An example of "Marine Markup"

The well-established principle of "What the market will bear" applies to this item as well as to anything else we buy in our market economy.

If the market will bear £68.88, why should the seller take less?

And if it won't sell at £68.88, all he has to do is drop his price until it does.

Meanwhile, the canny ones shop around for the best deal.
 
Problem with such as Marine Market ... or 'Boaters World' is a better term ... many will just automatically go to marine based seller - not realising that most items they sell are available in other sellers such as Caravan and Camping shops .... online etc. via non marine outlets. Same item - different price.

But have a look at eBay ... I always set my searches there based on Lowest price + shipping ... why ? so often the 'Best Match' gives you a higher priced same item ... scroll down the pages and you see same item at insanely different prices ....
 
jamie N said:
I'm guessing that both do actually consider posting to us in the Highlands?
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The Ali Express one certainly does.

But believe it or not I did find one on ebay, from China that "does not post to the Highlands" How it can be more expensive to post from China to Inverness than from China to Carlisle beats me,
 
Stemar said:
Of course, the expensive one could be the same product, made in the same factory, and the difference is simply the sum of import duty and profit for the importer, wholesaler and retailer, all with added VAT...
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And support and warranty costs which are required in the UK.
 
ProDave said:
The Ali Express one certainly does.

But believe it or not I did find one on ebay, from China that "does not post to the Highlands" How it can be more expensive to post from China to Inverness than from China to Carlisle beats me,
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Inverness is still a good bit south, was always a bit more difficult getting the goods shipped up to Wick.

"Ah Sir, that's an Orkney post code, KW for Kirkwall." "No KW1 is for Wick which is still on the mainland." "Still the highlands and Islands sir, we can't be shipping that by ferry."
And so on
 
It has nothing to do with marine markup. Pretty much everything on AliExpress is available on eBay at a higher cost. If it's already in the UK and shippable in one day rather than 3 weeks it might be worth it. In this case I'd say no.
 
ProDave said:
The Ali Express one certainly does.

But believe it or not I did find one on ebay, from China that "does not post to the Highlands" How it can be more expensive to post from China to Inverness than from China to Carlisle beats me,
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The Chinese have very sophisticated delivery chains which can offer tracking of the actual truck on which your package is loaded. In Australia you are lucky if local deliveries arrive on the right week but the Chinese delivery will be exactly on time, including Sundays.

I've just bough 65kg of silicone paint (that I cannot buy in Australia). We followed its delivery from a factory outside Shanghai, to Shexhen, into a defined container and then loaded onto a named ship. We could have followed the ship - we then followed the package being discharged from the container, into and out of Customs and it was delved as promised late on Sunday.

Jonathan
 
ProDave said:
The Ali Express one certainly does.

But believe it or not I did find one on ebay, from China that "does not post to the Highlands" How it can be more expensive to post from China to Inverness than from China to Carlisle beats me,
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Chinese may think it involves Yaks.
They mostly , (in the SEZs anyway), dont like Yaks, for obvious reasons.
Probably self-inflicted by all those Hamish the Hairy pictures
 
The only difference may be that one is genuine and one is fake.
I use AliExpress a lot for milling cutters and lathe tools but shy away when they are selling 'Genuine Makita 9Ah LXT batteries for £29.09'
But it's probably worth the risk at that price.
Originaler, echter Makita 18V 9Ah Elektrowerkzeug-Lithium-Akku, Stromversorgung mit großer Kapazität, ersetzt LXT BL1860B BL1860 BL1850. - AliExpress 44"order"%3A"1"%2C"eval"%3A"1"%7D&pdp_npi=6%40dis%21GBP%2143.70%2118.79%21%21%21411.49%21176.93%21%40211b81a317555944199446732e8c6f%2112000049449266518%21sea%21UK%216163535523%21X%211%210%21n_tag%3A-29919%3Bm03_new_user%3A-29895&curPageLogUid=lIithKnAhaqp&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch%7Cquery_from%3A%7Cx_object_id%3A1005009554574368%7C_p_origin_prod%3A
 
Wansworth said:
Chandlers if we are talking about brick and mortar on the waterfront ,open all week end onehastopay for the availability and sometimes good advice and the maintenance of a feature of a proper seaport
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As you say, far more overheads. AliExpress don't have very high marina rents, rates, insurance and UK staff costs and most chandlers buy via wholesalers who obviously add their markup.
 
I am not immune to buying selected stuff direct from China, but I am also aware that if I don't use a local chandlery and it goes out of business, I can't then complain when I need a shackle or similar at short notice.

Same issue with high street shops and Amazon.
 
Wansworth said:
Chandlers if we are talking about brick and mortar on the waterfront ,open all week end onehastopay for the availability and sometimes good advice and the maintenance of a feature of a proper seaport
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Totally agree .... I accept also that land rental will be high at a marina / near. But the Camping and Caravan Services are usually on prime land as well with 7 day week opening ... AND usually employing reasonably knowledgeable people - unlike the 'students' I have found in various UK Chandlers !! No disrespect to students and young alike ... they have to start somewhere.
 
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