Discounts?

[petercooman]

If I do large orders, i normally ask if there is a discount involved for the shipping.

For example, here in belhium, the postage cost goes by weight, to a certain weight, and everything after that is the same postage cost. So i ask if large orders take that into consideration. On small orders i don't really expect it.

I will sometimes order something if there is a discount mentioned on the site though, like buy 2 get a 3rd free. But that's something different, they state there is a discount, you don't ask for it.

[petercooman]

While I don't ask for discounts, I'll watch for them - or free postage, etc - and preferentially shop there. I'll also boost a purchase just to reach a stated breakpoint, sometimes even if it increases the total spend!  

I do this too. I rather pay, for example, 15 more to avoid 10 shipping. My reasoning is, if i would pay 10 shipping, i don't have anything once the order arrives. If i pay the 15 extra and get free shipping, the 10 that i would have spend on the shipping otherwise, now gives me something in return. So that's profit for me! SWMBO thinks otherwise though.

[Roy]

Whoops! Forgot to answer Leon's questions, before. My answers may be considered blunt, but truthful (or even, just Yorkshire).

- Do you ever ask for discount on your gaming goodies?
No. Wouldn't dream of it. If I was the seller and someone asked it of me, I'd actually tell them to F' off and to Hell with their trade. If I (as the seller) offered a discount, I'd have advertised the fact!

- Is there a certain value of order that you expect a discount on?  (Over £50, over £100, etc)
No. Free postage, after a certain purchase price, is nice though.

- Should a discount be expected on larger orders?
No. You don't get a discount from a grocers or a shoe shop if you buy normal priced items in large quantities, so why should a wargames company be any different.

- How much discount makes it worthwhile?
I reckon, at least, 10% being the norm, in these situations - this based on seeing what other companies offer.

[Ithoriel]

- Should a discount be expected on larger orders?
No. You don't get a discount from a grocers or a shoe shop if you buy normal priced items in large quantities, so why should a wargames company be any different.

Trust me, you're doing it wrong

"Let's do the dance of ... finaance."

[Leon]

Lots of interesting points so far!  

...if they are offering any reduction it's because they already have it built in to their profit margin.

Having worked in Nigeria where haggling is the norm, we would just price our goods higher than we expected to sell them, so when haggled down we would still get the price we wanted.

This is certainly something I think happens with the bigger companies, as they have to price their stuff at a level that allows for the wholesale business.  GW offer something like 32%/35%/38% I think depending on what size orders you place and how often you place them, so they must still be able to turn a profit on those sales.  

Conversely, our stuff just isn't priced that way at all.  Before the price increase, roughly 70p out of every £1 went in bills (unit, metal, VAT, staff, etc).  The remaining 30p is me and Dave's wages.  So if we knock 10% off an order, we've lost a third of our wages.  15% discount, half our wages gone.  On trade orders, which we don't do a lot of, we actually lost money, but they've given us good visibility in countries like the US and have built a customer base there who often start buying from us direct instead.  The recent price increase should improve those numbers and give us a bit more leeway.

The only thing I look for occasionally is free P&P over a certain amount of goods purchased. That's about it think

Of all the incentives it's the free P&P that tends to get my trigger - and spend a bit more - oh £5 short of the line, oh well nother pack then

No. Free postage, after a certain purchase price, is nice though.

Free postage is something we've looked at a few times, or at least a maximum charge level.  Our shipping rates tend to be quite accurate on most orders, but on really large packages, especially international ones, we can usually get a courier for a lot less than what has been charged to the customer.  In those instances, we contact the customers and work something out with them.

We, the unidentifiable bits in the Pendraken Tutti Frutti (gosh, haven't done one of those for ages) don't appear to be clamouring for a discount. Nor indeed is there much groaning about the upcoming price rises. If you are thinking about a discount scheme, make sure it benefits Pendraken. I'm sure we (the blind kittens hanging off the Pendraken teat) want Pendraken to prosper more than we want discounts.    

Thanks for this (and the other folks who've said similar, albeit less poetically...!), we always appreciate the positive feedback we get from everyone.

I do think Wargames Club discounts, or Society discounts are a good thing. But only if such organisations combined spending justifies the discount.

We do offer a number of discounts to the larger societies, so Pike and Shotte, Lance and Longbow, Soc. of 20th C. Wargamers, etc.  The discounts are always on orders over £50.  We don't get that many people taking advantage of them though, whether that's because they don't ask or because we just don't get many society customers, I don't know.

