Price Increases @ George Whites!

Have just come back, went down to have a look around ahead of tonight, and to book a test ride on the new CBR600rr.

They have increased the sell prices on some of their stuff by more than £100!!!!!

Example 1 - wolf retro 1 piece leathers. I tried these on last week. Tag price £149.99. Todays price £249.99.

Example 2 - the jacket that my other half bought last week (at the same time!) cost her £49.99. Today it's up at £79.99.

XTi Leathers - were £129.99, now also at £249.99.

The guy there tried to convince me it was because they were selling them at a 40% loss. No business survives long selling stuff at that kind of loss for 3 months (which is how long it's been since I first spotted the leathers). He may be right, I could be wrong - but of you're considering going to the big open evening tonight to buy anything, I would wait until another day to see if it goes back down.

If I knew I had 400 plus people all coming to my open night, I'd probably put the prices up on stuff too!

sounds fishy to me. what u say makes perfect business sense day light robbery anyone???

The dirty dirty .....bas^%$s >:(

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Originally Posted by Squashed_Fly

If I knew I had 400 plus people all coming to my open night, I'd probably put the prices up on stuff too!

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Exactly....just good business sense really.

Bit like holiday prices at half term, not really a scam, supply and demand innit!

Suppose it depends on your point of view. I consider selling something for £100 more than it's worth to unsuspecting people who don't know any better a bit of a scam. It's not like they are in short supply and the demand is high.

perhaps scam is the wrong word, but it's a tad ****ty. I think the same about holiday providers. Cashing in on the fact that teachers and kids (and poor people like me who are married to teachers) can only go at certain times seems very wrong. How can the same holiday be worth double 1 week what it was the week before? You're not getting double the time, service anything else...

I heard somewhere that with most items you can sell them at 50% rrp and still make a profit

Depends Rob. Own brand stuff then yes, but not the case always with branded goods. Plus it depends on who is selling them. A small independant retailer may be able to offer more discount as his overheads and distribution costs aren't as high. It's quite often the 'cost to serve' that dictates how much discount can be given.

The other thing, is that people think because we're in a recession, they can haggle more. Actually, (depending on what you want) lots of sellers have already reduced their prices because of the recession, so there isn't always as myuch to play with as people assume. That said, in this case GW's were selling, and they increased the price so it's completely opposite!

Good business sense or greedy exploiting profiteers?

You may be right to point out the uncanny coincidence in timing, but to be fair to them, they did claim last October when they launched their "Explosive Sale" that it would only run until the new year, so maybe these price hikes just confirm that they had genuinely good reductions through the winter... and you did get one item at the bargain price!

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Originally Posted by ro

You may be right to point out the uncanny coincidence in timing, but to be fair to them, they did claim last October when they launched their "Explosive Sale" that it would only run until the new year, so maybe these price hikes just confirm that they had genuinely good reductions through the winter... and you did get one item at the bargain price!

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I'd agree with that from what I'd seen and heard!

Welcome to the United Kingdom, the home of capitalism. ;) Same reason heating oil went from 45p litre to 90p litre over 3 weeks last December, and why I bought some gas heaters and sweaters for the kids. ;D You can only beat them at that game if you don't cave in and buy the stuff. :)

Squashed Fly you are wrong! The Explosive sale that had over run by a couple of months to get people the deals has finally ended and the leathers that you have listed have gone back to the normal discounted price (you could always check the MRRP and the price they are at now!) and the guys weren't lying either they do sell the kit at a loss and yes it can be upto 40% - when I worked there I was shocked by how much on some kit. Yes they make profit on other stuff as expected its a business. Yes they will probably get volume bonuses at the end if they sell enough and probably how they do it - I don't know for sure as that was left to the management to deal with all I know is what I saw. So placing this as a scam isn't really the case and might suggest the title be changed! Other wise Debenhams is a scam I went in on Saturday and had 40% off but not today and to top it all they removed all the blue cross sale tags too ::)

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Originally Posted by BMWGraeme

Welcome to the United Kingdom, the home of capitalism. ;) Same reason heating oil went from 45p litre to 90p litre over 3 weeks last December, and why I bought some gas heaters and sweaters for the kids. ;D You can only beat them at that game if you don't cave in and buy the stuff. :)

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I'm not the only one disgusted over the price of heating oil.....I bought 500ltrs in october..for £250... 7 weeks later it was £316 . bloody rip off...grrrrrr

Seems a bit of a coincidence if you ask me. These products weren't part of the 'explosive sale' deals. These were at those prices before the sale. If I'm wrong then fair enough, but you can at least appreciate how it looks... Anyway, to avoid any 'issues', I have changed the title...

