Best place to buy a Blichmann Conical?

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orion2598

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Doing a google search, it looks like they are pretty much the same price everywhere. But, I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask if anyone knows of where to get a good deal on a 14.5 conical...

Thanks in advance,
Greg
 
Stores are only allowed to sell Blichmann equipment at 2 prices, and almost everyone sells them at the minimum price they can. If you are looking for a better price you would have to find one on CL, or Ebay and buy a previously enjoyed conical.

Ed
 
+1 on fixed price. When I got my 14gal they were $809 everywhere. The week after pricing was increased to $839... EVERYWHERE.
 
As I understand it, price fixing is when competing businesses agree to sell the same product at the same price (for their benefit, at the expense of the consumer). Blichmann is not in direct competition with their distributors since they are the product supplier.
 
I thought price fixing was illegal.
Price fixing as Yuri explained it is illegal but what Blichmann is employing is fairly common.

John Deere consumer tractors, Weber grills and Maytag appliances are just a few brands off the top of my head that have similar agreements with retailers where they set a minimum price they can sell the product at.

Next time you have like a Lowes, Home Depot, Best Buy, etc. XX% off coupon look at the fine print and they list a whole host of brands or models that are excluded from discount due to the price agreement.
 
Go buy any Stihl product you'll see the high price. I could of saved over $182 on a 40.5 cc commercial grade weed wacker no cat over 40 cc, by Stihl thru out of state. No you must buy in your state and area. A set contract with the power equipment shops and Stihl. Stihl sticks it to ya big time. Granted the best product and takes a beating for many hours had to pay for it the big dollar price it sucked. Replacement parts well plastic is worth more than gold with a Stihl product. If that isn't price fixing what is it? Greed?
 
Trust me, no one is making very much money on conical fermenters. Blichmann has a minimum advertised price on his products. I advised him to do so. In retail there is a drive to sell things at cost. If there was not a minimum advertised price on conicals, within 6 months of their debut, someone would be selling them at cost. Then everyone would stop selling them because there is no profit to be made if you sell one.

This is what happened to Polarware Brewpots and Ventmatic faucets and is currently happening to Perlick faucets.

Forrest
Austin Homebrew Supply
 
Stores are only allowed to sell Blichmann equipment at 2 prices, and almost everyone sells them at the minimum price they can. If you are looking for a better price you would have to find one on CL, or Ebay and buy a previously enjoyed conical.

Ed

Ed, you have this wrong. There is a minimum advertised price and a suggested retail price. No one sells it for the suggested retail price. Everyone *advertises* it for the minimum advertised price. Stores can sell the conical for whatever price they want to. The simply cannot advertise a lower price.

You have seen this everywhere. Ads that say the prices are too low to print. Or Best buy says this plasma tv is $2,000 before $400 savings. They can't advertise the tv for $1600 but they let you know that if you buy it it will be $1600. Amazon sometimes won't tell you the real price until you have it in your shopping cart, same thing.

When store W tries to sell everything below store M&Ps cost from the manufacturer, a minimum advertised price is a good thing for M&P and the economy.

Forrest
Austin Homebrew Supply
 
I was told my my LHBS that If they sell the fermenter lower than the minimum suggested price, Blichmann will not deal with them. She was quite nice and explained it clearly.

I ended up buying the cheap Chinese one because its all I wanted to spend. I did try to deal with the local supplier first, but...... Its not as nice and less than 1/3 the price. I would have paid a little more at the local supplier than from Flea bay, but they only sell the Blichmann. I have no problem with that and they have no problem with me going some where else.

David
 
Go buy any Stihl product you'll see the high price. I could of saved over $182 on a 40.5 cc commercial grade weed wacker no cat over 40 cc, by Stihl thru out of state. No you must buy in your state and area. A set contract with the power equipment shops and Stihl. Stihl sticks it to ya big time. Granted the best product and takes a beating for many hours had to pay for it the big dollar price it sucked. Replacement parts well plastic is worth more than gold with a Stihl product. If that isn't price fixing what is it? Greed?

It isn't price fixing. If you want a cheaper chainsaw, you have plenty of options. Stihl's competition isn't trying to stick it to you either.

You mention yourself that Stihl "is the best product" , which would mean that it carries something of a premium product type of reputation. So-called premium products can demand higher prices since the consumer is paying for the higher actual and perceived quality. Look at a BMW 4 door family sedan compared to a Chevy 4 door family sedan. Both have four wheels, power windows, and a lot of gadgets. One is 10's of thousands more expensive. A premium product that attracts those who want whatever they think is "premium."

Sorry for the OT post...

I think Blichmann products look great, I wish I could afford a couple of their fermenters!
 
Ed, you have this wrong. There is a minimum advertised price and a suggested retail price. No one sells it for the suggested retail price. Everyone *advertises* it for the minimum advertised price. Stores can sell the conical for whatever price they want to. The simply cannot advertise a lower price.

Thanks for the clarification on my post. I did not go into detail in my post. As you said no one makes very much money on the conicals, so I know I would not sell below the minimum advertised price, but that certainly does not mean the OP could not find someone that would.

Ed
 
I work in retail and MAP (Minimum Advertised Pricing) is common and needed, for all the reasons mentioned above. Also, if a bigbox store decides to sell the same items as say, Ed, then with their buying power they would be able to buy 3 train cars full. Then they could sell it far less than Ed and realize the same profit due to offering it across the state or nation.
I have seen Vendors/manufacturers stop selling to a retailer for advertising below MAP and these were jam-up retailers, moving a LOT of product. But if they don't act on it, eventually all the Eds out there will stop buying and that would spell doom for the vendor
 
I was told my my LHBS that If they sell the fermenter lower than the minimum suggested price, Blichmann will not deal with them. She was quite nice and explained it clearly.

I don't know anything about pricing and what everyone is discussing.. but I would imagine that Blichmann doesn't care what your LHBS sells it at.. the LHBS already bought it from Blichmann, so Blichmann made their money. LHBS could give it away, and it would simply be their loss..

maybe I'm wrong though, but that seems it would make sense.

as said, they just can't 'advertise' any lower than what Blich.. says, but actual sales price is irrelevant.
 
I don't know anything about pricing and what everyone is discussing.. but I would imagine that Blichmann doesn't care what your LHBS sells it at.. the LHBS already bought it from Blichmann, so Blichmann made their money. LHBS could give it away, and it would simply be their loss..

maybe I'm wrong though, but that seems it would make sense.

as said, they just can't 'advertise' any lower than what Blich.. says, but actual sales price is irrelevant.

Thats not altogether true. Big time discounting tends to cheapen the brand. Blichman makes a good product and wants to appear to be the best so they very much care if their retailers discount it bigtime.
 
Wait a little bit...we will be selling conicals for at least $100 less than Blichmann's products.
Matt
 
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