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My guess is supply and demand. They don't want the inventory to sit on their shelves as new version of products get put out at a fast rate. They are then left with obsolete inventory.
sad but true, I actually bought my first ego kit from a shop a few months back and it was 48.00, just ordered the same exact thing for a friend for 7.50. Its a cheap ego blister pack with battery/ce4/charger... sigh
I don't mind paying a little premium buying local, but not if they markup their prices 300+%. Why would I pay insane prices from a middleman buying hardware in bulk from the same place I can buy hardware [ie. fasttech, alibaba etc]?
Seriously, if the hardware being sold was made in the US or somewhere not in China, I doubt I'd have much of a problem supporting local B&Ms. As it stands now, most B&Ms are simply taking advantage of vapors who don't know any better by gouging the .... out of them with subpar starter kits.
Seriously, if the hardware being sold was made in the US or somewhere not in China, I doubt I'd have much of a problem supporting local B&Ms. As it stands now, most B&Ms are simply taking advantage of vapors who don't know any better by gouging the .... out of them with subpar starter kits.
Exactly Right...What the Mark up is doing is Putting people off from Making the Switch. now I can see paying 2-10 more than the online price but 20-30 no way!!! a kit with juice and case should be about the cost of a Carton in the area. that way when they come back the next day for more juice you can get them on a bunch of juice and clearos. but I just have to disagree that a markup that big is nessasary. repeat business is the goal and 89 bucks for a starter kit is NOT acceptable.
http://www.CASAA.org
http://www.CASAA.org
I've never been in retail or any kind of sales, but I always wonder how most stores in small towns can actually support their owners. A specialty store like an ecig store especially, or any independent store. They must have other means of support, surely....my little B&M ecig store here does not seem to have very high markup, fortunately. Sure would be interesting to hear from owners on this topic.
I don't have a local shop and after reading all the stories and visiting a few out of town shops I have no desire for one. They seem to be all way way overpriced. I'd be perfectly fine paying 20% over online to get local but not 100%+.
I had a realization like that recently.
A new shop opened up about 30 minutes away (I live in Northern Michigan. Vape shops are as rare as-- Nevermind), so I decided to check out their website and head into the store myself. Same problem with the $80 Evod Starter Kit that I'll be bypassing the B&M to order from VapeDojo for $35 bucks for my mother for Christmas.
I agree with what JohnnyB88 said. Sort of like a passive boycott. Order your stuff from your online trusted suppliers that have good prices and force the vape shop to lower their prices.
On that note, something I just thought of: If VapeDojo can have TWO B&M shops (which they do), and a professionally designed website with a full-fledged e-commerce system... Why can't any other mom and pop shops do the same and have sane prices?
A new shop opened up about 30 minutes away (I live in Northern Michigan. Vape shops are as rare as-- Nevermind), so I decided to check out their website and head into the store myself. Same problem with the $80 Evod Starter Kit that I'll be bypassing the B&M to order from VapeDojo for $35 bucks for my mother for Christmas.
I agree with what JohnnyB88 said. Sort of like a passive boycott. Order your stuff from your online trusted suppliers that have good prices and force the vape shop to lower their prices.
On that note, something I just thought of: If VapeDojo can have TWO B&M shops (which they do), and a professionally designed website with a full-fledged e-commerce system... Why can't any other mom and pop shops do the same and have sane prices?
I just stopped by the local shop near me for the first time today. I already have a starter kit and have more stuff coming in online so I didn't need it, but I checked their kit prices and it's:
$18 for mini ego kit
$35 for evod kit
Much more reasonable.
$18 for mini ego kit
$35 for evod kit
Much more reasonable.
A decent B&M that doesn't try to stick it to local vapers deserves our support. I'll pay an extra 10%-25% on certain items to support my local B&Ms, and also have the privilege of not having to wait. 300% is just a giant middle finger, though.
it all boils down to buyer beware ... reminds me of all those cell phone kiosks, selling $1 cases for $15-$20 each.
The vaping industry is bursting at the seems with cheap knockoffs ... opportunists are coming out of the woodwork.
The vaping industry is bursting at the seems with cheap knockoffs ... opportunists are coming out of the woodwork.
And to think sum folk here bad mouth those of us dat shop on-line and/or FT!
Sorry, I don't do 'pity buys'...
Sorry, I don't do 'pity buys'...
I visited a new vape shop in my town today. Hasn't even had the grand opening yet. I spoke with the owner for quite some time. He had a huge selection of different products and an even bigger selection of juices. (Not made on the premises but all USA ) He flat out said that he will beat anyone's prices here in town. He's in it for the long haul to build his name and reputation. Doesn't want to make a killing, just a living. He also has a store that is doing very well in CA too.
