Retail Prices??

[Goose1972]

I've heard never buy a cue retail you can always do better. What's the retail markup. What's the best way to bargain.

What % should you expect to save by haggling.

At sbe some vendors wouldnt budge, others would, and others after they found out about sale said they woulda done better.

Want to make sure next year I go in with a plan.

 

[Cdryden]

I've heard never buy a cue retail you can always do better. What's the retail markup. What's the best way to bargain.

What % should you expect to save by haggling.

At sbe some vendors wouldnt budge, others would, and others after they found out about sale said they woulda done better.

Want to make sure next year I go in with a plan.

If you're talking new cues, I would say expect to pay close to retail.

If you're talking used than it's hard to say. You can pick up some really nice cues that are used at excellent prices. Some pool players tend to get desperate for cash and their cues become a form of short term currency.

My advice, know what you want and be patient. A good deal will come around sooner or later.

 

[Rocket354]

I agree with Cdryden about knowing what you want and being patient. I've overpaid a couple times because I found my "perfect" cue but the guy wouldn't budge on price...only to have another "perfect" cue at a better price become available a month later.

Retail on production cues is a mythical price that no one pays so that everyone can claim to have it on sale. Example: a Schon stl-1 (a great cue, btw). Retail is $595, but just try to find one that isn't listed for $475/476 or so. (that's 20% off, btw, the max places are allowed to discount).

You can haggle and some places will hook you up with a little more of a discount, but that's kinda hush hush .

For custom cues, retail is the maker's starting asking price. They can ask whatever they want so to some degree you can haggle, but you will usually pay close to what they originally ask. Their attitude (which I understand, and completely respect) is essentially, "I made this cue, this is what I want for it."

Contrary to popular belief, custom cues usually lose value on the secondary market. Not normally as bad as production cues, but I'm willing to bet 90%+ of custom cues' highest sale price is their initial sale price. Sometimes a maker jumps into the stratosphere of desirability for whatever reason and their cue values soar (Southwest, for example, Sugartree more recently, although the market for those has been declining a bit) and you can make money. But as a general rule I would treat buying a custom cue like buying a car: you lose 20% the moment you take it off the lot, so to speak.

 

[mikefeiman]

Just to provide some additional clarification on MSRP and MAP with regards to production cues. Manufacturers establish the MSRP (retail price) for every cue they sell. In most cases, the manufacturer also creates a MAP (minimum advertised price) price. This is the lowest price that an authorized dealer is allowed to advertise the price at. If a dealer violates MAP policy on a regular basis, the manufacturer will in most cases stop selling to the dealer.

MAP varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Most are currently at 20%. Some (Predator, OB, McDermott, Viking) are at 15%. Others are not percentage based. This policy reaches beyond pool cues. Kamui for example has a MAP policy on their products. If you want to sell Kamui chalk, you can't sell it for less than $27.95. Same goes for their tips and tools.

MAP is a policy comes into play in most industries. I had to deal with it when I was in the software business, the video game business and the sporting goods business. This is the same reason why everyone sells the iPad and Kindle at the same price (as Apple and Amazon both have very strict pricing policies for their authorized resellers).

Hope this helps!

 

[Rod]

I'd never pay retail for a production cue, I sold most for 20% off when I had the pool room. Custom cues - what ever the traffic will bare.

Rod

 

[macguy]

I've heard never buy a cue retail you can always do better. What's the retail markup. What's the best way to bargain.

What % should you expect to save by haggling.

At sbe some vendors wouldnt budge, others would, and others after they found out about sale said they woulda done better.

Want to make sure next year I go in with a plan.

For most manufactures my discount was 50%. For a time I even got 30% off of Scruggs cues if I bought three or more.

 

[Icon of Sin]

Ive had cuemakers take money off cues at SBE on few occasions, wasnt too much but was enough to make me think "that was cool"...

Plus the deals get better sometimes if you are loyal to a particular maker of course. Have a few cues from the same guy, chances are he can cut you more of a break on another one.

Just speaking from my own experiences, not going to name cues or makers.

 

[Webbs Billiards]

I've heard never buy a cue retail you can always do better. What's the retail markup. What's the best way to bargain.

What % should you expect to save by haggling.

At sbe some vendors wouldnt budge, others would, and others after they found out about sale said they woulda done better.

Want to make sure next year I go in with a plan.

It wouldn't be good business to tell my customers what my cost is, but there is more to running a business than just the cost of goods. If I advertise a price, the manufacturer dictates what the sale price is. But if I make a deal with someone here and there one on one, then I can name my own price. Most dealers such as myself will occasionally make a deal on a higher end cue or case to keep a good customer happy, or to get a good customer. But remember, we're in the business to make a profit.

 

[Goose1972]

thanks for all the input and keep it comming.

I was just amazed because at sbe i picked up a cue for a friend. Retail was 550. after a few hours of walking around looking, someone offered for 500 thought not bad and took it. went to the predator booth to pick up a free jump cue, and some other freebies, as there was a promotion on total spent on predator goods. some guy was there from another booth, and he said he woulda gone 400. i was just wondering how much room there is. because there seemed to be alot more then I thought. I understand poeple need to make a profit, I just want to pay close to what something is worth, and it seems like there is no rhyme or reason to how these exagerated retail prices are derived for 2 pieces of wood held together with a screw.

 

[Banks]

I was just amazed because at sbe i picked up a cue for a friend. Retail was 550. after a few hours of walking around looking, someone offered for 500 thought not bad and took it. some guy was there from another booth, and he said he woulda gone 400. 2 pieces of wood held together with a screw.

Just like restaurants offering their daily specials, sometimes people just have stuff that they want to get rid of. Maybe the low-baller was more interested in turning over his stock, maybe he got a better bulk deal or maybe his mistress needs an abortion.. I have no clue and neither do you. And even then, maybe the 500 gives you a warranty with a reputable dealer, while the 400's got nothin.

Screw two pieces of wood together and lemme know how it turns out for you. Hell, screw em one at a time, I still don't think it'll feel right.

 

[Webbs Billiards]

thanks for all the input and keep it comming.

I was just amazed because at sbe i picked up a cue for a friend. Retail was 550. after a few hours of walking around looking, someone offered for 500 thought not bad and took it. went to the predator booth to pick up a free jump cue, and some other freebies, as there was a promotion on total spent on predator goods. some guy was there from another booth, and he said he woulda gone 400. i was just wondering how much room there is. because there seemed to be alot more then I thought. I understand poeple need to make a profit, I just want to pay close to what something is worth, and it seems like there is no rhyme or reason to how these exagerated retail prices are derived for 2 pieces of wood held together with a screw.

If every dealer out there put the lowest price they could on everything no matter the MAP or MSRP, then it wouldn't be long before nothing would be "worth" anything. The prices are set to make the relative worth, because say for instance, I started selling everyone a Meucci Gambler 3 for $500 then they wouldn't be worth much to anyone because everyone could easily get one.