| Author |
Predator new dealer policy…. |
|
The_Mole
Home away from home
Joined: 13-Mar-2006
Posts: 269
|
Posted: 2008-06-17 10:38
Predator new dealer policy…. I had an interesting conversation last night with an American friend and he was telling me some disturbing information regarding the distribution of Predator products. From the 1st July official Predator dealers will be banned from selling products that have Predator identification numbers (Cues and Uni Lock Shafts) outside their own country. This will especially apply to dealers selling Predator products to countries where there is only one official dealer and this includes the UK. What that means to players is that with no competition, players can only expect a lack of choice of dealer, increased prices and for those of us brave enough to buy direct from the USA to save a few pounds, our days maybe numbered. Just wondering what people thought and also will the Pro9 shop still be able to stock Predator products? I have no problem with Predator products or any dealers, what I have a problem with is the possible lack of dealer choice and potential price fixing. Has anyone out there heard about this? ----------------- www.themole.me
|
|
Riggers
Home away from home
Joined: 30-Mar-2006
Posts: 4454
From: Barnsley (centre of the universe)
|
Posted: 2008-06-17 11:25
Sounds illegal to me.
|
|
thediamond
Home away from home
Joined: 13-Mar-2006
Posts: 1520
|
Posted: 2008-06-17 11:28
Wasn't aware of anything being made public yet so kept my gob shut. Its all true.
Sam Leisure have exclusive UK rights to all Predator products from this moment onwards.
What does this mean for other dealers/on-line shops? It means they will not be able to source direct from the main US dealers or Predator themselves which I find quite staggering. A monopoly means only one thing.....price increases. That isn't helping anyone.
Now, I can understand Sam Leisure wanting this arrangement for business purposes but a healthy amount of competition in the market place can only be a good thing. I am not in anyway attacking Predator or Sam Leisure but I simply feel this action is narrow minded and the repercussions are quite large for the UK.
This may even have a bearing on our beloved site. What ever pennies are made from the pro9 shop are put back into running the site. I would hate to think this arrangement could effect the life of Pro9.
We will see what happens in the near future but I sincerely hope all parties concerned will see sense.
Si
|
|
RACKRUNNER21
Home away from home
Joined: 19-Sep-2006
Posts: 862
From: Bristol
|
Posted: 2008-06-17 11:32
post deleted [ This message was edited by: RACKRUNNER21 on 2008-06-17 16:27 ]
|
|
Ads
Home away from home
Joined: 07-Sep-2007
Posts: 1894
From: Essex, England
|
Posted: 2008-06-17 11:42
this will affect the sales of 314-2 shafts i'm sure as these also have the serial number mentioned above. The thing is, will Sam leisure be able to legally have exclusive rights to sell the Predator queue? This sounds very much like a Monopoly, which is illegal. At the moment players can still choose from several dealers across the UK (1) and America (lots). If players are no longer able to purchase these from the USA then it would leave Sam leisure with a monopoly over the UK.
Maybe Predator might have to remove the exclusive clause in sam billiards contract and get a few more official dealers in the uk.
Still...makes no sense, just going to boost the sales of the OB-1 shaft
|
|
balabushka-kid
Just popping in
Joined: 19-Oct-2007
Posts: 4
|
Posted: 2008-06-17 13:58
I'll tell you what this means for prices, last year I bought a balabushka GB3 from america for £220. Go and look at Sams website now, the GB3 (not a product they have exclusive rights to remember) is your's for £681.50!
I'm now shooting with a predator Willie Hoppe LE, which cost about £400, how much would this cost from Sam with exclusive rights? £1000? £1500? £2000?
I'm sure glad I've already got all the predator stuff I need!
|
|
PC
Official Pro9 Tipster!
