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Anyone after Thompson Stems and Posts ?

Mr WuMr Wu Posts: 1,238
edited June 2009 in MTB general
Merlins have them for £50 each.

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/mountain- ... 1-8mm.html

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/mountain- ... offer.html

Theyve also got 10% off camelbaks this weekend.
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  • NaveedNaveed Posts: 728
    Wu

    How come Merlin's prices are sooooo much cheaper than even the cheapest online retailers like CRC and Wiggle?

    Eg - I was out to buy some 2009 RockShox revelations, Stif had them for £450, CRC the same, got them from Merlin for £380.

    They say they buy in bulk but so do the other big retailers and online shops.

    Be great to find out why they're so cheap
  • rwalworthrwalworth Posts: 176
    They're simply making less money on each component. The cost price of a set of forks is much much less than what they recommended retail at, I have access to the trade sites cause of my work and the mark up the companies make on these bike products are unreal. For example the cost price is £260 for a set of fox float 32r's and the carriage is free from mojo and the rrp is £470, so obviously they are just making less money through each component and are working on the basis that they'll claw that money lost back through increased sales due to these prices.
  • NaveedNaveed Posts: 728
    :shock:

    Cheers for that insight into the mtb component market - nice work... makes me think about starting my own mtb supermarket - stack those hubs high and sell em cheap. :D
  • lordmerchantlordmerchant Posts: 378
    they got xt m770 chainsets going for 109.99 FILL YER BOOTS!
  • NaveedNaveed Posts: 728
    WHAT???????????????????????????????????

    I'm gonna buy em in bulk and open my own shop :lol:
  • Uncle PeterUncle Peter Posts: 324
    If I remember correctly you can only offer products at these reduced prices if you're not a registered dealer, to be a registered Fox dealer you have to agree to sell them at a certain price.

    I may be wrong on this but I know it happens with other products in other sports, I remember one dealer having his franchise taken off him because he was offering 10% off deals to US servicemen/women.
  • Andy BAndy B Posts: 8,115
    OEM parts usually, that is why they are so cheap
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  • NorthwindNorthwind Posts: 14,675
    Yeah, Merlin also produce and sell bikes so they're buying, say, a thousand toras to stick on all their malt 1s.
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  • supersonicsupersonic Posts: 82,708 Lives Here
    You still have a guarantee with OE stuff: what it means is that the shop cannot send it back to the supplier if it dies. Not really your problem, your contract is with the shop.
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  • The SpidermanThe Spiderman Posts: 5,625
    Uncle Peter wrote:
    If I remember correctly you can only offer products at these reduced prices if you're not a registered dealer, to be a registered Fox dealer you have to agree to sell them at a certain price.

    I may be wrong on this but I know it happens with other products in other sports, I remember one dealer having his franchise taken off him because he was offering 10% off deals to US servicemen/women.

    Could be construed as price fixing...............
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  • cat_with_no_tailcat_with_no_tail Posts: 12,981
    I love Merlin, buy loads of stuff off them. Merlin and Wooly Hat Shop. I cant understand why people would buy stuff from anywhere else to be honest.

    Like Northwind says, I think it helps that they (Merlin) are a bike builder, so they will buy 1,000 full XT groupsets, 2,000 SLX groupsets, 500 XTR groupsets 1000 xt hubs etc at a time and more than likely get a mahoosive discount from Shimano for it. They can then split these down (or not) and sell them on. Difference between them and some other places though, is that they choose to pass on these savings to their customers.
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  • Uncle PeterUncle Peter Posts: 324
    The Spiderman wrote:
    Uncle Peter wrote:
    If I remember correctly you can only offer products at these reduced prices if you're not a registered dealer, to be a registered Fox dealer you have to agree to sell them at a certain price.

    I may be wrong on this but I know it happens with other products in other sports, I remember one dealer having his franchise taken off him because he was offering 10% off deals to US servicemen/women.

    Could be construed as price fixing...............

