I agree that the OP shafted Sears. It's well known that Bway Photo isn't going to honor their advertised price (unless you take on hundreds of dollars of overpriced extras), so it's fundamentally dishonest to use their price to get a price match. It's disingenuous to argue that "Sears made the offer so it's on their head.." -- you're really just taking advantage of an uninformed or inexperienced employee.
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Take your best price quote to Sears
- Thread starter Yankee in NM
- Start date
Mephistopheles*
Forum Enthusiast
Mephistopheles*
Forum Enthusiast
I agree Mike. If you WANT to drive the company offering the lower price out of business (because it has unethical business practices, for example), then you should pricematch--an exception to the rule.
Meph
Meph
the other side of the coin is that they charge more because they can offer more. in technology the internet and price mongers go hand in hand. I work in IT at distribution. We sell to the true value added resellers and price mongers. let the low price leaders fold...most don't do anything but hurt the real companies out there. I pitty the customers who buy soley on price.
this isn't a defend sears thread, but I bet less folks have had issues with them than online merchants.
and this isn't a pick on CDW or other fufilment houses...heck they are my best customers..but they also have the most returns and most unhappy end users contacting the vendors and us at distribution. percentage wise not volume wise.
in the end it's a love hate thing. these types move lots of product and make us money, but they also cause lots of issues. good thing most learn from the mistakes they make. others who know what they are doing and can handle themselves benefit from them.
remember...price isn't everything.
this isn't a defend sears thread, but I bet less folks have had issues with them than online merchants.
and this isn't a pick on CDW or other fufilment houses...heck they are my best customers..but they also have the most returns and most unhappy end users contacting the vendors and us at distribution. percentage wise not volume wise.
in the end it's a love hate thing. these types move lots of product and make us money, but they also cause lots of issues. good thing most learn from the mistakes they make. others who know what they are doing and can handle themselves benefit from them.
remember...price isn't everything.
it promotes competition but with the wrong tools. the problem with the markets today is that we expect first class seats for coach fares. guess what happened...even first class service s u c ks.
the real issue should be focusing on value. the only winner is the manufacturer. the resellers and disti's get the short end as they have to face low margins and with them being the closest to the customer they create the longest lasting impression. pretty sad when ciruit city and best buy and the brick and morter shops have to hire the worst help in order to stay competetive on price. even still people complain that a memory stick is $10 more at CompUSA. give me a break.
it's a personal thing with me as you can tell. the next time someone has a major issue and whines that there is no service...just follow the trail of money...where's the service....where's the reason to provide it if no one is making a profit. again, the manufacturer is, but did you buy direct? then don't complain about them.
lots of folks complain about the camera makers here and the service they provide....well here's the poop...they aren't about service...they make product. the stores, resellers and disti's provide the value added service everyone expects. back up a paragraph and ask why it's not there....they can't afford to provide it any more.
that's why vendors sell at list on their sites. they don't want you buying from them direct. they can't afford to handle the cost of doing business in that model and they sure as heck can't afford to handle the issues that arise.
hey...just my thoughts having worked for all three types of businesses; reseller, manufacturer and now distribution.
tim
the real issue should be focusing on value. the only winner is the manufacturer. the resellers and disti's get the short end as they have to face low margins and with them being the closest to the customer they create the longest lasting impression. pretty sad when ciruit city and best buy and the brick and morter shops have to hire the worst help in order to stay competetive on price. even still people complain that a memory stick is $10 more at CompUSA. give me a break.
it's a personal thing with me as you can tell. the next time someone has a major issue and whines that there is no service...just follow the trail of money...where's the service....where's the reason to provide it if no one is making a profit. again, the manufacturer is, but did you buy direct? then don't complain about them.
lots of folks complain about the camera makers here and the service they provide....well here's the poop...they aren't about service...they make product. the stores, resellers and disti's provide the value added service everyone expects. back up a paragraph and ask why it's not there....they can't afford to provide it any more.
that's why vendors sell at list on their sites. they don't want you buying from them direct. they can't afford to handle the cost of doing business in that model and they sure as heck can't afford to handle the issues that arise.
hey...just my thoughts having worked for all three types of businesses; reseller, manufacturer and now distribution.
tim
my rant continues...but when was the last time you heard a story about an airline that was just terrific to fly with or is doing so well that you actually looked forward to the trip because of them.
price shopping and supporting the whores of the world causes a drop in quality. you can't fly first class for coach and get first class service. price = value and you do ultimately get what you pay for if you push just price.
tim
price shopping and supporting the whores of the world causes a drop in quality. you can't fly first class for coach and get first class service. price = value and you do ultimately get what you pay for if you push just price.
tim
HAHAHAH... WRONG! Look at what you're talking about. Not many small mom and pop arlines around now a days.