Joined: 14-Mar-2006
Posts: 780
From: Leeds
|
Posted: 2008-06-17 15:31
Pro9 will be able to stock the items but as i understand this situation they will have to buy from the licensed dealer............i would presume as a trade account. Sam Leisure can act basically as a wholesaler. From speaking to a few people in the states the feeling is that within a short period of time WELL KNOWN internet companies (not going to mention names bigdave) will no longer even be selling predator products to the states as predator themselves will do the online sales direct. I doubt many US dealers will take the chance of sending the shafts etc to the UK as if it came to light then they would likely lose their franchise. People with custom cues however do not need to worry as any shafts constructed with partials in the first instance will not have any identification. I really hope for BigDave that the people at predator rethink this decision as i'm sure if the shop ceased trading or suffered seriously reduced sales the pro9 site would go and this would have a massive impact on American style pool in the UK. -----------------  [ This message was edited by: PC on 2008-06-17 15:32 ]
|
|
jc
Home away from home
Joined: 19-May-2006
Posts: 176
|
Posted: 2008-06-17 19:25
eBay will be full of the stuff within a few months ...
And dealers, will do deals hush hush … I’ve already seen this with sales on pool tables from certain dealers, who’ll happily sell to UK from Holland and Germany etc even though the manufacturer says no …
Seems like a bad idea … hope it doesn’t affect “our” site!
|
|
billbOK
Just can't stay away
Joined: 04-Apr-2008
Posts: 127
|
Posted: 2008-06-17 19:27
I had a dream... Everybody was coming back to plain wood shaft  [ This message was edited by: billbOK on 2008-06-17 19:29 ]
|
|
PC
Official Pro9 Tipster!
Joined: 14-Mar-2006
Posts: 780
From: Leeds
|
Posted: 2008-06-20 01:21
Just received an email from an American company, people who know me will know who i do all my dealings with and this is not from that company, it is from one of two sisters company's who are reputedly the largest predator dealers in the world!!!!!!!! Looks like the rumours have been confirmed. I edited out the company details BigDave hope thats ok? Dear ******************* Customer,
Starting on July 1st 2008, no American company is permitted to ship Predator
or Poison Products overseas to the following Territories:
Austria
Netherlands
Portugal
Belgium
Italy
Singapore
Caribbean (Southern)
Korea
Spain
China (Mainland)
Kuwait
Sweden
Finland
Japan
Taiwan
France
Malaysia
United Arab Emirates
Germany
Norway
United Kingdom
Indonesia
Philippines
This is a new Predator Group Policy that prevents us from selling you any Predator Products or Poison Products, if they are to be shipped into one of the
above territories starting July 1st 2008.
We will still continue to ship Predator and Poison Products to any country
that is not on the above list.
IMPORTANT: If you or a friend are considering purchasing a Predator or Poison Product, you need to place your order with us immediately. We will ship all orders before July 1st. If for some reason we can't, you will get a full refund.
Price Increase:
Another great reason to buy now is there will be a price increase on all Predator Products effective July 1st (for all countries).
Thats it! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you do have one more
chance for a great deal from ***************** so don't delay, order now!!
Regards,
Shane Sinnott
*****************
*************
*************
----------------- [ This message was edited by: PC on 2008-06-20 01:32 ]
|
|
scratchalot
Not too shy to talk
Joined: 15-May-2008
Posts: 26
|
Posted: 2008-06-20 01:48
i was actually going to order a predator from that company ure talking about "PC" esp with the exchange rate how it is...its a shame predator have done that....jus means sam leisure can pretty much charge anything they want by having exclusivity on predator products...i guess what predators main aim is to limit there wholesalers distribution and try and make themselves the main distributors of there own products to make a larger margin of profit...cos they'll be making the profit that previously the retailers were making........people might want to consider if buying from the states to ship to a country not on that list and get it routed her from there....might have added expense...but you'll still get your product cheaper than sam leisure and unfortunately also cheaper then pro9 as no doubt pro9 will have to buy there stock wholesale from sam leisure.....a bummer to say the least
|
|
scratchalot
Not too shy to talk
Joined: 15-May-2008
Posts: 26
|
Posted: 2008-06-20 01:58
i personally blame sam leisure...ive never seen such heavy markup on products...for them to gain exclusivity on pools most popular product is a travesty....the consumers lose....and i corporates no that people will still want predator and they'll have to pay sky high....we as consumers gain nothing from this...we should boycott purchasing of predator products...from 1st july onwards!
|
|
Blue_Suede
Just can't stay away
Joined: 14-Mar-2006
Posts: 121
|
Posted: 2008-06-20 04:09
!!! QUOTE !!! we should boycott purchasing of predator products...from 1st july onwards!
