That's a tough one. Online suppliers often get items cheaper than your local tacklestore store can. That means they can sell them cheaper but still make more profit. Your local might only be making 5-10% profit on the item in the first place & if they discount it too much they might actually lose money. Most one off stores will give you some sort of discount on expensive purchases or if your a regular they might give you 10% off your total every now & again but I don't think it's fair to ask them to match an online sellers price. Now if you wanted to hit BCF or Bluewater to match the online sellers price, that's another thing. They are big companies with big buying power so can afford to offer bigger discounts.

However you have to accept that the store owner may have significantly less buying power and significantly higher overheads than the online guy which may mean he/she cannot match an online price without making a physical loss. So you have to expect a few "no" responses.

Remember they are in a business and have to be profitable or there is no point, so I doubt any business owner will accept a loss on an item, except under extreme circumstances. Break-even for a retailer is basically wholesale cost plus overhead cost (rent / staff etc) plus holding costs (working capital tied up in stock), plus a heap of other items you could add in there, so they have to have a considerable mark up even before they break even.

As much as I love fishing I couldn't see myself running a tackle shop at cost just to "retain clients" because it is a sure fire way to going broke if it becomes the norm.

There is no harm in asking, but I'd be respectful of a negative response and then perhaps ask "what's the best price you can do?" and if its not massively different I'd probably buy from them rather than the online store even if its a bit more.

The guys at in marg river at down south camping will match most bigger chains if you want something ordered. 

I've ordered a few things in (rods etc) and they will basically match someone like campbells for the product.

Having said that, every time i go in and buy something off the shelf, no matter what it is, i NEVER pay the price they ask - it's always around 10-20% less.

It's about having a good customer relationship with your local tackle shop - look after the regulars and they always come back - the regulars are the bread and butter of the business in tackle shops imo...

i was not rude or disrespectful in my response, and would not expect any business to sell anything at cost or make no profit on a sale.

From my own personal experience (however not in the fishing tackle industry) retail stores and online stores are actually very similar in pricing they can purchase goods from their suppliers or distributers.

Where i found the difference is many more people are buyng online in the last 10 years so the volume or turnover is rapidly changing to online being the prefferred method.

Ther for online stores would discount their goods given that the volume of sales is higher.

Had this argument the other day.

If we all buy online who is going to employ us or ours, who is going to sponsor our kids sporting clubs etc. etc, etc. It is an essential part of our society that has been going on for hundreds of years

Obviously an online supplier does not have the overheads of a retail store. An online supplier could have warehouse in a crap part of the city where rates are a lot cheaper, would probably get away with an office girl and a warehouse picker and packer. A far cry from training and paying staff who actually have to COMMUNICATE with customers, paying premium council rates for shops in good retail areas along with security and increased insurances for the pleasure.

Then there is the problem that the smaller stores have less buying power than your bigger turnover stores.

So saying that, try going in to BCF and asking them to discount an item. If they did they would be sacked, where as your smaller stores may have licence to discount up to a certain percentage if asked.

How do I know these things? it is because I have run a retail outlet for the past 16 years (not fishing tackle) and know the problems faced by our industry.

All I can say is give your local tackle shop a go, he is having a go and employing people in your area. Plus if it stuffs up you can take it back and throw it at him.

If they price match, they should have a policy clearly available and so long as it is within the terms of their policy then no problems.  No advertised price match policy and I dont think you have a chance. 

People come into my work all day and ask/demand discount/price match for all sorts of reasons, pretty much all of them seem to think there is no harm in asking so I wouldnt feel too bad about it. 

If you dont ask you dont get mate.

Campballs priced matched mo tackle online for me on a stradic 8000 mo's was $219 and campballs was around $269 i think.

Thanks very much, they asked no questions and were happy to do it for me.

don't ask - don't get     basically

I always ask , and I'd rather buy from the LTS , but with the pricing online , I'd say 70% of what I buy is online.

And it might cost a little more - so be it, I appreciate the local interaction / advice (thanks Ryan - learnt more in 10 minutes than hours at sea with fruitless searches would have provided) and no that isn't taking the easy way out it is supporting our local businesses.  And what's more we should support this site's sponsors or we might not even have this forum !  

