Discount on Watches

[triton]

many times i have been approached by friends, forum members to enquire about the pricing on watches of various brands. i have seen many forum members posting new threads asking how much discount is given on this watch and sometimes you get people posting i can get it @ X% discount, but when they go and buy, the discount is different.

first, not all customers will get the same discount. why? customers are 'graded' by AD or sellers. it is like credit card 'status', normal card, platinum and by invitation only.

if you want to buy this watch and your status is normal then discount is like say 20%. if you are the platinum status the discount is like 30% and if you are the by invitation only status, the discount is like 40%.

so that is why a discount given to customer A does not mean customer B will get it. so dont get offended or feel cheated. i have been through it, so i can tell u this is true. someone once told me i get get X% on this brand, this model, but when i went to the specific shop advised by someone, i did not get X%, i got less than X%. the sales staff politely give me some 'excuse'.

AD are constantly being spot check on by brand themselves through mystery shoppers, that is why a phone call to check on discount given on watch is usually either greeted by standard discount they can give or they tell you why not you come down to the store and we discuss.

my advice is rather come straight to the forum and ask how much discount i can get for this watch. why not do some leg work and ask around, if you know a brand is sold by at least 2 AD, just google their shop address and go to the area and ask from them. take for example rolex is sold by THG, WP and others. you can just go to lucky plaza and pop by the 2 shops and enquire.

[teo]

many times i have been approached by friends, forum members to enquire about the pricing on watches of various brands. i have seen many forum members posting new threads asking how much discount is given on this watch and sometimes you get people posting i can get it @ X% discount, but when they go and buy, the discount is different.

first, not all customers will get the same discount. why? customers are 'graded' by AD or sellers. it is like credit card 'status', normal card, platinum and by invitation only.

if you want to buy this watch and your status is normal then discount is like say 20%. if you are the platinum status the discount is like 30% and if you are the by invitation only status, the discount is like 40%.

so that is why a discount given to customer A does not mean customer B will get it. so dont get offended or feel cheated. i have been through it, so i can tell u this is true. someone once told me i get get X% on this brand, this model, but when i went to the specific shop advised by someone, i did not get X%, i got less than X%. the sales staff politely give me some 'excuse'.

AD are constantly being spot check on by brand themselves through mystery shoppers, that is why a phone call to check on discount given on watch is usually either greeted by standard discount they can give or they tell you why not you come down to the store and we discuss.

my advice is rather come straight to the forum and ask how much discount i can get for this watch. why not do some leg work and ask around, if you know a brand is sold by at least 2 AD, just google their shop address and go to the area and ask from them. take for example rolex is sold by THG, WP and others. you can just go to lucky plaza and pop by the 2 shops and enquire.

Well said, got to agree on this. Superb post.

[seiko.citizen]

nicely said. some people cannot grasp the idea that this industry like any other practices "discriminatory" pricing

[rh1667]

While i agree that potential buyer should check out few ADs to ascertain the market price, i can also understand the feeling of some that feels the need to "confirm", "re-check" with forum old birds to see if the price they are being offered is considered reasonable.

I am not a "grade A" customer in any AD, when i want to target a new watch, i do come here and other watch forum to have a feel of the price ( to check that it is within my budget ) before going to ADs to check for stock availability and price. Personally, i will still try to bargain for a better deal, but knowing that the price offered is reasonable market price itself will at least make me feel comfortable that my middle name is not "Robert".

Checking price with ADs for those who are new to this hobby can be quite stressful given the "lousy service" most of the SE gives, i guess thats one of the reason why some of the Bros or Sis prefer to just check the price here instead of asking the ADs.


For those who are like me.....new to this hobby.....be sincere when you are asking for price info, here or at ADs. It is good to visit the Ads a few times, get to know the SE, who knows, they may give you an offer you cannot refuse......

[zidaneong]

must do homework on the price.

[triton]

im not against people who come in here and seek assistance and/or advice. i just dont like people who just come in and ask for answers without doing any homework.


secondly, think of this scenario, im approached by forum members, friends and i keep asking the same SE, eventually they will know im just enquiring, they also wont bother to entertain me anymore.

unless you tell me that you are coming here to check on discount and then once you hit the shops, if you get the discount you want, u buy on the spot.

do note that if you come here and check for pricing and discount but u hit the shop, the shop no stock. then no point asking about discount and price.

each AD has at least 2 staff, not all sales staff give bad service quality. if you never hit the shops, how you know the sale staff is giving bad service? so far, i have not come across all the sales staff in an AD giving bad service.

the main primary reason i can think of is that potential buyer is lazy. how many times have u seen a forum member here saying i want to buy this watch, i got this price quoted or this % discount given. is it a fair deal and forum members here refuse to answer. also, as pointed out in post 1, different customer get quoted different discount. so what you get may not be what i can get, i may be even quoted lesser.

bottom line, whatever discount given is based on the discretion of the sales staff.

While i agree that potential buyer should check out few ADs to ascertain the market price, i can also understand the feeling of some that feels the need to "confirm", "re-check" with forum old birds to see if the price they are being offered is considered reasonable.

I am not a "grade A" customer in any AD, when i want to target a new watch, i do come here and other watch forum to have a feel of the price ( to check that it is within my budget ) before going to ADs to check for stock availability and price. Personally, i will still try to bargain for a better deal, but knowing that the price offered is reasonable market price itself will at least make me feel comfortable that my middle name is not "Robert".

Checking price with ADs for those who are new to this hobby can be quite stressful given the "lousy service" most of the SE gives, i guess thats one of the reason why some of the Bros or Sis prefer to just check the price here instead of asking the ADs.


For those who are like me.....new to this hobby.....be sincere when you are asking for price info, here or at ADs. It is good to visit the Ads a few times, get to know the SE, who knows, they may give you an offer you cannot refuse......

[cheng]

i agree with triton on his 2nd scenario

i personally have come across friends who ask me to check this price , that price and end of the day tell me its way beyond their budget (eg budget 8k and enquire abt 20k range watches for example) and end up they either dont buy or get a preown instead....

my point here is, one should also roughly have a budget in mind and be reasonable when comparing prices (ie dont expect fire sale prices in ADs)...and when the quoted price is within +/- the range, then bargain. i m sure if one is sincere enuff, some ADs will accomodate.

[rh1667]

Bro Triton,

I fully understand your point and knows how you feel.
Fortunately, i had only ONE such experience, also ask me to check price of few models , stock etc, but end up ......

Please do not get me wrong, as i mentioned, potential buyer should visit ADs to check the actual price that they are being offered and i fully know that SE will provide discount depending on how "important" they view you as their customer.

Perhaps we can stop such practise of actual price discussion here, and just share list price here or provide a range of 'achievable price"?
This should at least offer some clue to the price of the watch so that they / we can know if it is within our budget.

Or provide feedback on discount on when the TS can share with us the price that ADs offered to him/her?
To ask for actual discount or price, via PM?

[seiko.citizen]

that might stop people posting "how much max discount for X", but you will get alot of people PM'ing you on "how much max discount for X?"