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Path: utzoo!utgpu!utcsri!sask!alberta!ncc!lyndon
From: lyndon@ncc.UUCP
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: prices in Canada
Message-ID: <1483@ncc.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 8-Jul-87 15:00:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: ncc.1483
Posted: Wed Jul  8 15:00:00 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 12-Jul-87 01:04:04 EDT
References: <133@bby-bc.UUCP> <828@looking.UUCP> <137@bby-bc.UUCP> <832@looking.UUCP>
Distribution: can
Organization: Nexus Computing Corp.,  Edmonton, AB
Lines: 59
Summary: There's more to a sale than the sale

In article <832@looking.UUCP>, brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) writes:
> In article <137@bby-bc.UUCP> john@bby-bc.UUCP writes:
> > [Laserjet could be imported for] $2600. Now
> >what is a fair increase to make a profit? Say 40%?  This would mean a profit
> >of $1040 on a $2600 item, not bad.  So the retail price would be $3640.  So
> >why am I quoted a price of $4700 as the Canadian list?
> 
> So if any Joe Schnutz can get a LaserJet for $2600 by importing and HP
> dealers sell them for $4700, why are HP dealers making any sales?  Could
> they be offering their customers something worth the difference?  Are
> the customers stupid?  Or is there a barrier put there by a government
> that mandates border hassles and useless duplication of distribution
> channels, support facilities and warranty handling?


Generally speaking, your direct costs of importing an
item from the US is lower than buying the same item from
a Canadian dealer.

Depending on your particular situation, this may be the way to
go.

But what happens when you buy something from the US
at a $200 saving, to have it break a month later.
Odds are the warranty work will have to be done in the
US. Shipping something like a laser printer, plus doing
the associated paper work, etc., will eat up that $200
saving quite quickly.

OR, you could have it fixed in Canada by someone who will
charge you $160/hr + parts to do the job.

OR, you could spend the extra $200 and sleep nights knowing
that your business isn't going to shut down along with your
dead printer.

There is a HELL of a lot more to selling computer hardware
than taking someones money and giving them a box of equipment
in return. We routinely run up ~1K/month in phone calls just on
support for our customers. Obviously I'm not paying for this
out of my pocket. And anyone who wants to stay seriously
competitive in this industry is flying to the US at *least*
twice/year to attend product seminars and trade shows.
And *then* there are the internals and troubleshooting courses
put on by our supplier that I feel I must attend if I'm going
to give the customer the support he deserves - those suckers
run at about $3K (US) each, plus 5 nights of hotel bills, meals,
plane tickets, etc. There is no damn way I can do this for US
list price + exchange.

The bottom line is: you gets whatcha pays for!

If you don't need a product with backing from the vendor,
buy mail order and save some bucks. If you DO need that
support, be prepared to pay for it.

Lyndon Nerenberg
Nexus Computing Corporation
(YES I speak on behalf of this company!)