oknups

I guess this could make a interesting poll.

The question I have is I am planning on buying a bent in 2006, an expensive one, and am wondering if I should expect to pay MSRP.

Any thoughts?

Comments?


Have a Happy and prosperous New Year,

hopefully it wll be better than the last one.

gwhunt23

For me it's all four. Sometimes I'll pay MSRP for certain items, sometimes I'll negotiate, sometimes the LBS sells lower than MSRP, and next season I'll be hoping to pay wholesale depending on how the sponsorship benefits go.

Bekologist

I try to never pay retail but am not adverse to doing so, esp. if a small shop has something I'd like and it's right there in front of me.

My philosophy on how my dollars impact the local economy is much more than how little I have to spend for an item.

BroMax

My style would be to pay the asking price for the bike and to buy the other stuff I'll need at the same time and ask the dealer to give me a fair deal on the package. I don't need to save the last cent or I'd go to one of those megastores that are homogonizing and increasingly controlling our culture. Most dealers--bicycles, sewing machines, etc.--are willing to cut their margins on the extras if they can still make a fair profit. Hard bargaining turns the dealer and the customer into adversaries and it's a bad beginning if one wants to rely on the dealer for support. Nowadays, with the internet, it's pretty easy to get some idea of the market value of things. I think most retaillers recognize that a knowledgable customer will be able to recognize a price that falls outside a reasonable range.

FarHorizon

You left off the category I'd have preferred in the poll: "Yes, I pay MSRP but only sometimes." If I'm buying something from my favorite LBS, I'll pay MSRP because I want them to be in business next time I need them. On the other hand, the LBS folks who now know me as a "regular" often discount items just for me. I usually offer to pay full price - sometimes they say OK and sometimes they insist on having me take the discount.

I also give the LBS my spares so they can pass them on to needy students and others who come into the LBS without being able to pay full prices. I'd say that I've given a half-dozen yard sale bikes and a carload of parts in the past year. The LBS was heavily involved with providing bikes to Hurricane Katrina victims, so I think my contributions were well used.

Service and having inventory available when I need it are more important to me than the heaviest possible discount. I'm satisfied with the LBS and they treat me equitably.

NomadVW 

I pay wholesale, but am not an LBS.

EricDJ

I pay it on items not worth searching for better deals on

roccobike

Just like others, I can't answer the poll given the options. I make it a point to watch the dollars I spend and try to buy items on sale. But when I need a tool, I want it now, and I buy it from the LBS at list price. I also buy at garage sales and to a lesser extent, off of ebay.

CPcyclist

On a current season's bike except to pay MSRP or close to it. If it is older the shop may cut losses and sell below MSRP. Don't work them to hard but if they want more then MSRP go looking for another shop.

For the most part I have a 10-20% discount on everything but bikes at the shops in town for belonging to one club/ health plan or another. It does pay to ask about this if you have several memberships. Also don't under value being able to walk out the door with your purchase rather then waiting days/week for it to show up in the mail box.

To say it simply do your homework Google/the net is a great research tool use it.

slagjumper

I've found a huge variations in price. One high end shop routinly charges more tha MSRP by 10-30 or even more. And they get it!.

I've seen deeper discounts on bikes in shops that do more volume.

The shop I deal with most, sells only parts, tools and accessories. I've got high end tires for 20% or less of MSRP. This guy buys out other distressed shops. He's got a lot of NOS. Not much highend bling.

Nightshade

NO!! "I" don't pay full price for anything except when I dine out.

phantomcow2

I dont buy bikes from my LBS, or any bike parts. I buy lube, maybe some small bike parts, and cleaning supplies. For some of the lubes they charge msrp, and i pay it. But for most of the small parts their prices are fairly low. So Im okay with that

TnDiamondback

I paid msrp for both the new bikes I purchased last year at my LBS but always get a discount on everything else plus free service for life, NOT PARTS just service.

samp02

Paid full price for custom fitted calfee....worth every penny...

EJ123

How much would someone who works at a bikeshop pay for a 2000 dollor bike?

baj32161

BINGO!

baj32161

Hence the screen name?

Rev.Chuck

Depends on the item. For items in the store or through a regular order, at our shop, we pay cost plus 10%. Some items, like a bike can be "employee purchased" This is at a rate below wholesale and requires some proof that you are an employee of a store with an agreement to sell the product. I have worked for a shop since '94 and have EP'd only one frame in that time out of the 13 or so bikes I have had. Some I picked up used, some were not bikes we carried, some were in stock bikes that I paid cost plus ten on.

When I buy non bike stuff, I just go in and pay the price they want, i get enough of that haggling crap at work, and don't want to lay it on someone else. Several of the places I buy from, small auto parts dealers for instance, give me the jobber price because I buy from them often and send business their way(T-Hoff, the best place for VW. BMW, Volvo. Loop road Auto Parts, best place for everything else, great machine shop. AutoSport Gallery, independent performance parts shop. Steve Ashworth, great engine builder. Quail Ridge Books, one of the few independent bookstores left, they can get anything. The Wine Merchant, they know wine.) There are many others, I would rather give them that dollar then hand it off to an onliner and have my local guys disapear.