However, you should see me haggle over the price of a car, particularly what a dealer offers me in 'exchange' as I always do my homework first.

That's an interesting point though, are cars one of those areas that British folks are OK to haggle over?  I know in other countries it's certainly more common, but we're quite reserved in the UK.  I've haggled over cars myself, but that's about the only purchase I've done it on.  I always feel embarrassed to ask anyone else.

Defining the size of order is difficult.  Is a Customer who spends £10 a month worth less than the person who orders £120 once a year?  

I think some companies would say yes to that, but it's not something I'd agree with.  If you've ordered one pack or a hundred, you've chosen to come and spend your money with us and that's just as much appreciated as the next customer.

If the £100 order is for Army packs that are already discounted, or the order is fiddly then absolutely not.

We do discount our army packs by around 10%, not so much for the time involved as it's almost the same as doing them individually, but it does encourage people to spend that little bit more.  It's also a lot easier to take those to the shows than haul multiple packs of 3500 codes around the country!

You served me after him and I remember you were rightly very annoyed.  I think your anwer should have been £6 or   @~#* Off

That's right, I remember now!  It was right at the end of the day I think, and he claimed he could get them cheaper at another stand down the aisle, even though I was the only person at the show carrying those products...!

For example, here in belhium, the postage cost goes by weight, to a certain weight, and everything after that is the same postage cost. So i ask if large orders take that into consideration. On small orders i don't really expect it.

That's interesting on the postal rates, as in the UK they increase quite dramatically as the package gets bigger.  Once you get upto 15-20kg it starts to level out, but anything international can be a nightmare to ship.  500g upto 1kg packages to Australia is about £12 I think, so we usually lose money on the small-mid range Aus/NZ orders.  Anything over 2kg is pointless sending through Royal Mail as it's extortionate, so we have to move to couriers on those ones.

No. You don't get a discount from a grocers or a shoe shop if you buy normal priced items in large quantities, so why should a wargames company be any different.

Again, a very good point.  Do people ever ask for discount when they do their weekly shop in Tesco, or when you've had your car repaired by the garage, or when you've gone out for a meal somewhere.  I know some of these places will offer various deals all the time, but these are often the companies/corporations declaring 100's of millions in profit every year, yet people feel more at ease asking for discount from a small business making just enough to get by.

[Leman]

He is Scottish you know.

[Leman]

He is Scottish you know.

Leon stuck a massive post in before I could send mine.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

I like nothing better than watching local (local) small shop owners faces when they say "£2:80!" And I say "No, call it £3 for cash!"

[Ithoriel]

Yes, especially like the look on charity shop workers faces when they realise I'm haggling them up not down :-)

I've done deals on things with Tesco. It's harder work with them than it's really worth most of the time though :-)

With haggling you need to pick your moment and deal with the right level of staff.

I've sweet talked the people discounting the nearly-out-of-date stuff to knock a bit extra off things I wanted and I've talked managers into letting me have things that were clearly just taking up shelf space a bit cheaper. Staff in between don't really have the lee way to do deals in my experience.

I've also persuaded restaurants to knock a bit off the bill or give us something extra if there's been a glitch.

"I'm sorry, sir, your table will be ready in five minutes."
"No problem, we'll just sit over there 'til you're ready. I'm sure you could rustle up a couple of cocktails for us to help us while away the time."

[petercooman]

That's interesting on the postal rates, as in the UK they increase quite dramatically as the package gets bigger.  Once you get upto 15-20kg it starts to level out, but anything international can be a nightmare to ship.  500g upto 1kg packages to Australia is about £12 I think, so we usually lose money on the small-mid range Aus/NZ orders.  Anything over 2kg is pointless sending through Royal Mail as it's extortionate, so we have to move to couriers on those ones.

Just had a looksie, the rates for national packages in belgium:

0-2kg : 5€
2-10 kg: 6€
10-30 kg : 10,50

And for example from belgium to the UK:

Everything up to 10 kg is 16,40€
Everything that is more is 39,69€

Off course you'll have to buy A LOT to get above 10kg.I think that would be several 100 worth of £ !!

Actually it's the jiffy bags that cost us more:

0 g - 100 g :  3,69 €
+ 100 g - 350 g:  7,38 €
350 g - 1 kg:  12,30 €
1 kg - 2 kg:  24,60 €   

So when over one kg, you are better off putting it in a box 


Edit:These are all prices for regular costumers, companies get a discount based on volume i think.

