Price of the new Veritas Small Bevel-Up Smoothing Plane!!!!

[Martingchapman]

RESULT!

After emailing BriMarc and letting them know that I was staggered at the price of this plane on their web site, I received the following reply.

"Apologies for the delay, I have been looking in to this for you. Unfortunately there was an error on our system for the price on this Plane, and its correct price is £210.06 Inc vat. They are however out of stock until mid/end November."

So they are out of stock, but when they come back in they will be at a more sensible price.
Probably not much in buying them here or importing from Canade/America.

Thanks to all those who replied, have learnt a lot about import taxes etc, could be useful in the future.

Martin.

 

[dunbarhamlin]

180 U.S. dollars = 112.866817 British pounds
230 U.S. dollars = 144.218711 British pounds
So it'll take some serious brigandage, but expect the Highway Men, Cutthroats and Extortionists will get it close to £210

 

[Harbo]

The LV prices are pre-tax, even in Canada you would have to pay another 13% on top of those.
Still nowhere approaching the UK prices which would be subject to import duties, postage and VAT.
With such a price gap, worth a gamble paying direct using USPS - may get lucky?


Rod

 

[Jacob]

.......
"Apologies for the delay, I have been looking in to this for you. Unfortunately there was an error on our system for the price on this Plane, and its correct price is £210.06 Inc vat. ....

Phew I'm so relieved! :lol:

 

[LuptonM]

I think realistically these could be sold in the uk for under £140. BriMarc mocks us.

 

[Karl]

How do you work that out?

 

[dunbarhamlin]

It's whatever the market will bear. Got used to worse than dollar parity years ago. But also, doing business in the UK is expensive - can't expect anything else when approaching half the pop are directly or indirectly on the government payroll.

 

[Jacob]

.....can't expect anything else when approaching half the pop are directly or indirectly on the government payroll.

Surely if that was true then they'd be able to buy planes?
Maybe the "payroll" should be more generous. It'd get spent and be good for business.

 

[LuptonM]

Why is £140 not reasonable if it can be sold in Canada for £112. It should be priced less in the UK than that of what it would cost a customer in the UK to purchase from Canada +shipping/tax costs, since they are buying in bulk.

 

[TheTiddles]

I think if anyone wants cheaper tools, in fact almost anything, they should go live in the USA. Maybe once you've been there a few times they'll appreciate england a bit more! I know I do

Aidan

 

[condeesteso]

OK then, here's trouble :lol:
I know that this forum is read by those with 'interests', but I'll speak out anyway. I do not believe that LV want such a large US/UK price disparity. For years now I have been unable to understand what Brimark brings to the LV/ Veritas brand in the UK and Europe. Brimark was very slow indeed to understand the new Veritas strategy - hence even slower to take and offer the products that now define the Veritas brand. The products are way better than the current UK distribution, and that is an imbalance due to be corrected. LV already knows that the UK is a gateway to Europe and therefore actually worth a cent. Price disparities like this are not to the liking of LV or in it's greater interests.
Veritas used to make 'accessories', but for years now has been a front-line maker of fine tools. I still question if Brimark really gets that, and why Veritas doesn't just find a more effective way of building the UK and Europe markets. LV needs to sort this because its competitors have already done so.

 

[Karl]

Why is £140 not reasonable if it can be sold in Canada for £112. It should be priced less in the UK than that of what it would cost a customer in the UK to purchase from Canada +shipping/tax costs, since they are buying in bulk.

Because it makes no allowance for shipping costs to the UK, shipping costs from Brimarc to the UK customer, UK VAT sales tax and profit.

 

[Doug B]

OK then, here's trouble :lol:
I know that this forum is read by those with 'interests', but I'll speak out anyway. I do not believe that LV want such a large US/UK price disparity. For years now I have been unable to understand what Brimark brings to the LV/ Veritas brand in the UK and Europe. Brimark was very slow indeed to understand the new Veritas strategy - hence even slower to take and offer the products that now define the Veritas brand. The products are way better than the current UK distribution, and that is an imbalance due to be corrected. LV already knows that the UK is a gateway to Europe and therefore actually worth a cent. Price disparities like this are not to the liking of LV or in it's greater interests.
Veritas used to make 'accessories', but for years now has been a front-line maker of fine tools. I still question if Brimark really gets that, and why Veritas doesn't just find a more effective way of building the UK and Europe markets. LV needs to sort this because its competitors have already done so.

That makes a lot of sense & as Axminster own Brimark it doesn`t surprise me about the pricing difference between here & Canada. I used to use Axminster quite a lot but have found their prices excessive over the last couple of years, so have taken my business elsewhere.

 

[condeesteso]

Hi Karl, and all - worth noting what Felder are doing with the Hammer brand into the U.S., because it's what this should be but in reverse. Hammer is made in Europe, but the U.S. prices are lower than here in the UK... and these are big old boxes to ship! It happens like that because Felder decided to attack the U.S. market and set prices accordingly although I doubt anyone actually makes a loss. I accept the shipping is an issue, but the duty and vat are both based on the shipping value. If something is retailed for $112 in Canada, it probably means the supplier sold it into retail for max $60 (noting there are retail taxes there too).
We are all used to accepting dollars equals pounds (i.e. the U.S price in dollars will probably be the UK price in pounds). That gives enough room for shipping and taxes already. A greater disparity than that suggests to me that something is wrong.

