Very interested, are you the sole dealer of this pistol?
Price seems a little high from the projections of $779-$799 USD that is advertised. Are you just playing it safe and projecting to what the Canadian Dollar might be when you have to pay for these?
I have found myself interested in a few things you have brought in lately, but have felt your price was too high compared to the advertised US MSRP (the new PWS rifles for example) and now I can pick one up $500 less so I'm glad I waited.
I have purchased several Firearms and accessories from you in the past, but just need some proper pricing to make me pull the trigger on another purchase! Not trying to be rude, Just give me an explanation or reason!
Thanks for the post and the business!
So, what goes into pricing products for the Canadian market? The things we have to account for are, our base cost of the item, USD/CDN exchange, shipping in the US to our US office, export permits, custom's /duties and taxes at the time of import (some of which we get back and some we don't), handling costs, shipping to our CDN office, credit card fees, wire fees and of course profit.
Staring with our cost of the item. Contrary to what a lot of people think, the industry does not offer 50% off MSRP on products. Some manufacturers offer a flat $ discount (a number not a % off MSRP) others offer discounts (some are %'s off MSRP others are $'s off) based on order volume (number of units ordered). Sometimes this order volume is determined by a single order (did you order 10 guns or 100 guns?) or your previous years orders which determines your discount for the coming year.
It is fairly common for manufacturers to offer % discounts of 5, 10, 15, 20 or on the high end 25% off their listed MSRP. These discounts would be based on order volume. So, if you say want 5-10 guns you might get 10% off MSRP but if you order 100+ guns you get 20% off MSRP.
How many guns can you sell in Canada? Do you think you can sell 10 Stryk B pistols? 20? 50? a 100? Remember you order you own them.... A number of companies bill you automatically for your order when it ships or some will actually bill you a deposit on your order (up to 50% by some) when you place it and the balance when it ships and a lot don't offer terms. Give us your credit card!
Next you need to account for the exchange rate. If you're lucky the product is in stock and you know then and there what you'll be paying in CDN $'s. If the product is not immediately available then you need to forecast what you're going to be paying when you import them into Canada. So what exchange rate do you use? Last week I received a forecast from our bank showing their projections for 2017. Here's what they predict for the USD/CDN $
Q1 : 1.37
Q2 : 1.40
Q3 : 1.38
Q4 : 1.35
So, again which do you use? Is the manufacturer going to be on time with your order? Is the bank on the mark with their predictions? Do you err on the side of caution and go a bit high on the rate for your calculations to protect yourself? Decisions, decisions
You may have noticed (or not) that when a product arrives 'in-stock' our website has the price adjusted. Lately lower than the advertised advanced order. The reason is that we now know our true costs and re-price accordingly. Also we honour our prices even if the costs go up. If you order a gun from us at say $1000.00 and when it arrives the CDN $ sank and our costs go up we don't go back to you and say sorry you owe us more! We bill you what we quoted nothing more. But any extra products go up on the site are at a higher price.
Now you need to account for all those misalliance costs, permits, shipping in the US, handling in the US, fees collected at the border, shipping to Canada, etc. Is the product US made? if not then you pay duty. Rough numbers plan on a 10-15% adder to your costs.
Up to this point your costs could be 60% (with a 1.4 $) on top of what you paid for the product and you haven't even added a margin to it.
Are you going to sell it at cost? Of course not. Are you going to add a 50% margin? No again... If we did I'd be on a beach in the sunny south someplace posting this.
Can you run a business on a 10% profit margin? Do you need 15%? 20% only the business knows. They want to be around to support the product and you the customer, well at least most of us do.
You mention 'but just need some proper pricing' in your post. Based on above what is proper pricing? Should we be selling at US MSRP in CDN $'s? Should it be US MSRP plus 10%? Plus 20%, Plus 30, 40,50,60,70????? What's the right answer? What are you going to sell it for, pay all of your costs, and stay in business?
I hope this provides some clarity as to why we pay what we pay in this country. If the expectation is to pay what the American's pay given the current disparity in our currencies then there are going to be those who are always going to be unhappy and not much anyone can do about it.
Scott
