Customer furnished material

[cueman]

So you're saying that it's bad form for me to take my own tip to the local billiards supply store and have them put it on only charging me for the labor?

Same principal applies. I have have a few Moori tips go bad during installation. So I would have to eat the tip and put on another one if his tip went bad. Or else I would be the bad guy. Sure I would make about an extra $6 profit on the Moori tip job over a Lepro if I provided the tip. At Expos that would be an $11 swing as I would charge $5 more. Not a big deal, but at tournaments where you pay $1000 plus for the booth it would get annoying. So if I were to set up at a show I think I would just refuse to put on other peoples tips. How do I know if your tip is old dried out stock. Same with Ivory. How do I know it is not from a bad part of the country and prone to cracking?
This is an old argument and has been covered on this forum before. I understand both sides. You want to save a buck and the cue-repairman wants to make a buck. Word spreads fast at tournaments. So someone runs over to my booth and gets a group together to buy 10 Moori tips for $95 then goes to pull the "how much to install a tip?" question on the repairman next isle over. Then he pops his Moori tip out and says "well put this on for me." You decide what is right in that situation. If he wants more to install it than the Lepro price he is gouging. If he refuses he is a jerk. If he puts it on he probably cuts his own throat once the word spreads. There is no win. Life often puts us in no win situations.

 

[cueman]

This assumes that the repairman is gouging for moori tips.... A bad practice, in my opinion.

If so, then non-gouging would mean your Moori price installed is not more than $10 over your price to install a Lepro!

 

[jayman]

What do you say to a customer who brings in a piece of wood and wants it made into a cue?

Dick

Sure can! Thats why they call me a "A Cue Maker"

 

[Sheldon]

If so, then non-gouging would mean your Moori price installed is not more than $10 over your price to install a Lepro!

Correctomundo!

LePro = $15
Moori = $25

 

[merylane]

Sure can! Thats why they call me a "A Cue Maker"

i agree.... what the hell difference does it make where it comes from?

its got to come from somewhere?

if its quality is good enough....... its good enough.

enless of course your trying to sell certain materials??????

the tip thing omg

 

[cueman]

Correctomundo!

LePro = $15
Moori = $25

Earlier today your website said:
Lepro $15
Moori $35
It now says:
Lepro $15
Moori $25
I also charge $25 to put on Moori tips in my shop, but would probably charge $30 at tournaments where I have to pay to set up. I charge $10 for Lepro in shop and would probably charge $15 at tournaments if I still did the mobile repair shop like I started out doing.

 

[Cue Crazy]

Your website says:
Lepro $15
Moori $35

I have'nt checked his site in a while, but He probably just has'nt updated It, because I think he was charging 35 back when I still was, and he mentioned one time to me that he had'nt updated his site in a long time. I was paying 20 a tip back then though, and the retail was alot higher. I still remember not long ago when It was around 45-50.


I charge the same thing. 15 for standard such as lepro, and 25 on the moori. Some people are doing them for less, but that's My bottom price.

 

[Sheldon]

Earlier today your website said:
Lepro $15
Moori $35
It now says:
Lepro $15
Moori $25
I also charge $25 to put on Moori tips in my shop, but would probably charge $30 at tournaments where I have to pay to set up. I charge $10 for Lepro in shop and would probably charge $15 at tournaments if I still did the mobile repair shop like I started out doing.

Yeah, those prices were at least 4 years old. Back when I paid was paying $20 each for moori tips in small quantities. Your post prompted me to update it. I still had Instroke tips listed!

 

[Mase]

Yeah, those prices were at least 4 years old. Back when I paid was paying $20 each for moori tips in small quantities. Your post prompted me to update it. I still had Instroke tips listed!

If I buy and stock Moori tips (I buy 180 at a time) why am I not entitled to make money on the tips. If a mechanic puts brake shoes on your car he makes money on the shoes and does not even stock them.
If I have invested thousands of dollars on tips, I expect to sell them for a profit. If they are to be installed, the installation fee is on top of my tip cost and profit.

 

[JoeyInCali]

Moori should cost more, after all if one delaminates while installing ( common with Moori nowadays) you get to eat it.
If a Le Pro crumbles while being installed, it's a lot less painful.

