The trading world has gone nuts - !

[FrankCrank]

Brooks, a great British company not helping the British, who would have thought that, plenty more of that to come.

Maybe not as British as you'd think, being owned by the Italian Selle company

 

[mustang1]

I always thought the official website of any boutique brand was higher than at a dealer.

 

[screenman]

Maybe not as British as you'd think, being owned by the Italian Selle company

It was a tongue in cheek post, I should have posted a smiley.

 

[rogerzilla]

Maybe so, but clearly they are getting them from Brooks for a lot less than 95 if they can sell them for 70. And if Brooks is fighting with the smaller LBS, then the problem sounds like it rests with Brooks. They control their products. If they want to keep their prices the same everywhere, then they need to build that into their sales contracts with every seller. When I went looking for a Specialized Phenom Expert saddle, every single retailer that I checked, whether online or retail, were pricing it at the same amount.

That's retail price maintenance and is illegal but it happens, so there must be loopholes or weak enforcement. Brompton have always been notorious for striking off suppliers that sell their bikes at a discount. There's even a bit on it in the Henshaw book, which is very much a fanboy's account.

 

[Grant Fondo]

Believe me, I am no fan of tax swindling Jeff Bezoz, but one area where Amazon shines a light on over-pricing elsewhere is electrical accessories leads, plugs, usb sticks etc. Currys and all the big mobile phone shops take the p*ss, often 3 or 4 times the price for identical kit.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Plenty of people won't give their money to Amazon of course on principle, even if they have to pay a bit more

I wish more people would consider this....

 

[fossyant]

Your saddle might be coming direct from Brooks anyway or even another bike retailer. If it's direct from Amazon stocks, they obviously have a big batch from Brooks.

Amazon has been consistently cheaper for 'computer parts' recently, even from big UK suppliers. I'll also echo the fact that there is loads of cheap 'tat' out there as well.

I'm un-decided about some new bar grips for my MTB - there are a few I want, but are in short supply - the two SRAM models I want aren't available anywhere.

 

[BalkanExpress]

Amazon make much of their money out of Amazon Web Services who do ,that cloud stuff. Even if you do not buy from Amazon the retailer you are almost certainly using AWS or interacting with a company that does.

 

[simongt]

Brooks, a great British company not helping the British, who would have thought that, plenty more of that to come.

Don't get me started on that one - !

 

[Vantage]

It's not just Brooks though. I bought my Carradice Pendle via amazon. Granted that was in 2015 but it was £55. At the Carradice site now its going for £80.

 

[vickster]

It's not just Brooks though. I bought my Carradice Pendle via amazon. Granted that was in 2015 but it was £55. At the Carradice site now its going for £80.

No need to get from Amazon, support the lovely Spacycles at £62
https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m5b5s73p1909/CARRADICE-Pendle

 

[rogerzilla]

A Barley is about £80 these days. I paid under £30 in about 2009. RPI over that period is about 35%, not 166%!

 

[Notafettler]

Needed a new saddle for my audax bike, decided on the C.17. Checked the Brooks website; £95. Went to my trusty LBS, but they are having a fight with Brooks over the supply system and can't guarantee when / if they can get one in for me. So looked on Amazon; £70. Yup, a £25 difference between them and the 'mighty' Brooks own website. Amazon must be doing one heck of a discount deal with Brooks if they can beat them by £25.
Something ain't right in the trading world.

Manufacturers are not supposed to undercut there main customers shops etc.

 

[Notafettler]

I stand to be corrected on this, but I don't think Amazon has ever made a dollar in profit, nor paid a cent in dividend.
Their business model seems to be based on squeezing all the small players out and eventually becoming the go-to supplier for anything and everything. In the short term, they don't seem concerned about actually making a profit, so long as they can grab market share from someone else.

I will correct you then. Amazon makes profits which they constantly reinvest in there business and buying other businesses (mainly with shares) A fairly recent purchase was an internet grocery firm. One day they will reach the point where they struggle to keep increasing there profits at 30% a year (albeit profit margins are low) that's when they will probably start paying dividends. Until then the reinvestment of profits is the best option. So says jeff.

 

[Notafettler]

If they've never made a profit, how is Jeff Bezos worth $160bn ??
There must be something left after they've paid all their bills for that to be the case

No you are wrong or least your views on jeff Bezos worth. There are plenty of companies who have never made a profit but are worth a fortune. They are called growth companies. There worth is based on future expectations of a profit. Uber came to the market with a one billion dollar loss. And have never made profit. 2020 is the year they expect to make a profit.
Until recently Ocado has been either loss making or pathetically low profit (relative to its stock market value).
Recently it doubled in price based on orders (yet to be fulfilled) for its technology.