I've seen a few people in this thread defend Brick and Mortars charging exorbitant prices because of "overhead" and I gotta know... Do you put your money where your mouth is? Do you support your local thieving B&M by buying juice at $1 a ml? Or are you just being contrary?
i lol'd and noped when i realized the B&M near me is selling 10ml of ECB for $8.
I lol'd harder when the new one opened and they were selling DEKANG for that much. At least ECB is consistently tasty.
They just took my husband's cousin's wife for $80 on an itaste (the original one, not like an MVP or anything) when you can get that stuff genuine on fasttech for $40, full kit, not just the battery.
edit: battery and charger alone are $25 on fasttech. They tried to tell her to wait until i got home from school but she didn't listen.
I lol'd harder when the new one opened and they were selling DEKANG for that much. At least ECB is consistently tasty.
They just took my husband's cousin's wife for $80 on an itaste (the original one, not like an MVP or anything) when you can get that stuff genuine on fasttech for $40, full kit, not just the battery.
edit: battery and charger alone are $25 on fasttech. They tried to tell her to wait until i got home from school but she didn't listen.
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Totally agree! It'll be interesting to see how many shops are around a year from now. Luckily there are a few decent shops here - feel free to PM me if you want to swap stories!
I just started back in on ecigs. I went to a "semi-local" shop to get my set up. I heared they had a sale on the Kanger T3S and ego-C upgrade passthrough. I get there and they were out of the passthrough batteries, but had no problem selling me the regular ego-C upgrade. I walked out of that shop $65 lighter in the wallet (without juice). I did a little research and found that my set up with accessories should have only cost me about $30-$35. I am a little upset by this profit margin crap aswell. This shop sells the replacement coils for $2.50 each. I can get a 5 pack online for $6. I can also get any 1000+ mah battery for less than the ego-c (650mah) i was sold at that store... Thanks to the internet I am not forced to give up on the dream of quitting smoking.
There are obviously lots of people who don't understand how local economies work, so they complain about that "profit crap." I suspect they'll be surprised when they find the only jobs left in town are at McD's or Wallyworld, and wonder why.
Where I live we have few true Vape B&Ms, most are tobacco shops who have added e-cigs to their inventory. There is one about 5 minutes from my house.
They started with basic evo stuff about 6 months ago and now carry a variety of tanks, Drippers Drip tips etc., however they still only sell Evo batters, no mods.
There prices are a little more then online (Kanger Protank II was 25 + tax) but reasonable for a B&M. When I ask them why they didn't carry any Mods, the response I got was that most people were not looking to spend the money on them and they didn't sell so they pulled them off the shelf.
They had a few in the back and pulled them out and I saw why they didn't sell - the one example that stood out to me was the iTast MVP 2 that they had, I was researching this device and knew what they were going for. They had it marked at 150 + tax! I pointed out that I know they are a B&M and need to make a profit but the mark up they had on that device was way too much. I told them that they go for 50 or less online and I could see paying $70 , but a 200% mark up was way too much. I then pointed out that their Protank II was 25 and I have seen those for 15 online and that was a more reasonable markup (and purchased one as well).
I ask her to pass on to the owner/manager that if they wanted to sell those mods to those that would buy them, they need to have a better mark up.
I haven't been back in a while as the juice they sell is horrid (pass that on as well) and I use another B&M for my daily juice, but I hope to get back in soon as I now have some more mods researched and I would like to see if they have improved there prices and if they have other brands of juice now.
They started with basic evo stuff about 6 months ago and now carry a variety of tanks, Drippers Drip tips etc., however they still only sell Evo batters, no mods.
There prices are a little more then online (Kanger Protank II was 25 + tax) but reasonable for a B&M. When I ask them why they didn't carry any Mods, the response I got was that most people were not looking to spend the money on them and they didn't sell so they pulled them off the shelf.
They had a few in the back and pulled them out and I saw why they didn't sell - the one example that stood out to me was the iTast MVP 2 that they had, I was researching this device and knew what they were going for. They had it marked at 150 + tax! I pointed out that I know they are a B&M and need to make a profit but the mark up they had on that device was way too much. I told them that they go for 50 or less online and I could see paying $70 , but a 200% mark up was way too much. I then pointed out that their Protank II was 25 and I have seen those for 15 online and that was a more reasonable markup (and purchased one as well).
I ask her to pass on to the owner/manager that if they wanted to sell those mods to those that would buy them, they need to have a better mark up.
I haven't been back in a while as the juice they sell is horrid (pass that on as well) and I use another B&M for my daily juice, but I hope to get back in soon as I now have some more mods researched and I would like to see if they have improved there prices and if they have other brands of juice now.
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