DIYbanter - View Single Post - New TS Unifence or Biesmeyer? (yes another TS post)

wrote:

This is not to say that if you did go in with the printout from Amazon
and talked to the sales guy that he might get a little flexible. Just
don't expect him to come near splitting the difference.

I'd like to point out what happens when people do this in my friend's
extremely successful bicycle shop, especially after the shop spends a
ton of time explaining pros and cons of various products.

We politely decline to match the offer, and often will think twice about
spending much quality time with that customer in the future. We'll
help, but only if we've got nobody else to help. The only time we'll
typically touch a price is if you've taken very little of our time, know
exactly what you want (you did your own homework), and we don't expect
to provide any after-sale service.

For example, our bicycles include all kinds of after the sale, no extra
charge, service. This service is real, costs us money to provide, and
is built into the selling price. We do not refer to it as "free"
service, but "included" service. If we know that we will never see the
bike again, we'll possibly knock the service costs off of the selling
price. Then, we add a "no service included" note to the computerized
sale history record.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with seeking the lowest price, as long
as the fact that brick and mortar retail stores do not exist as
showrooms for cut rate web vendors is kept in mind. I can see the tool
dealers in the exact same spot as a typical bike shop. Specialty
retailing is specialty retailing, regardless of the product.

Barry