-Nicholas
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4292037929
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-Nicholas
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4292037929
Chip S
Member
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Same as I was told. Needs to be "brick and mortor" in the same local for a price match at my Sears.
Chip S.
New to Sony with a 717
it's happening in IT already. in my industry Kodak is the best and most expensive equipment. high end production scanners cost $45-110k and the most recent price protection that was put in place actually costs customers money in order to help protect the value added resellers.
case example...prior to the Price Protection Move, CDW could sell a $45k scanner for about 5% above their costs. treating this very technical equipement that requires mucho integration to work like a simple camera. a local bank near me worked with me to puchase several. they ended up screwing the company who added the value and bought through CDW.
outside the numerous issues they had as a result...they decided to try it again. NOT...CDW is at a 10% price delta minimum thus is not the lowest price. why...because Kodak is protecting the value adds by letting them buy cheaper. guess what...they paid more because of the price shopping and mongering that led to this action.
if everyone would have just added some value and not tried to sell on price perhaps these things would have cost Huntington so much. In the end who pays....all of their customers....and so on and so on....
tim
it's not all about price...
case example...prior to the Price Protection Move, CDW could sell a $45k scanner for about 5% above their costs. treating this very technical equipement that requires mucho integration to work like a simple camera. a local bank near me worked with me to puchase several. they ended up screwing the company who added the value and bought through CDW.
outside the numerous issues they had as a result...they decided to try it again. NOT...CDW is at a 10% price delta minimum thus is not the lowest price. why...because Kodak is protecting the value adds by letting them buy cheaper. guess what...they paid more because of the price shopping and mongering that led to this action.
if everyone would have just added some value and not tried to sell on price perhaps these things would have cost Huntington so much. In the end who pays....all of their customers....and so on and so on....
tim
it's not all about price...
I disagree. When you pricematch for that much, Sears is actually taking a loss on the camera because I'm sure they pay more than that for the camera from Sony. Not that I care though. They set up these policies so they have to deal with them. Nonetheless . . .
To say they are anticompetive is totally inaccurate. If a company can do something to gain your business and take it from somene else, they are running a very successful business. I'm sure they would like to put their competitors out of business but that is probably not going to happen so they will continue to compete with them. It all leads to lower prices for the consumers and the most profits for the best and strongest companies. That is capitalism.
To say they are anticompetive is totally inaccurate. If a company can do something to gain your business and take it from somene else, they are running a very successful business. I'm sure they would like to put their competitors out of business but that is probably not going to happen so they will continue to compete with them. It all leads to lower prices for the consumers and the most profits for the best and strongest companies. That is capitalism.
Well I would have to disagree with the point below. Price matching and fighting for business based on price first or in some cases price only leads to the lowest profits and is not the strongest companies (depending on how you define strongest)
In the consumer electronics industry you can be the biggest (most revenue) or the most profitable (percentage wise). you can't be both unless you're Microsoft.
In my world, our largest and the Document Imagings Largest Distributor Law Cypress closed their doors on 12/17/01. They were at one time very profitable and the largest in revenue.
They then began to compete on price. They cut commissions and lost a lot of good reps. As a result they lost customers. They continued the cycle and eventually went under with over $6M in receivables over 90 days. Not a good DSO rating and certainly not one that will get banks to fund your business.
We were #2 and since have chosen 3rd place revenue wise, but we hold the market with the highest gross profit in our vertical, are at the same $125M reveue as Law was...and have the largest customers that make up our industry.
It's interesting to see that our largest customers pay more for the product than the #1 or #2 place Distributors do and do so because they see the value. In turn their end users are the happiest too.
The moral is that while some companies may be successful in Revenue, success can be defined in many ways, and having read this board for over one year now....folks here demand quality and service more than price even though it seems that price dominates. Unfortuately some will and do go out of business and what's left by the attrition of business are large conglomerates that sell a lot of stuff, make very little money, have poor customer satisfaction levels....but hey, it all leads to lower prices for the consumer, so it must be good right?
You decide, value or price. Quality doesn't usually follow the road of low price. It also doesnt' mean you have to pay a lot to get it. Just find a store where value = price and decide.
