I Feel Like I Got Screwed. What Say You?

[khouse]

 

[Steve Herschbach]

I don't disagree. We all are used to things going on sale, but what is different here is the magnitude of the sale on a relatively new product. A full 30% discount. $100 or $200 off would be more the norm and a couple hundred bucks usually enough to goose sales. A discount of this magnitude does go overboard as $500 is not a trivial sum to anyone, and so the risk as you are pointing out that they are going to really piss some people off.

Minelab in particular has a large number of users who like the products but really dislike the company for various reasons. If they did not maintain the technogical edge they have a lot of people would jump ship. Unfortunately metal detector users have a long history of getting mad about things, but in the end performance wins out most of the time. People complain but not enough will actually switch brands that it matters. Unless the powers that be see it hit the financial bottom line complaints will fall on deaf ears.

Minelab is not alone in this at this time. First Texas (Fisher, Bounty Hunter, Teknetics) is selling factory direct on eBay at prices that actually undercut what dealers pay for the detectors. Not only are they giving dealers the finger, but anyone that bought one in the last year is now seeing people getting them for half what was paid just a short time ago. A guy just got a F75LE with two coils for $355. The value of used First Texas product is plummeting fast.

[khouse]

I didn't know about the First Texas crap.  There is no need for dealers now. 

[Jeff McClendon]

My Manticore has paid for itself with finds already and I traded in another Minelab detector to a great dealer who is a member of this forum and that deal was good for both of us. 
 

The brick and mortar dealers are the ones that are really getting the finger.

Minelab could show some respect to their “loyal” customers who paid full retail price for their Manticore and gives us a factory direct 30% discount on the coil of our choice or a WM09………. similar to what Nokta did when they released a coil and shaft upgrade for the Legend. 
 

I’m not holding my breath on that happening. 

[phrunt]

At least you guys in the US get the Minelab sale, even in Australia when it's an Australian company their "Anniversary" sale doesn't exist.  A bit like the Military discount, give it to the US veterans but not the Anzacs (Aussies/Kiwis)

So, they celebrate their 35th Anniversary in the USA, but nowhere else, even their homeland! 

Nothing more than a pre-emptive strike at the pending Storm that let's face it, is a detector that will mostly only be sold in the USA and trying to pair back some sales going to other brands.

Minelab have given themselves a unique position for a business, loved for their detectors, disliked for their business methods.

[Steve Herschbach]

I doubt it has anything to do with the Storm. I worked sales all my life and you only do something like this when you find your inventory is way out of whack. Minelab USA must have vastly overestimated demand for the detector and got caught with a warehouse full. So more likely that Deus 2 and Legend had an impact than worrying about a detector that is vapor so far. Companies don’t give profits away for no reason and clearing an overstock fast is the only reason that makes business sense here. The fact it puts a hurt on the competition is likely just a happy side effect. That’s why you only see it happening here in the states as inventories elsewhere are probably more in line with what they should be.

[phrunt]

aww, I wanted Garrett to be having some impact on them, it's good to have very healthy competition spread across many brands.  It's safe to say Minelab don't dominate the VLF market like they once did, it's more balanced now, a healthier market.

How can they recover from a sale like this though? you can't do a sale like this and expect sales to resume at normal pricing afterwards, people will be so hesitant to buy at the old pricing now knowing they can and will sell it so much lower.  Dealers are going to have a hard time with people saying wait a minute buddy, it was this price a few months ago!   They may sell a bunch of detectors now but they're going to go dead quiet for many months after it.

 

[Steve Herschbach]

Assuming it’s an overstock you get that inventory down and get very cautious bringing in more. In my business inventory control was every bit as important as sales. That’s cash on the shelf and you can go broke sitting on dead money. Reality bites in business and if the Manticore is not selling as hoped it may need a price reduction. More likely they flush the overstock and things go back to normal, albeit with lower sales. No gravy train lasts forever and all businesses have ups and downs. If the down gets severe enough you lay people off and/or close facilities. I think hard times and hard choices are coming in metal detector land. Tesoro is gone, White’s is gone, First Texas likely to be the next exiting the business.

[abenson]

If I hadn't bought my Manticore over a year ago I would be pretty upset. I can see why people would be upset if they had bought one just before it went on sale. They must really need to move some stock to give such a deep discount. Got to keep the stockholders happy! There are so many new metal detector models coming out now days, people change detectors like they change their underwear.

To me Fisher looks like they are clearing out all their old stock on eBay, taking any reasonable offer made. That means one of two things, there are getting out of the consumer metal detector business or they have a whole new lineup of new models coming.

 

[GB_Amateur]

47 minutes ago, phrunt said:

I wanted Garrett to be having some impact on them, it's good to have very healthy competition spread across many brands.  It's safe to say Minelab don't dominate the VLF market like they once did, it's more balanced now, a healthier market.

Finally(!) competition is biting Minelab in more places than one.  If Garrett comes through as many are hoping/expecting, that's likely one more chunk out of Minelab's hide (err, bottom line).