I\'v been on the Feed web site and i\'m curious on why there is such a mark up on uk prices on some items???? Shipping i know but i also know its not that expensive. Now i\'m just talking about retail prices not trade prices in any case shipping doesn\'t have that much do with it.
Now uk retail prices:
carbon side skirts: £ 550
front wide fenders: £ 675
rear wide fenders: £ 699
spacers: £ 165
GT II carbon wing: £ 805
Now japan retail prices (at current exchange rate):
carbon side skirts: £ 336
front wide fenders: £ 435
rear wide fenders: £ 493
spacers: £ 98
GT II carbon wing: £ 633
remember these are all retail prices not trade. So uk retailers get these parts cheaper than the japan retail price and with the converson to uk pounds from Yen, in some cases, are nearly £200 more expensive. This to me doesn\'t seem right.
When i had my scooby i bought all my manifolds and exhaust etc from the states and saved nearly £800 inc delivery/shipping (i fitted). So why do uk tuners mark up on the retail price so much??? I don\'t want to get ripped off as i\'m sure most people don\'t. Ok i had to wait a month or so for the parts to come through but for a saving of nearly £800 i\'m willing to wait 4 weeks!
Can anyone spread any light on this?
Try to bring those bits in. The shipping is a real killer for body parts. Then you have the duty and tax to get killed for.
Fish
ok say you odered all of that to get a better idea uk price £2,894 jap price £1995. Thats £899 pounds differance on retail........ even with dutey etc, bearing in mind these would be bought cheaper than retail buy uk tuners on trade, this is a massive mark up!!! vertually £900 pounds differance
Quote from: McCARTHYI\'v been on the Feed web site and i\'m curious on why there is such a mark up on uk prices on some items???? Shipping i know but i also know its not that expensive. Now i\'m just talking about retail prices not trade prices in any case shipping doesn\'t have that much do with it.
Now uk retail prices:
carbon side skirts: £ 550
front wide fenders: £ 675
rear wide fenders: £ 699
spacers: £ 165
GT II carbon wing: £ 805
Now japan retail prices (at current exchange rate):
carbon side skirts: £ 336
front wide fenders: £ 435
rear wide fenders: £ 493
spacers: £ 98
GT II carbon wing: £ 633
remember these are all retail prices not trade. So uk retailers get these parts cheaper than the japan retail price and with the converson to uk pounds from Yen, in some cases, are nearly £200 more expensive. This to me doesn\'t seem right.
When i had my scooby i bought all my manifolds and exhaust etc from the states and saved nearly £800 inc delivery/shipping (i fitted). So why do uk tuners mark up on the retail price so much??? I don\'t want to get ripped off as i\'m sure most people don\'t. Ok i had to wait a month or so for the parts to come through but for a saving of nearly £800 i\'m willing to wait 4 weeks!
Can anyone spread any light on this?
a) we get about 2p off japanese list
b) if airfreight is \'not that expensive\' then we use the wrong aeroplanes - it costs a fortune for some thing like a nose or set of side skirts individually
c) we pay 30% on entry + admin, deferment facility and delivery charges
d) in the mean time we are paying a bank overdraft for 3-4 wks while its made and shipped - and fx transactions arent free either
After you\'ve expended an hour or two sorting that out, as a business what kind of % markup do you think is appropriate? If you dont mind me asking - what do you do for a living out of interest? what do you charge over and above what it costs for you to get out of bed and do it?
The stuff costs a fortune and we make very little money for the time and effort - only the other week we were on about removing the stuff from the website (AGAIN) cause its not worth while. I dont mind being expensive but I take great offence at it being suggested that I\'m making like Bill Gates.
Personally the FEED body kits are my favourate - yet we have a banged up second hand V2R nose on stripey and i have some damaged second hand carbon skirts on my red FD. Because unlike any thing else on our cars we cant justify the price. FEED wont even give us decals for free in order to advertise their stuff ffs. We dont import any thing body-wise regularly or in enough volume to be competitive which is why I usually tell people to get stuff direct from the US.
For comparison ask Miguel whos Japan-based what he can supply these parts for in the UK - and make sure u account for duty and vat.
R.
PS welcome to the club!
Quote from: McCARTHYok say you odered all of that to get a better idea uk price £2,894 jap price £1995. Thats £899 pounds differance on retail........ even with dutey etc, bearing in mind these would be bought cheaper than retail buy uk tuners on trade, this is a massive mark up!!! vertually £900 pounds differance
Half would b freight for a start!
