shops that cut deals??

[DiveBomber]

Looking for some Burton Driver X's, Everywhere i look its full MSRP, but at the denver ski expo thing this weekend CO Ski and golf gave me $50 off the 07 CO2 binding, unfortunately they didnt have the boots....

Would be happey with the same deal on boots.

anyone?

[DiveBomber]

anyone?

[AaronG]

Get Real, sorry to break it to you but I don't think any shop will cut you a deal on inventory they just received. The shops are hoping to sell those hardgoods at maximum profit margins to people who are looking forward to a good snow year. I used to work in a ski shop and we didn;t start to reduce prices till Janurary.

The best thing to do is become acquainted with a instructor/patroller and maybe they will give you a pro deal form to get some new gear.

[DiveBomber]

actually now that i think about it, I could probably pull some pro deals my self, just can be a bit of a hassle

[Bordy]

word!!!

[D.T.]

hey... just call Burton and tell them that they should feel honored and give the stuff to you for free.

[DiveBomber]

speaking of deals, divebomber, you don't seem to check your email, on 10-21-2006, your last emil to me was, you were locked out of your paypal account, was there any other way you could get money to me, I immediatly emiled back that you could send a check, that was at 8:am, at 8:pm on the 21'st I emailed you again asking what you were planing on doing, I never recieved any more emails from you.

On 10-24-2006 I shipped the factory prime to north carolina, and posted it as sold on bol, don't you know, I recieved a check from you on 11-4-2006, last saturday, that had been postmarked novenber 1'st, I mean, waaa

So what do you want me to do with the check, I have emailed you but this seems to be the only way to reach you(sorry everyone), if I don't hear back from you I will just drop it in the mail, obtw, I agree with the two prior posts, do buisness with the people in buisness, or there won't be any buisness to do

AGAIN, I DID EMAIL YOU BACK AGAIN!, on the other hand, havent you heard of Private messaging as an alternative? Fix your email...

[DiveBomber]

I can get my own prodeals, I dont need any help.

Pay full price??? You have to be joking... especially to some mega store, You want my business, give me the best deal, someones going to make a sale....who wants to make a deal? Thats business. hard cold facts, sorry if you guys dont like it.

I try to keep my money, in my pocket. I doubt any of you guys ever say "yeah I feel really good paying someone elses bills!" Theres a ton of board shops, Its called, competition, if you cant take the heat....

maybe I should see if they have some couple seasons old stuff too and offer full price for that too right??? Gimme a break.

you guys act like its some special club, yeah support your local car dealer while your at it too right!

Now lets all go smoke pot on the lifts Yayyy!!!

Capitalism Rules!!

if you want to argue this further, you're on your own

[D.T.]

I hear you buddy... I went to the gas station the other night and said "Screw you guys, I'm tired of paying those inflated prices. I want a ProDeal 'cause I drive my car ALL the time! What can you do for me?" Wouldn't you know it... he suggested I go smoke pot on the lifts. Very strange.

:lol:

[D.T.]

Pay full price??? You have to be joking... especially to some mega store, You want my business, give me the best deal, someones going to make a sale....who wants to make a deal? Thats business. hard cold facts, sorry if you guys dont like it.

Yeah, but if each and every megastore cut a deal for each sale, the small stores would no longer exist. The megastores purchase larger quantities of product; hence they get a better price than the small guy who has limited resources. Many of the manufacturers fix their prices so that the small guy can try to compete (even though his profit for each sale is less). So basically, by expecting the megastore to give you a discount endercuts the small guy and eventually drives the small guy out of business. Most of the vendors that support this site are the small guy. If everyone here was looking for a discount on every purchase, the only stores that would be left would be the megastores. By undermining the small guy, you put them out of business.

Personally, I would rather go to the small guy, where the sales people actually have product knowledge and want your business and pay full price, than go into the megastore, have a crappy experience and save a few bucks. If you want to save a few pennies, great, but do not complain when in a few years you are buying your Burton boots at WalMart.

[Derf]

For sites like Steep and Cheap and Woot, they buy large quantities of only one thing, so they get volume discounts and have a low overhead. Additionnaly, I think that some of the things they sell are overstock or EOLed (end of life) products.