 

[rhncue]

If I buy and stock Moori tips (I buy 180 at a time) why am I not entitled to make money on the tips. If a mechanic puts brake shoes on your car he makes money on the shoes and does not even stock them.
If I have invested thousands of dollars on tips, I expect to sell them for a profit. If they are to be installed, the installation fee is on top of my tip cost and profit.

I get 10.00 for a standard tip installation which includes polishing the shaft and a guarantee that the tip will not come during it's life. Standard tips are any solid tips (LePro, Elk Master, Triumph, Triangle, Water Buffalo, Sumo or any of the Chandiverts). I charge 20.00 for Talisman, 25.00 for Sniper, Hercules, Tiger and so forth and I get 30.00 for Moori's.

If someone brings their own tip I charge the standard tip installation price of 10.00 and explain to them that if the tip comes off my guarantee is still good but the tip will be replaced with a standard tip as that is what was paid for. Everyone has agreed to that policy. I must admit, of coarse, that I would rather use one of my tips as I make more money.

I have built three cues using customers wood in the past. One fellow worked at Paxton hard woods and came across a stunning piece of curly and the other two happened across something they liked. I have a 300.00 moisture meter and it's no problem for me to get a good moisture reading on wood.

As you all know, there is a big mark-up between the wholesale and retail price of ivory when used in a cue. Most installers get 75.00 and up for ivory ferrules, 125.00 up for joints and at least 200.00 for butt caps. When cue components was selling ivory on e-bay for 13.00, 25.00 and 56.00 for the three and slabs for 2.00sq inch. people saw these prices and many bought the parts. As any one who has bought/sold cues or has been able to reference a Blue Book they of coarse know that ivory in a cue commands a much greater price than the same cue with other material.

The customer in question, who priced the cue and then said he wanted to substitute his ivory for the original material agreed on became very upset and insinuated that I was a crook because I told him that I wouldn't use the ivory in the cue for the same price as we had agreed to. I told him that by using the ivory the cue would be worth much more money when completed and he said it made no difference since the work involved building the cue was the same and the cost for me to build was no higher. I lost a customer on that day over this and maybe some of his friends.

Dick

 

[Sheldon]

If I buy and stock Moori tips (I buy 180 at a time) why am I not entitled to make money on the tips. If a mechanic puts brake shoes on your car he makes money on the shoes and does not even stock them.
If I have invested thousands of dollars on tips, I expect to sell them for a profit. If they are to be installed, the installation fee is on top of my tip cost and profit.

You are completely correct. This should apply to ALL tips, and materials. It's perfectly fine if people want to take advantage of certain ones, and jack the price really high.... if people pay it, they pay it. I just know that I hate it when I have to pay extra for something I KNOW didn't cost extra, and is priced artificially high. So I don't practice it myself.

 

[JoeyInCali]

The customer in question, who priced the cue and then said he wanted to substitute his ivory for the original material agreed on became very upset and insinuated that I was a crook because I told him that I wouldn't use the ivory in the cue for the same price as we had agreed to. I told him that by using the ivory the cue would be worth much more money when completed and he said it made no difference since the work involved building the cue was the same and the cost for me to build was no higher. I lost a customer on that day over this and maybe some of his friends

There in lies a big problem.
If the ivory broke while you were installing it, who eats it?
Ivory also takes more labor and care compared to phenolic.
I suspect he planned to hijack you with the ivory after you had the cue started anyway.
His friends better not believe him and take your side Dick.
If they side with him, they just lost one of the best repair person and cueamaker out there. It's their loss.
They'll be knocking on your door the first time someone scratches their ferrule while getting a tip installed.

 

[BLACKHEARTCUES]

I have used a customers wood before. In one case the customer had bought a beautiful piece of Birdseye Maple, on ebay. I made his Q along with 2 others, using my BI Maple. HIS WARPED BADLY & the others are still straight today. . That Q hurt my reputation, for awhile. My answer now is simple, NO...JER

 

[BHQ]

this situtation reminds me of when i was a plumber
after getting raked thru the coals a few times, i learned to tell them, if you go to lowes or home depot to buy your faucet, you better find someone there that will install it too OR my price increases $100 for dealing with someones elses junk because
i'm the guy they will call with a problem, not lowes or home depot
not saying the guy was bringing dickie junk, but you get the idea​

 

[BarenbruggeCues]

I have used a customers wood before. In one case the customer had bought a beautiful piece of Birdseye Maple, on ebay. I made his Q along with 2 others, using my BI Maple. HIS WARPED BADLY & the others are still straight today. . That Q hurt my reputation, for awhile. My answer now is simple, NO...JER

Case in point...............
JUST SAY NO!