CF Bonnet shiped to Ireland £350
Shipping is sooooo expensive. Its not all about the weight its all about the dimensions.
there is a guy on the CRX OC and he hires a container, gets a load of people who wants parts, orders them and then brings them all over in the container. Works out alot cheaper but you need to get the numbers together in the first place
Yep, shipping is by volume, not by weight, shipping a front bumper from the US cost me $350 which is the same as the bumper itself! Then I had to add import duty, handling etc oh yeah there\'s VAT to plus delivery to my door if I don\'t want to go collect from the airport. It all adds up even doing it yourself!
I\'ve only used BAX Global before but they\'ve always been quick and helpful.
WO WO WO 20B_boy i ant having ago im just curious as to why there is such a differance in price before you jump any futher down my neck..... And i was just using feed as an example the same goes for HKS, RE Amamiya, Greddy etc etc
I\'m simplely asking why from japan is so expensive. I was unaware that it went on volume and not weight. When i puchased my stuff from the states i imported equal length headers, up pipe, down pipe, full exhaust, front splitter and rear spoiler...... And i saved, as i said, nearly £800 inc shipping etc on list prices! But for all that stuff considering distance handleing etc it didn\'t seem expensive at all hence the question in the first place.........
i imported some mazdaspeed seats and u can count on approx 25% to be added to the cost as the duty/vat etc so on parts of 2000.00 u can add vat/duty of approx 500 plus the shipping cost so doesnt leave much of a mark up
Quote from: McCARTHYWO WO WO 20B_boy i ant having ago im just curious as to why there is such a differance in price before you jump any futher down my neck..... And i was just using feed as an example the same goes for HKS, RE Amamiya, Greddy etc etc
Firstly, if your intention was not to have a go then perhaps you might have rephrased some thing like your "I don\'t want to get ripped off" suggestion mate!
Secondly, I dont think UK HKS prices are extortionate are they? Greddy are high compared to the UK but you cant blame the UK distributors for higher prices if they get sold the stuff for a lot more than the yanks do - which I believe is the case. Its the small rotary-specific companies that cost a bomb; if you buy any thing from RE-A or FEED that isnt expensive its likely not original gear!
I\'m sorry if my reply was a little short, we put a lot of effort into getting and pricing things as realistically as we can which is hopefully reflected in at least some of the stuff we sell compared to other UK vendors. But we (and any other seller here) will never compete directly against a lot of the US suppliers or by personal imports \'outside the scope\' of taxation cause the market just isnt big enough at the moment to take advantage of any significant economies that may exist in the HUGE US market for instance...
Its a vicious circle; UK prices high = people personally import from overseas = UK sells/imports less = UK prices stay high/get higher :(
An alternative is to get stuff made in the UK - but a lot of development, fabrication and manufacturing work is prohibitively expensive here these days - cause we dont make any thing any more!!!
Rant over :D
This is very interesting,
Valid point from both sides but i have to agree with Rich, I think we in the UK have to accept that getting specialist parts in a small specialist marketplace is always going to be expensive.
Vendors here should certainly not be asked to give this stuff away, and since starting up a business 2 years ago I know that a markup, no matter how big, doesn\'t go very far!
In my line of work, a sheet of sticky vinyl costs £2-5 per metre, and yet we will sell it at £50 per metre, thats technically a return of 1000-2500%.
Why am I not living in the bahamas, or why have I not been drummed out of business by other companies undercutting me? because that is the price everyone has to sell it at. For us, from this \'profit\' you have to take rent of premises, gas, electric, council tax, wages, consumables, maintenance, vehicle payments, the list seriously is never ending.
We have been working our arses off for 2 years now and i might get paid for the first time this month!
Looking at trade prices and retail prices almost always makes you think someone is getting ripped off, which is why we dont say \'here is your product, that\'ll be £500 please, mind you it only cost us £35" (a bit extreme maybe)
The point is there really is no reliable, (legal) way to get cheap, genuine parts like those from FEED etc, and the companies that sell them over here are your best bet \'cos you can buy with confidence.
That\'s my 2p worth, but in order to make a profit, it\'s gonna be my £1.37 worth now.
:):):):):)
Quote from: dandanThat\'s my 2p worth, but in order to make a profit, it\'s gonna be my £1.37 worth now.
ROFLMAO - Dan u r a scholar sir!
Good points Rich, so many small costs are overlooked.
Quote from: dandanVendors here should certainly not be asked to give this stuff away,
i\'m not having a dig at the vendors i\'m simpley asking why PARTS are so expensive in the uk COMPARED TO JAPAN......
I was asking because i don\'t really know!!!!
the main problem is the market in the us is so much bigger and as such discounts are higher and tax seems to be lower..this applies to all things a good car cover for rx7 in the states 100-120 pounds in uk around 300.00 thats because they can buy in bulk not one or two pcs
so basically due to import tax and vat we will always pay more unless a MAHOOSIVE order is put in?
Quote from: McCARTHYso basically due to import tax and vat we will always pay more unless a MAHOOSIVE order is put in?
thats the nail hit on the head I reckon.
