Rip Off Britain ???

[Ken L]

The UK list price for a new Stradic 1000 is (I think) about 128 pounds.

About the best discout price I've seen for this reel in the UK was 70 quid - and that was the result of a clearout by Shimano.

 

The other week, I spoke to a very nice chinese guy in Singapore who offered me one for 37 quid.

 

Now I know that the UK has 17% VAT where Singapore has it at 5% but this sort of price diferential is bloody silly in a world with an open market.

 

Now, my initial conclusion was that UK tackle shops were ripping us off but there's always someone who's prepared to expose this sort of thing with a low overheads internet based operation, so I now think this is unlikely.

 

This leaves the question:

Are tackle firms ripping off UK customers in the same way as the car and record industries ?

 

I suspect that anyone who has been in a french tackle shop and compared the price of hooks, lures etc will come to the same conclusion that I have..

 

BTW. Sorry about the lack of pound signs, Thai keyboards just don't want to generate them.

[Newt]

In the US the prices are so exact with all the on-line shopping places I checked that it seems Shimano has a serious lock on how their gear is sold - if legit.

 

The 1000 front drag (ST-1000FG) we have available is $114.99 everywhere I looked. Not a penny more or less at 4 large on-line dealers. Close enough to the UK price to make it seem the UK price is reasonable considering VAT and all.

 

So in this case IMO - not a rip off. The UK tackle market does have some for sure but this does not seem like one.

 

BTW - if you hold down the ALT key and enter 0163 from the number pad, you will get a £ symbol. We don't have one on our kbd either.

[Zinky]

Change to Okuma

[Alan Roe]

I'll go with what Dragon bat has said! The Okuma reels that I have i.e. 2x CD 50 bait runners and an Epix ER30 are all superb they are well made and perform brilliantly excellnt kit at the right price. My old Shimano GT 6010 generates line twist like there is no tomorrow, not so the Okumas so I will be sticking with the new kid on the block!

[Ken L]

Interesting point Newt, but $115 works out at about £79 or 60% of the UK list price and you can hardly pt that down to a VAT differential - esp as most US states seem to levie and equivelent tax at about 5%.

 

For the record, I'll be relacing all of my aging tackle when I go back through Singapore (with prices like that and the Sustain reel comming in at £78 I'd be mad not to) and will end up spending a total of about £700.00 which would otherwise have been spent in UK tackle shops.

 

I agree about the apparent quality of the Okuma's, but I know that Shimano are reliable in the long term. Perhaps when the brand establishes itself with a track record for long term reliablity, they will force the likes of Shimano to revise their pricing policy.

 

BTW, keep an eye out for Tica tackle, their reels seem to be making abig impact on the Asian market and will no doubt appear in Europe soon.

[Zinky]

Alan just reviewed the Genic for ***** fantastic reel used in conjunction with my 15/17ft Carbonactive rod. Exceptional quality for the price. Okuma have the others on the back foot.

Can not be matched on price or quality??

Testing an Epix this weekend, 3 other models are in Ireland at the moment with a mate of mine who is Salmon fishing.

 

[ 30 April 2002, 12:40 PM: Message edited by: Dragonbat ]

[chesters1]

its the same with most things if silly people pay inflated prices for their stuff then the prices stay ,if everybody refuses to stump up the money the company rather than have a warehouse full of it will reduce the price to get rid of it .

on the point of importing the stuff from abroad dont you still have to pay our vat on it on entry??

[Newt]

chesters1 - you do have to pay the VAT and shipping and so on.

 

This is the reason I usually qualify a US mail-order price by saying you will pay around £1 for each $1 of price.

 

OTOH, if I order from the UK, the shop will subtract the VAT from the price I pay which helps out some.

[chesters1]

i suppose you could say the stuff was returning from being repaired (like those pathetic zippo`s ) maybe a loop hole??

[Peter Waller]

A friend, a fellow called Gerry Castles who posts on Fishing Magic, has bought Shimmano gear, on the Internet, from Japan at incredibly low prices, and with no problems whatsoever. As has been said, it is an open market. Personally I think some of the big boys have been ripping us off, big time. The trouble is that we have shown that we are prepared to pay. Lures, for example, are incredibly expensive compared with the US and parts of Europe. The trouble is that we equate quality with price, the marketing boys know that. Especially true for the 'tackle tart' trade.