Dear Machinery Manufacturers/Sellers

On 11/26/2019 2:19 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:> Don't send me spam that says, "Click Here for Price List On Our Special > Program," and then say "Oh, no! We are liars. We just want your info > so a sales person can harass you and try to hard sell you. There is no > price list at this link." >

FYI: For everybody else, I am always looking and comparing features/spec/price. If a company is ashamed of their price then its to high anyway. The machines I have been looking at range from $30K to $90K, and to be honest don't actually meet what I am looking for. Hence the comment about building as an option. I could buy something close from China, but I have had to do a lot of work on every Chinese machine I have bought.

Its a mistake not to include prices in machine tool ads. Research showed decades ago that including the price, even if it is high, increases ad response by a substantial amount.

I probably wrote close to 100 ads for machine tools. After I learned of the research, I always included the price, and pushed my clients hard to do so.

I get real annoyed at the "sign in for your price" or the ever popular "for the best price add it to your cart" crap. Some of the auto parts places have "See the dealer for your price" on the tool catalogs but at least the ones I deal with will also toss a price sheet in there.

Some manufacturers have dealer agreements or they won't let you sell their parts. Part of the dealer agreement is they are prohibited from advertising the parts below a certain price. There are several work arounds, and some manufacturers will cancel your agreement even if you use those. One store I used to buy fishing rods from would see me select a particular brand of fishing rod, and one of the department managers would meet me at the cash register with a store gift certificate. I paid full price, but used a gift certificate for part of it. Even if the manufacturer audited their records (which often the dealer agreement allows them to do) all sales of their products would be shown at full price.

Its usually not the reseller's fault they have to jump through those hoops. Its usually the manufacturer. Sure they can sell at any price they like, but the manufacturer can refuse to sell to them and they will.