Thread: Festoo Prices

Mate, resale price maintenance is illegal in Australia. Any dealer who says Festools won't allow discounts is lying. They have no say, if they did the CAC would be on to them, just like the oil companies, and many others have found.

It is the inividual reseller who sets the final sale price.

You are entering a commercial transaction, as the customer, so you have the grunt. As I understand it, the tools you nominate will total a substantial whack. Dealers (I may be a little out here) get 20-30% on a sale, with high end stuff like Festools closer to 30%.

Say you spend $2K, he gets $666 (anyone see the inference) so he gives a 10% discount he still makes $466. (forgetting GST which may not be relevant)I'd go for a 15% off see what happens.

Keep saying to yourself, does he want to make $400 or zilch? He can replenish his inventory basically overnight. Say it to him. Don't be rude, but be firm and cop no bull$hit.

If you get some concrete crusty who thinks the world owes him a living, go somewhere else. Go interstate, make a few calls, syrf the Net. You're the customer with the $$. A Festool router is a Festool router whether it ships from Perth, Sydney or Gundagai

NEVER PAY RETAIL!

Can I take you shopping with me Bodgy?

I see a new future for Bodgy as a personal shopper

Thanks guys, I'm overwhelmed.

The way I see it is that I drag my boots into the office everyday, and do dozens of other unspeakable things to make, say, $xxx a month. If I work 300 hours a month and Little Johnnie steals 45% of what I make, then I'm left with $x an hour. If a product costs 20x then I've gotta kill myself for around 40 hours, after tax, to pay for it.

a. Do I want it that much?
b. If I get a 25% discount then I've got 10 hours extra to do what I like doing, ie buggering up a completely inoffensive bit of wood.
c. If I pay up RRP like a good little lamb, I really must like and respect the retailer enough to donate 10 hours of my precious time to him.

For me, this puts things in perspective and provides motivation to cut a deal.

I would like to add my two cents if I may. This goes for anything that you buy, from whitegoods to furniture (stuff we can't make that is), the more you buy from them in one go the greater your leverage is, but normally only if you are paying cash. Most retailers build into the price the cost of the financing for those 24 months interest free periods, what happens in reality is that they pay the interest for that period, so it is this amount that they should be willing to part with if they want the sale and it is for cash. I was able to save a fortune when I bought a new in bench oven, gas cooktop and fridge, I bought at the home show up here in QLD, I approached the guy told him what I wanted and the model numbers, also said I know what the normal retail is and that I have my checque book and am ready to make a deaL If they know you are serious and that you have done your homework you are more likely to get the best deal possible.

Cheers Guys
Shane

JUST posted in Festool Forum a reply,


I never pay the tag price, i try to bargin every where (even at Myers once but no luck Doh)

Stuff it. it only takes a few words to ask can you do a better price, people ask us all day at work and that money is coming out of my pocket so why not try,

It is illegal for pricing to be fixed at the retail level but many manufacturers put a lot of pressure on retailers to limit or eliminate discounting. If you want to keep selling their product you keep in line. Is it legal? How do you prove it?

In many ways you can see it from the suppliers perspective. We have generated a consumer society which now expects a discount every time. Two things happen.
1. Very large companies do this by pressuring their suppliers to accept returns (regardless of the legal obligation) and lower prices. This results in the supplier in turn either raising prices to their other retailers (usually a small business) or obtaining their supplies overseas at lower prices (though this may soon be stopped as new workplace regulations are being designed which will make us more competitive- with $1 per hour workers in Vietnam!).
2. If continually discounted a manufacturers product can become devalued in the marketplace and either force the manufacturer to produce a lesser product or remove the product from the marketplace.

Both points lead to an increase in pricing for the specialist market to the benefit of the generalist and the eventual diminishing of specialist retailers (have you ever been to a wood supply specialist one day, then found yoyrself buying timber from Bunnings the next? How would you compare the knowledge, expertise & service?).

This has become evident in a range of specialist markets throughout the western world. Just another point of contention regarding level playing fields and philosophical perspectives on a free-market economy.

PS: I use Festool tools, love them, paid full quid (except I recieved some additional bits for my other tools, sanding discs etc.).

Keep hunting for bargains but be carefull of demanding discounts. You know what they say about getting what you wish for!

A little different but I went into Clive Peters electrical ,I was shopping for a Canon 780 Multifunction Printer which retail at $599.00,I went straight in and made an offer of $500.00,he went away and when he came back he said yes,I nealy fell off the seat.

So there you go you can haggle with success.



Silky

All i know is the 1400 ebq router in Oz is $878.90 and in america its $395 the exchange rate being what it is at about 76 cents to the dollar. My primary school maths tells me that is about an extra $94.80 so thats $489.80 so thats $389.10 delivery fee to the land down under. Maybe where paying for the name or whats in the name FES STOOL something STINKS.

Rbro, have you looked at the current population here in Australia vs that in the US? Imagine being an importer here and saying "I know we'll only sell two hundred of these, but I'd like the same discounts as Gerry in the US, though of course he sells two thousand of 'em"!

I sell building goods, Caroma makes a great product, but most of the US and European manufacturers make as much in a month as Caroma makes in a year. How do they match cost-per-item?

I'm not saying don't look for a good buy, just be aware that we're not always being ripped off when a price is higher than we think it should be.

Did somebody say Stink?

My primary school education tells me there is a big difference between 20 million and 300 million but research shows me that festool seems to notice the market difference more than other tool brands and it is why i own a metabo and a bosch router. Besides aren t we 52nd state of america thats what johnny reckons anyway.

What Silkwood says is true, however delivered from a manufacture/retail perspective with the appropriate slant.

What I'm saying is from the punter's viewpoint - with the appropriate slant.

Does anyone actually think the manufacturer/retailer lays awake nights pondering the morality of the effect his prices may have on the punter? No, he considers his business and prospects.

Just as we, the consumers should consider our own interests. Despite Silkwood's eloquent defence of the supplier(s), from the punters perspective it's every man for himself. Go for the jugular! Ask for the discount, if it's no, then go somewhere else and try again. You won't win each skirmish, but you will win the war. Half a dozen calls, a few emails and $400 extra in your pocket. It ain't rocket science.

Regardless, the marketplace will sort it all out - eventually.

NEVER, EVER, PAY RETAIL!

I can tell you from two different direct personal experiences that there is unusual behavior with the pricing of Festool products.

When I bought two Festool products (CT33 Vac and T55 Saw) the retailer told me that Festool insisted on seeing the receipts and if the price was under the recommended retail their price next time they ordered would be increased by the discount amount. They were happy to discount on any other purchase to the point that they must have lost money on some accessories to maintain the receipt value of the Festool products while providing an appropriate overall discount for the total order.

I am not saying that Festool behaves in the manner the dealer described above and he could have been spinning a strange story to increase the sale price. I am just repeating what I was told by a store owner who was looking at losing almost $2000 worth of sales and would still not move a cent and who then desperately found a way to come to an agreement.

Another dealer in a different state told me that he could not discount Festool but he was prepared to discount any other product in the shop. He offered very good discounts on other quality imported tools but again would not budge a cent on Festool. He would not explain why he couldn't discount.

Again I do not have any evidence that the Festool company made or influenced the dealer to set his pricing policy. Perhaps it is just that all the dealers I have contacted are so confident in the product they feel no need to discount no matter how big the order.

I own five Festool products and recommend them highly and I am sure the company is reputable and law abiding, but I would like to know exactly what drives their retail price in stores.

If there is a Festool dealer reading this post who is prepared to discount. I have two more tools on my shopping list and I am prepared to buy tomorrow. Send me a pm.

Spbookie