Barrabes to GWN

[CharlesEvans]

Barrabes saved me $70 on local prices for a pair of 2F's, partly I think, because they shipped them under the "book" category.

Yay Barrabes.

[sexual_chocolate]

How long did it take you to get your order, and did you pay with a credit card? Just curious.

[JayB]

SC:

I just bought a few screws and a new pair of boots from barrabes. Saved $215 on the boots alone. You pay by credit card, by means of a payment service administered by "Banco Espana" or something like that. Very efficient and secure. Both of my orders were on my doorstep within 5 days of the order.

I think this has been addressed in another thread, but the fact they can sell gear for 50% less than US retail (even allowing for the favorable exchange conditions caused by the depressed Euro) makes me wonder why we have to pay so much for this stuff in the USA. Tariffs? Distributors with a monopoly on the goods? Anyway, for me it's all about Barrabes as long as they are allowed to ship their wares to the U.S. of A.

[philfort]

waaaaa!

They've removed nearly all their ski gear from their website... it will be available again in "just some days"... been like that for two weeks now - what up!?

[jon]

I've noticed the same thing. What the hell. Phil wanna send them an email and find out what the hell is going on?

[tobytortorelli]

telemark-pyrenees.com is offering alot of nice gear too......especially in skis. although they are starting to sell out....

[CharlesEvans]

SC - As usual there is a ton of commentary from the southern cousins, (I just wanna say this, and let me tell you) but my post was intended to inform northerners that it was possible and cost effective. And we have MEC.

I used a credit card, and the gear was a little slow, but I ordered it on Sept 10. so the fact that it arrived at all is pretty amazing.

[dbb]

I know about the ski gear, they also sold out of all their avie beacons too. Not to mention that they don't carry the BD Black prophets anymore either.

I wonder if this is because the companies hate them so much that they wont resupply them. Maybe they just bought a ton of inventory and are having a good time of it while they can. At least they will always have those killer deals on Grivel stuff!

[willstrickland]

Interesting theory, but I doubt they'd want to alienate themselves. Remember, these guys are the single largest climbing shop in europe (or so I've heard anyway). I don't think an american company like BD or Metolius would want to hand over market share just because some crafty dirtbags like us are figuring out ways to get the stuff cheap. You gotta figure there are alot of folks with prodeals anyway. I'd bet that camalot sales alone in europe put new BMWs in the driveways of BD execs.

[dbb]

Well, there is what happened to MEC you know...

[philfort]

quote:

---

Originally posted by jon:

I've noticed the same thing. What the hell. Phil wanna send them an email and find out what the hell is going on?

---

Word from Barrabes is:"Normally we get all the ski gear during November. I'm sure you will see ski boots in our web site in a couple of weeks."

[jon]

I noticed there is more than ski gear missing. If you go to the clothing it is all TNF and Mountie Hardware stuff. I noticed this because I was looking to see if they had this new Mammut schoeller jacket, and could even find the stuff that was previously on there. Conspiracy in the works?????

[philfort]

quote:

---

Originally posted by jon:

Conspiracy in the works?????

---

Yeah, that guy is probably full of crap. I bet they have all the stuff you want Jon, but they're selling it to locals before putting it up on the website! It's gonna be all gone before you get a chance to buy!

Seriously, I doubt the items aren't shown because they're not in stock. They were reworking their website (their "logistics store" as they put it) and they probably haven't put the items back up there.... hmm and there's no other place to get the boots I want, and no other place to get the skis I want for even close to that price.... grrrr

[jon]

Phil I'm sure your right about the ski gear and it makes sense. Ski manufactures only make a certain amount of stuff before the season, they don't make multiple manufacturing runs, so obviously they will give people over there first dibs.

I'm suspicious with the other stuff though. I'm wondering if someone is trying to play hardball with them like BD did to MEC. I sent them an email about the issue.

[JayB]

I've had good luck with Barrabes, but www.sportextreme.com is also worth a look. The selection isn't nearly as broad as Barrabes', but their prices are generally in the same ballpark, and even lower on a few items.

[philfort]

Does anyone know of any other european dealers that ship to the US, other than the following:

Barrabes

Telemark-pyrenees

sportextreme

cham3s

[jon]

I got an email back from Barrabes and they said they are upgrading their store and there should be a bigger selection very soon. I hope so.

[JayB]

Just got tagged with a customs bill for my first order - bummer. The good news is that I could pay the duty 10x over and still end up paying less than if I had bought domestically.

[gregm]

BD is also muscling Tele-Pyrannes. BD asked T-P to not show Scarpa tele boots on their webpage. They still carry them and T-P will still sell them to you at the way cheap price, you just have to know to ask them. Interestingly enough they still show Scarpa AT boots on the web catalogue.

BD has already muscled Coulior Mag to stop printing ads for T-P.

Price fixing protections against buying in Europe have already been in place for some time on avalanche beacons.

I think gear producers have basically decided to fuck you if you live in the US. Many many people pro deal in this country, and I almost wonder if this is a kind of bribary that allows it to continue happening. Has anyone ever seen a discussion of Euro vs. US prices in any specialty mag like Coulior or Climbing or Rock & Ice?

[Cpt.Caveman]

BD can kiss it

[epb]

Can anyone lay out the applicaple taxes and tariffs for products bought from Barrabes in English. Is there a way to know what these will be before you place your order. The page on there site about this reads fuzzy to me. Just trying to figure out what the deal was?