Aye right! Like that's going to happen... Sad, but true.  BS
|
|
CuesportTV
Home away from home
Joined: 12-Oct-2007
Posts: 288
|
Posted: 2008-06-20 11:23
I also received that email and it is in a roundabout way price fixing, however it is based on a lowest advertised retail price which cannot be lower than 15% Off MSRP.
This will affect the UK as due to our VAT and Duty charges we are naturally more expensive than the states and even Europe in most cases.
SAM Leisure have gained exclusive rights to Predator in the UK and this will mean retail prices will rise.
I suggest that anyone requiring a new Predator buys it before July 1st if you want to buy from a US or other dealer Pro9 included.
After this date I am considering removing them from sale.
|
|
MachineGun
Home away from home
Joined: 21-Aug-2007
Posts: 518
|
Posted: 2008-06-20 14:07
So does that mean you won't be able to buy Predator stuff from the Pro Shop? I think the Americans are scared that there's too many quality players in the UK!
|
|
Mike_Abel
Home away from home
Joined: 21-Mar-2006
Posts: 152
From: Portslade, East Sussex
|
Posted: 2008-06-20 14:55
be interesting to see how sales of other products are affected like a rise in OB-1 shaft sales compared to z2/314-2 shafts
|
|
jc
Home away from home
Joined: 19-May-2006
Posts: 176
|
Posted: 2008-06-20 16:51
Ah well, I'll just do what I usually do and get it sent via my relatives business in the USA ... where there's a will, there's a way BTW although the maximum discount was set at 20% and will now be 15%, I was able to neg. bigger discounts than the min ... you just have to email them. Seems such a waste of time by predator, I suspect they'll only lose business ...
|
|
MachineGun
Home away from home
Joined: 21-Aug-2007
Posts: 518
|
Posted: 2008-06-20 17:22
Out of interest, how good is the OB1 shaft compared to the 314-2 and Z2 in terms of deflection reduction?
What about the Universal ones too?
|
|
nipper
Home away from home
Joined: 17-Mar-2006
Posts: 329
From: harrow middlesex
|
Posted: 2008-06-28 23:10
for shafts it might still be cheaper to buy partials from the usa and have the joints fitted over here, what about warenty , have the ferrule cracking issues being fixed ? paul..
|
|
BigDave
Forum User
Joined: 13-Mar-2006
Posts: 11008
From: England
|
Posted: 2008-06-29 00:26
I've tried not to post on this topic as I think our business is just that - our business! But... Suggestions that Pro9 may be in jeopardy are silly! 1. The Pro Shop will still be selling Predator products! 2. Predator product prices will probably rise everywhere, not just here, but we do tend to be less greedy than elsewhere! 3. The Pro Shop has grown considerably from it's infancy, and we'll be using our broader foundations and prominent market position to get even better deals with faster turn-around times and improved customer service from our wholesalers. Please remember, I was working for Pro9 before it was even my web site, let alone before it ever earned a penny, I worked before for no money, and I would would again for no money, I enjoy it too much to give it up, so to say that Pro9 is in jeopardy is very silly, and I won't have it! Pro9 grows month on month, and is even stronger than ever! For instance, when Daryl won the World Pool Championships we hit record levels of traffic with a peak of 3.5 MILLION hits and 13,419 unique visitors, but look how we've grown since... 13,419 unique visitors Nov 2007 - peak - Daryl Peach World Pool Champion 12,816 unique visitors - Dec 2007 11,840 unique visitors - Jan 2008 12,383 unique visitors - Feb 2008 13,520 unique visitors - Mar 2008 15,542 unique visitors - Apr 2008 16,571 unique visitors - May 2008 It's an undeniable TREND, and that's good for all of us - you can look forward to a long future with Pro9 - we're not going anywhere but up!-----------------  Authorised Pro9 forum advertiser/sponsor [ This message was edited by: BigDave on 2008-06-29 00:41 ]
|
