DLH

I know people feel that BD uses deceptive pricing practices. But how can a well known company like this discount as much as 56% ???

https://www.rscycle.com/s.nl/sc.11/ca....f?engine=VELO

urbanknight

The only deceptive pricing I ever saw on BD was the same as I see in Best Buy, Home Depot, Target, etc. etc. every day. When they say 56% off, that's the amount off the retail price, which they never charged you in the first place. If you have the free time or the uncontrollable urge, check the price on 10-20 hot items at a major retailer (electronics stores are the best imo), then watch what they say when one of those items goes on sale. They might be selling the item for $40 every day since they started carrying it even though the "retail value" is $70. But when they discount it $5 to make it $35, they put in bold print SAVE 50%!!! Very few retailers sell things for retail velue these days, but they always want you to think you're getting a killer deal when they mark it down another few pennies.

Ernesto Schwein

The most typical "deceptive pricing" practice with online retailers is fixed shipping rates, its becoming an epidemic and I think Nashbar is as bad as anyone.

teterider

I was once in a bike shop once looking at clothes. I picked out a few items I liked, but knew they were having the "SuperSale" coming up at the end of the week. Thats the sale that many shops used to commonly have - I think it was a Trek issued marketing plan. Many items are a fixed sale price advertised in the flyer, otherwise it was generally a % off sale for everything else.

Anyway, when I arrived for the sale, all the price tags on the items I wanted had been pasted over with the price gun with new inflated prices. The resulting sale price was more than the regular price had been 4 days earlier. Needless to say I made some loud comments on this to a very busy store, and left. Never went back there again.

webist

I believe the rip off is in the original pricing. If they can make a profit at 75% off, who were they gouging at full price?

Az B

Performance did the same thing a couple months ago. I was looking at a Rocky Mountain FS bike on closeout, and Performance had a 10% off sale coming up in a couple of days. When I went back in to get the bike, the price was raised 10%. So with the big 10% off sale, the bike was almost exactly (within $2) the same price as it was three days earlier when there was no sale.



Az

urbanknight

That's just the thing. They never sell it at full retail, so they are making a profit at 50% day in/day out, then breaking even to get rid of old stock at 75% off, which is really 50% off normal price.

DLH

Funny how the usual BD critics are not chiming in on this. I guess since the title did not contain BD or Motobecane they missed the thread or maybe because it is a Tommaso (an Italian bike) there is plenty of room for a built in mark-up and that does not bother them.

BikeWise1

1. I read it. Do you really believe that bike is worth $899? No. It's got generic parts on a generic frame with no dealer support, no service, and no fit. Probably made in China or Taiwan. NOT Italy. And it's NOT a bike shop brand! Only place in the US that's listed on their site as a dealer is rscycles.com. I have Trek 1000s for $250 less, that are supported, come with service contracts and free fitting service (FitKit). Perfect for new cyclists who need those types of services. But if you just want a Sora bike and can do all that other stuff on your own, it may be a great deal. Is it any surprise that other online bike merchants are playing the BD game? Online shoppers love deals. This method of pricing makes it look like a HUGE deal.

2. I have essentially quit caring about BD's pricing policies. If you guys haven't seen through it by now, then...let me just put it this way: BD would like you to believe that there is actually room in bike prices to offer a 50% discount and still have the business make money. There generally isn't. Unless, of course, you artificially inflate your MSRP to the point you can offer a 50% discount and still pay your bills. Nobody sells bike shop brands at 50% discounts on a day to day basis. Bike shop brands (and most other mail-order brands) don't artificially inflate their MSRPs to provide the illusion of a deal. I understand Mike has lots of manufacturers to please because he wants their "valuable" brands on his bikes to give them "value", and they want to protect the "value" of their brand by insisting on him posting high MSRPs, but it's still a big shell game. If he had Ritchey make WCS stems and bars with no logos (ostensibly to save you more money ) and called them their "super high quality house brand", you couldn't say "dude' it's got Ritchey WCS parts!-They're sweet!" Mike knows this. The Motobecane Immortal force isn't worth $2895. If it was, you would happily pay it. I costs $1495, because if it cost more, Mike apparently feels you wouldn't buy it. And he is willing to forego a telephone system to help achieve that price.


