Ok, I don’t get it, the price of stuff at B&Q is sometimes significantly more expensive than elsewhere. For example, I saw a Rexon 5 gallon wet and dry vacuum cleaner (shopvac) for almost 3000nt, while yahoo auction has it for only 2000nt. Then I saw a moisture trap and regular combo (for air compressors) for 1200NT or something (I forgot how much) and the same item can be found at Yahoo auction for 500! Also, they sell a 3hp compressor for 14,000 NT which is enough to buy a 2HP belt driven compressor (that provides much more air and are quieter!) and still have change left. There are many other things, for example rubber strip for sealing doors and windows are sold at about 150nt a pack (last year’s price, probably significantly more now), while the same stuff can be found at the hardware store street near Taipei main station for 80nt, and it contains more than twice as much foam strip as the 3M pack!
I just want to know why are their things so expensive? I know they have a very good return policy which is quite unusual in Taiwan (the law only requires 7 days) but seriously, when you buy the above mentioned item elsewhere you actually save enough money to get the shop vac for free than if you bought it at B&Q. I always thought discounters aim for the lowest possible price to get people buying…
For a second there I thought you were complaining about barbeque prices. I can thoroughly recommend “Water Frog” near Guandu.
B&Q charge what they can get away with, like all businesses. Do you ever see a shortage of customers in B&Q?
I think the underlying reason is that, if you’re not quite sure where to get something DIYish, you can be fairly confident B&Q have it. They estimate that saving you the aggro of searching the neighbourhood (or the internet, or the yellow pages) is worth an extra 50% markup. And they’re right.
[quote=“finley”]For a second there I thought you were complaining about barbeque prices. I can thoroughly recommend “Water Frog” near Guandu.
B&Q charge what they can get away with, like all businesses. Do you ever see a shortage of customers in B&Q?
I think the underlying reason is that, if you’re not quite sure where to get something DIYish, you can be fairly confident B&Q have it. They estimate that saving you the aggro of searching the neighbourhood (or the internet, or the yellow pages) is worth an extra 50% markup. And they’re right.[/quote]
Well, if you’re doing general home improvement or renovations, then you can count on them having it… but as a luthier, good luck!
They don’t have any hand planes, they don’t have any power tools that’s worth using as a luthier (except for the sander, and even then they don’t have it), and they don’t even carry decent lacquer either.
But I guess as a luthier any home improvement store is not a good place to go, but in the US I could find something that a luthier could use at Home Depot.
[quote=“PigBloodCake”]Perhaps we can generalize it and say “Why are material goods so expensive in Taiwan?”
Can you say ‘duties’?
US has no duties or VAT but rather state sales taxes and hence most material goods are cheaper there (a car is a damn good example).[/quote]
Taiwan VAT is lower than most State sales tax… plus you only have one government to deal with, whereas in the US you got 3 levels of governments to deal with, and they all want a share of your pie.
[quote=“Taiwan Luthiers”][quote=“PigBloodCake”]Perhaps we can generalize it and say “Why are material goods so expensive in Taiwan?”
Can you say ‘duties’?
US has no duties or VAT but rather state sales taxes and hence most material goods are cheaper there (a car is a damn good example).[/quote]
Taiwan VAT is lower than most State sales tax… plus you only have one government to deal with, whereas in the US you got 3 levels of governments to deal with, and they all want a share of your pie.[/quote]
That’s when you’re doing business in US…not when you become a consumer. Consumers in Taiwan are usually being screwed by the prices that are being passed onto by manufacturers. And keep in mind that VAT can become awfully high as each layers of the product are being developed/manufactured (VAT is attached to each parts that are being added on…why do you think cars are so damn expensive in Taiwan even for locally assembled ones?).
For every item that you can name in US that’s more expensive than in Taiwan, I can name 3 (and those are not trinkets either).
I can’t really find anything I need in B&Q that I can’t find in local shops, and I certainly can’t find good quality wood. B&Q shops in Taiwan are not as well stocked as those in the UK, where B&Q is originally from.
Auctions almost always will have items cheaper than in the store, even if the auctions are hosted by the store itself.
Many factors comes to play, but some of the main reason:
Cheaper storage - no need to rent storage space in the middle of very expensive shopping zone
Cheaper labor - instead of the labor that company need to hire to successfully run the shop, they only need part of it to pack merchandise and maintain auction
Shopping value - a customer always prefer to see it, touch it, feel it while making a purchasing decision, auction does not allow that - hence you need to get customer by offering discounted price even after shipping is included.
There has been no B&Q in Taiwan for years - the company sold its operations here to fund adventures in China. Te Li Wu is what is left after a local company bought B&Q out. They kept the company colors and basic style to cheat customers into thinking they are still shopping at B&Q. Maybe that was part of the deal.
Personally I think Te Li Wu’s product range is shit - closer to Carrefour than a real DIY shop. They stock 20 types of Chinese-made Stanley screwdrivers but good luck finding anything useful like a socket set.