 

[beech1948]

I used to ship products large and small around the world from US to Asia, To UK and also UK to US. So I think I understand a thing or two about factory margins, shipping and the impact of local taxation. I was also responsible for setting prices for Euro based products including the UK.

Some likely probabilities.
1) Shipping should not be more than 3.5% inc insurance from US to UK
2) Factory gate prices are typically around 50% of the US retail costs.
3) Local landing and shipping again about 3%.
4) Import taxes
5) VAT ( but can be reclaimed when item is sold)

Given that the UK postal costs is an extra charge we can discount that.

So I think that a price of about £140 is what it should cost. Somewhere we are being ripped off.

I have not bought anything from Axi for 2 years because they are frequently excessively expensive. I will not buy LN tools in the UK or Europe and will only buy in the US. The UK prices for LV stuff is now at a ridiculous level.

Remember that the European Union has a larger geographic area than the US and has more people. Why then do we still have to suffer UK premiums on prices.

Alan

 

[condeesteso]

"Somewhere we are being ripped off."
Exactly Beech, agree totally. I suggest that right at the heart of this is a view held over many years by many in the U.S. that the U.K. is a p*ss-pot market so don't worry. Most UK prices are set based on the US price plus the shipping, Taxes etc and a hassle factor. I mean they are not cost-based, but market-based.
But you are right that Europe as a whole is truly valuable , and also in turn opens up the Middle East and beyond.

If anyone is interested, I have a current example of U.S / U.K. pricing on something quite different. A well-known eye-wear brand in the US (sunglasses then) - typical US retail is $100. Typical UK retail is £100. Landed UK ex-factory, but cleared (i.e. all duty, VAT shipping) is about £28. Out of the factory door US is a mere $29, by the way.
The distributor takes a landed cost £28 and puts out a trade price £48. Retail sells at £100 but 20% is VAT. AND retail won't take it because the margin is too low. They want to sell at £140.
So, your £200 plane has a true value of ... what ???

And if it is true as alleged that Axminster owns Brimark, that would be a conflict of interest. Brimark's job is to distribute. If the main retailer is 'family', then they (the group) take 2 margins, do almost nothing, and fix the price on the way.

Lucky I know a couple of lawyers then (Pedder, home number, now please)... (hammer) (hammer) (hammer)

 

[Noel]

"Somewhere we are being ripped off."
Exactly Beech, agree totally. I suggest that right at the heart of this is a view held over many years by many in the U.S. that the U.K. is a p*ss-pot market so don't worry. Most UK prices are set based on the US price plus the shipping, Taxes etc and a hassle factor. I mean they are not cost-based, but market-based.
But you are right that Europe as a whole is truly valuable , and also in turn opens up the Middle East and beyond.

If anyone is interested, I have a current example of U.S / U.K. pricing on something quite different. A well-known eye-wear brand in the US (sunglasses then) - typical US retail is $100. Typical UK retail is £100. Landed UK ex-factory, but cleared (i.e. all duty, VAT shipping) is about £28. Out of the factory door US is a mere $29, by the way.
The distributor takes a landed cost £28 and puts out a trade price £48. Retail sells at £100 but 20% is VAT. AND retail won't take it because the margin is too low. They want to sell at £140.
So, your £200 plane has a true value of ... what ???

And if it is true as alleged that Axminster owns Brimark, that would be a conflict of interest. Brimark's job is to distribute. If the main retailer is 'family', then they (the group) take 2 margins, do almost nothing, and fix the price on the way.

Lucky I know a couple of lawyers then (Pedder, home number, now please)... (hammer) (hammer) (hammer)

A few years ago (07?) Styles & Brown bought Brimarc from Martin Brown who is a member here.
Why would there be a conflict of interest? 2 margins? I doubt Axminster see it that way. It's business, the making of money.

 

[Vann]

It's business, the making of money.

And it's our business to protect our hard earned dollars. If we feel the retailer/middleman it taking too much profit, we should protect our own interests and question or look for cheaper ways of buying.

It looks like the retailer is setting the price, not at cost plus a set margin, but at a point where it's just a little more than it would cost you to buy direct - so that it's not worth the hassle of importing yourself.

Good business? Maybe.

A slap in the face? Definitely !

Cheers, Vann.

 

[Modernist]

It's business, the making of money.

And it's our business to protect our hard earned dollars. If we feel the retailer/middleman it taking too much profit, we should protect our own interests and question or look for cheaper ways of buying.

It looks like the retailer is setting the price, not at cost plus a set margin, but at a point where it's just a little more than it would cost you to buy direct - so that it's not worth the hassle of importing yourself.

Good business? Maybe.

A slap in the face? Definitely !

Cheers, Vann.

It's called marketing

 

[JonnyD]

If you go to a local Brimarc Dealer rather than Axminster there are deals to be had. Ive just bought a LA jack and LA smoother and got a decent discount so theres a good margin for the retailer i assume.

cheers

Jon