Secret Prices

[kellys_eye]

What gives??

I've emailed a couple of companies for prices of items (six companies to be exact) and each and every one of them have failed to send me their price list.... instead all I get are messages that 'someone will call to discuss prices with you'.

If I wanted a PHONE CALL I'd have fcuking asked for one. I want PRICES, not a discussion on them. Are their prices SECRET FFS?

[ayjay]

They want you to think it's the "personal touch", in reality they expect it to be more likely that they will make a sale by talking to you direct.

..........or, depending on what it is, they may be unused to selling to a private individual instead of a company.

I'd probably email back your second paragraph.

[Inky Pete]

Lots of companies don't like sending out their price lists wholesale, if they don't know how many items or what quantities you might be after then they're only going to be able to issue "list" prices rather than offer a discount for bulk or a deal on delivery.

They also probably don't want their whole price list ending up on some price comparison website without the opportunity to optimise it for that particular site's typical customer.

[kellys_eye]

I'm aware that the phone call is their technique to get a hard-sell opportunity going and I'm equally aware that they might have issues with revealing 'company secrets' (wtf???) but they all act as if they couldn't give a flying fcuk if they sold something or not. What kind of business are they running when they are (basically) afraid to tell someone what their products cost?

There is such a thing as their retail price list and if I was to purchase thousands of whatever then I'd expect to see a discount (negotiable of course) but they MUST have a price list that they can let ANYONE see without fear of going under......

Besides, no one in their right mind would purchase from the first company to send a price list as EVERYONE would do a price comparison before proceeding and surely these companies are aware of that fact?

I've sought prices for packaging, packaging machinery, processing equipment, you name it and not ONE of the six companies I've approached has even arsed themselves to give me a SINGLE number with a £ sign attached.

The rate I'm going I'll be giving an order to the first company that just plays it straight with me no matter what they ask! Just to give the finger to the utter cretins that seem to think 'secret prices' will get them more business.

Fcuking idiots.

[Colour Republic]

is this a trade price list you're after or some retail list... for like handbags or something?

[kellys_eye]

I'm after prices for packaging and equipment associated with it. I even specified the actual quantities I wanted and the item part number straight from their own website! Result? - SFA......

[Pooneil]

for like handbags or something?

What are you implying?

As ayjay said, they want your details on record for a possible hard sell later.

After a lot of nonsense trying to get quotes for under floor heating, and finally giving up, I had a guy from one company turn up at my door to 'follow up' on the price they gave. I explained that what they had priced for didn't match our needs he gave me some old waffle and left a brochure. Inside the brochure was a laminated price list with a table of prices, and on that table was the exact price they gave me... right down to the final 62 pence.

[Someone-Else]

my2p worth:



I own a website that sells buttons.
You ask for a price list of all that I supply
I send you a price list
You look at it and choose the buttons
You are happy because you have some buttons
I am happy because I sold you some buttons and made some money on the way.

That's what most folk think is what happens.

The truth is you looked at the price list and chose the cheapest buttons (or 2nd cheapest)
But what you don't realise is, there is a better quality button that will not break as easily as the button you have chosen, that will last much longer and yes it does cost slightly more, but in overall money terms it is better value.

Because I sent you a price list and YOU chose and after a while the buttons break, you will think I am a bad supplier and tell everyone I am a bad supplier.

By NOT sending you a price list, and communicating with you, I can find out which button best suits your needs, sell you that one and you really will be happy.

That is why some companies will not send you a price list.



I agree, that if it is your run of the mill item that everyone sells then the above can be ignored, and yes some companies just want to sell you anything, and won't quit until you buy it, but a genuine caring company should not send you a price list.

No, I don't have a website that sells buttons or anything else for that matter, it was just an example I used.

[kellys_eye]

Damn - I was after some buttons too......

[Laird]

Kelly - I can connect you with a first rate manufacturer/supplier of packaging machinery, processing equipment, food and dairy equipment etc. They do everything from individual items to processing lines to turnkey plants. I have worked with them a lot, and have bought from them a lot.
PM me with what you are looking for and I'll give you background info and connect you directly so you can take it from there.

[thescruff]

The utilities are the same, you phone one up and ask how much per Kw.

They want the meter reference number etc, and they have all the information about how much you are paying at the moment. Don't give them the number and they wont give you a price.

Another con is looking around for prices, car insurance for example, get a price say 200 quid, check out a few more, then when you go back the 200 quid has gone up to say 230quid. log out and clear the cookies and it goes back down to 200 quid again.

[ultimatehandyman]

This reminds me of some drill bits that I wanted to start selling and marketing. They are quite specialist bits and not many people know much about them.

I contacted the firm that makes them and sent them an email asking how much the drill bits were and what quantity discounts are available.

They sent me an email back asking if I wanted to market them under their name or another name, so I told them it would be another name as nobody has heard of their name.

They told me this was good for them as they already had a UK distributor, they then asked me how many I wanted to buy, at this point I gave up and thought f*ck it. I really can’t be arsed dealing with people who mess around and ask stupid questions.

If he had answered my original question of “asking how much the drill bits were and what quantity discounts are available”, I would have been able to tell him how many I would have bought for the first order.

[scot-canuck]

I suppose Chez that if you say had said "how many can you supply" that said person would have grabbed their boss and gotten some strings pulled.
I know one company I worked for, if someone placed a massive order for stuff, then the discount limits could be and were ignored and the sales manager would do the deal himself as he had the clout to authorise any discounts and the trust with regional to justify the level of discount offered.

Its difficult to know how to phrase things and they bungled it by the sounds of things.

What sort of drill bits were they anyway?

[kellys_eye]

I can associate with the possible problems with discounts as we had a customer that wanted an order for 5,000 units delivered in 1,000 increments. They got the 5k discount price, took delivery of the first 1k (sort of...) and then reneged on the rest of the order - tw@ts. We had the last laugh though as the initial 1,000 delivery was SHORT (our suppliers messed us around) and the customer hadn't counted their delivery! just emailed us saying they 'didn't want any more'....

well, the customer is always right - we DIDN'T send them any more

@ Laird - thanks for the offer. Despite my moans we've finally got what we wanted.

[ultimatehandyman]

I suppose Chez that if you say had said "how many can you supply" that said person would have grabbed their boss and gotten some strings pulled.
I know one company I worked for, if someone placed a massive order for stuff, then the discount limits could be and were ignored and the sales manager would do the deal himself as he had the clout to authorise any discounts and the trust with regional to justify the level of discount offered.

Its difficult to know how to phrase things and they bungled it by the sounds of things.

What sort of drill bits were they anyway?

Ones that will drill hardened steel.

I'll be making a video in the next couple of weeks once I get my workshop in some kind of order