- Thread starter
- #181
I would be shooting for $600U.S. shipped. And to speed up the process. We are at 50 units - so id be shooting to see what size batches can be produced fast: ie. 10-15 every week etc
Marlin Crawler Low Range Gears Group Buy
- Thread starter bugsnbikes
- Start date
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i'd be in for two at that priceIs that $600 USD or $600 AUD for the Mark's set?
$600 AUD would be great as that currently translates to $455 U.S. I've been dealing with the Aussies a lot lately, and their products, pricing, and service have been top notch!
bluecruiser
SILVER Star
@bugsnbikes , did you float this potential GB by Nitro Gear & Axle? They sell (used to?) sell the TC Gear.
Would there be an option to get a deal on Mark's part time kit? I would prefer to have it with out the AVM hubs.
Hey Guys, Dave has been looking at the numbers on this group buy.
We do not have the room in our cost for a 200 dollar discount.
We have now put the Gears and the Spools on a 10% Sale.
Also as the demand for these has been great in the last few months so we placed a special order and are having more than our normal production made for us but may take 1-2 months for the extra shipment to arrive.
If you have any questions please call me 5592527295 or email mitchell@marlincrawler.com
We do not have the room in our cost for a 200 dollar discount.
We have now put the Gears and the Spools on a 10% Sale.
Also as the demand for these has been great in the last few months so we placed a special order and are having more than our normal production made for us but may take 1-2 months for the extra shipment to arrive.
If you have any questions please call me 5592527295 or email mitchell@marlincrawler.com
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We do not offer free shipping sorry,
But this will qualify for 1/2 off shipping if you use the website.
But this will qualify for 1/2 off shipping if you use the website.
bummer, guess i'll wait a couple years.
I get margins and as a business owner I get not wanting to sell something so close to cost that you essentially make nothing and in the long run ends up costing you due to taxes. But with the number of people listed I would have expected something a little more customer service minded than hey guys, looks like 10% is what ya get. I would also venture to say that a discussion with the manufacture about a group buy would warrant a potential discount from them(not sure, but possible) which would allow you to run a group buy price around 650 which isn't much more over your "10% off".
My guess honestly is you are not wanting to have market flood which will cause the price of you new product to have to drop over the next 6 months to a year. I would venture to say that 10-15% of us that buy on a group buy will never install and it will sit on a shelf which will end up back here on mud after a year, a baby, or a sale of a cruiser. That happening would "flood" the used market and slow down production/ purchasing from your company.
Now, I completely understand not giving handouts. Just think a better response than above could have be drafted to respond to the 50+ people who lined up for a set. Honestly I would have paid 650 for a set. Everyone likes a deal and once you factor in shipping 10% isn't enough to pull a sale. We are talking 30+K in sales almost overnight with this one.
You guys make and sell the best. This is in no way meant to be angry, or mad at your company. It is excellent. Just thought I should send you some feedback that could help for future potential group buy things. Good luck in your ventures and I do hope to own a set of your low range gears eventually.
Tommy
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Conversely, I would argue that it was a poorly put together group buy. A vendor was shoved into a corner and now they are the bad guy for not giving you all, or even most, of what was drawn out of the air. I don't blame Marlin for handling it this way, their business seems to be fine and there is no reason to give the masses a fire sale if it isn't warranted. Same with Mark's, the $600 inc shipping number is like a 35% (or $315) discount.
Just saying, as someone who has also owned a business, I'd be upset that someone threw out a number without talking to me first and now everyone will be upset/disappointed/let down (insert whatever word you choose) if I'm not close to matching it. Rather, I would want them to contact me first, discuss participant numbers and discount tiers, then throw it out there. This latter method seems to work the best from what I have observed.
I agree completely. Every point you make is accurate. The group buy was organized poorly, and from the sounds of it family issues stepped in causing it to linger on. I don't think it was purposeful on the part of the organizer to pin the company, but it did happen and I agree it wasn't the best.
If you read my post it was simply a critique of their response. They said the right thing in the wrong way in my opinion. Which is just that, an opinion. I think they could have handled it better. But I am sure their are times my clients/customers could have been treated better so I am guilty of it too. I didn't intend my critique to be negative... Just an old man armchair internetting... I think Marlin is top notch and will still buy from them and suggest them to others.
Dont forget EBI Cruisers is selling the (supposedly) same gears for $800CAD ($620ish USD)
Even after shipping you are still going to be way ahead. No group buy/overseas shipping needed.
Get crawling- 3.116 gear set for 80/81 owners (and you LX450 guys too)
Even after shipping you are still going to be way ahead. No group buy/overseas shipping needed.
Get crawling- 3.116 gear set for 80/81 owners (and you LX450 guys too)
- Thread starter
- #193
So No vendor was shoved into a corner.
some info for all:
Marlin is buying Japanese gears in U.S. dollars and if you look at how the yen is on fire vs. U.S. dollar
their costs are increasing dramatically. Hence the price they decided was comfortable for them to
offer to the group.