If price matching became the norm then I would be really worried about the industry. If you can't match an offer as a retailer and make a profit of some description then it becomes a polite "no" IMO. Try selling on the basis of something you have additional to offer such as better service and free advice. After-sales service is really big to me.

The thing that shits me really is walking into a store and the guy will beat the price regardless. That's cheap selling and doesn't earn any money for the people who employ, that's the store owners.

so it would shit you to buy something from a store cheaper than any other stores?????

ermmmmmm......................

They should be thankful you give them the opportunity to Price Match.

You've gone to the effort of researching the price, then driving down the the LTS.

You could have not even turned up.

It's their decision whether it's viable for them to match, so they can say yes or no.

If they say no, then you can walk out the door and they get squat instead of a reduced margin.

If they say no too many times it'll be costing them more just having idle stock on the shelves.

I'll always give local shops of any kind a go if they're close enough (and a decent mob), and usually I won't even ask them to match - I'll just say "here's what I can get it for from www.XYZ!@#.com, what's the closest you can do ?" 

to all successful business, particulary smaller independant retailers to survive these days... if straight off the bat, their response is that it is unreasonable to expect them to match online prices they're just clueless...these days they have to work harder it's the way it is ...there's more than 1 way to skin a rabbit maybe their answer could have went.." Let me see what I can do for you " ..."hmm struggliing to match price exactly "..."But I really want your business how about I meet you half way and give you this or that as a bonus ..or a discount voucher next time your in...blah blah it's not that hard...even if thay made 1c thats more than they had before you walked in ...less margins = higher turnover which would give them more wholesale buying power

1]Thats what the big store have got ------That the little store have not got

2]BCF buy in bulk for all of WA -----------How can a small store match them

3] Thay put kids behine the counter------Your small store dont do that

4] Ask bcf to fix a runner or a reel-------Your small shop will try and fix it that day

Now look at most shops that are not here any more Cos of big stores  [ Not only fishing stores]

Your veg shop /butchers /Hardwere store/ The list will go on

Don't agree totally with price- matching, but if they come close then it is worthwhile asking. I used to work in public sector and i know some departments had a 10% rule for businesses- especially rural! If you are going to buy a new Stella and there is only a 100 buck difference between local(10 year warranty) and the states then i reckon buy local. If it is a 400 dollar difference then it will be very hard to buy local.

If you make it clear that you are going to buy overseas anyway, and if they don't want to do the hard yards to make a measily 50 bucks or more then bad luck. I would be happy to pay $50 profit on top of wholesale price, as long as there is not a huge difference to online price.

 Know enough about the products and meet enough people who are in the industry(no matter which), they will tell you the real value of stuff the average person who dont ask for discounts gets ripped big time, this is probably the 3rd or 4th time i said this, prices should just be at 1 set price no discount!!! people arn't stupid anymore and will go elsewhere.

Its a competitive market, if a small guy enters the fishing retail market with the expectation of becoming profitable he has to take in to account the fact that he is competing against some big powerhouses (e.g. BCF, Bluewater). 

It is not the consumers responsibility to ensure the success of the business. Its called capitalism and you can be as cute as you want about supporting this person or that person but at the end of the day the outlets with the best prices, service and professionalism will prevail.

Every consumer is entitled to haggle and ask for the best price or for a price match.

Your $$,

 Your decision to spend it!

Make My Day!

    Although not many tackle stores would like to get involved in this thread as it is a no win situation I thought I might as well respond to a couple of the posts. To answer Bodie's original question there is never ever harm in asking. You probably wouldn't do it at coles, telstra or the servo but they really couldn't give a rats what you think anyway. Just don't be surprised if you get a few no's. Single shop operators can't afford to but they might say yes.

    Graeme76, you pretty much hit the nail on the head right up until you said Bluewater is a big company. I think that is a compliment, but we are a WA family owned and operated business handed down from father to son and still operated by that family "the Harveys" to this day after 80yrs. In fact Hal grew up in the Scarborough store. So not a big company.

       Andy Mac, thankyou for making sense. Pretty much sums it up.

