Miners Den Group In Australia Have Lost Their Minelab Dealership

[Jerry The Mining Monkey]

I do agree with that wholeheartedly, fisher and teknetics has become a stalemate and I thought they were gonna rise above the water and resurrect the company after they redesigned the goldbug 2 with the digital display, Nope! didn't happen. Their support was horrible too.

[Doc]

As one of the longest Minelab dealer around, since 1992, let me add my 2 cents.  As a businessman I can certainly understand the move of Minelab to Big Box Stores.  They are a publicly traded company via Codan, and they have a duty to shareholders to increase market penetration.

However, this move has hurt the profitability of dealers like myself.  When Minelab started calling me a "Legacy Dealer" it made me scratch my head.  Is that a good thing?  Or is it a bad thing?

Let me be clear, this isn't just about losing sales, this is about utilizing my expertise and time in educating consumers that did not even buy their Minelab Detectors from me.

Just yesterday, I took two phone calls from individuals who purchased their Minelab, NOT FROM ME!  They wanted me to help them.  "How do I adjust my machine?"  Also the inevitable, "Where to go and what to look for?"  I spent 42 minutes on one call and 57 minutes on the other.  Why do I invest this time?  Well I hope the next time they are in the market for a Minelab they remember that "the Doc" has the information that the Big Box stores don't, but that is sort of wishful thinking.

The other reason is because fortunately, a lot of these folks do return to buy accessory items that they do not find at the Big Box stores.  Custom covers, Picks, Snake Gaiters, GSpot Scoops, things that are exclusive Nugget Stalker® brand products which I design and manufacture.

This turn of events, that has slowly started to creep in since the Sudan Gold rush has changed my thinking on my marketing efforts.  I love Minelab, how could I not.  Amazing technology that is second to none.  I have a safe full of nuggets to prove it.  However, when looking at my profitability as a company, 80% of my profits are coming from items I have developed and market under the Nugget Stalker® Brand.

There was a time in the past, when Minelab was located in Las Vegas, that I would order 40 pulse induction machines at a time.  GP3000's, GP3500's etc.  Wow, have those times changed.  There used to be rules.  Minelab would not sign up another authorized dealer within 25 miles of you.  About five years back they authorized a new dealer 2.5 miles from my warehouse.  Even worse was he would heavily discount the price.  It was a real shock.

Also the profitability on machines is just not there.  If I sell a Gold Monster on Ebay, after paying the listing fees, the selling fees, the 3.5% credit card fee, giving free shipping and insuring the detector, my profit is around $105.  That doesn't even count the number of times when a customer calls up and says, "Well XYZ company said they can give me one for $X dollars."  Unfortunately my reply has to be, "That sounds like a screaming deal. I would take it.  If I can help you with accessory items please let me know.  "OK, Oh but let me ask you a question.  Where is the best place to find nuggets in Gold Basin?"  

So I will continue to carry and promote Minelab, but like Minelab, I am going to concentrate on increasing my market penetration with the development and improvement of items that have generic appeal to all detectorists; regardless of the brand they are using.

No matter what detector you are using, everyone needs a pick.  Everyone needs a scoop, snake gaiters, knee pads, etc.  And everyone certainly needs my new line of "FATIGUE FIGHTING" ergonomic accessories that make your detector lighter and more fun to use.

My new slogan is "Make Detecting Fun Again™"   DON'T FA, DO FF, or FO!  (In the interest of keeping things PG, Don't FA, means Don't FOOL Around, Do Fight Fatigue, or Find Out.)

I am a victim of Detecting Injuries.  I have 3 titanium pigtails lashing my shoulder back in place.  I only have one joint in my right elbow from crushing the ball joint of my ulnar bone.  It had to be surgically removed.  (I tipped my New ATV over when out detecting, and in my pea brain, I thought if I stuck my elbow out I could keep the ATV from hitting the ground hard and scratching it up.  NOTE TO SELF:  That doesn't work!)  I have had 2 hand surgeries from trauma swinging heavy detectors, 6 titanium pins in my hips.  So my "Fight Detecting Fatigue" accessories have been developed out of my necessity to alleviate my own discomfort.

Such is life.  Businesses change and we have to adapt or go the way of the dinosaurs. My success in this business, in the largest part, has been because of the loyalty of my customer base.  For that I am eternally grateful.

Doc

[phrunt]

18 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

There is no good high quality dealer anywhere near me. It’s order online from the dealers who support this forum as members for me. Well, usually on the phone, but end result is the same. Mail order to my door. That’s true of almost all of us. The local dealer is a big box store, or some coin dealer who knows nothing about the detectors they stock. For every good dealer there are a dozen working out of a garage or basement competing purely on under the table discounting. So we buy online or via good buddy dealers and get it mailed to us. There is not some super duper smart stocking training dealer nearby to support even if we wanted to.

That's entirely true for me, no super-duper training offering dealer nearby, I shop by price and convenience, then again, how many people that have been swinging their detectors for years would care about the training offer with a detector anyway and be willing to pay higher prices to get this? First time buyers will find it beneficial, someone that's had a 5000 and 7000 and buying a 6000 I suspect would much rather just cheaper pricing.    That's not saying someone like myself or anybody really may not benefit from some training, but price will often win out being something more appealing.

I went on a dealer training day as a friend more than a customer, as my dealer mate was doing a one-on-one day with a guy from a city a few hours away as a training gold tour, not a freebie with a detector, great day, took me a place I'd never go myself, the guy learnt a lot being new to detecting and his GM, I benefitted from the location.  To this guy the training was invaluable, he had a ball but unfortunately found no gold.  I saw how valuable a training day can be though; he went away a ball of confidence.