    You're right, but manufacturers have a right to dictate what price their products are sold at throughout thier network of registered dealers? One way round it is to offer something extra with the product, I think it was Pedal On cycles who used to offer a free CK headset with all Fox forks.
  • bails87bails87 Posts: 12,998
    Uncle Peter wrote:
    The Spiderman wrote:
    Uncle Peter wrote:
    If I remember correctly you can only offer products at these reduced prices if you're not a registered dealer, to be a registered Fox dealer you have to agree to sell them at a certain price.

    I may be wrong on this but I know it happens with other products in other sports, I remember one dealer having his franchise taken off him because he was offering 10% off deals to US servicemen/women.

    Could be construed as price fixing...............

    You're right, but manufacturers have a right to dictate what price their products are sold at throughout thier network of registered dealers? One way round it is to offer something extra with the product, I think it was Pedal On cycles who used to offer a free CK headset with all Fox forks.

    I'm not sure that they do TBH. And if Fox sells forks to CRC or whoever for £250, then it doesn't matter to Fox if the retailer sells it on for £255 or £500, they only get £250 regardless of the price paid by the consumer. Setting a minimum price will only reduce sales, and lose Fox money by making other brands seem like better value....maybe they just want to keep the 'reassuringly expensive' reputation :roll:
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  • bomberesquebomberesque Posts: 1,701
    bails87 wrote:
    And if Fox sells forks to CRC or whoever for £250, then it doesn't matter to Fox if the retailer sells it on for £255 or £500, they only get £250 regardless of the price paid by the consumer. Setting a minimum price will only reduce sales, and lose Fox money by making other brands seem like better value....maybe they just want to keep the 'reassuringly expensive' reputation :roll:

    Not entirely. It is also intended to stop price warring putting pressure on them (in this case Fox) to drop their trade rates.

    And it's only price fixing in the EU / DTI's eyes if they own a substantial part of the market and so are abusing a monopoly position. In this case, teey are in healthy competition with RS/Marz/Manitu, although I'm not sure of the threshold of market share beyond which the EU/DTI wuold consider an effective monopoly to be at play. Now, if you cuold prove that RS and Fox collude to fix prices together and in effect abusing teh momopoly that the do actually share (I suppose that Fox and RS have 80% of teh market between them, at a rough guess), then you would have an altogether more interesting story.

    I like Merlin. I buy from them or CRC or Wiggle et al, depending on who has the component I want the cheapest at teh time I want it. On that note, will one of you IT wags please code an app which shows me prices on major online retailers for different biking kit, all the interweb shopping comparison sites are pants, I'm *sure* one of you can do betterer :)
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  • spongtasticspongtastic Posts: 2,651
    bum, I just bought an LX from CRC. But I did only pay £54.
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  • Uncle PeterUncle Peter Posts: 324
    bails87 wrote:
    Uncle Peter wrote:
    The Spiderman wrote:
    Uncle Peter wrote:
    If I remember correctly you can only offer products at these reduced prices if you're not a registered dealer, to be a registered Fox dealer you have to agree to sell them at a certain price.

    I may be wrong on this but I know it happens with other products in other sports, I remember one dealer having his franchise taken off him because he was offering 10% off deals to US servicemen/women.

    Could be construed as price fixing...............

    You're right, but manufacturers have a right to dictate what price their products are sold at throughout thier network of registered dealers? One way round it is to offer something extra with the product, I think it was Pedal On cycles who used to offer a free CK headset with all Fox forks.

    I'm not sure that they do TBH. And if Fox sells forks to CRC or whoever for £250, then it doesn't matter to Fox if the retailer sells it on for £255 or £500, they only get £250 regardless of the price paid by the consumer. Setting a minimum price will only reduce sales, and lose Fox money by making other brands seem like better value....maybe they just want to keep the 'reassuringly expensive' reputation :roll:

    Exactly, that's why where ever you look to buy a Rolex (Add premium brand here) they're always the same price.
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