On 25 Apr 2005 at 18:26, Tom C wrote: > I understand what you're saying Frank... > > This is one of those topics where what side of the argument one's on makes all > the difference. > > 1. The camera shop opened it's doors and expects me to peruse, hoping for a > sale. 2. Do they have the right to expect a sale just because I walked in > their > door? 3. No. 4. Should I hand them over some cash simply because they let me > come in their store? 5. No. (I'm not the kind that will spend 15 - 60 min > wasting a salesman's time either, so that may be a difference). Actually > that's > a cost of doing business which might be why their prices are higher. 6. If the > store were to discount their price to induce me to buy, I might.
If over-the-counter sales are languishing and the company wished to preserve their business into the future, then they should close the doors and start selling via mail order and become good at it. There is next to no advantage buying from retail shops here, the vast majority of counter staff know less about the products than any well informed customer. Ticketed pricing is ridiculously high compared to the on-line stores, the stock lines maintained WRT Pentax kit are usually very poor. And to top it all off it appears that in most cases knocking on the importers door will secure you product at better than retail. I'm all for competition but there is none, the retailers won't negotiate, they all seem to rely upon the uninformed non-internet savvy customers to make their money. My guess would be that one fat over-priced sale is as profitable as four or more internet sales at a discount price. Rob Studdert HURSTVILLE AUSTRALIA Tel +61-2-9554-4110 UTC(GMT) +10 Hours [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://members.ozemail.com.au/~distudio/publications/ Pentax user since 1986, PDMLer since 1998