: conversely Marks is in Aussie dollars to USd which is $1.30 + and their gears are made locally in Aud.
Marks likely has room given our strong dollar to offer their gears at their given best price (albeit
seeing a 50 person somewhat "very interested" group of potential customers at a given pricepoint.
The goal of this group buy was simply to leverage purchasing power and let vendors decide where "their"pricepoint works for them. BOth Marks and Marlin were informed that Trailgear was offering a $299 option. THIS info was news to both Marks and Marlin ! IT was also news to both Marks and Marlin that there was so much (50+) buyer interest at a pricepoint double the trailgears $299 pricepoint !
With 50 people - at $600 - vendors are staring $30,000 of potential sales in the face. They can determine how much of that business they want and how to effectively compete for those dollars.
My goal in all of this was simply to help make a market more accurately priced with all vendors having all of the info they needed.
as i see it currently options are :
$299 Trailgear (was $499 not too long ago)
$719 Marlin (was $899 not too long ago)
$tbd Marks (was $1299 not to long ago)
$619 EBI ( didnt exist too long ago)
Marlin gears are Japanese made -Japanese dollars- weak U.S dollar to yen at present. Likely the highest quality gear near oem. Marlin currently has a few month lead time.
Marks Gears are Ausse Made - Aussie Dollar - relatively strong U.S. dollar to Aud at present. Marks was the orignator of low-gear options period. and all others have copied their offerings basically offering a better pricepint to their market making options. Very high quality- been selling since 2000. no returns they have seen. Marks lead time will be fairly short.
Trailgear is .chinese made - Chinese dollar - strongly devalued Yuan (1/6th of dollar) at present. Trailgear is Chinese made and offers the most competitve pricepoint by which all others are competing. quality is yet untested and may or may not be as good as the rest. Bash Chinese quality all u want.......but Budget offerings from China forces competition and typically customers end up winning with more choice/ better price. shipping now.
EBI - gears are (.?) made - Canadian dollar - relatively weak 1.30 to USD at present. Supposed same vendor in Japan that Marlin is sourcing. But not confirmed. Leveraging a weak canadian to usd dollar and a very competitive price. in stock now.
alot more info than we started with
alot more info for vendors than they started with
alot better prices for everyone involved
alot more options for everyone here
My apologies for running into family stuff but i did get all the info to vendors rather early in the game......its just they took quite some time to figure out how to handle pricing and delivery of such a large quantity production. i should have an answer from Marks fairly soon and im sure their website likely will reflect their pricepoint that they can offer. And ultimately everyone here can individually decide what gears and pricepoint works for them and order accordingly.
some info for all:
Marlin is buying Japanese gears in U.S. dollars and if you look at how the yen is on fire vs. U.S. dollar
their costs are increasing dramatically. Hence the price they decided was comfortable for them to
offer to the group.
: conversely Marks is in Aussie dollars to USd which is $1.30 + and their gears are made locally in Aud.
Marks likely has room given our strong dollar to offer their gears at their given best price (albeit
seeing a 50 person somewhat "very interested" group of potential customers at a given pricepoint.
The goal of this group buy was simply to leverage purchasing power and let vendors decide where "their"pricepoint works for them. BOth Marks and Marlin were informed that Trailgear was offering a $299 option. THIS info was news to both Marks and Marlin ! IT was also news to both Marks and Marlin that there was so much (50+) buyer interest at a pricepoint double the trailgears $299 pricepoint !
With 50 people - at $600 - vendors are staring $30,000 of potential sales in the face. They can determine how much of that business they want and how to effectively compete for those dollars.
My goal in all of this was simply to help make a market more accurately priced with all vendors having all of the info they needed.
as i see it currently options are :
$299 Trailgear (was $499 not too long ago)
$719 Marlin (was $899 not too long ago)
$tbd Marks (was $1299 not to long ago)
$619 EBI ( didnt exist too long ago)
Marlin gears are Japanese made -Japanese dollars- weak U.S dollar to yen at present. Likely the highest quality gear near oem. Marlin currently has a few month lead time.
Marks Gears are Ausse Made - Aussie Dollar - relatively strong U.S. dollar to Aud at present. Marks was the orignator of low-gear options period. and all others have copied their offerings basically offering a better pricepint to their market making options. Very high quality- been selling since 2000. no returns they have seen. Marks lead time will be fairly short.
Trailgear is .chinese made - Chinese dollar - strongly devalued Yuan (1/6th of dollar) at present. Trailgear is Chinese made and offers the most competitve pricepoint by which all others are competing. quality is yet untested and may or may not be as good as the rest. Bash Chinese quality all u want.......but Budget offerings from China forces competition and typically customers end up winning with more choice/ better price. shipping now.
EBI - gears are (.?) made - Canadian dollar - relatively weak 1.30 to USD at present. Supposed same vendor in Japan that Marlin is sourcing. But not confirmed. Leveraging a weak canadian to usd dollar and a very competitive price. in stock now.
alot more info than we started with
alot more info for vendors than they started with
alot better prices for everyone involved
alot more options for everyone here
My apologies for running into family stuff but i did get all the info to vendors rather early in the game......its just they took quite some time to figure out how to handle pricing and delivery of such a large quantity production. i should have an answer from Marks fairly soon and im sure their website likely will reflect their pricepoint that they can offer. And ultimately everyone here can individually decide what gears and pricepoint works for them and order accordingly.
