"You're paying cash for a D3s body and you want a discount, sir?"

Flash In The Pan

Flash In The Pan

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I thought I'd try a little experiment and see if there were any deals to be done for a cash purchase of a D3s body from any of the high street retailers, after all we're talking used car prices here and there are always discounts to be had there...:naughty:

Now,there only are two camera shops in Glasgow that carry anything at this level so the results may not be indicative of what discounts can be had elsewhere in the country, but anyway.....

First up was Jacobs, the offer of cash produced what I thought was a somewhat poor reduction of £17 off the near £3600 ticket price, on the proviso that I was ready to buy there and then, however this looked decidedly generous when the Jessops' sales assistant came back with an offer to match their web deal - which worked out at a discount of 19 pence off the shelf price :lol:

Has anyone else been offered such a small discount on such an expensive item?
 
I tend to suspect that one reason used car dealers discount for cash is that they can then 'forget' to tell HMRC about it at tax return time - not likely that jacobs or jessops would go that route.

the most a camera shop will save by you paying cash is the card processing fee which ist exactly high - and they may even prefer not to have thousands of pounds in cash on the premises.
 
Isn't Card safer than cash nowadays?

That maybe the reason.
 
big soft moose said:
I tend to suspect that one reason used car dealers discount for cash is that they can then 'forget' to tell HMRC about it at tax return time - not likely that jacobs or jessops would go that route.

the most a camera shop will save by you paying cash is the card processing fee which ist exactly high - and they may even prefer not to have thousands of pounds in cash on the premises.
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By "cash" I mean not on finance, go into a high-end watch shop and on a £3600 Rolex or similar you'll get 15% off if you're not buying on credit. There's very little chance, even in the motor trade these days of "losing" a sale, there's always going to be a paper trail....
 
Is there not a Jessops employee on here that could check what the trade buying price is.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
By "cash" I mean not on finance, go into a high-end watch shop and on a £3600 Rolex or similar you'll get 15% off if you're not buying on credit. There's very little chance, even in the motor trade these days of "losing" a sale, there's always going to be a paper trail....
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But they want you to buy it on finance as they will make more money that way - hence no discount.
 
simonw said:
But they want you to buy it on finance as they will make more money that way - hence no discount.
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Jessops do 0% APR finance, so could you explain how they're making more money that way? If I give them £3600 in "cash" or 12 payments of £300 they still only get £3600, in fact with the finance they get less as the credit company have to get their pound of flesh too......
 
But the finance company get a referral so they can try and give you more credit in the future
 
mattyg said:
But the finance company get a referral so they can try and give you more credit in the future
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I'm pretty sure that the finance company won't be working on zero profit on the hope that they might one day in the future get some business out of the customer.

There's no such thing as "free" or "zero per cent" finance, on something like the D3s there'll be at least £300 and probably nearer £500 going the way of the credit company, so I don't see why the retailer can't use that money as a discount on non-credit sales.

As I said previously, that's the way it works with watches....
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Jessops do 0% APR finance, so could you explain how they're making more money that way? If I give them £3600 in "cash" or 12 payments of £300 they still only get £3600, in fact with the finance they get less as the credit company have to get their pound of flesh too......
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Because the finance company will pay Jessops a kick-back for the finance sign up.

Interest bearing earns an even bigger kick-back.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Jessops do 0% APR finance, so could you explain how they're making more money that way? If I give them £3600 in "cash" or 12 payments of £300 they still only get £3600, in fact with the finance they get less as the credit company have to get their pound of flesh too......
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One would have to look closely at the actual deal. Often these 0% interest have a redemption fee or take up fee which is actually the interest under another name. I' don't know if this is the case with Jessops.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
... that's the way it works with watches....
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:thinking: I can see it now - "Camera watches" we've had the calculator watch & now soon to hit the shops is a "camera watch" :lol:

Sorry Graham couldn't resist :coat: :exit:
 
To be honest its crap how camera shops are not prepared to drop the price for a sale there and then. I have had decent discounts from anything from washers to fish tanks...only time I managed it with a camera was by buying it from comet who knocked £50 off the price of a 500D. Jessops wouldnt budge so lost the business. A small local retailer wouldnt budge either. Yes i know the comet obviously had more buying power so the cost price is cheaper to them but IMO retailers have to be prepared to bend a little in these times.
 