As for buying full price or buying at a discount or buying Prodeal, shops and manufacturers live on selling stuff full price. As long as people are buying it at that price, they will sell it at that price. If the price is too high, then people won't buy and the price will drop. If profit margins are becoming too low and people are not buying it, the product/shop disappears. When they sell something at a discount, it is because they have overstock and want to get rid of it (storage costs money) to sell a new product. Alpine snowboarding is a niche market, the sale volume is low, so profit margins have to be higher to survive. Products don't change much, so they is one less reason to have sales.

As for Prodeal, it is for people who make a living with their equipment and go through more stuff than everyone else (like instructors, full time patrollers and serious racers), not people who like to collect equipment.

If you think it costs too much to snowboard, buy less boards, buy used or stop snowboarding. Snowboarding is an expensive sport, period.

[Rob Stevens]

Why not pick a shop, keep buying there for awhile and get good deals eventually?

However, if you can get your own pro deals now, then it seems you're already in the mix and didn't need to start this thread in the first place.

Personally, my goal is to be able to pay full retail for everything.

[D.T.]

For sites like Steep and Cheap and Woot, they buy large quantities of only one thing, so they get volume discounts and have a low overhead. Additionnaly, I think that some of the things they sell are overstock or EOLed (end of life) products.

As for buying full price or buying at a discount or buying Prodeal, shops and manufacturers live on selling stuff full price. As long as people are buying it at that price, they will sell it at that price. If the price is too high, then people won't buy and the price will drop. If profit margins are becoming too low and people are not buying it, the product/shop disappears. When they sell something at a discount, it is because they have overstock and want to get rid of it (storage costs money) to sell a new product. Alpine snowboarding is a niche market, the sale volume is low, so profit margins have to be higher to survive. Products don't change much, so they is one less reason to have sales.

As for Prodeal, it is for people who make a living with their equipment and go through more stuff than everyone else (like instructors, full time patrollers and serious racers), not people who like to collect equipment.

If you think it costs too much to snowboard, buy less boards, buy used or stop snowboarding. Snowboarding is an expensive sport, period.

You beat me too it, damned work. :) Well said!

SAC is buying product that did not sell the previous year or has bought inventory from a small guy that has gone out of business.

[D.T.]

Why not pick a shop, keep buying there for awhile and get good deals eventually?

Exactly! Even if the "good deals" don't ever show up, the samll guy will go out of their way take care of his customers. And that is the reason that you go back!

[Allee]

I think small retailers these days have it really tough. We are truly sunk into the Wal-Mart mentality ... it doesn't matter if it only lasts a year, as long as it's cheap. Cars, clothes, snowboards, whatever. Everyone wants a deal but somebody's got to buy this stuff new.

Some people here might want to go back to Economics 101 - the part about value added and cognitive dissonance - ie, what a difference the service makes. If I have to deal with one more pimple faced high school moron in Sport Chek giving me the patented git look, I'm gonna slap somebody. But dealing with Bomber or yyz - any time.

I do feel for the retailers who are stuck with last year's gear and have to discount it, while their wholesaler is dumping the same stuff through SAC. If I see it on SAC, I will buy it, because I work hard for my money. As a small retailer, you have to learn to make smart choices on your inventory. Eg Dave will sell out of most of his stuff by Feb. Is he a moron for not buying more? Or is he smart for not being left with stuff he has to dump? You decide ...

[jnshapiro]

Ok, what's this SAC thing you guys are mentioning?

I do must of my shopping at small stores both B&M and online. I much prefer the personalized service, support, and advice that I get when shopping. It's a lot easier to get exactly the right item.

So I pay a little more. That's ok. The service and support has a value that makes it worthwhile.

[RDY_2_Carve]

The OP was talking about softboot equipment! I don't see why he can't ask if anybody knows a good place to get softboot equipment at a cheaper rate. There are 1000's of retail shops out there for softboot gear so by all means search for the best deal possible. www.froogle.com works well for me.

On the flip side by all means get your Hardboot gear directly from those that support us like Bomber, Hardbooter, YYZ, Bola, etc. It's not like we have many options anyways. It's either used gear off Ebay/Classifies or new gear from the few choices we have. The only part of a hardboot setup that I personally think is overpriced is the boots but it is the most important piece of the setup anyways. Bindings and boards are right where they need to be price wise and in comparison with softboot setups it's pretty much equal pricing.

