It's always been my position that distributors should not sell directly to consumers at the same prices that they expect their retail customers (hobby shops) to sell them for. Tower's existence alone makes it very difficult for local shops to stay in business because they have to buy their stock from distributors like Great Planes, Horizon, HRP and others. When GP then gives online customers a large discount or coupons that bring the price down to mere dollars above dealer cost, there is no way for them to compete.
I understand that not everybody has a local shop, but there are many online retailers that order their inventory either direct from the manufacturers or through these same distributors (places like A-Main, Stormer, etc). It's just always irked me that GP and Horizon sabotage their own commercial accounts (hobby shops) to sell direct to customer as well.
they probably look at it as we sell more in a day online then that said shop does in a year so they are not worried about the said shop becuase there 2-3 models a month is not paying the bills on their end when they make hundreds or thousands of models weekly.
these type shops do not sell enough and bring them a large enough order at once that is worthy of any price break when they are doing better on their own online with or without them and not giving any breaks.
my hobby shop was alway's $50-100 more then anywhere else on most models.
why would I pay that when I can get them online direct for less no gas or time driving around in hopes they even have it type thing?
it is the manufacture's fault they dont give these rip off's a break to take even more from people based on their poor over pricing sale records?
not all shops are that way just 9 out of 10 anymore but most them places get greedy and with the net it just turns around to bite them becuase that is the first thing they do when they leave is go home check online and wow a hundred less to my door tax free.
G I wll never go back to that store so there is one customer down.
20 more in the neighborhood catch on word gets out and next thing you know their gouging buissness is in shambles and now selling less and less and going more and more in debt so they raise the price even more to cover there own personal bills to run their shop pay employee's etc.
they dont order very much becuase they dont get any sales so why would the manufacture reward them and take a loss on there end when they can just sell 20X+ that amount daily and take no loss on there end to do these local yo yo's a favor?
like I said dont get my wrong not all are bad but i never been to a shop that had the best price's around and beating anything online hands down. I have seen many many things way over priced and not even close time after time though without a doubt.
I have sold new model's for less then tower myself so there not to blame either that shops just need to buy more for the break and sell more at a lower price so their locals come back over and over again.
Maybe then the supplier they get them from would help on price but I dont see them taking a loss on there end to help someone that barely sell's anything becuase of thier price's and crappy sale records due to charging more when they should have bought more to make thier money that way instead off their customers that are not going to return.
here is another reason why
http://www.ebay.com/sch/horizonhobby/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
21K+ items already listed described priced in stock and ready to sell to your door.
check out what the local shop has on the wall......
really is it is the net in general that put a stop of the lcoal shops they are in stock cheaper and will come to your door.
you dont have to drive around hitting up 2-3 shops wasting time and gas that cost more then the part your after only to find it is out of stock cost more then online and has to be ordered wich takes longer then getting it delivered off the net etc.
with mame and home console's why go to the arcade and the same reson they are all going out like a plague.
better things for less in stock and ready to ship to your door.
why spend 52 cents on stamp for a single message and wait 5 day's for it to maybe show when you can make a list of 300 people and have it to all in less then 2 seconds?
another reason the P.O. system is crashing due to the net.
remeber all the nick nack shops growing up that you never see anymore? same thing there all online now becuase there is no building payment liability insurance property tax sales tax, parking lot upkeep payroll etc. that is why they need to gouge becuase they have extra bills the online sellers do not and another reason why they all can sell less then the local hobby is they have no bills to pay every month tax free.
it has nothing to do with the manufacture's it is just the time of life we live in with the net.
another reason ebay is now adding in state tax becuase it was rent free tax free and you can afford to sell for less then the guy that has the heating bill phone bill property tax etc.
same with the arcade's not only are them alot more expensive then what you can download for a buck they still have all them expensive machine's to pay on and maintain and their real kicker is checking out one of them place's electric bill.
it is pretty much impossible to run a arcade now and I am actually suprised there is any local hobby shops even left.
closest to me is about two hours away and I am not going to spend $20 in gas 2 hours of driving only to find out they are out of stock or the part I need cost $6 there but I just spent all the time and money when I could have got it offline tax free shipped to my door for $4 bucks etc.
if they closed shop and ran online without all them extra expense then they may be able to compete with the rest that already beat them to the punch.
back in the day when we had no choice or knowlege of rc's other then the magazine's and local shops and by their pricing and suggestions is how that used to work but now we can see for outsevle's and make our own decision's with options of where to go and buy from where before you had no option no choice and no clue what things go for really unless we were shown or told in person.
but yeah with the net all local hobby shops are a dying breed just like the arcade's anymore.
even if midway namco etc gave the arcade owner a grand off on each machine in the long run it dont change a thing becuase if the gamers are using other means at home for the same thign for less and no longer coming in to play then it did not matter how cheap you bought the machines for from the manfacture..
