<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=windows-1252"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2600.0" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>Terry,</DIV> <DIV>I'm not sure you and I are looking at this the same way. Take the = dolly with 5" castors. Price at My Piano Shop is $295.00. The price I pay at = Schaff is $160.00. It is general practice to "keystone", or double our cost to the = retail customer plus add our shipping which according to my invoice from last = year was about $40.00. That will bring the unit's cost to the customer to around = $360.00. If I want to compete with the online retailer I've got to beat = the $295 price or lose the sale. I can't do that and still make a profit. = </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The Hands Off fallboard  lock is another item I get asked = about a lot. Schaff's price is $48.00 my cost, which translates to $96.00 retail = to my customer. Plus sales tax of $8.45.I can get it myself for $59.95 = at  many online stores. And not pay our state sales tax. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Either the piano supply houses or the suppliers to these house are = selling to on line marketers at prices we can't compete with. That's my point. = And for what it's worth, I see this as an increasing challenge (threat) to our = attempts to retail merchandise. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I had url references showing Dampp Chaser products for sale but = have lost the source. As I recall, the situation was the same, with out the door = prices to online shoppers far below the ridiculous figures suggested by Dampp = Chaser in their latest literature to us techs.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Am I missing something here or don't any of you really think it's = worth getting an eyebrow raised over?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Joseph Alkana  RPT<BR><A href="mailto:josephspiano@attbi.com">josephspiano@attbi.com</A></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A title=mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com href="mailto:mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com">Farrell</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A = title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, May 08, 2002 = 4:11 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: wholesale?</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV>Don't know what you are talking about here. I looked up = the student hammer, the gooseneck hammers and the European hammers and = each one is available at Schaff for less than half the advertised price on the = site below. I have looked at a couple other sites in the past just out of = curiosity and found that the prices are all pretty much wholesale plus normal markup.<BR><BR>Now be careful what you are comparing. For instance, a = tuning fork - so many grades at varying prices are available - the site below = does not state the exact fork they have for sale. I didn't even want to = compare the "hardwood" tuning lever price. Who knows what kind of wood or the = quality of the hammer. Whenever I have found items that I a sure of the exact = mfg., model, etc., I find that we get wholesale from the = suppliers.<BR><BR>Terry Farrell<BR>  <BR>----- Original Message ----- <BR>From: "Joseph = Alkana" <<A = href="mailto:josephspiano@attbi.com">josephspiano@attbi.com</A>><BR>= To: <<A = href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A>><BR>Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 11:30 PM<BR>Subject: = wholesale?<BR><BR><BR>List,<BR>I was trying to price out some accessories for a customer using my = normal piano parts suppliers. i.e., Schaff, Pianotek and compared their = "wholesale"  prices to retail prices offered by any number of on-line distributors. = For example:<BR><A = href="http://www.mypianoshop.com/tools/">http://www.mypianoshop.com/too= ls/</A><BR><BR>Not only do many such companies offer free shipping their retail prices = are, in some instances, lower than what we piano techs can get at the supply = houses. So much for even considering a mark up on our end. Plus the shipping.<BR><BR>Any comments on this annoying situation? Are the = suppliers to the supply houses really under cutting us by selling direct to what I = would call "jobbers" or are the supply houses just gouging our checkbooks?<BR><BR><BR>Joseph Alkana  RPT<BR><A = href="mailto:josephspiano@attbi.com">josephspiano@attbi.com</A><BR><BR>= </BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>