How big a markup would you expect at LDC?

[B]

My LDS is excellent with giving discounts, never have to ask, he goes "I can knock a bit off that one for you"..

I would rather pay them more and get the relationship, service and back-up for some things than not.. but I have bought a lot on the net too.. works both ways I suppose...

B x

[Steve Gray]

A freind of mine owns a dive shop and told me that the markups are different depending on what the product is sometimes 100 percent markup or more on stuff like fins and masks and cheap stuff - 50 percent on gear like regs
They get less markup on really expensive stuff say 25 percent
considering VAT - how much stuff he has to keep in stock - the lease for the shop - buying and runing the compresor and trying to make a living - it hardly seems worth the hassle to me
I think some of these places selling on the internet are probably based in someones spare bedroom and selling gear at the lowest margin they can survive just to get the business. One internet shop here didnt even bother to answer my emails when i wanted to buy some very expensive gear from them - the guys excuse was that he was busy in his day job WTF
No LDS - no air fills - means im going to have to buy my own compressor and mixing panel - that means diving is going to cost more money

Its a leap but i wonder
Cheap gear on the internet - more expensive diving ?

[balbrigganbloke]

Fourteen of us went away to the red sea last year with our lds
We paid well over the odds for the trip i thought(and so it proved) there were lots of little extras that we hadnt been told about , so this year we prganised it ourselves and we are paying exactly half the money we paid and this year we are going on a better itinerary ,the lds has organised another trip this year but up to now hes the only one going on his one cos hes too dear
I would go to my lds and pay a bit over the odds for gear i needed but like i say to him if pay him more money for gear that means theres less money for diving so he either gets it on the gear or i dont dive so i know what would rather do
On a related(ish) point would all the people who 'support' their local dive shop and shop there also feel the same about their local shop.Do you do your weekly shopping in your local corner shop as opposed to Tesco Safeways etc.

[NeilP]

A dive shop just down the road from where I live is very cheap for some items, yet another close one is IMO very expensive.

There is a markup, which is to be expected, and then there is taking the pi$$.

You could always move to somewhere where the LDS charges internet prices.

....maybe that's a bit too drastic.

[Freeflow]

deleted

[2DiVE4]

The majority probably do go a little further to Tescos or equivelant but how many of us purchase groceries online? Not many I bet. And even fewer would buy a cut of meat or fresh veg online! With important items you like to look at closely before you buy!

Anyway, does anyone know where I can order that special pipe thingy which delivers Nitrox from through a USB port on my hard drive..... I need to fill my cylinders on the cheap....

Steve

[principia]

Whether shop owners like it or not, the dynamics of retail have changed with Internet shopping. This not just a difficulty that dive shops are experiencing.

Rents are expensive, minimum wages, business rates, ever more legislation. The painful truth is they will either adapt or go bust.

If the LDS's all go bust, people will get their fills at the places they dive, like many people do already. Failing that how expensive is a compressor and a few J's of O2 between say 10 people?

my 4 pence, (2pence if read online)

J.

[Woz]

In my experience there are 3 types of "shops":

1. a proper LDS. Stocks some kit, has a service shop in the back, tests cylinders and does training. All themselves.
2. an "in betweenie" LDS. Stock kit, do training, wouldn't know the inside of a reg if it slept with their daughter. Sends all kit off to Stoney or similar for service/testing and relies solely on the manufacturer's warranties.
3. an out and out internet business. Operates out of a garage, buys abroad and sells with little margin as they have no overheads.

Happily there are a few that have a bit of 1 and a bit of 3 but run them as almost seperate businesses. No 3 is selling purely on price and nothing else.

[Freeflow]

.

[Scubee]

Originally Posted by balbrigganbloke

Fourteen of us went away to the red sea last year with our lds
We paid well over the odds for the trip i thought(and so it proved) there were lots of little extras that we hadnt been told about , so this year we prganised it ourselves and we are paying exactly half the money we paid and this year we are going on a better itinerary ,the lds has organised another trip this year but up to now hes the only one going on his one cos hes too dear
I would go to my lds and pay a bit over the odds for gear i needed but like i say to him if pay him more money for gear that means theres less money for diving so he either gets it on the gear or i dont dive so i know what would rather do
On a related(ish) point would all the people who 'support' their local dive shop and shop there also feel the same about their local shop.Do you do your weekly shopping in your local corner shop as opposed to Tesco Safeways etc.

I would imagine that the cost you paid would be based on the fact that given the number (14?) the cost to you would have included an amount to allow someone (the LDS owner perhaps) to go for 'free'. That person is there to smooth out all the things that need sorting out, takes the flack from the divers when the itinery gets changed and takes the flack from the boat crew/dive centre when the divers aren't where they should be and generally spends the week with about half the relaxation that the paying guests have. In other words, they sort out your problems.

Analigiously, if you book a flight, hotel, taxi from the airport you may pay less for your holiday than a person who books a package holiday with a tour operater. However, those with the operator would usually have a rep they can raise issues with. That rep has a job to do.

If you are prepared to individually resolve issues which may arise, fine, no problem. However, many people like the support of someone who has (probably) been there before, knows the ropes and will work reasonably hard to ensure you have a great holiday.

My nearest shop is Sainsbury's.