Interest free finance can queer the pitch.....eg:

£3600 interest free

£3500 cash

therefore it is not interest free - it's costing at least another £100

You aren't going to get the camera at £3500 on interest free credit - the interest free bit is supposed to be the deal clincher.
 
I asked in Jessops in Glasgow when about to buy a D700 if I could get a discount if I bought other bits with it.

The guy told me that sometimes they could sell stuff for trade price, but that sometimes this price was actually above what they were selling it for; but he could not confirm to me until after I had bought the D700. I am not the cleverest guy so I left confused - minus the D700 :)
 
I think the market is so competive now, with internet sellers and importers, that these shops have cut there prices to as low as they can go and hope to make there money selling you filters and memory cards etc.

Stuart
 
also a weegie with that much cash ? they probably think you've been robbing banks :lol:
 
As a BT employee I checked out the price of a Canon 550d with kit lens for my daughter at BT Shop and the employee discount worked out at a massive £1.87

Wow, thanks very much, can see how you value my 36 years service then
 
As an aside, I'd love to know what the mark up on camera gear is, I've tried many times to get discounts. Even when I bought my 400mm f2.8 bearing mind it cost £6500 the dealer had a display model that anyone could play with, he offers me £50 off!
 
Ahh the old "how much for cash" question. I can honestly say that to a business regardless of what they are trading, if they are legit it makes no odds at all whether its cash, debit card, finance, postal orders or even cattle. With cash though its actually a pain as you then need to go to the bank with it etc etc. Cards are much easier, aside from Amex which normally carries a horrific merchant transaction fee.

As has been said already, margins are down across the board at the moment especially as the market needs to be competitive against imports (or as competitive as it can be). Profit is not a dirty word, in fact without profit what is the point in having a shop with actual overheads like staff, rent, utilities etc when you might as well set up on t'internet at sellingcamerasfromthespareroom.com and earn a couple of quid out of each transaction and hope for the volume.

The percentage that you get off really is irrelevent, in fact if somone can afford to give you a massive percentage off it means they had a greedy heavily loaded margin to start with or its something that they have had knocking about and have sold off of and been able to write the numbers back. The first Navitimer I bought had been in a cabinet for 6 months and 3 had been sold off of it, 5% off each went into depreciate the display one so they sold it to me with a healthy discount and still made money.

And finally trade prices are just that - a price for the bona fida trade. The average Joe should never get a trade price, its for someone buying a decent quantity or to actually trade with them. The whole idea of a trade price is that someone else takes up the responsibility for service. You only need one issue to wipe out margin from a trade sale. 3 bodies you make margin from volume. I would have also thought that Nikon and Canon probably have a target based rebate scheme set up with their dealers, so if they shift a certain volume or number of untits a retrospective discount is applied to them. I would question anyone that is willing to offer deals to include this as it is never guarenteed and should commercially be an added bonus/incentive.
 
tijuana taxi said:
As a BT employee I checked out the price of a Canon 550d with kit lens for my daughter at BT Shop and the employee discount worked out at a massive £1.87

Wow, thanks very much, can see how you value my 36 years service then
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Yep a whole 19p a YEAR!!!... And what do they make a second something in the 1000's aint it :shrug:
 
big soft moose said:
also a weegie with that much cash ? they probably think you've been robbing banks :lol:
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Now you come to mention it :police: :lol:

cw318is said:
Ahh the old "how much for cash" question. I can honestly say that to a business regardless of what they are trading, if they are legit it makes no odds at all whether its cash, debit card, finance, postal orders or even cattle.
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Perhaps, but a sale is a sale and photographic equipment is the only area where I've found that offering to pay up front for something expensive hasn't elicited some sort of discount...:shrug:
 
Stop being such a tight wad and buy one Graham..............:D
 
Flash In The Pan said:
....... Anyway, you can pretty much guarantee as soon as I buy one the D4 will be announced :bang::lol:
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By the time you buy - there will prob be a Nikon D6,7,8+ :p

Get ya wallet out - seems that we all like spending other members money so go on you know you want tooo..

