just before I left OKC, he started handling prospecting equipment, too; dredging equipment, etc.