Would it be benificial to buy a bunch of gear at once?

[TheDude]

I've ordered quite a few things through Barrabes, although you do take a chance of getting stuck with a "customs duty invoice." The first few times I orded from them (about $200 each order), it was just the shipping charge and nothing else. The last time I got a pair of boots, I got stuck with a Customs Invoice that came a week after the package in the mail. It was for 8.5% of my order total plus $5 'processing.' Barrabes said US Customs randomly check some packages that go through them. So just bad luck I guess. It also took about 2.5 weeks to get the order since Customs wasn't in too big of a hurry (maybe a post Sept.11 slow-down in customs checking?). Overall, still saved a chunk of dinero.

[epb]

Hell 8.5 still isn't bad, considering what you can save. Not much more than sales tax in reality.

[ 11-30-2001: Message edited by: epb ]

[JayB]

I bought a pair of boots from them not too long ago and was assessed a 4% duty on the "Mountain Goods" I had purchased through them. It came to about $8.50 on an order of roughly $200 (including shipping) plus a five dollar service fee. I got the boots (Asolo AFS 8000's) for $177 US, and they retail for $399.50US domestically. Bring on customs baby!

On a related note, I'm going to send an e-mail to the folks at BD to inquire about their policies concerning MEC, Barrabes et al, and domestic prices for gear in general. I'll post the response to this forum if I get one.

[JayB]

Hey Fellas:

Here's the full text of the letter I just sent to Black Diamond regarding their pricing. Sorry if it's a bit on the long side. I'll send along their response if I get one. Also - Gregm - I quoted you in the letter, hope that's okay. I characterized you comments, which I think are totally legit, as a "nasty rumor" in the letter to the folks at BD in the hopes that doing so would look kindly upon my tone and provide me with a response, and also to goad them into defending themselves just a bit.

"Dear Black Diamond Staff:

One of the most highly touted benefits of the Web for consumers has been the introduction of rapid price comparisons between competing retailers both domestically and abroad. Accordingly, it didn't take long for those of us who compare prices online to notice a vast discrepancy between the prices we were being charged domestically versus the prices being charged for the same goods overseas. As a consumer you naturally vote with your dollar and take your business to the retailer offering the goods you want for the lowest price. Case in point: I recently purchased a pair of boots for $177 online that retail for $399.50(!) in the US. Not Scarpa boots, but the point remains valid. I was especially surprised to learn that I could buy BD gear overseas and get it for far less than I can get it here.

There are several reasons why this could be the case. Shipping (for European goods imported to the US)? Nope, cost me $20 to ship a single item, far more on a per-unit basis than one would pay to ship the goods in bulk like a retailer would. The exchange rate? Nope - Currently one Euro gets you 89.61 cents. If it took two Euro to get a single dollar maybe one could make a case here. Duty? No again - US customs assessed a 4% duty, which came to about $8.00 dollars US. So who is getting the pound of flesh out of the consumer here? The producer - seems unlikely as the cost to manufacture a given product is the same regardless of who the producer elects to sell it too, although volume pricing and the like make give the buyer a bit more pricing power in certain cases. Retailers? Seems like it would be to their advantage to give the consumer the best price upon which they can turn a profit in a competitive marketplace. Who is left? Wholesalers - or is the reason some sort of collusive price fixing amongst all of the parties named above? That's the unfortunate conclusion that many loyal gearheads are coming to with regards to high-end outdoor gear in general and BD products in particular.

The only reason I'm bringing this up, and maybe you have had several letters like this before, is that I dig your stuff and consider myself a loyal customer. Just in the last year alone I've shelled out many a hard-won dollar for two sets of Camalots, a set of Prophets, Swithchblade Crampons, two sets of Stoppers, several Express ice screws and who knows how many 'biners. Not only have I purchased scads of your stuff myself, I've recommended you gear to just about anyone who has asked my opinion on the matter. Beyond the quality of the gear itself, I've always heard from others that you stand behind your products for the long term and take care of your customers in the event that the equipment is damaged (by repairing it for a fair price) or found defective. Such practices are consistent with a company that realizes that its most important relationship is with its customers, not retailers, wholesalers, or anyone else who stands between the two. Yeah - staying in business means staying on good terms with the middlemen, but not to the detriment of your customers if you are thinking long term.

So here's the question. What's the deal? Why do we have to pay so much more to buy your gear domestically? What's with putting the royal kibosh on MEC shipping gear to the US if they can offer your customers a better price? Some nasty rumors have been springing up on the climbing related newsgroups lately, such as:

"BD is also muscling Tele-Pyrannes. BD asked T-P to not show Scarpa tele boots on their webpage. They still carry them and T-P will still sell them to you at the way cheap price, you just have to know to ask them. Interestingly enough they still show Scarpa AT boots on the web catalogue. BD has already muscled Coulior Mag to stop printing ads for T-P. " (There's quite a bit more out there but hopefully you get the idea.)

I just thought I would write you guys and provide you with the opportunity to set the record straight on this matter. With your permission I'll post your response on the newsgroups I frequent, as there's been quite a bit of discussion about this matter going on lately. Please respond to the hotmail address I have included above.

Thanks in advance for your consideration and reply-

Jay BrazierColorado Springs, Colorado