Either way, I wish I'd bought my stuff last week now!

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Originally Posted by python

[quote author=BMWGraeme link=1296136754/12#12 date=1296159772]Welcome to the United Kingdom, the home of capitalism. ;) Same reason heating oil went from 45p litre to 90p litre over 3 weeks last December, and why I bought some gas heaters and sweaters for the kids. ;D You can only beat them at that game if you don't cave in and buy the stuff. :)

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I'm not the only one disgusted over the price of heating oil.....I bought 500ltrs in october..for £250... 7 weeks later it was £316 . bloody rip off...grrrrrr[/quote]

Agreed, it was going to cost me over a grand so I spent £200 on gas heaters and cylinders. I have eeked it out as much as possible and still have about 100 litres in the tank. The price is finally coming down so I will have to get a refill soon but no way was I paying that much! I also now have easy heat in the garage when I'm working on the bikes :)

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Originally Posted by python

[quote author=BMWGraeme link=1296136754/12#12 date=1296159772]Welcome to the United Kingdom, the home of capitalism. ;) Same reason heating oil went from 45p litre to 90p litre over 3 weeks last December, and why I bought some gas heaters and sweaters for the kids. ;D You can only beat them at that game if you don't cave in and buy the stuff. :)

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I'm not the only one disgusted over the price of heating oil.....I bought 500ltrs in october..for £250... 7 weeks later it was £316 . bloody rip off...grrrrrr[/quote]

The real economic rulers of the world today won't be found in Westminster or the whitehouse. It's in the boardrooms of the big corporations and on the floors of the world's stock exchanges that most of the key decisions are taken that affect the lives of ordinary people. >:(

There is hope though - the chances are that if you keep buying a lottery ticket every Wednesday & Saturday you will eventually win the jackpot. On one condition - you live for about 20,000 years.
;D

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Originally Posted by Squashed_Fly

Seems a bit of a coincidence if you ask me. These products weren't part of the 'explosive sale' deals. These were at those prices before the sale. If I'm wrong then fair enough, but you can at least appreciate how it looks... Anyway, to avoid any 'issues', I have changed the title...

Either way, I wish I'd bought my stuff last week now!

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I can appreciate where you are coming from - the Wolf leathers I know were £249 before the sale as I bought a pair. Yeah I do kinda feel sorry for you for missing the deal but as we say 'you snooze you lose!' Even staff don't know when a deal will be ended they're just told on the day.

Plus I don't blame them for ending it ready for a launch night, 1st payday after Xmas and spring just around the corner! Plus people had from Nov to get the deals (actually that was last time I rode my bike! Which I might be selling if anyone wants a cheap CBR600 that needs some TLC)

But the sale is STILL on! lol they have some cheap helmets and paddock stands. Seems to be a bit like that shop called The Works.

They have been having a closing down, 70% off sale for about 15 years!!!! Always makes me laugh when I see the signs for it.

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Originally Posted by Squashed_Fly

But the sale is STILL on! lol they have some cheap helmets and paddock stands. Seems to be a bit like that shop called The Works.

They have been having a closing down, 70% off sale for about 15 years!!!! Always makes me laugh when I see the signs for it.

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The name George Whites Outlet store kinda gives it away that there are discounts all year around as its an outlet store - just sometimes better discounts than other times. These prices can also be decided by the suppliers as they have a big say in it - didn't think the big Frank Thomas banner is just there for decoration did you :D

But anyway what do I care I don't work in the business any more - infact I now have nothing to do with transport at all as walked out of the insurance job as it was rubbish and bored me ;D Plus I have my kit so don't really need to worry about deals I missed lol