[petercooman]

 500g upto 1kg packages to Australia is about £12 I think, so we usually lose money on the small-mid range Aus/NZ orders.  Anything over 2kg is pointless sending through Royal Mail as it's extortionate, so we have to move to couriers on those ones.

Looked that one up and that's 15,60 € for us upto 1 kg

[Womble67]

My personal take on discounts is I'd never ask for one but its nice when the vender puts a little something in your order. Maybe only a couple of extra figures but that for me is a really nice touch.

Take care

Andy

[Heedless Horseman]

At 'Border Reiver', I used to GO for the 6 for 5 offer from a major stand...used to think; "What else could I want to flesh the buy out with?" !!! I now have piles of stuff that I may never get round to doing anything with...still, I enjoyed the feeling of getting something cheap, and at £12.00 or £6.50 an item, it was worth it.   
I think it just depends on the spend. On the internet, buying is addictive so small buys more often mean that discounts are less important than service and quality for 'regular' wants...however, for major buys such as a 25mm battalion, I would wait for a 'sale'.
A lot also depends on the product supplier. Stuff imported from the USA  is more expensive, it often comes in larger packs and shipping to the vendor means bulk buys are more are more attractive at sale price. For producers like PenD, I think the quality and service are more value...and for smaller outfits, gamers just want the firm to keep in business for the future.
The odd extra figure in a bag is a good find...there are suppliers who sell short and, if it is a frequent occurrence, you wonder whether it is just a slip or intentional.      This can be a turn off if a missing figure was essential to complete a unit. For REALLY small items like mgs or 1/285 turrets, extra bits are almost essential as deformed mouldings and 'fiddly losses' can be a major disappointment.
PenD is doing it right by me!   

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

When I used to live in Shrewsbury the 'Marcher' show once did a discount on Mars Bars, buy 1 for 25p, 2 for 50p!
The amount of people who bought 2 because they were on offer!!

[FierceKitty]

And God said, "Let there be idiots."

[Roy]

Buy one for the price of two. And get another free!

I think all Pendraken Orders should be despatched with a hand-drawn, stick figure drawing included!
To save on costs, drawings scrawled upon old newspapers would be acceptable 



I'll stop now, as I'm just being silly 

[Tawa]

Discounts you say?

Heh, if I get given a discount on a decent-sized order, bargain! I'll probably spend that saving on more toys anyway. I'm not one to expect or go looking for a discount though

[Ithoriel]

When I used to live in Shrewsbury the 'Marcher' show once did a discount on Mars Bars, buy 1 for 25p, 2 for 50p!
The amount of people who bought 2 because they were on offer!!

Local supermarket had a "deal" last year, 1ltr fruit juice 95p or 2 for £2. Cashier couldn't understand why I wanted them put through separately when they were part of a deal. Worse still, the two ladies behind me in the queue hadn't realised, until they saw what I was doing, that anything was wrong with the deal!

[d_Guy]

Sorry for the late entry - not sure I'm adding anything new.
Do you ever ask for discount on your gaming goodies?
No - I haggle for unique items in flea markets and antique stores (where often the markups are outrageous to allow for haggling)
For 10mm stuff in particular I want everyone to stay in business and assume everything is priced to do just that.

Is there a certain value of order that you expect a discount on?  (Over £50, over £100, etc)
I don't expect it - I have already overcome the psychological barrier that prevents me parting with my money. If a manufacturer wants to gift me with a few more things to stick in my order that is just gravy! This happens sometime for really large orders but I have no expectations of it.

Should a discount be expected on larger orders?
See above - although frequency of orders might be another consideration - or for those ranges that are not at the moment popular.

How much discount makes it worthwhile?
Well that's like asking how big a coin does it need to be to bend down and pick up?  I pick it all up even when it only looks like it might be a coin. So anything you want to give me that doesn't hurt your bottom line I'm happy to receive

I like the Army Packs that Pendraken offers - a great way to jump into a period and with a built in discount.
A competitor sells an annual membership for  $50 - which gets you about 25% of everything they sell. So if you are buying over .$250 per year it's worth it.

Shipping to the States is expensive but I view it as punishment for not living in Britian😀
I have no idea if you add a handling charge.

Me - I hope you guys are going strong when I have joined the pool of souls.
Just waiting for the dang stone walls to be in inventory so I can order them and some FPW army packs. 😀

[WeeWars]

On Saturday, at my first outing selling at a wargames show:

Customer: Am I your first customer?

Me: No.

Customer: Can I have a discount for being your first customer?

Me: On a £1 purchase?