    J_doggy, I'm sorry but no businesss can give 20% day in day out and here is the stinker, regulars are not the bread and butter. In fact it is the passing trade and plonkers. I look at the figures all day everyday. Regulars just make it an industry worth being in and a reason to enjoy work. We appreciate every one of them and have become life long friends with some. Cheap combos is the reason some can afford to have Stellas on the shelves if that makes sense. The funny thing is no one ever asks for discounts or price matching on a Jarvis Walker combos but people expect 10% off a reel that has 7.7% margin. Go figure.

Hlokk, all Tackleworld stores are independant owned and operated. Yes it is a buying group to be more competitive against Kmart, BCF etc and every single person in the group fishes and does their best for our fishery. Last year when AFTA needed cash to fight for your recfishing rights Tackleworld put up $10,000 as a start. Thats not from a company but mums and dads that own tackle stores.

  Alanby, you are right Bluewater sponsors at  least half a dozen fishing clubs, raises money for the cancer council (as do other some other LTS) and voluteers for clean ups etc. We just commited to Recfishwest teaching kids to fish. I feel sorry for the sponsors on here half the time. They pay so that we can talk about online site, discounts and probably get bagged by disgruntled ex employees.

Tony T, Campbells match because they are BCF. Making money out of that store is irrelevant. It is not the store that matters but what gear they can buy from suppliers because that store is called Campbells not BCF. I certainly don't mean any disrespect to Nathan and the kids that work there. In fact my dealings with Nathan have been all good. He just doesn't own it. Bcf do, or is it super cheap Auto or Ray's or Rebel. Its hard to keep track of these days, imagine what that company thinks of you.

Chris raff, less margin more turnover only works if there is a big enough base. Perth has long had too many tacklestores and we constanly see cowboys having a crack. Last year a dozen odd stores who sold tackle shut their doors. Some of those were Tackle/camping but you get the picture and a 1c more doesn't cut it when every outgoing is more this year than last. Wages are a big deal when trying to keep good guys from heading North. That is why the big guys employ kids and halfwits. "what's a Mulie"? true story.

Nauti Bouy good luck with warranties buying overseas. Cant go wrong on a jig but Stellas is a different story.

Dicey, although you may have spoken to people in "the trade" do they pay the bills, pay wages or even take the discounts they give out of their wallet? It makes a difference. There is always confusion between mark up and margin.

    To sum up. Feel free to ask. Just don't be a rude when you get the odd no. Times have changed and it's adapt or die. It is not an easy road ahead for us independants. Support the sponsors of this site for starters. They are paying for the up keep of this very thread. Local stores give a damn. Thanks

A great read that all you guys should take on board.

After all we are the potential customers and it's our bucks. It's not for the sponsors to tell us how we should shop or where. Personally I have never price-matched in the sense of asking. If I'm looking locally I will generally buy locally. Where I buy depends on how comfortable I feel at the store and how the price stacks up to others I have seen. Quite frankly if I am SOR I will always buy from Oceanside regardless. Ryan and the guys have always looked after me and I think I get what I pay for. North of the river where I live I shop at Mindarie because although they are not site sponsors, they look after me well also and they are close to home. It's not often I buy fishing gear on the WEB. It's easier IMO to duck up to Mindarie and spend a bit of loot. It gives me a chance to take the dog out for a drive LOL. Just like going to Bunnings.. I always come out with something...

Each to their own. If you don't ask you don't get. If your a scrooge then none of the above counts LOL you will shop anywhere and everywhere.

Nice post CAM. Good for you.

I think it is totally reasonable on a high priced item only if the online tackle store in Australia also has a shopfront and not a ebay type store.

But in general all the online tackle shops in oz have shops anyway so that shouldnt matter. 

It's not only the LTS's that say no.

I had a smug little turd manager at a BCF (must have been all of 20 yrs old) refuse a price match on a pile of GME aerial mounts and other hardware etc, because the online shop didn't have a Perth-based store.

The girl at the till was all OK about it and just needed him to key in his code ore something to authorise.

The online shop DID have stores over east, and with free freight on a bigger $$ purchase they were still cheaper than BCF.

But he wouldn't budge.

I just said fair enough and left it all on the counter.

