Axminster Price Hikes

[Phil Pascoe]

Being involve in the licenced trade years ago, here's an observation. When beer was say 20p a pint and it went up a penny (to cover their wage rises), we carried it. It went up a penny a month later (because ingredient costs had risen) and we carried it. A couple of months later it went up a penny (because the tax had risen). Our costs had risen as well, so after the next budget which put yet another penny on it we put the pint up to 25p. We were then called robbing barstewards, so from then on every price rise was implemented immediately. Ok, this example is extreme, but you see what I mean.
Companies that publish annual price lists and catalogues haven't the freedom to do this - their costs, at least for the vast majority of goods, have to be held for the life of the catalogue, so when they do increase their prices they might be covering several rising costs that have been imposed upon them. This is why we see so many catalogues that don't actually include prices - they can update a price list regularly.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

my personal preff is everything Japanese....

made in China. FTFY.

 

[robgul]

I think much of what has been said in this thread can be applied to Rutlands too . . I only by from them infrequently but have noticed that their (almost as relentless as Axminter's ) emails have products with markedly higher prices.

There is also the "what the traffic will stand" aspect of pricing - I know there are other factors like stocking against spot purchase etc - but today's Rutlands missive has the exact same disc/belt sander that Aldi sells for about £90 (when they have them) at best part of £200 - and Axminster rebadged the hobby bandsaw I bought in December 2019 for about £110 for the same machine with different paintwork at £200+

For all that I've found Axminster very reliable in terms of delivery and support - and a couple of their on-site courses at Axminster were excellent and, in my view, good value.

 

[marcros]

I am just placing a Toolstation order. I need a tenners worth of stuff, but over 25 it is free postage. I am struggling to find some stuff that I could do with that is in stock- couple of tori screwdriver bits- none in t20, masonry drills, no sets and limited single drills. This could be what its like for a few weeks as the delays earlier in the year now show themselves.

 

[billw]

The good news is that "they" will do everything in their power to get inflation higher, because it is good for us, apparently.

This is actually quite correct, up to a point. I think the target is about 2% still, which is reasonable. The last thing you ever want is to wander into deflation, as that just implodes economies.

 

[billw]

I think much of what has been said in this thread can be applied to Rutlands too . . I only by from them infrequently but have noticed that their (almost as relentless as Axminter's ) emails have products with markedly higher prices.

I just bought something from Rutlands that recently came back into stock and the price hadn't changed from when I was first looking at it ages ago (before rejoining the forum) which did surprise me.

 

[craigs]

Prices seem to jumping all over the place, I recently moved and needed to buy a fridge/freezer...a month before i was ready to buy it was £225 cheaper than when i bought it.....then a week after it had dropped in price again by the same £225....the law of sod

 

[marcros]

from what

Prices seem to jumping all over the place, I recently moved and needed to buy a fridge/freezer...a month before i was ready to buy it was £225 cheaper than when i bought it.....then a week after it had dropped in price again by the same £225....the law of sod

From what I have read and heard, you did well to find one in stock.

 

[craigs]

All our kitchen stuff was a nightmare to get hold of :/

 

[artie]

The last thing you ever want is to wander into deflation, as that just implodes economies.

I wonder if you could expand on this, in words of one syllable or less.

 

[billw]

I wonder if you could expand on this, in words of one syllable or less.

If something is £10 now, but will be £9 next week - will you buy it now or next week?

Most people will wait. Expand that concept across the whole economy and people stop buying stuff because they think it will be cheaper in the future. Bye bye economy.

 

[RattyVulcan]

I've been watching the second hand market for a couple of months for both 10" table saws and 16" Bandsaws and it seems that the lack of supply of new has now filtered down to secondhand prices as well. Recently ebay had the earlier model to the AT254SB go for £900. There is now a SIP 01332 + Record dust extractor ending today with bidding already at £880 with 6 hours to go so I'd expect that to jump by at least £200 before it ends - with cost of collection / delivery not much of a saving on the brand new price.

 

[AJB Temple]

Perhaps now is the time for me to start offloading my over-abundance of tools (I keep everything!) A member on here used to have the signature "I have enough tools and so do you". Maybe it was Mike. I do try to remember that.

 

[Blackswanwood]

Some of the behaviour on e-Bay is quite odd.

I want to do a one off project with pocket hole joinery and so had a look for a used Kreg jig last week. One sold second hand for more that the price of new ones that were readily available by doing a quick search on Google. Presumably some people just get carried away with the "thrill of the chase".

 

[transatlantic]

If I am buying second hand, it needs to be something you can't buy anymore, or at most 60-70% of the new price.

I think it's madness that people will spend £400 on a used saw that is £450 new, just to save a few quid and lose out on the warranty. But people do it as they consider it a bargin!

 

[billw]

If you buy used you should automatically take off the VAT element, otherwise you're technically paying more than it's worth.

 

[marcros]

If I am buying second hand, it needs to be something you can't buy anymore, or at most 60-70% of the new price.

I think it's madness that people will spend £400 on a used saw that is £450 new, just to save a few quid and lose out on the warranty. But people do it as they consider it a bargin!

I dont disagree.

But take an Axminster bandsaw. What is 60% of the new price- some models have changed names but are fundamentally unchanged for 10 years. What is the value of that, 60% of the price at the time, or 60% of now- probably 150% of the new price at the time!

 

[marcros]

If you buy used you should automatically take off the VAT element, otherwise you're technically paying more than it's worth.

I dont agree with this. It is worth what it is worth, regardless of whether the original person reclaimed VAT or not. Obviously if they did they would need to charge VAT on the price as per the tax laws.

If I bought something new for £1000 inc VAT, it isnt automatically worth £833 as soon as I have left the showroom, before any other deduction for lack of warranty or wear and tear.

 

[billw]

I dont agree with this. It is worth what it is worth, regardless of whether the original person reclaimed VAT or not. Obviously if they did they would need to charge VAT on the price as per the tax laws.

If I bought something new for £1000 inc VAT, it isnt automatically worth £833 as soon as I have left the showroom, before any other deduction for lack of warranty or wear and tear.

It's not about the reclaim or not, it's that if something has been made to a value of £100 (i.e. the constituent labour, materials, mark up of suppliers to cover overheads etc), then the extra £20 does not make the item more valuable, it just adds to the government coffers. It's a £100 piece of kit.

Yes I admit there's complexities around which of the parties are tax registered.

 

[marcros]

It's not about the reclaim or not, it's that if something has been made to a value of £100 (i.e. the constituent labour, materials, mark up of suppliers to cover overheads etc), then the extra £20 does not make the item more valuable, it just adds to the government coffers. It's a £100 piece of kit.

Yes I admit there's complexities around which of the parties are tax registered.

there is an argument that the tax hasn't added anything to the value of the underlying asset, but if the man on the street wants to buy the item new, he has to swallow the VAT element. If he then wants to sell it, he isnt going to say "well it was 20% overpriced anyway because of the government donation" and knock that off, he is going to think, "it cost me a grand, but you can have it for 70% of that"