Mark up may be small

[muss]

for dealers , but they more than make up for it in volume. I don't care who you are, money does things to people . Different people, different things. Greed is like an amphrodisiac . Said before & i'll say it again, there are dealers out there that are gonna squeeze as much as they can out of customers . Be vary wary & stick with site . Good luck to all the newbies & tread carefully Muss

 

[JustWood]

I don't believe there is such a thing as greed when it comes to $. Getting all you can for your product/service and still increase sales is just good business.
As a consumer if you don't prepare till the last minute you leave yourself open to market forces.

Me, personally if I hadn't been set up with an alternative heat source yet and oil hit $80+/barrel I would have been taking advantage of some low interest credit card offers or even a home equity loan to get set up and not pay high HHO prices.

 

[mkmh]

For the most part I have to agree with Lees here. It is really tough to make it in business, and the playing field changes constantly. Price gouging is frustrating and annoying, but consumers always have the last word on whether they want to pay (sometimes) outrageous prices. If pelletheads got together and said "I will not pay more than 275 per ton" then prices would almost certainly drop down to that level....or at least to very close to that level.
Personally my absolute cap (given today's petroleum prices) for wood pellets is right around 300 per ton, though i've never paid more that 260 delivered. If oil went to 8 dollars per gallon i'd of course raise my cap accordingly.

The price gouging can occur because consumers are acting irrationally in the marketplace. Understandably, people are scared stiff about oil prices..but it is causing many people to pay unreasonably high prices for stoves and pellets, which unfortunately (in many cases) puts them in a worse position for the foreseeable future. My advice for people who are looking at a choice between an overpriced stove and no stove would be to choose the latter for now. I sincerly believe there will be a glut of stoves and pellets next spring and that this will be a great time to buy. It might be hard to make it through this winter, but you might be better off buying a few quality electric heaters to get you through.

I'm quite sure there will be some terrific used stoves on craigslist next spring from owners who didn't know what they were getting into with pellet heat.

Having said all that, if you want a stove because you believe it is the right thing to do to help get us off of foreign oil then I think that is great. However, if your decision is about economics and saving money I would definitely think twice about buying into the hype right now.

 

[BrotherBart]

As deliveries get pushed farther and farther out and heating oil prices start a decline it is the dealers that are going to get hammered. Along about December and January when people are flat worn out from worrying for six months if the stove is going to arrive and they keep seeing pellet prices increasing, at the same time they are having to buy oil anyway, they are going to call their credit card companies and slam the door on those deposits. At that point the dealers will have tractor trailers loaded with stoves rolling toward them like a Tsunami. Only to have them pile up in the stores.

 

[muss]

I beleive anyone with an open mind who doesn't think that there is a possibility of some dealers out there ain't above overcharging just might be & the key word here is "might" is either naive or a dealer . Muss

 

[STOVEGUY11]

To be a dealer, you have to charge with in a certain percentage below or above the companies suggested retail.

 

[BrotherBart]

A dealer ought to be able to ask what ever they want for their product. Nobody has to buy the damned thing from them. I turn down business, not stove related, all of the time because somebody wants to low ball. They know what it is worth to them and I know what I have to have for my business. If the twain do not meet, so be it.

I have been cruising the aisles of stove stores since 1977 and most of the time the price asked is list price. It is a very small niche market. And like anything else you buy, if you fall in love with a particular model you better just get ready to pony up for it. Otherwise pick three that will get the job done for you, shop and then buy the one that offers the best price/service package and let the other two guys use theirs for card tables.

 

[webbie]

for dealers , but they more than make up for it in volume. I don't care who you are, money does things to people . Different people, different things. Greed is like an amphrodisiac . Said before & i'll say it again, there are dealers out there that are gonna squeeze as much as they can out of customers . Be vary wary & stick with site . Good luck to all the newbies & tread carefully Muss

I think this needs translated from "maine-ee-ack" to English.......

The entire American way of life is based on greed.....so maybe this is meant to say "anyone anywhere who sells something to you is deeply affected by the money".....or something like that???

So, a "site" that sells stoves has no greed? How about a big box store which pays the employees as little as possible so the stockholders can make as much as possible? These box stores have been known to drive MANY manufacturers out of business (let alone Main Street)....

So, please tell me what the real advice here is????

 

[webbie]

What about the "greed" of consumers who want to buy a product for as little as possible and don't care if it is made by slaves?

What about the greed of consumers....who are buying a pellet stove because of the MONEY they "make" by not burning oil? These customers have decided that their oil man (even if he was in business for 100 years) no longer needs to have a roof over his head......

Silly thread - I'm closing it.