Give the guy a break he's only asking a question!

[Allee]

The only part of a hardboot setup that I personally think is overpriced is the boots but it is the most important piece of the setup anyways. Bindings and boards are right where they need to be price wise and in comparison with softboot setups it's pretty much equal pricing.

Dunno what boot prices are like in US, but here good ski boots are damn expensive too. And it's not unusual to see $1000 skis at all, so in comparison, a good snowboard is a bargain...

[bjvircks]

I'm all for finding a good deal. At the same time, I don't think that good deal should come at the cost of a retailer'ss time and effort.

AMEN !!!

I had a boss once who goes to athletic shoe stores and really works out the sales guy. The boss had very specific needs which actually did need to be met. After spending much time in the stores, he would go home and buy them online from a discounter. Really got me PO'd but I needed to hold my tongue.

[D.T.]

Ok, what's this SAC thing you guys are mentioning?

Steep and Cheap

[RDY_2_Carve]

Dunno what boot prices are like in US, but here good ski boots are damn expensive too. And it's not unusual to see $1000 skis at all, so in comparison, a good snowboard is a bargain...

I was comparing it to soft goods vs hard goods but yeah I see where you're coming from about ski goods vs hard goods. Yeah $600 for a custom board is a steal compared to the high end burton stuff for example. Good soft bindings are $200 easy-and usually more-so bindings are properly priced IMHO. But you can get Malamutes for $200 or less new compared to $400+ for a good pair of hard boots.

I won't care about ski prices though until next season. Probablly going to get a tele setup (1st timer) so I can teach my then 3-yr-old to ski. I'll probablly be falling more than she will be!

[Dan]

steepandcheap.com is indeed awesome - wish they would find a stash of 4807s instead of those weak Nitro freestyle boards they keep posting.

However, they're not an independent discounter as people are saying; they're actually an arm of www.backcountrystore.com - if you're using Firefox, their URL pops up briefly in the nav bar before SAC loads. I'm guessing it's more of an outlet for Backcountrystore.com to sell their old gear or other stuff that they couldn't sell at retail.

[bartron]

My 'moral compass' reference has NOTHING to do with pricing... I'm all for finding a good deal. At the same time, I don't think that good deal should come at the cost of a retailer'ss time and effort.

[...] Should you buy from yyzcanuck.com because it's marginally cheaper or... go back to Fin because you've used his resources to make a buying decision. My compass points to Fin. Your compass can point any direction it wants.

I stand by my views on ProDeals too. The ProDeal is in place because manufacturers want to maximize sales to the general public. This is done by having defacto reps (snow professionals) using their equipment on the slope. Potential new customers, most of which are quite impressionable as they've just entered into the sport, will see the equipment and buy the same stuff.

Spot on. I couldn't have said it better.

'later...

[bartron]

p.s. maybe it is a Canadian thing. Explain to me why a HONDA made in Canada (Alliston) sells for 24% more in Canada then the same car sold in the US (still made in Canada) when the US-CDN exchange rate is only 11 cents on the dollar? Why does a $23500 ($26085 Canadian) car in the US sell for $32000 in Canada and then you get to add 14% tax on top of the gouge? There are some inequities and I do not believe it is the customer's "moral compass" or "lack" of one thats causing the inequity!

I figure that's most probably because the Canadian retailers and distributors sell less than the U.S. ones, so they end up buying less from Honda which means they don't get as good a price. At least, that's the way I see it. :)

'later...

[bartron]

Why not pick a shop, keep buying there for awhile and get good deals eventually?

That's what I usually aim for too. The best part is that the deals you get are for the stuff money usually can't buy. e.g. insider info on upcoming products or sales; queue jumping and other preferential treatment.

It's worked especially well for me for car rentals -- the rental company's official policy is that you can't choose the model of car you want. But, after renting from the same place often and becoming a regular, the employees at the place would let me choose the model I wanted and even moved me up the queue when I was in a rush.

To me, that kind of deal is definitely worth the money.

'later...