 

[ratcues]

What happens when you build the cue, at the original price, and with his ivory parts and then he turns around and sells it? That cue will bring a lot more than the agreed price. That hurts you in the end. Why let him take your name and your profit? I think it is about "market value" and I want to get what my cue is worth.

 

[Birk1]

after reading the discussion I thought I would chime in from experience.

I have used my own ivory a couple of times with 'name' cuemakers to cut down on cost. They have been more than willing to use my parts with the distinction that if something happened during construction that the responsibility was mine to deal with replacing the material with more. That is why the cuemakers I used justified higher prices for using ivory in their cues.

Cuemakers who are charging 400 bucks for an ivory buttcap etc... when their cost is 100 bucks for an inch and a half from David Warther and then refuse to let me pay the 100 bucks for the same part and then pay the cuemaker a slight premium to machine the ivory (which is more work) and save me some money to get a nicer cue at the same time expose myself to the risk and potential extra cost - I wont use because they are clearly in it to extract cash from their customers because Ivory isnt that expensive relative to what is charged in the end product. I do think all of this should be talked during pricing of the cue and not after a price is decided.

just my .02

 

[BLACKHEARTCUES]

after reading the discussion I thought I would chime in from experience.

I have used my own ivory a couple of times with 'name' cuemakers to cut down on cost. They have been more than willing to use my parts with the distinction that if something happened during construction that the responsibility was mine to deal with replacing the material with more. That is why the cuemakers I used justified higher prices for using ivory in their cues.

Cuemakers who are charging 400 bucks for an ivory buttcap etc... when their cost is 100 bucks for an inch and a half from David Warther and then refuse to let me pay the 100 bucks for the same part and then pay the cuemaker a slight premium to machine the ivory (which is more work) and save me some money to get a nicer cue at the same time expose myself to the risk and potential extra cost - I wont use because they are clearly in it to extract cash from their customers because Ivory isnt that expensive relative to what is charged in the end product. I do think all of this should be talked during pricing of the cue and not after a price is decided.

just my .02

My butt caps are 3/4" & I charge $125, I'm set to raise my prices, (because prices have doubled, since I last bought a tusk), but $400 is pretty expensive. Would you take a piece of meat to a restaurant & ask them to cook it up for you, because they charge too much. I see the list of Qs that you say you own. I'm not aware of any on that list that use customer's Ivory. Which ones used your Ivory?...JER

 

[BarenbruggeCues]

after reading the discussion I thought I would chime in from experience.

I have used my own ivory a couple of times with 'name' cuemakers to cut down on cost. They have been more than willing to use my parts with the distinction that if something happened during construction that the responsibility was mine to deal with replacing the material with more. That is why the cuemakers I used justified higher prices for using ivory in their cues.

Cuemakers who are charging 400 bucks for an ivory buttcap etc... when their cost is 100 bucks for an inch and a half from David Warther and then refuse to let me pay the 100 bucks for the same part and then pay the cuemaker a slight premium to machine the ivory (which is more work) and save me some money to get a nicer cue at the same time expose myself to the risk and potential extra cost - I wont use because they are clearly in it to extract cash from their customers because Ivory isnt that expensive relative to what is charged in the end product. I do think all of this should be talked during pricing of the cue and not after a price is decided.

just my .02

Ryan.......Believe me when I say there is a lot more too it than just wanting to gouge the customers for an extra couple hundred bucks.
If there is 5 things that could wrong when machining a phenolic cap there are 10 that could go wrong on an ivory. It's not just the price of the ivory but all the other things that go with it. Each builder puts his or her price on what it is they are crafting and thats the amount they are willing to take the risk for. If you are able to find an individual that is willing to take a high risk for a minimal amount of cash by all means take advantage of it.
There are gambles made every day.