Crazy GPS accesory prices or chandlery mark up?

trouville

trouville

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I wanted a holder and 12v power cable for my Garmin GPS

Ive managed very well with batteries bought from Lidl at 99cents for a box of8 alcaline AAs i stocked up as chandleries charge a lot more!

Last week i bought a holder and 12v adapter for my phone cost 19.99 euros so i desided to get the same for my Garmin first i looked at compass where i found 12v and PC cable for 60 euros & holder 45 euros!!I also saw a 16 meg memory card for 60 euros!

In a chandlery i found the same but even more expensive including a 16 meg SD card for 79.99 euros!!I can find and have bought a 1 gig byte SD card for my PDA for 89 euros!Why are the prices anything sold for GPS so increadably expensive??

For "last years" nokias i found 12v cable holder and good quality leather "purse" for 5 euros reduced again to 3 euros when i told them i only wanted the "purse" for my Dell PDA.They gave me the whole kit anyway.

While on the subject of high prices some chandleries are adding 50% to their stainless nuts bolts shackels becouse of "high oil and resorse prices" Judging by the dust and dead flies they havent bought new stock certainly since last year,and even if transport and delivery costs would increase the per part cost wouldent rise that much.

Isent it time prices for GPS accessories and general chandlery prices were looked at by the price fixing commision? Or a scuttelbut reveiw body?After all GPS is used more often for non marine related use.
 
You could try buying GPS bits in your local car parts dealer. In the UK GPS has become the latest must-have for oiks driving to the shops, so there's quite a bit of price competition.

(TK's first rule of in-car GPS ownership. One GPS left in car = no GPS and a pile of broken glass)
 
pile of broken glass = repairing same = umpteen times cost of nicked gps/radio/etc
moral: leave window open
 
It is quite simple - Just about everyone over the age of 8 or 9 has a mobile phone but comparatively few have a GPS. In my household we have 8 mobile phones but only one portable GPS. When one counts all the chavs with mobile phones (paid for by the state) not to mention all the asylum seekers etc and add in the ankle biters there are a lot more mobiles than GPS's hence price for accessories is feeding a limited market leading to high prices - or so it was explained to me. If one only has a market for 500 charging leads then the costs of tooling etc have to be covered by those 500 items but when you have a similar item with a market potential of say 100,000 the tooling costs etc are much less per item.

Apart from that you admit you do not support your local swindlery as you buy batteries else where so poor Mr Swindler has to charge a high markup to maintain a profit on low sales volume - It really is a vicious circle - people will buy else where if they can so Mr Swindler maintains high prices due to low volume sales so people buy else where if they can so Mr......... On top of that your local Swindler is working on a limited customer base whereas the on-line swindlers have a much larger customer base, higher stock turn over and hence can live with a smaller profit margin.

Anyway, no one is forcing you to own a boat and go sailing so if it really is costing you so much that you are complaining you always have the option of selling the boat and taking up knitting or some other less expensive hobby. (A course of action I have contemplated several times over the years)
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hammer.thumb.gif
"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity"
 
Ive looked in phone shops and supermarkets but they mostly sell the expensive colour garmins and others,they mostly have never heard of the garmin 72!!Hence my arrival at a chandlery!The car ones are larger an square like a small plotter!

Its just that if i can buy a 12v cable and good holder for my phone for 19.99 euros and ive seen them advertised for less, why are the holder for the garmin which is just mm larger than the maximum size of my phone holder 3 times the price?Phone accessories are not "inexpensive" but at least fair when compared to GPS accssesories?

I always wonderd weather a chandley charging less would get a bigger turnover?Anyway the French chandlerys make British ones seem very reasonable!

Im thinking of selling my boat but then id have to live on a park bench or with my girlfriend?Better stay at sea!

The question of a 12v power lead, i have a dell PDA which sell far less than the GPS but they provide a simple system of a connecter and 3mm jack plug in which i can plug a battery pack costing £8 or i can solder 4 1.2v rechargables almost free! £8 fair enough! So why do garmin ask about £40? Thats just to much of a mark up.

The wool for knittings not cheep either!!!!Amazingly
 
[ QUOTE ]
pile of broken glass = repairing same = umpteen times cost of nicked gps/radio/etc
moral: leave window open

[/ QUOTE ]

BMW = Break My Windows

sorry, thread drift!
 
[ QUOTE ]
It is quite simple - Just about everyone over the age of 8 or 9 has a mobile phone but comparatively few have a GPS. In my household we have 8 mobile phones but only one portable GPS. When one counts all the chavs with mobile phones (paid for by the state) not to mention all the asylum seekers etc and add in the ankle biters there are a lot more mobiles than GPS's hence price for accessories is feeding a limited market leading to high prices - or so it was explained to me. If one only has a market for 500 charging leads then the costs of tooling etc have to be covered by those 500 items but when you have a similar item with a market potential of say 100,000 the tooling costs etc are much less per item.

Apart from that you admit you do not support your local swindlery as you buy batteries else where so poor Mr Swindler has to charge a high markup to maintain a profit on low sales volume - It really is a vicious circle - people will buy else where if they can so Mr Swindler maintains high prices due to low volume sales so people buy else where if they can so Mr......... On top of that your local Swindler is working on a limited customer base whereas the on-line swindlers have a much larger customer base, higher stock turn over and hence can live with a smaller profit margin.

Anyway, no one is forcing you to own a boat and go sailing so if it really is costing you so much that you are complaining you always have the option of selling the boat and taking up knitting or some other less expensive hobby. (A course of action I have contemplated several times over the years)
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hammer.thumb.gif
"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity"

[/ QUOTE ]

There is no question but that chandlers take the p*ss. I bought a couple of Turboflame lighters in a local camping store for £7 each. Saw them in Mailspeed for £14 each. The camping shop wont have anything like the turnover of mailspeed.

The melamine crockery on my boat is advertised at £80 for 6 place settings in Force 4. Similar stuff, (without the pretty sailing boat), would cost peanuts in a pound shop, or Tescos.

If the Swindler loses business because his prices are too high, it's a bit naieve to expect to recover the lost business by increasing prices.

Cheers

Richard
 
Heh heh, chandleries do try it on.
My local one was trying to persuade a customer that he really did need a second handheld GPS colour plotter, just in case the first one broke...
We're on a lake for f***'s sake, although it's a big one you can see both sides and there's so many marks.
And by the time it's dark (well, almost dark, see other thread) he's probably moored up and well into the bottle, so that's not a problem.
Just get out the chart and look around with the old-fashioned mk1 eyeball!

btw... he bought the spare GPS, more money than sense...
 
[ QUOTE ]

(TK's first rule of in-car GPS ownership. One GPS left in car = no GPS and a pile of broken glass)

[/ QUOTE ]

Second rule. One GPS plastic holder left in car = no GPS and a pile of broken glass.

Not happened to me, but happened to neighbour last week in Altrincham in Metro Link car park.

He was told by plods, who were not actually very interested, that even the mark left on the dash/screen by the suction pad triggers a break in, then they search usual hiding places and it gets even more embarrasing if you did take the GPS with you.
 
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