Just imagine filling a container with tuning goodies from all the jap tuners though..... how fun would that be to unpack!
Quote from: McCARTHYi\'m not having a dig at the vendors i\'m simpley asking why PARTS are so expensive in the uk COMPARED TO JAPAN......
I was asking because i don\'t really know!!!!
McCarthy, you are forgetting one major problem, you live in rip-off Briton. this is not down to the suppliers, more the government putting duties and taxes on fecking everything we buy/import!
If you wish for cheaper prices, import stuff, the copy the life out of it and sell them. Oh but then you will get the likes of Feed/RE A/ etc. etc. taking you to court, like they have in the US.
Fish
Quote from: FishOh but then you will get the likes of Feed/RE A/ etc. etc. taking you to court, like they have in the US.
Fish
I was unaware that anyone had copied the Amamiya stuff in the states? that was a little silly of them!
Quote from: 20B_boya) we get about 2p off japanese list
b) if airfreight is \'not that expensive\' then we use the wrong aeroplanes - it costs a fortune for some thing like a nose or set of side skirts individually
c) we pay 30% on entry + admin, deferment facility and delivery charges
d) in the mean time we are paying a bank overdraft for 3-4 wks while its made and shipped - and fx transactions arent free either
dont forget
e) If there isnt a decent markup it isnt worth doing.
Business is about making money, we are not charities here to help car enthusiasts, although that is what many seem to believe. If you are an enthusiast that is certainly a bonus. There is an awful lot of hassle in importing parts, and if you get every sod buying it on Ebay or the latest mail order from Japan company then the tuners that put the real work in loose out, remember that.
I\'ve bought s/h zerosports parts from japan in the past but once they got here with shipping & charges I could of bought the same part new in the UK for £50 more. You wont always get cheaper in japan.
You have to remember these people are doing this for a living, without these companys there wouldnt be parts like this in the UK & if there was you can bet they would be a lot dearer.
Your paying for the name & quality more than anything else you know buying genuine parts be they £50 or £100 etc they will fit. I dont want to spend days cutting, filling smoothing a copied part to make it fit. Sure I might of saved money buying a copied one but it\'ll probably cost me more in time & money to make it fit.
Its all about supply & demand if company knew they could sell 100 feed, re-a, etc bodykits everyday of the week they would be cheaper but as has been said its rip off britian we get stung for everything. Even buying from the US isnt always as cheap.
Companys have overheads, most companys wont make money for the first few years. I\'ve been there buying £10k worth of stock & not seeing any proper return until 2 years later. Theres no point in having dead money lying on the shelf. Which is why most company will wait until they have sufficent orders before ordering that & its cheaper to ship in bulk.
Quote from: A7NTYBusiness is about making money, we are not charities here to help car enthusiasts, although that is what many seem to believe. If you are an enthusiast that is certainly a bonus. There is an awful lot of hassle in importing parts, and if you get every sod buying it on Ebay or the latest mail order from Japan company then the tuners that put the real work in loose out, remember that.
Not just in the auto business - same in software. Having to justify to a potential client why the 15 week development of a piece of software is going to cost them ~50k plus licencing and hardware is always ammusing. I have, in the past, suggested they write it themselves, which they did. They then got it done properly for the cost of the original quote. Should\'ve charged them double for being stuipd.
It\'s very difficult to make good money these days! Must be even tougher in a small market like the world of rotary cars...
As an aside. Recently went to Florida and bought a pair of Levi 501s, paid on debit card. Price in the UK, £45. Cost to me? £13. Definately rip-off britain. The US benefits from huge economies of scale and, for the manufacturers and retailers over there, greater competition.
From when i\'ve brought stuff in for myself and a couple of mates airfreight is a major expense, all the stuff i\'ve had (not for the RX) has come from the US. Recently we brought 3 Mendeola Drag Tramissions in to the UK in big steel frames & they weigh in at a fair bit. One came UPS AIR and I think the total bill was near £1000 for a 4 day shipping. The other two came by the slow boat and came to about £300 ish.
I think the vendors do a sterling job communicating with the suppliers, arranging shipping, answering questions, etc. I know the prices are expensive when compared to Japan but there are so many additions when bringing stuff in esp. the duty charges. And lets face you don\'t go to work for free so why should they loose out on parts, you pay their profit margin because they deal with the hassle of ording and shipping.
All I could say to vendors is perhaps you should look at organising a shared container between you i\'m sure you could make an order for enough stuff to justifiy the cost of a container (i know from the US it\'s around £1200). You don\'t have to be 100% honest on the customs declaration and you could make a nice saving to pass on to the guys here. I know there\'s at least 2 performance VW shops doing this with their US Shipments... ahem*