In the end 80% of my decision to walk out was actually because he was a little f#ck and I was on the verge of knocking the smug grin off his face.

That alone was enough for me to go elsewhere.

In an ideal world we'd all be walking across the road to our local tackle shops instead of shopping online and be talking this same dribble in a pub instead of an online forum.

I'm thirsty..... It's Friday

Cam mate appreciate your response, and completely understand your comments.

Reason i bought this subject up is I've recently started to purchase some higher end gear (as yet none online) however i stuggled to understand why some online shops were so much cheaper. (some as much as 20%).

I do purchase gear from local stores. I did pickup a Saltiga last night which was well priced and actually cheaper than online stores. Also put another Daiwa on order. Another reason why i queried priceing on other items.

Op top of this the bloke from the local store is a great bloke, full of knowledge and friendly.

As someone mentioned about buying from the states, this Saltiga was much much cheaper from the states however i opted against this option.

At the end of the day if a store was to sell me an item at $50 and make 20% profit ($10) or an item at $500 and make 10% rather than 20% profit ($50) they still make more $$$. I know the percentages are not right but its an example.

If im going to do spend thousands of dollars on equipment, weather it be tools, fighing gear, boating gear whatever i want to make sure im getting the best price i can.

I guess the reverse side to a tackle store saying they wont match a price online, is the customers response being 'i cant justify the $ your asking for that item'.

No doubt you get the customer serice at most local stores, and usually if you ask questions like whats biting, what rigs, what bait and so on you get a friendly response. This is what keeps people going back to buy the common items, hooks, sinkers, bait etc.

It really isn't the LTS's that cause the price issue.

The main reason Aussies get shafted in nearly ALL forms of shopping is because of the ridiculous markup by Aussie DISTRIBUTORS that has been going on since day dot.

It all started way back because we're so isolated and had no choice but to pay - and didn't know any better !

Now things have changed and internet shopping and online payment methods has opened the world up as a market to buyers.

(Well, actually it's been that way for years - but it's at the stage now when the majority of people are comfortable with online purchases etc)

But have the Aussie distributors changed their tune ?

No, and they bust their ass trying to protect their extortionate markups by doing the fear campaign for warranties etc on "grey market" items.

And who has to defend themselves from criticism ? - the dealers, because they're at the counter while the distributor remains anonymous.

And it's across the board, from small stuff to big $$ items.

And to put a perspective on some of the markups there are around :

* I just saved over $10K on an outboard and other equipment, even after paying US RETAIL price, expensive shipping + Aussie GST.  How the f#ck can that be possible - even after paying US RETAIL ??? - because of the Distributor's cut.

* I saved $1000's on all the Marine electronics - because I didn't pay the distributor's cut.

And from some detailed knowledge of another market :

* I buy a pile of Guitars from the US - and save over 50% on big $$ instruments. I'm quite friendly with a number of people in that industry, including the CEO of one of the big US manufacturers - and I know what price Aussie DEALERS pay DISTRIBUTORS - and it's significantly more than the RETAIL price I pay from the US, plus shipping and GST etc.

The international distributors even get a discount - but don't pass it on.

I can land ONE big $$ instrument here, paying US RETAIL, EXPRESS shipping, duties & GST, and still pay LESS than the aussie dealer gets from the distributor - who gets it at a discounted wholesale bulk purchase, and lands it at low cost bulk sea freight.

Hell, there was even one example of a cheap US$300 guitar that was being sold for over $1500 here in Oz.

So by paying more than the guitar was worth in FREIGHT, you could still land it here via Priority 3 day EMS shipping and still get it under half price.

(I sent a breakdown of the costs to the US manufacturer and the distributor got reamed.)

And it happens on just about everything you see on an Aussie shop shelf.

As soon as the obsolete distributors are taken out of the equation, Aussies will stop taking it up the ass with extortionate prices.

BCF etc (who will bypass distributors on many items by establishing their own link with the supplier and sell a re-branded item) will still make a killing on many items because they're undercutting the LTS who are at the mercy of distributors on many of the items.

BCF etc claim massive savings by pricing under what Aussies are used to paying, but I'll bet my left nut that their markup is still double that of your low volume LTS. 

excellent informative read... Whats with the rumour  " muso's have no brains " or was that just the drummer ...enjoyed the jam as well ...