In the case of teterider, I believe he's being awfully unfair. If a shop buys in to a SuperSale, and yes, it costs a shop $2000-3000 to buy-in and do the mailers, then you have NO say about the prices you are supposed to put stuff at. The reason for this is so two SuperSale shops near each other are on equal footing during the sale. It's not some evil conspiracy designed to rob you. The fact is, the shop was most likely selling the item in question below MSRP to begin with. Shops may change prices without notice. Perhaps a quiet comment to someone able to do something about the price would've gotten teterider what he wanted. It may even have been a mistake to begin with. Mistakes happen-especially when getting ready for a larger event like that. Yelling about it is childish. Sorry, but it is. And it makes others in earshot dismiss you as an unreasonable hothead. I'm fairly certain no one in that store suddenly said "OMG! He's right! Let's get the hell outa here STAT."

merckxxx

[QUOTE=BikeWise1]1. I read it. Do you really believe that bike is worth $899? No. It's got generic parts on a generic frame with no dealer support, no service, and no fit. Probably made in China or Taiwan. NOT Italy. And it's NOT a bike shop brand! Only place in the US that's listed on their site as a dealer is rscycles.com. I have Trek 1000s for $250 less, that are supported, come with service contracts and free fitting service (FitKit). Perfect for new cyclists who need those types of services.


I dont know what you mean by "supported" because if a newby buys a bike from you and then rides it some.. and next year walks in with it and needs stuff done to it, you are going to charge him.. it might be a discounted rate (again with the discounts) But I dont think you give free service for the life of a bike for nothing... that just doesnt make sense...

My point is.. that team riders dont pay the lbs the tag price on bikes.. Most serious minded riders order their bikes..in some fashon or another (they know what size bike they ride).. and when you can get a 8 piece Dura Ace group with a bike or a 8 piece Campy Record group with a bike and that bike with its (frame dejour) (everyone knows that those bikes are not made in Italy)... and wheels de-jour,,, costs less than what the campy crank shifters cost in a LBS.. the the discount is obvious.. I can buy this xxxx brand bike from BD for 1650.00 and strip it.. build the xxx brand frame (brand new) up with my old ultegra... group and.... the BD wheels..... sell it on craigslist or in the freakin newspaper... and you know what ...I have a brand new 8 piece Campy record component group.. for around $800.00 I take the savings and buy some Deep V's with campy hubs and I am good to go...

its nothing against LBS its just the way it is...

BlastRadius

Mail-in rebates are the most heinous of deceptive pricing practices.

alanbikehouston

Most states make a crime to advertise something as being sold as "x percent off" unless a significant number of sales have been made at the original price. In the bike industry, some companies try to protect their customers against being hoodwinked by making the "suggested" retail price easy to locate. For example, Trek posts the "suggested" retail price of its bikes on the Trek website.

In my neighborhood, Trek dealers typically sell a Trek that "lists" for $300 to $800 for the full list price most of the year. When September comes, and a Trek dealer advertises a bike for "20% off", that represents both 20% off the posted list price, and it is 20% off the price that many bikes have been sold for.

Of course, the "crooks" in the bike industry do the opposite. They get a cheapo bike that a neighborhood bike shop would sell for $500. They claim that it has a "list price" of $1,000 and that it is now "40% off" at a price of $600.

Because they are crooks, they will sometimes claim "there is no sales tax". Of course, if the dealer fails to collect the sales tax that applies in the customer's state, the customer is required by law to contact the state taxing agency, obtain the sales tax papers and pay the sales tax. OR, face substantial penalties and fines down the road. But, the crooks don't care what happens to their customers AFTER they have pocketed their money.