Scuba Goop & Trident U Mark It Paint Gear Paint are same item

[ScubaSteve]

To be honest, this means little. The registrants of web sites are often not the owners.

In the eyes of the law, I believe they are. That is the title in essence so it does in fact show ownership of the domain name. That is my understanding anyways.

 

[SeaHound]

How does scuba.com know the OP doesn't work for a competitor and is simply trying to steal customers?

How do I know that you are not working secretly for scuba.com and trying to protect their reputation on this board while remaining undercover

 

[ScubaSteve]

How do I know that you are not working secretly for scuba.com and trying to protect their reputation on this board while remaining undercover

 

[Cave Diver]

---

---

A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Multiple threads merged

---

 

[ScubaSteve]

You are talking about a different 6-fold, if you meant price to costs ratio. But if you see a cigarette lighter in Walgreen for $1.00, in KMart for $1.00, and the same lighter from the same manufacturer for $6.00 in a gas station a mile away, this is a rip-off.

How do you know they are identical lighters? How do you know that there is not pigmented gold flakes molded into the plastic of the more expensive one? You cannot make the claim that you are, accusing Scuba.com of ripping anybody off until you know for fact that it is exactly the same thing AND have their cost structure in hand showing that they are paying for their many houses worldwide with that extra $5 and that they are not being overcharged themselves.

Bottom line is, the OP started making wild accusations which I do not necessarily disagree with, however presentation is everything. The way they went off ALL OVER this board, I can just imagine how nice and polite and constructive they were elsewhere.

 

[RonFrank]

IF Scuba.com was making the paint and selling it at $6, then maybe. But they buy from someone else who buys it from someone else, and all those people in the middle need to make a profit.

You have just described how our free market system works in the USA.

Heck, these days we sell scrap metal to China, they melt it down, and use it to make widgets, and then sell them back to us. Us being some large manufacture or wholesaler who then sells them to a distributor who then sells them to the retailer.

It is called capitalism. An informed consumer can make better decisions, but for an average Joe Diver who wants to mark his stuff, and has no idea of what may or may not work, paying $6 at a dive shop for a market that works better than most is not the end of the world.

Most scuba businesses don't have the volume of a Hobby Lobby, and their retail space costs are likely as much or more per SQ foot.

While I don't like overpaying at the LDS, I certainly have no issue with how they want to do business.

We all need to remember that the LDS is a valuable thing regardless of if we choose to pay their markups!

 

[merxlin]

On the contrary, in this case their high price could simply reflect their high manufacturing and operating costs. This is when outsourcing to China comes handy.

Double is not unusual, but 6-fold is so unusual that a special term is used for this: a rip-off.

You have missed the point- Scuba.com IS NOT buying from the manufacturer, or even from the retailer. See if this helps it make sense: Marketing.

Is a 2 or 3 time mark up out of line? Depends on which side of the counter you are on. But the idea that Scuba.com is marking it up 6 times is just wrong. You are confusing cost with value. The value is $1.19 - or what it the pre-relabeled product can be bought at retail for. I'd be willing to bet Scuba.com's cost (what they pay for it) is almost double that.

 

[tarponchik]

You have missed the point- Scuba.com IS NOT buying from the manufacturer, or even from the retailer. See if this helps it make sense: Marketing.

Is a 2 or 3 time mark up out of line? Depends on which side of the counter you are on. But the idea that Scuba.com is marking it up 6 times is just wrong. You are confusing cost with value. The value is $1.19 - or what it the pre-relabeled product can be bought at retail for. I'd be willing to bet Scuba.com's cost (what they pay for it) is almost double that.

I'm not confusing anything with nothing. The talk here is about the retail price of the same product in different shops, not about product costs and value. I did not check the basic fact of the original claim that the paint is the same, and so did not you. If the paint is the same then selling it for a 6-fold price is a rip-off, unless you are selling it on the Moon. If the paint is not the same, then maybe it is not a rip-off. So instead of trying to enlighten me in Accounting 101 you need to prove that it is not the same.

 

[merxlin]

I'm not confusing anything with nothing. The talk here is about the retail price of the same product in different shops, not about product costs and value. I did not check the basic fact of the original claim that the paint is the same, and so did not you. If the paint is the same then selling it for a 6-fold price is a rip-off, unless you are selling it on the Moon. If the paint is not the same, then maybe it is not a rip-off. So instead of trying to enlighten me in Accounting 101 you need to prove that it is not the same.

Its not accounting, it's marketing and economics. I'll make it simpler: Can you go to WalMarts suppliers and buy 1 of something for the same price WalMart buys it? Or even more simple: can you go to the same suppliers that sell gear to your LDS and buy direct for the same price as your LDS? Well, neither can Scuba.com for this product.

You are still confusing the value of the item with what the seller needs to charge in order to make a profit. Is $6 too much for you to spend for an item that sells elsewhere for $1.19? Yep, if you know where to get it for $1.19 or so. Is it wrong for this retailer to mark up THEIR COST and make a profit? No.

I sell a particular item that WalMart sells at $1.59 each all day long. I buy directly from the same factory, and spend over $1 million per year with them, yet I cannot buy this product for anywhere near that price. Why? I don't have the same volume purchasing power for this item.

Now, should the manufacturer decide they want to market their product for Scuba use, put a Scuba label on it, sell it to Scuba retailers like Scuba.com direct for the same price as the hobby stores, and then Scuba.com charged $6, I would be all over this too.

Just my $.02 (before mark up)

 

[ScubaSteve]

Just my $.02 (before mark up)