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Thanks for the detailed update.
Mark's gears aren't $1299. You need to use the website, to see what taxes are /aren't charged ($1250 w/ Aussie taxes, $1136 when shipped overseas) and they have an excellent online portal that will calculate shipping. When I calculated it the other day, you were looking at $918 USD shipped to your door in the US. The group buy I just participated in bought from Oz, and the conclusion was it was much cheaper/convenient to pay for shipping directly from Oz, rather than drop a pallet at someone's house and then ship from there FYI.
- Thread starter
- #196
yes- i was going to suggest to Marks simply do a promo pricing in the $600 u.s shipped range and handle it all thru their website which is already set up to handle orders/shipping. Nick from Marks was going to speak with Mark and determine what price they are able to offer as well as how fast they can fulfill the 50ish demand.
No one is obligated to order and everyone can simply choose what vendor they want - price and delivery time works best for them.
My overall feeling is that each vendor simply has more info on the type of business they can expect given the interest expressed by 50ppl @$600 pricepoint.
I had no intention of pitting vendors against each other to come up with the best price - winner take all type lowball bidding.
- Marks has been fairly prolific in terms of its industry leading development for the community. Marks sounds like they can ramp up production rather fast- and if shipping isnt a hassle- is a great alternative.
- Marlin has also been upping their game for us 80 guys and has a solid crew of employee/enthusiasts sure to develop more goodies. Marlin has a very high quality Japanese cut gear and is local U.S. which has its advantages.
IMHO If both get alot more business......both should stand to reap some profits and hopefully are a little more aware/incentivised that the 80 community can and will support higher quality alternatives to Chinesium.
No one is obligated to order and everyone can simply choose what vendor they want - price and delivery time works best for them.
My overall feeling is that each vendor simply has more info on the type of business they can expect given the interest expressed by 50ppl @$600 pricepoint.
I had no intention of pitting vendors against each other to come up with the best price - winner take all type lowball bidding.
- Marks has been fairly prolific in terms of its industry leading development for the community. Marks sounds like they can ramp up production rather fast- and if shipping isnt a hassle- is a great alternative.
- Marlin has also been upping their game for us 80 guys and has a solid crew of employee/enthusiasts sure to develop more goodies. Marlin has a very high quality Japanese cut gear and is local U.S. which has its advantages.
IMHO If both get alot more business......both should stand to reap some profits and hopefully are a little more aware/incentivised that the 80 community can and will support higher quality alternatives to Chinesium.
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Thanks for the update but looks like it will be a while before they can decide IF they can provide the 600 dollar price point. Sooooo are we looking at 3 month out IF they are willing to sell at 600?
This is another reason chinesium is so prolific, they are available now at half the price. We can't even get a break on an existing product with this large group of people cash in hand. If any company wants to keep market share and compete with chinesium then they really should be more agile/responsive to customers' voice. At this rate chinesium is starting to look better......on second thought I'm fine with stock gear.
This is another reason chinesium is so prolific, they are available now at half the price. We can't even get a break on an existing product with this large group of people cash in hand. If any company wants to keep market share and compete with chinesium then they really should be more agile/responsive to customers' voice. At this rate chinesium is starting to look better......on second thought I'm fine with stock gear.
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+1 if mark offers a good deal.
Im from Aus and marks adapters are a very reputable company.
Im from Aus and marks adapters are a very reputable company.
- Thread starter
- #199
No one is going to have 50 units on the shelves- not even Chinesium versions. Its not like we are searching for starters or radiators.(wear items that vendors are constantly ordering and manufacturers are producing in batches of 10,000) We are talking about a specialty item that vendors may sell 50 in a year.
With that said- Marks will be able to have 40-50 in a matter of 3 weeks once they decide on price mainly because they are produced locally for them. Marlin orders thru a supplier in Japan and then ordered/ produced and shipped across the pond to Calif. which would explain the 6-8wk. wait.
For high quality and small batch custom product- its actually a fairly surprisingly short wait.
I just had a coworker get his chinesium cabon fibre bike fork with no wait........and it lasted a whopping 1 hr before he found a carbon layup crack and is now spending weeks warranteeing it and getting a replacement. When he finally gets his replacement- im sure he will be 4 weeks + into the process.........and have the sinking stomach feeling of 'hopium that his new chinesium doesnt fail and cause a hospital visit'
You are probably right, although knowing my peeps the Chinese version most likely will have a few hundred in stock. They don't do 50 units, that's just not how they role especially at certain price point. Getting tooling setup is a costly process and the rest is cheap.
I'm hoping Mark wil be able to do 600 plus reasonable shopping and I'll be all over that. I was promised by Marlin with 100 dollar off but never heard back since so we shall see.