This dealer didn't offer free training with detector purchases, he did it as a separate thing as gold tours that anyone with a detector from anywhere could do, didn't need to buy it from him, just had to pay him to go on the tours, a good method I think, a bit like Gerry does.  He got a lot of tourists from overseas doing them and even offerered chartered helicopter tours to get into the real good remote spots, and he just gave them loan detectors for the day.  They just loved the adventure.

[Joe D.]

   I agree Doc!

   I think your profits definitely lie in the accessories segment of the business! I am as guilty as many for looking for deals at online stores and of course, Ebay! Now, not all of my purchases have been generic sources, I have bought items from you, Gerry, and Rob, but most of my detectors have been used, and purchased from individuals of various sources!

   In my view, many sources of finds are shrinking, across all types of detecting! So not unlike the original gold rush, the only people making a return on their investment, are the one's selling equipment!; albeit it's gotten a bit more complicated in modern times! So I can't fault ML from joining in with the rest of the modern retail market to increase their bottom line!

   Unlike nugget hunting, beach hunting isn't as dependent on geological location, and perfection of the skill set, which are accelerated by skilled instructors!! While it takes time to learn to read beaches for the best chance for finds, the majority come from humans, not geology, and can be readily observed somewhat in the movement of people! 

   I wish all the dealers much luck, with or without ML's "assistance"!🙏🍀👍👍

[mn90403]

6 hours ago, phrunt said:

He got a lot of tourists from overseas doing them and even offerered chartered helicopter tours to get into the real good remote spots, and he just gave them loan detectors for the day.  They just loved the adventure.

You could be one of his trainers just as Lunk is to Gerry!

[PhaseTech]

On 2/15/2025 at 7:18 AM, Jonathan Porter said:

Gosh golly what a gossipy place DP is today. I have a dealership and currently I feel pretty safe from being closed down. 

JP

Well....... after 12 years as an employee, involved in the testing/development of every gold detector since the GP3000 to the GPX6000, and also Sovereign Elite right through to the CTX3030, being contracted to train Minelab/Codan staff on using detectors, being asked back as a Minelab dealer, never falling behind on my account, having 95% Minelab content on my YouTube channel, doing tech articles on their detectors etc etc etc.......I thought I was pretty safe too!

 

[mn90403]

It certainly makes all of us wonder who is calling the shots at the top and who pulls the strings and plugs to borrow a few cliches.  

[Prickly Prospector]

Regardless of brands in Aus, I believe we respect service and mateship, and the one on one interactions that entails.

I can't speak for all, but I don't see this as a positive marketing exercise, for what is generally a social (meet and greet) hobby!

Feel free to add!☺️

[Jonathan Porter]

20 hours ago, PhaseTech said:

Well....... after 12 years as an employee, involved in the testing/development of every gold detector since the GP3000 to the GPX6000, and also Sovereign Elite right through to the CTX3030, being contracted to train Minelab/Codan staff on using detectors, being asked back as a Minelab dealer, never falling behind on my account, having 95% Minelab content on my YouTube channel, doing tech articles on their detectors etc etc etc.......I thought I was pretty safe too!

 

Seeing how you’ve quoted me directly I’ll try to point out some of the ‘to me’ obvious reasons why just based on your reply, but it’s all conjecture on my part as I don’t have any inside information on the why’s and wherefore’s of Minelab decision making.

Firstly yours was the only dealership in Australia that was allowed to trade from home, all other dealers have to have Bricks and Mortar including mine in a tiny outback town with 1800 inhabitants. I think that answers the “12 years as an employee” question. You can understand why they do this in Australia based on the complaints mentioned in this thread about home dealerships constantly discounting and ruining the proper dealers margins in the US (NOT saying that you did BTW, but by way of example why they don’t have home dealerships in Australia).

20 hours ago, PhaseTech said:

involved in the testing/development of every gold detector since the GP3000 to the GPX6000, and also Sovereign Elite right through to the CTX3030

You’ve provided a possible answer to the 2nd question in your own post, I’ll expand on that by example, many years ago I was approached by Nokta to do some field testing for them on a PI they were developing, I ran this past Minelab immediately as I do work for them and I’m sure Nokta would have expected me to do so as it is no secret I field test for Minelab. On another occasion SteveH of this forum kindly, with Garret approval, arranged access to the proto Garrett Axiom in the same manner (actually I think he championed my name to Nokta originally, so thanks Steve but they were a no-show), once again I informed ML about it, they asked no questions but appreciated the heads up. The Axiom was no secret as it had been announced they were developing a new PI and I gave my word to them via Steve that I would not publicly comment or say anything negative about it, as after all it was still in development. 

I have no idea of your interactions or legal obligations to/with ML but I’m sure you’d have been covered by an NDA at the very least, plus with your long association with the company I would think there would expected to be some kind of two way loyalty attached as evidenced I would say by your unique dealership, you were kind of family after all.

I’m only reading between the lines here and there’s no need to answer but maybe an Ex-Minelab engineer covertly developing and releasing a PI gold detector that you helped field test (You told me that over the phone) might have something to do with things? I don’t have a problem with Algo either and good on him for having the guts to have a go, I even bought one with my own money (from you no less) to satisfy my own curiosity. 

All pure conjecture on my part but that’s what immediately sprang to mind when I heard the news. It could be as simple as them not wanting home based stores in Australia anymore, this might be down to there being a big change of the guard in middle and upper management at Minelab. Maybe you should ring them and ask them? I don’t think it would be the testing thing because they never seemed to have a problem with my playing around with a competitors tech but appreciated the courtesy of a heads up.

JP