Scubapro online sales

[Hoosier]

I think it is SP's last ditch fight. SP knows how market is going and where it goes in the future. But, there is the network that SP has created so that SP is just waiting for the time that network dealers give up old way of business by themselves or meet the new trends, for example every network LDS don't have their own websites yet and huge retailers like Scubatoys are out of network more and more etc...... Otherwise, there will be huge inertia from the current network participants to change the way of business from ScubaPro. The "Free Part" Promotion is a kind of tool to secure US market by threatening customers. However, they know that it won't work as the market grows.

That is, it is just matter of time...

Just my 2 psi...

[DA Aquamaster]

It looks like they are NOT an authorized dealer anymore.. Their shop name isn't on SP dealer list anymore.... So, go figure....

Hmmm....maybe we just need to ask Larry. Could be he is no longer an SP dealer and is liquidating remaining SP stock.

So many of us are totally wired with the internet and yet whole scads of people don't know how to turn on a computer and how many of us can actually write any code.

"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology." - Carl Sagan

The "Free Part" Promotion is a kind of tool to secure US market by threatening customers. However, they know that it won't work as the market grows.

Scubapro has had the free parts thing since long before there was an internet and for at least the last 20 years that I have been diivng and buying SP regs. It's a good thing for all involved, and I don't see the point in using it to take pot shots at them.

SP is also one of only 2 or 3 companies that actually support their regulators for decades - including over 90% of their long since discontinued models. Personally, I'd hate to lose that or lose the wide spread local dealer network they have established just to save a few bucks on the occasional internet purchase. Supporting your local dive shop with an extra $100 or so per regulator is well worth the money in the long run, if you plan to stay in this sport.

George Bernard Shaw stated "Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve." and I'd assert that a free market economy is the same way. So be very careful what you wish for as you just may get it.

[awap]

Interesting. They are also showing some Atomic and Oceanic regs online. Maybe Scubatoys has gotten big enough to challenge the communistic restrictions.

Go for it, Larry.

[awap]

SP is also one of only 2 or 3 companies that actually support their regulators for decades - including over 90% of their long since discontinued models. Personally, I'd hate to lose that or lose the wide spread local dealer network they have established just to save a few bucks on the occasional internet purchase. Supporting your local dive shop with an extra $100 or so per regulator is well worth the money in the long run, if you plan to stay in this sport.

I fully agree. But if the economics of it really make it well worth it, why talk about it as "supporting" your LDS rather than just make the case for total ownership costs? I believe the quality of LDS customer and technical service would improve if the restrictions on competition were relaxed. I'm somewhat surprised that you are allowed to accept mail-order tech service work.

[under3483]

There is no "clik to buy" for Atomic products on the Scuba Toys site and Oceanic gear has been on Authorized Dealer's sites for years. None of this is new.

What's is new, is ScubaToys selling Scubapro online.

So Larry, what's up? Are you the new online bad boy? Or have you lost your ScubaPro Dealership? I guess if you lost your dealership then this gear is without Scubapro's warranty?

Interesting. They are also showing some Atomic and Oceanic regs online. Maybe Scubatoys has gotten big enough to challenge the communistic restrictions.

[USIA]

I have to say, I was pretty surprised when I read this thread. I noticed they are selling on LeisurePro also. Scubapro was always out front in saying that they didn't support online sales. USIA followed their lead in this respect. I'm dissapointed to see this from Scubapro, but I understand where they are coming from. We have had to relax our policies in regards to online sales also. I think it is sad in regards to a lot of LDS', but I think it shows that more LDS' are going to have to adapt.

[ZzzKing]

Interesting. They are also showing some Atomic and Oceanic regs online. Maybe Scubatoys has gotten big enough to challenge the communistic restrictions.

Go for it, Larry.

Best of all, he's got an Atomic B2 listed for $0!!! Larry, send me a dozen. Oh, what the heck, I'll drive out to see you first thing tomorrow morning!

[DA Aquamaster]

I believe the quality of LDS customer and technical service would improve if the restrictions on competition were relaxed. I'm somewhat surprised that you are allowed to accept mail-order tech service work.

Most of the mail in service work is pretty hard to critisize though when it's a rural location with 300-500 miles between dive shops.

The small amount of Scubaboard generated service work (a few per year) always worries me though because it happens for one or more of the following reasons:

1. There is no dealer for that brand near where they live
2. They have gotten poor service from their LDS
3. Their LDS charges outrageous amounts for an annual service
4. Their LDS discourages annual services on older regulators in order to sell them a new reg,
5. Their LDS refuses to service a reg they bought used or off e-bay,
6. Or their LDS does not know how to do a decent job servicing and adjusting specialized designs like the a D300, D350 or D400.

Customers have to be pretty highly motivated by poor customer service locally to send a reg away for service as they end up spending about $30.00 total to ship them back and forth.

To refuse to do mail service after they present a good reason why they want to send the reg elsewhere would be poor customer service on my part. But none the less, every time I get a request to do this, I worry that some disgruntled and angry shop owner who provides poor service is going to blame the LDS I work with for the lost business and complain to his/her sales rep rather than regard it as a customer service problem in his/her shop and address it appropriately.

Personally, I think dive equipment companies with pricing policies should allow dealers more lattitude in discounting below the MSRP, especially on their higher end regulators where the margin is usually already generous and where shops could still be profitable with a larger discount. Allowing dealers higher discounts would give them a more effective tool to compete with and combat on-line retailers.

I still highly doubt Scubapro is going to allow authorized on-line sales as doing so would do serious damage to their dealer network even if they made major changes to allow local dealers to engage in on-line, mail order and internet sales with much deeper discounts than are now allowed.

I think there is a greater chance that Larry is just in the process of ending a Scubapro dealership and is liquidating stock.

[USIA]

I think there is a greater chance that Larry is just in the process of ending a Scubapro dealership and is liquidating stock.

I noticed Leisure Pro is also selling ScubaPro on line.

[Wayward Son]

LP has done so for a long time. They are not an authorized dealer, though.