If the price was equal where would you buy? Then list the reasons why. Make your choice when your finished.
tim
In the consumer electronics industry you can be the biggest (most revenue) or the most profitable (percentage wise). you can't be both unless you're Microsoft.
In my world, our largest and the Document Imagings Largest Distributor Law Cypress closed their doors on 12/17/01. They were at one time very profitable and the largest in revenue.
They then began to compete on price. They cut commissions and lost a lot of good reps. As a result they lost customers. They continued the cycle and eventually went under with over $6M in receivables over 90 days. Not a good DSO rating and certainly not one that will get banks to fund your business.
We were #2 and since have chosen 3rd place revenue wise, but we hold the market with the highest gross profit in our vertical, are at the same $125M reveue as Law was...and have the largest customers that make up our industry.
It's interesting to see that our largest customers pay more for the product than the #1 or #2 place Distributors do and do so because they see the value. In turn their end users are the happiest too.
The moral is that while some companies may be successful in Revenue, success can be defined in many ways, and having read this board for over one year now....folks here demand quality and service more than price even though it seems that price dominates. Unfortuately some will and do go out of business and what's left by the attrition of business are large conglomerates that sell a lot of stuff, make very little money, have poor customer satisfaction levels....but hey, it all leads to lower prices for the consumer, so it must be good right?
You decide, value or price. Quality doesn't usually follow the road of low price. It also doesnt' mean you have to pay a lot to get it. Just find a store where value = price and decide.
If the price was equal where would you buy? Then list the reasons why. Make your choice when your finished.
tim
GLP
Senior Member
Jarret Williams: Why don't you post your credentials, you seem to know everything about everything. G
Yankee in NM
Active member
I twisted no one's arm. They could have said no. The sale was made with the department managers knowledge and assistance. Do the naysayers expect me to return to Sears, tell them they shouldn't pricematch and fork over the $445 I saved. I feel terrible. You know? Maybe I will. Not!
David Cappello
Leading Member
Marvin hello,
Yup and I was in a few stores in arlington. the best deal I could
get is 10% off. which I took. I was told no more internet
price matching. So far I like my new 717
--
Regards, -David
http://www.pbase.com/dcappello/
http://www.telequest.net/~cappello
Lee280zx
Active member
Your argument just doesn't make sense, Dan.
With the vast majority of companies offering to match only local, in-stock prices, Sears obviously consciously made a decision to depart from that policy. Sears was obviously doing this to try to draw in more business.
Sears was seeking to attract consumers informed about internet and other prices. Part of this decision was probably made to draw people in who wouldn't bring research on prices to match by leading them to believe that Sears' prices were so competitive that they could offer to match all prices.
It's capitalism. Arnie should be applauded for his deal-making. He would have only been taking advantage if he committed fraud by proffering a fake ad.
With the vast majority of companies offering to match only local, in-stock prices, Sears obviously consciously made a decision to depart from that policy. Sears was obviously doing this to try to draw in more business.
Sears was seeking to attract consumers informed about internet and other prices. Part of this decision was probably made to draw people in who wouldn't bring research on prices to match by leading them to believe that Sears' prices were so competitive that they could offer to match all prices.
It's capitalism. Arnie should be applauded for his deal-making. He would have only been taking advantage if he committed fraud by proffering a fake ad.
Lee280zx
Active member
I disagree. If you are choosing to buy from a store that is price-matching another store's price, it is because they are somehow better for you--they are local, they have better return policies, they can give it to you instantly, etc. Thus they are more than matching the price--they are giving you a better deal.
JohnK
Veteran Member
Just so we're all fully informed: there have been many reports here, in the past, indicating that Sony does not honor the warranty on cameras bought from Sears. Make a difference to anyone?
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JohnK
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JohnK
Actually in this case, this is helping driving Sears out of business (if this is possible) as Sears is selling the item below their cost.
Sony cams from Sears have warranty but you have to call into Sears for tech support. 9/10 times, they will just swap it out as the Satisfaction Guarantee from Sears doesn't have a time limitation.
That's why Sony enjoys working with Sears. They don't have to worry about taking tech support calls, troubleshooting or repairing cams with bench time hours adding up.
Sears makes the customer happy and life goes on.
tim
That's why Sony enjoys working with Sears. They don't have to worry about taking tech support calls, troubleshooting or repairing cams with bench time hours adding up.
Sears makes the customer happy and life goes on.
tim
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