RideGuy Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Last week after our two day hardgood sale, Burton decided to pull the plug on our dealer agreement with them. This means that at this time we no longer have the opportunity or ability to buy or sell any additional product of theirs. Yes, we do have dealer agreements about when we can discount and how much, but we're not the only ones who play with fire like last week. Some may feel that by Burton pulling the agreement from us that they are protecting other retailers from our deep discounting against their wishes. This may be true to an extent, but they also pulled the agreement with zero forewarning or slaps on the wrist for a small two day sale. But, if this is to protect the little guys in the industry (the mom & pop shops that are considered the 'local shops' to many), why have they waited so long and allowed us to do various other pre-season discounts without any action what-so-ever? Why have they continued to sell us large quantities of their product from all 8+ brands that they oversee, and continue to add to the list of what we carry from them? Wouldn't they have restricted us before to give us some warning that we were dealing with serious business? Wouldn't they have restricted us before to give some of the smaller fish a better opportunity to make the close-out purchases that we've taken and make us feel the effects of not buying the quantities that we desired? And, why on earth would they have produced thousands and thousands of snowboards based on their very own models to be sold as our own line of snowboards if they were having problems with us? Is this Burton trying to protect the little fish, or is this Burton trying to protect themselves? We all know damn well that Burton has planted their 'flagship' stores in various cities across the States and has become their own online retailer this season as well. Are they trying to protect their own retail sales and online pricing game, because this is sure what it's looking like. This season Burton is making dealers sign an agreement upon all purchases to not sell any Burton product more than 40% below MSRP at ANY TIME. Even though the retailers pay their bills to Burton, giving them their wholesale profit, B is trying to still dictate pricing rules and tell the retailers how much profit the retailers should make over their wholesale cost. Why do we not have a right to discount the product that we've paid for to give our customers the best deal possible? Why does B feel that they can dictate our profit margin as a retailer? Is this an attempt to keep everyone on que with their own online retailing this season so that they can make an even larger profit margin when retailing themselves if they can now dictate final sale prices of all retailers with their product? Does this not sound a bit like price fixing to boost their own profit? If we want to discount our product that we've paid for, we shouldn't have restrictions on that. We should be able to make all of our customer stoked and get them all on the hill for a fair price. This sport should not be an elitist sport, it should be for all to enjoy if they have a little bit of extra time and money to throw at it. We need to make the point to Burton that the industry will not thrive, nor survive with this sort of action taking place. http://www.sierrasnowboard.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=33956&PN=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex1230 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 1) Burton sucks 2) Sierra snowboard sounds pretty stupid. They had a contract, they violated it, and they got caught. Not sure which side is worse in this little spat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebu Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Burton is the Apple of the snowboard world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 1) Burton sucks2) Sierra snowboard sounds pretty stupid. They had a contract, they violated it, and they got caught. Not sure which side is worse in this little spat. agreed I've read about a few retailers in other industries that have bitched about big online retailers doing huge sales that no one can compete with and the companies that make said gear getting into it because it's bad for the majority of retailers as well as manufacturers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 So I wonder how Backcountry gets away with discounting the hell out of Burton stuff... I also wonder about anti-competition rules. I can't speak for the US, but in New Zealand and Canada, "retail price enforcement" is illegal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideGuy Posted March 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 agreedI've read about a few retailers in other industries that have bitched about big online retailers doing huge sales that no one can compete with and the companies that make said gear getting into it because it's bad for the majority of retailers as well as manufacturers. The timing does seem intersting though. Sierra has been Burton's number one online e-tailer. Burton starts there own online store. Burton dumps Sierra. Burton could have done this to protect the smaller retailers. But I have to wonder if it is more to protect their OWN online store sales. Here in Canada Burton is generally expensive. If I couldn't get a cheap one from a place like Sierra Snowboards I would just buy a different brand. Burton actually doesn't allow US retailers to sell to Canadians (isn't Toyota being sued for this right now?), so I would have to use an amerifriend to help me out. Burton makes nice stuff, but from my personal experience with Burton products they aren't any better then the competitions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Apparently Sierra blacked-out a bunch of the Burton contract that pertained to this before signing it. Price enforcement is alive and well in Canada! Try to find Oakley goggles/glasses on sale anywhere. The retailers want to do it but can't for fear of losing their contract. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Price enforcement is alive and well in Canada! Try to find Oakley goggles/glasses on sale anywhere. The retailers want to do it but can't for fear of losing their contract. It's alive and well everywhere. No manufacturer (apart from Burton!) is stupid enough to commit it to paper and make it contentious, it's all done by nudge-nudge-wink-wink and, as you say, the threat of having product pulled. You get the odd case though - like the three oil companies who got pinged a couple of years back for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 blah blah blah. My default position on Burton is that I'm very happy that the #1 snowboard company in the world is one of the original <i>snowboard</i> companies that started from nothing. I'm pretty sure #2 and #3 are ski companies. It would just be wrong for a ski company to be #1. So whatever Burton has to do to stay #1 is fine with me. I'm not super impressed with Sierra. I ordered a pair of those Kessler/Palmer skis for my wife, but didn't notice the fact that the pair I ordered didn't include risers. Then I realized it soon after the order was done. So I immediately emailed their help desk with the order number, asking them to change it to the pair with risers, which were the same price (strange). Didn't hear back. Called the next day and the order had already shipped. The guy on the phone was nice, but he said even if they had read my email in time, they wouldn't have been able to change the order. Huh? Whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobD Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 blah blah blah.I'm not super impressed with Sierra. I ordered a pair of those Kessler/Palmer skis for my wife, but didn't notice the fact that the pair I ordered didn't include risers. Then I realized it soon after the order was done. So I immediately emailed their help desk with the order number, asking them to change it to the pair with risers, which were the same price (strange). Didn't hear back. Called the next day and the order had already shipped. The guy on the phone was nice, but he said even if they had read my email in time, they wouldn't have been able to change the order. Huh? Whatever. Sorry Jack, I didn't notice until later that those on the link didn't have the carve plate. Makes binding install so easy. Hope you got it sorted out. Are you getting demo bindings ? I can't imagine that you won't want to try them. BobD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUD Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Coincidentally, Burton did an interview about this very topic recently in Transworld Business. They mentioned that they are cracking down on shops doing just what Sierra did. They should have read the news I guess. Burton is in the mood to set examples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Burton could have done this to protect the smaller retailers. But I have to wonder if it is more to protect their OWN online store sales. right, I don't know why anyone would expect anything else. they protect both the majority of their retailers and their own retail sales. when you're the big name in the industry you can get away with these things. ultimately it protects their bottom line. even if they are pricks for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Sorry Jack, I didn't notice until later that those on the link didn't have the carve plate. Makes binding install so easy. Hope you got it sorted out. No worries, but I did not get it sorted out. The flat skis with no plates are on the FedEx truck now. Is there anything special about that plate or can she get any old plate? Are you getting demo bindings ? I can't imagine that you won't want to try them. Well, they're 155 so I'm not super interested to try them. Even if I was I don't think I'd saddle her with demo bindings for the rest of the ski's life just so I could try them once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photodad2001 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 I'm not super impressed with Sierra. I ordered a pair of those Kessler/Palmer skis for my wife, but didn't notice the fact that the pair I ordered didn't include risers. Then I realized it soon after the order was done. So I immediately emailed their help desk with the order number, asking them to change it to the pair with risers, which were the same price (strange). Didn't hear back. Called the next day and the order had already shipped. The guy on the phone was nice, but he said even if they had read my email in time, they wouldn't have been able to change the order. Huh? Whatever. I ordered a pair of K2 boots and saw another pair I liked better after I ordered. They told me to place a 2nd order and send the other boots back when I got them and they'd refunded my 1st order when they got it back. I think I paid $9 dollars plus change to ship them back. Edit: Actually I think it was TheHouse, not Sierra. Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideGuy Posted March 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 I just read that Sierra will now ship Burton internationally. I guess since they've been cut off they might as well break all the rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted March 11, 2010 Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 No worries, but I did not get it sorted out. The flat skis with no plates are on the FedEx truck now. Is there anything special about that plate or can she get any old plate?Well, they're 155 so I'm not super interested to try them. Even if I was I don't think I'd saddle her with demo bindings for the rest of the ski's life just so I could try them once. depending on the plate you get you'd be all set trying them out because a few plates are pre drilled. it's just slightly more complicated than mounting a snowboard binding. might be some of the Vist ones, anyway at least a good price on the plate http://stores.ebay.com/Denver-Wholesale-Skis_Vist-Skis-Bindings_W0QQ_fsubZ7QQ_sidZ30214299QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em322 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skategoat Posted March 11, 2010 Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 Apparently Sierra blacked-out a bunch of the Burton contract that pertained to this before signing it.Price enforcement is alive and well in Canada! Try to find Oakley goggles/glasses on sale anywhere. The retailers want to do it but can't for fear of losing their contract. Corey: Try www.sportinglife.ca right now. I ordered a pair of A-Frames for $89.99 - 20%. Came out to $65 and change. You have to use the coupon code LASTRUN to get teh 20%. I think Sporting Life gets away with discounting Oakley because they are the biggest, most powerful, high end sporting goods retailer in Canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petrol Posted March 11, 2010 Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 right, I don't know why anyone would expect anything else. they protect both the majority of their retailers and their own retail sales. when you're the big name in the industry you can get away with these things. ultimately it protects their bottom line. even if they are pricks for it. Exactly... much like a limited access section of hwy near my house. Everyone drives 60 mph and has been doing so for years. Now that the local governments are having budget difficulties they are enforcing the silly 45 mph limits that for years they have been saying they would increase as a way to grab "revenue". Dicks? Yes. But dems the rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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