:thinking: Then again If you like the set up & functions of it then why wait for the next possible upgrade :shrug:
 
That is my outlook on the subject Graham. D700 is enough for me.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
:lol: probably, trouble is another D700 would do the job almost as well, for a lot less :suspect:
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Is it a case of "in need of one" or just "you want one" :shrug:
If another D700 does the trick/job for a lot less then then why not save your pennies (an get some more glass or even treat the family :lol:)
 
Trig's said:
Is it a case of "in need of one" or just "you want one" :shrug:
If another D700 does the trick/job for a lot less then then why not save your pennies (an get some more glass or even treat the family :lol:)
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For what I want it for the extra low-light capabilities would be handy, but I'm not sure they'd be an extra £2000 (against a used D700) or so more useful....
 
Yup I am at the same crossroads although the double memory slots would be welcome extra security. The D700 is a great camera always impressed with the results, but the D3s eats extra carrots.:love: but you do pay for it.

Choices choices, don't hold your breath for the D4:bang:
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Perhaps, but a sale is a sale and photographic equipment is the only area where I've found that offering to pay up front for something expensive hasn't elicited some sort of discount...:shrug:
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I guess it's a fully informed market.

There is literally no difference between buying a D3S at one shop or another or buying it online. If there's a problem it's unlikely that the store will fix it (and it may actually be easier to return online - distance selling and all that). With your Rolex you get a lot more confidence that it's not fake or stolen and get to try on the actual one you are buying etc. Also Rolex shops pretty much only sell high ticket items so they need a decent markup. Camera shops have filters etc to pad the bottom line so they can make tiny profits on cameras.

So margins are very very thin. I believe they are less than 10% but that's a guess based on out of date numbers. Computer market is actually similar IIRC average COGS profit on a desktop at PCWorld used to be around 5% or less. That's discounting staff and building costs. There's just no fat to cut.

As for paying actual cash....most high street stores have very little. And their insurance probably won't cover a lot. So £3K cash on a Saturday afternoon is actually a cost for them.
 
JonathanRyan said:
I guess it's a fully informed market.

There is literally no difference between buying a D3S at one shop or another or buying it online. If there's a problem it's unlikely that the store will fix it (and it may actually be easier to return online - distance selling and all that). With your Rolex you get a lot more confidence that it's not fake or stolen and get to try on the actual one you are buying etc. Also Rolex shops pretty much only sell high ticket items so they need a decent markup. Camera shops have filters etc to pad the bottom line so they can make tiny profits on cameras.

So margins are very very thin. I believe they are less than 10% but that's a guess based on out of date numbers. Computer market is actually similar IIRC average COGS profit on a desktop at PCWorld used to be around 5% or less. That's discounting staff and building costs. There's just no fat to cut.

As for paying actual cash....most high street stores have very little. And their insurance probably won't cover a lot. So £3K cash on a Saturday afternoon is actually a cost for them.
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Perhaps, but both Jessops and Jacobs offer 3% (and occasionally 6%) cashback through the likes of Quidco for both online and collect-at-store sales, so you'd think that at least would be available.....
 
From what I've heard - Jessops make very little on their bodies. I know their staff can buy at trade + VAT, but I've heard sometimes it's cheaper to buy online.

I don't work for Jessops, and never have. It's just what I've heard from a friend who happens to manage a Jessops.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Perhaps, but both Jessops and Jacobs offer 3% (and occasionally 6%) cashback through the likes of Quidco for both online and collect-at-store sales, so you'd think that at least would be available.....
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Yes topcashback is another site that offers 3.03% for online/collection purchases from Jessops.
 
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