Cube pricing

[Lozz360]

Two years ago, I posted on a similar thread https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/rip-off-britain-as-if-you-didnt-know-already.215602/#post-4722715 whereby B'Twin Ultra AF720 was for sale on the Decathlon UK website for £1,050 but on the French website, the same model was 1,400 € (£1,200). So 14% more expensive to purchase from the retailer's home country.

Even for this French retailer it is no longer cheaper to purchase their bikes in the UK. Currently their top of the range, Van Rysel is 3,600 € (£3,075) on the French site but on the UK site, the same model, is £3,499.

 

[screenman]

I cannot understand the hatred for this fine country, people want high wages and low prices go figure why that does not work. I just sent a 50x30x30cm box out to Poland with a value of £1200 the carriage with insurance was £96.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Price fixing in the UK is illegal, but doesn't it strike everybody strange how the same item is the same price in multiple outlets?

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I cannot understand the hatred for this fine country, people want high wages and low prices go figure why that does not work..

This country is great, and no-one is more Anglophile than me! What is NOT great is the arrogant attitude of Big Business leeches who think it's fair game to rip off UK consumers with pricing levels that would not be accepted in their other markets.
How come you can buy things in the USA for the same price in DOLLARS as the retailers want to charge us in POUNDS, despite the 1.30 exchange rate?! Just look at any consumer electronics like smartphones. There are loads and loads of things where the UK consumer is being overcharged for the exact same goods compared with other markets. I notice quite a few people on here who source bike stuff via German suppliers! If they can turn a profit at their prices, why can't we do likewise? Or are our retailers just too greedy and lazy from selling on fat margins to operate a competitive business model?

You can have high wages (for skilled/high value work) and low prices. It works if you can achieve high productivity. What you can't do is carry a load of economic dead wood, employ incompetent management, or pay people high wages whose jobs don't generate much economic activity and do not require high skill levels to perform.

 

[screenman]

Because the USA is a long way away and when the goods get here I pay a tariff, carriage costs have gone through the roof in the last two years. Each item I bring in that has a different tariff code I have to pay an £11 clearence fee on.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

It still doesn't explain the pricing difference. Don't forget a lot of the stuff sold in the USA isn't made there; it comes from the same factories in the Far East that also supply Western Europe and the UK. The factory gate cost of a wholesale product is the same to a US corporate buyer as a UK corporate buyer. What isn't the same is the amount of margin that gets loaded on for retail sale - and all this stuff has to be transported hallway around the world regardless of which retail market it is destined for, so the arguments about transport costs are a red herring.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Because the USA is a long way away and when the goods get here I pay a tariff, carriage costs have gone through the roof in the last two years. Each item I bring in that has a different tariff code I have to pay an £11 clearence fee on.

There has to be something wrong with the system, when a dealer in Germany can get a product then send an individual item to the UK, make an acceptable margin on it & still save the buyer 10-30% somebody is having somebody else for a fool, personally I don't think it's in the supply chain I think it lies at the manufacturers door, they do believe the UK will accept higher pricing.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

somebody is having somebody else for a fool, personally I don't think it's in the supply chain I think it lies at the manufacturers door, they do believe the UK will accept higher pricing.

For many products, the wholesale cost is under half of the retail price. The retail mark-up on some things is massive, not just double. Take all the overpriced bike cleaning products sold in small retail containers. The type I won't buy. How much a litre do you think this stuff is, if you buy it in by the bulk tanker load? It's cheap as chips. @screenman will confirm that, as he is in that sort of business. I don't object to profit, it's what makes capitalism function, but there's a fair profit business model and there's a rip-off business model, that usually has some element of a Cartel to it, to stifle competition and support high pricing.

 

[Milkfloat]

It still doesn't explain the pricing difference. Don't forget a lot of the stuff sold in the USA isn't made there; it comes from the same factories in the Far East that also supply Western Europe and the UK. The factory gate cost of a wholesale product is the same to a US corporate buyer as a UK corporate buyer. What isn't the same is the amount of margin that gets loaded on for retail sale - and all this stuff has to be transported hallway around the world regardless of which retail market it is destined for, so the arguments about transport costs are a red herring.

You do however need to factor in that US prices will be excluding city and state tax, plus their warranty periods are generally a lot shorter, so generally the price difference is not that big.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Then factor in the cost of UK lifestyle

Free NHS and a million other things, business pays we pay...
Greedy companies fail, careful companies fail.. There is no golden egg

 

[Pale Rider]

Cars are different. Both my brother and I bought the same car, he bought his RHD in Germany and I bought mine in the UK. HIs car was cheaper but he spent over £1000 to get it to the same spec as mine. The Cube Agree C:62 SLT Disc have the same spec. The UK rrp £3499 and the rest of Europe 3,299 Euros which equates to £2835 approx. due to Euro/Pound fluctuations. Europe is 19% cheaper. Rip Off Britain

Try reading your own thread:

I think he might have been jesting about right hand drive bikes

 

[screenman]

For many products, the wholesale cost is under half of the retail price. The retail mark-up on some things is massive, not just double. Take all the overpriced bike cleaning products sold in small retail containers. The type I won't buy. How much a litre do you think this stuff is, if you buy it in by the bulk tanker load? It's cheap as chips. @screenman will confirm that, as he is in that sort of business. I don't object to profit, it's what makes capitalism function, but there's a fair profit business model and there's a rip-off business model, that usually has some element of a Cartel to it, to stifle competition and support high pricing.

How much do you think it costs to sell small bottles, the cost of doing business comes at a price. The only time there is profit is at the end of the year when all costs including tax is paid, often the percentage or profit left against tunrover is extremely small.

 

[Levo-Lon]

I will add my cube Stereo, was £2999 retail.
I got it from Rutland Cycles for £2499
So it's about bei g in the right pla e at the right time.
My SwiftKey spell checker can't cope..

You can do a deal, as I just did last month getting my new Specialized epic carbon, I saved £100 at the till on a bike that was already a gra d off!! 2018 bike, the 2019 has 12 speed base groupset and retails at £3799.

I got the better bike as mine is lighter and has mid groupset 11