Price -v- value

David2452

David2452

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A question that I have often wanted to, but have, for years refrained from asking. Why is the question so often, (and not just on this forum) where can I get the cheapest product/job done? This makes me wonder what is the rationale behind this. Is it that people genuinely believe that all stuff/workmanship is broadly the same regardless of price, or are PBOers simply tightwads and price is the main motivator with quality, reliability or reputation coming a poor second. This is a genuine question and is not designed to start any kind of backlash, just that I really would like to know the answer. Is it that people think that cheap = value or historically people think that they have been poorly served at the higher end, assuming they have ever bought in that area and thus can speak from personal experience.
 
Good question, have always wondered why people go for cheapest when dealing with their pride and joy. Pay peanuts get monkeys comes to mind here. I think best way to employ or buy something is from others' experiences (ie word of mouth) even if you have to pay that bit more.
 
Well speaking in my capacity as a complete skinflint, it's because you need a baseline lowest cost against which to measure better alternatives. Additionally, some of the time it is a case of do a cheap job or do no job at all.
 
I guess it would be only right of me to come clean with the reason for the post, in the past I have always worked to either BS or NMEA 0400 standard and only taken agencies from what I consider quality products with good factory training and back up. I have the opportunity to take on a considerably cheaper product that is just OK (ish) iin my view and am concerned that it would harm what little reputation I have, or doesn't anybody really care as long as it's cheap.
 
David2452 said:
I guess it would be only right of me to come clean with the reason for the post, in the past I have always worked to either BS or NMEA 0400 standard and only taken agencies from what I consider quality products with good factory training and back up. I have the opportunity to take on a considerably cheaper product that is just OK (ish) iin my view and am concerned that it would harm what little reputation I have, or doesn't anybody really care as long as it's cheap.
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I'd consider that you'd be better to stick with your established ideas of minimum standards. The "just OK(ish)" alternative could end up giving you more grief than it's worth.
.
 
Depends what the service or product is.
Sometimes a cheap way of getting/staying on the water is appropriate, sometimes it's worth paying for the best.

Very often, if the cheap solution works, the expensive one adds no value.

Expensive stuff selected and installed unintelligently can be much worse than the canny use of readily available cheap stuff.
 
Often I am not sure about the real quality of the item I am looking for/at I buy the cheaper as I don't see the point in paying 'top whack' when I don't know if the item is any better.
'You get what you pay for' is not always true.
 
pcatterall said:
Often I am not sure about the real quality of the item I am looking for/at I buy the cheaper as I don't see the point in paying 'top whack' when I don't know if the item is any better.
'You get what you pay for' is not always true.
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I remember an old German lady once saying to me "I'm not rich enough to buy cheap products".
 
Paying a high price does not guarantee high quality (wish it would as life would be simpler) so buy cheap and you shouldn't expect to be cheated on quality.

I look for the cheapest then assess the quality, going up the price scale 'til I achieve required quality.
 
pvb said:
I remember an old German lady once saying to me "I'm not rich enough to buy cheap products".
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If I was rich, I'd be reading Yachting Monthly, not Practical Boat Owner. I'd have a team of Marvellous Little Men scurrying around my boat, for which I'd be delighted to pay top dollar. However. I'm not rich. So I buy cheap. It's rarely a problem.

Unlike the £50 Bench shirt which shrank the first time I washed it, or the £125 quicksilver glasses of mine from which the rubber insert fell within two months...
 
I think that experience moves your view from 'cheap is good value' to true VFM. Without experience there is little to go on. Both have their place but it does depend on what you want and need. Ask somebody who intends to sell a boat what he wants and the answer will be very different to that from somebody about to set off on a globe trotting trip of a lifetime.

As an example I didn't buy the best VFM sails this time around - I bought what I could afford. When the bank balance changes I will buy the best VFM sails, they will be better cut and last much longer but will undoubtedly come with a price premium.

Yoda
 
A very wise quote by John Ruskin:-

“It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When
you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay
too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you
bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The
common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a
lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well
to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will
have enough to pay for something better.”
 
I've said it before: It is about expectations.

Make up your requirements and your budget, then get the right product at the right price from the right supplier.
Takes a bit of a process to get there but it is both completely possible and rewarding. I know, because I do this on a global scale for living. Not boaty, but procurement is about the same for all products.

Xs3975s.jpg
 
David2452 said:
I guess it would be only right of me to come clean with the reason for the post, in the past I have always worked to either BS or NMEA 0400 standard and only taken agencies from what I consider quality products with good factory training and back up. I have the opportunity to take on a considerably cheaper product that is just OK (ish) iin my view and am concerned that it would harm what little reputation I have, or doesn't anybody really care as long as it's cheap.
Click to expand...

You need to set what you think is a minimum standard and stick to it, unless you want to make a good living, in which case buy the cheapest and talk it up your literature. If you worry about what people think, or say, it's the route to an early grave. I gave up worrying years ago, we have loads of VSR's that are 30 years in service, only means something to the current owner, everyone else it's what is conceived as modern and that is based on what literature says.

Go with your normal range and a budget range, you can advise the customer or swallow your pride and let the customer decide.

Brian
 
You buy cheap, you buy twice.....and i've done that a few times! Quality is the key, finding the best quality product you can afford.
 
Bobc said:
A very wise quote by John Ruskin:-

“It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When
you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay
too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you
bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The
common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a
lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well
to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will
have enough to pay for something better.”
Click to expand...

Have the MoD read that?
 
I can only speak for myself but if I need to buy something for the boat I do extensive research and if necessary get as many quotes as I can. The last big expenditure was rigging, the quotes for which varied by about 50% from cheapest to most expensive. All quoted for 'named' rigging screws of, I assume, similar quality. I went for the cheapest, having visited the chosen rigger at his premises and found him personable. Do I assume he is using some sort of inferior wire because he is cheapest?
If I choose a particular product, I search for the cheapest source. Why wouldn't I?
I do all my own installation work because I just can't afford to pay someone to do something I'm perfectly capable of doing myself.
In the OPs area of expertise I bought a cheap (ebay) Eber and fitted it, it has been working for the last eight years without a problem. That was the cheapest way I could do it. The alternative would have been no heater.
Sails are the one area that really scares me from a VFM perspective, luckily I haven't yet got to the point where my existing sails are falling to bits.
 
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