Chandlery Prices - How to save money.

Norman_E

Norman_E

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I needed a new Windex 15. The old one hat been battered by hailstones and had lost its two marker flags. When I got it down I also saw that the fin had pieces broken off it. No surprise really as it had probably been up for 18 years.

I checked online chandlery prices. The cheapest I found worked out at just under £39 delivered, with most over £40 including postage. Then I looked at my catalogue from German chandlery SVB, and found the Windex 15 priced at €29.95. A look on the website showed postage to the UK at €6.95, making €36.90 in total. I bought it with a Visa debit card that has no charges for foreign purchases and the Sterling cost came to less than £27, more than 30% less than the cheapest UK price. The Windex was ordered on 30th October and delivered today (3rd November) by courier. Not everything from SVB is so much ckeaper than from UK souces, but with the good current Euro exchange rate it pays to check, and negotiate the SVP website which is all in German. I believe there is also a French language site, which would have been easier for me as I don't speak German but have reasonable French.
 
Been using SVB for 5 years, excellent service. They use DHL for delivery. Pick the times £ good rate against € then can be cheaper than UK.

No connection with them

A
 
SAMYL said:
Good to see that peeps are supporting the poor old Germans and not their own country folk........................:disgust:
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In my case it was for stainless stanchions which are no longer made in the UK and only available as a Chinese/ Taiwan/Thailand import.
12 Stainless Niro-Petersen stanchions delivered to UK for under €7!!
 
SAMYL said:
Good to see that peeps are supporting the poor old Germans and not their own country folk........................:disgust:
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I would be quite happy to support UK chandlers if they did not price things so high. In the case of the Windex, it is made in Sweden and presumably priced wholesale in Swedish Kronor, so how is it that a UK company charges so much more than a german one?
 
I'm with Norman, why is there to be any guilt at not supporting a local chandler - when the local chandler is effectively milking the local customer base. The comment might be better focussed at the chandler, not the impoverished customer base.

I can only assume SAMYL has affiliations with chandlers! or enjoys paying over the odds :)

Jonathan
 
Neeves said:
I'm with Norman, why is there to be any guilt at not supporting a local chandler - when the local chandler is effectively milking the local customer base. The comment might be better focussed at the chandler, not the impoverished customer base.

I can only assume SAMYL has affiliations with chandlers! or enjoys paying over the odds :)

Jonathan
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Whilst UK chandlers may be a bit over the odds - sale price also depends on their cost - and it's not just the cost of the item - they have to factor in the cost of stocking it, manning the shop etc etc.
Website shops can operate in lower cost areas and employ lower cost staff - and very often they don't stock the item themselves but have it direct shipped from their suppliers - everyone makes a markup on it.

I'm afraid that in the case of the UK chandler - it's a case of use it or lose it - and like many high street independant shops - they're closing down.
 
The costs quoted are 30% different and cover delivery from Germany to the UK. Stocking and manning costs are 30% of an items value - no wonder they are closing down.
 
fireball said:
Whilst UK chandlers may be a bit over the odds - sale price also depends on their cost - and it's not just the cost of the item - they have to factor in the cost of stocking it, manning the shop etc etc.
Website shops can operate in lower cost areas and employ lower cost staff - and very often they don't stock the item themselves but have it direct shipped from their suppliers - everyone makes a markup on it.

I'm afraid that in the case of the UK chandler - it's a case of use it or lose it - and like many high street independant shops - they're closing down.
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Very true. I guess local chandlers are doomed.

I used to be able to get engine filters from the local car shop a mile up the road, all eight local branches have closed down and I am now stuffed with going to Halfords who are clueless. So it goes.

A bit of thread drift here but I have become disillusioned with Windex, too fragile for me. I have found Hawk much more durable.
 
Neeves states that stocking and manning costs are 30% of an items value! In your dreams.

Chandlers prices are based on what the wholesale price is and any shop owner/chandler will mark up as small an amount as possible to keep his prices down to attract customers. Wholesale prices in the UK are way above those on continental Europe so it is difficult to maintain prices at an attractive level.

Don't forget that many UK prices are lower than elsewhere but you never hear people complaining or even praising for that.

If you buy expensive electronics from abroad because it is cheaper, how are you going to get it fixed when it goes wrong?

As Fireball says "use it or lose it"
 
In July my old Autohelm 2000 finally gave up the will to work. After checking the Raymarine site I found the equivalent replacement was not considered powerful enough for the weight of my Fulmar, but they receommended the Evolution 100 tiller. The recommended price was £1500, but several chandlers in the UK quoted £1250. After a lot of research I did try a German chandler, but was pointed to a Swedish chandler, www.hjertmans.se. Their website was only available in Swedish, but Google translate did a good job get to read their web site.
https://translate.google.co.uk/tran...oter/raymarine-rorkultspilot-ev-100&sandbox=1
They had a special offer of SEK11490 (still available today) which with shipping came to £968 (but even cheaper today due to a drop in the exchange rate).

Just before it was delivered I found a UK special offer of £1099, so I was still £133 or 12% better off. What is surprising was how easy it was to buy it from abroad despite none of the discount chandlers from abroad appearing in any Google search.

Before I bought I did check out that Sweden was a member of the EU, the price included VAT (at 25%, not the UK 20%) and the guarantee was still valid (it is world wide and it does not matter where a unit was bought or fitted). It still begs the question that Raymarine have a price structure that is higher in the UK than on the continent, possibly due to not altering the exchange rates as all stock for the UK comes from Belgium.
 
Norman_E said:
I would be quite happy to support UK chandlers if they did not price things so high. In the case of the Windex, it is made in Sweden and presumably priced wholesale in Swedish Kronor, so how is it that a UK company charges so much more than a german one?
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Much of it is to do with the high £. Ask any British exporter at the moment and he/she will tell you that our products are priced out of markets.
 
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