B1Driver

My Feedback: (26)

Hey, was shopping around getting prices for a new radio for x-mas and found this out on www.brucknerhobbies.com/jr.htm I was trying to find a good price on an 8103. This might of been posted before but felt disgusted at JR for doing this:

"That's right, this page is empty - why? you might ask? It's real simple. The exclusive distributor for JR and many other quality products has decided that you, the consumer will pay more for their product. How can they do this? by forcing all national advertisers like Bruckner Hobbies to advertise at, or above, the prices set by them. We were selling for less and the distributor cut us off without warning and would no longer sell to us. Unfortunately, many other companies have decided to join them. The theory is that this price policy will help small hobby shops who can't compete with the mail order companies and thus keep the hobby alive.

Personally, I believe that I should be able to sell you anything for a price, (which will be lower) that I decide.

Tom Baffer Sr.
President"

Isnt that WHY we go to the internet....to find the BEST deal? Whats with JR distributers?

mstroh3961

My Feedback: (4)

FEEL THE DIFFERANCE!

FlyinBrian

Is such a policy legal in the US? I would have thought it would be classed as un competative.

FB

3DFanatic

My Feedback: (5)

Futaba
We bring life to scale.

Flyfalcons

You'll find that statement at a number of websites that offer great prices. Just go to www.heliproz.com and you'll find a lot of products being sold for less than the list price, however you must call or email to get the actual price. They aren't allowed to advertise the lower prices. This applies to all brands.

Dauntae

JR is great BUT Horrizon sucks, They are the ones pulling all this crap, The LHS has a great owner that also flies at my club time to time and gives the guys in my club deals (real great prices you can't beat on the net ) and one of the guys wanted a Funtana BUT at the time Horrizon would only sell him one in package form with a saito 72, (He already had a few on the shelf ) But my friend had a YS sitting there waiting for a plane. I don't know if Horizon has a new guy in charge but they are now starting to $c%*w themselves and people are buying other brands that Horrizon does not control. I guess pushing people to the competitors is there new way of buisiness. Wish they would get a clue.

Dauntae

Flyfalcons

Just so you know, Tower/Great Planes does the same thing.

MajorTomski

So which would you rather have? A LHS that has to advertise (not sell) at an agreed to street price that lets him and the distributer make money. Or no LHS, and nothing but mail order? I think the agreement between the major distributors and the LHS's about minimum advertised price is the best thing to save this hobby being available to the majority of the country that can walk into a LHS. The original poster's site probably didn't read the fine print on the contract, and WHAHHHH I'm out of business because I can't play by the rules.

MTC

Crashem

Yeah Walk in to most LHS and walk out minus your shirt....

MAPs do not help the consumer don't be fooled. We've gotton so used to paying 4.00 for 2 tiny screws that some people actually think artificially fixed prices are good for the hobby

JohnW

My Feedback: (6)

My LSH is lame anyway. Just the other day I went to look for a Futaba RX on 72MHz. They didn't have a single one, at either store, and these are the flagship stores for a national chain??? Ha! Some "in house expert" then tried to sell me a dual converiosn RX on 75MHz with a single conversion crystal. I just walked out. I've tried to support my LHS, but they really are only interested in first time sales and high margin pokeman trading cards... guess I can't really balme 'em for chasing the almight dollar.

Price protection: It does seem a bit un-american as it circumvents free market, but as long as the company imposing the price protection doesn't have a monopoly on the market, it is legal. Any company can place restrictions on the sale of thier items via a contract. If the contract says you gotta resale for list, then that's what the contract says. Break the contract and the distributor can not only stop supplying you but they can sue you for damages too.

The whole problem with the LHS/Distributor "price war" is actually the distributor's fault, i.e. Horizon, Tower empire, etc. The importer/distributor/Mfg is in direct competition with those they distribute too. The distributor(s) sells via the web to the public, but then they also want to distribute wholesale. This is seriously AFU and is a major conflict of interest for the distributor. Be a distributor or be a retailer... not both.

jester125

I really wanted to buy my LT-40 kit at my LHS, ($83-tower/$140-LHS) I thought I could pick up some tips and a little simple friendly chat, but I just can't see spending $57.00 more for tips and chit chat when I get it free here. Also I saw a Futaba radio I wanted more than $75 more than Tower had it for. They are really nice people over there but I think I'll stick to price shopping the bigger stores for my larger purchases like kits, radios etc and use my LHS for my smaller more frequent purchases like wood,covering, fuel, glue etc.

my op
chris

Varad

Yeah horizon sucks. Their stuff is good though. But c'mon. who wants to pay 30 dollars for a standard no BB servo. No sales, "seasonal" flyers, and way overpriced.

Varad

Wait seriously from that link. This is MONOPOLY!!!!