By asking if it is reasonable to ask a local shop to price match creates a big grey area were everyone will have a different answer based on their own principles or interests. The guy owns the store will cry poor, the guy who struggles to make ends meet and needs to be careful about what he spends will say hell yes, the guy who gets a kick out of sharing his fishing stores to the local shop daily might say I don’t need to ask and so on for 1,000s of different personal circumstances.

Take the reasonable out of the questions and the answer is an un resounding YES, It is your legal and basic freedom to ask, after all we are in a free country.

The real question is a personnel one that everyone has a different answer to and that is the dollar value of the premium you are willing to put on being able to use a local store? What is the level of advice and service worth? Does there sponsorship of this site or other local charities mean enough to you to reward them with your custom?

My answer is yes I think it is reasonable to ask and in one case I saved 25% of the ticket price on a Lowance HDS10 from my local shop and on the other I got a Stella and Talica from the states for less than the price of a just the Stella at Australia’s best price.

One theme I have noticed that is slightly off topic is all these statements about importing things like Stella’s. If you think that a Stella sold in Australia is a better product than one imported from the states then I truly think your an Idiot. I what world do people think that Australia is so special that a international company like Shimano would have different standards for our products than the US? The only difference is the box and the price. If I have a reel fail then I don’t really care about the warranty because I would never use it again as I wouldn’t trust it any more plus the fact I have never had an issue with any quality reel I have owned.

 Always ask for a cheaper price . Buying is what i do for a living ( not with fishing gear, but where i work it is online ordering,and i have to come in 25% less than what it costs online in other stores with free delivery)  negotiation is the way , and IMO if stores are struggling to compete with online stores then they should be pushing thier suppliers to cut their margins to pass on to be competitve , its not always about having bulk buying power.

I don't see any harm in asking. Most businesses exist to make as much money as they can out of the consumer.  For many years we have to pay a lot more than fair prices.  But nowadays, parallel imports and online stores gives consumers a choice. So by asking if the LTS can match the online price, you are giving the LTS an opportunity to sell to you at a fair price.  

As for warranties, they are pretty much useless when it comes to fishing tackles because it is limited to manufacturing fault/defect.

Just to add to this.

We've been in oz for 3 years in January (obviously from the UK). A couple of the differences that I noticed straight away were the - for most things - ridiculous prices we have to pay in Oz, the other was the quality of Oz based company websites and the lack of online shopping (I'm sure those of you looking online in the states will notice the difference between Perht and the US). I would think the online situation will get worse (or better depending on your point of view), as the quality and quantity of websites increase and peoples attitudes change further.

I'm back in the UK now for Christmas and the price difference is astonishing between goods, it does make it you wonder why.

Having read this thread, there are two things that stick out about price. Distributors which the LTS can do nothing about and mark-ups, which Cam mentioned.

Could someone please tell me why it is not possible to have no mark-ups, don't move on your price (leaving your margins alone) and offer great customer service?

If I thought I was going into a store that I knew were more competitive than others around about, cost a bit more than online shopping, but wouldn't move on price due to no mark-ups, I reckon they would get my business all of the time (apart from huge differences).

I suppose what I'm trying to say is if I had bought something I would like to know I'm paying similar to other and not keep wondering if I've been ripped off.

Tackle shops aren't the worst with prices though, buying some expensive electrical stuff from either Harvey Norman or the Good guys is rediculous and could take a couple of days as the prices vary so much from store to store.

Cost of living in Australia:

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2732638.html

Australian Exceptionalism:

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2011/12/08/australian-exceptionalism/

http://www.cis.org.au/publications/policy-monographs/article/3779-price-drivers-five-case-studies-in-how-government-is-making-australia-unaffordable

You'd be crazy not to try and negotiate a better price with my  local tackle shop for rods and reels. I dont even bother  with  rod and  reels here.  Mark ups  are  100% and more in some cases. Prices are much better at  exmouth, campbells(even with shipping costs) or ebay.  I still buy  lures and terminal tackle  at the local  but dont bother haggling prices for  that as theyre pretty reasonable.