Rockler - pricing

[Bob Cooper]

Do rockler stores sell parts for more than rockler online prices? I ask because I was just at a local store within a store and the price listed was > than MSRP. I told them that Amazon had the tool for a lot less and that I'm even willing to pay list price. I need it this weekend. But no way am I paying more than list. The salesperson lectured me about Economics at which point I should have walked away but didn't.

After walking out I looked it up on Rockler and the price was cheaper than the manufacturers list price.

Part = general tools circle cutter model 55
MSRP price = 33
rockler online = 30
Amazon = 20
Rockler in store = 35

I buy a lot from this local store and they are great and today was not a time to argue given all the people in the store. Likely I'll go talk to the owner one on one and get his take...it could be just mis marked. But this specific salesperson pissed me off.

So curious what yall see for rockler prices. Who sets them?

[Lee Schierer]

Do your online prices include the shipping?

[Bob Cooper]

Amazon prime is free 2 day shipping

[Wade Lippman]

I told them that Amazon had the tool for a lot less and that I'm even willing to pay list price. I need it this weekend. But no way am I paying more than list. The salesperson lectured me about Economics at which point I should have walked away but didn't.

The salesman was perfectly correct. If you need it this weekend then the Amazon price is irrelevant. You can buy it lots of places for less than Rockler, but not this weekend.
Simple supply and demand.

BTW, I find the ones with 2 cutters work a whole lot better; at least the one I have does.

[James Nugnes]

Kinda' funny watching retailers work their way through this multiple media world they live in. They still struggle with everything from return and support policies to price in trying to parse their B&M from their Internet storefront. Used to be that the base Internet pricing for an item was always better than Brick and Mortar even when the Internet option was offering free shipping....the base pricing was still better. Really you can't rely on anything any longer with regard to retailing and pricing. The Brick and Mortar may have built in costs that they must absorb and some of those might be local in nature. Now, if you really are going to hunt based on price, you have to check Amazon which is mainly a fulfillment vehicle, ebay where some suppliers may build a storefront that is their only storefront or build one that is supplemental to their own storefront, the retailer's own Internet storefront if he has one and finally the B&M might just have the same price. But its not likely. All of that feely, touchy face to face stuff costs money...no way around it. Did not matter that much when everything was B&M. But now when you have the internet to compare it to....the cost leader will almost always be an Internet storefront.

But you can't actually feel and touch what you want to buy from an Internet store. Sometimes it is even hard to judge the size of things being sold from an Internet storefront. You have to wait some number of days for it to get to you and for the most part have to pay to ship it back if you decide you don't want it.

[George Bokros]

Sounds like you were in an affiliate store. I am guessing they maybe permitted to set their own prices by Rockler on non Rockler branded items. There is an affiliate store about 30 miles from me but their prices are the same as the Rockler prices unless Rockler on-line has a sale. Was the Rockler on line price a sale price?

[Jeffrey Martel]

Looks like according to Rockler they don't have any stores in SC, and the one you went to is an Independent Reseller. So, that's probably the reason there.

[William C Rogers]

The Rockler store in Indy was usually the same and would match on line price.

[Bob Cooper]

Amazon really wasn't my point all though I do compare just as a reference point. What was surprising to me was that the price was higher than the MSRP which is quite unusual I think. Wonder what they would have priced it at if the MSRP was printed on the merchandise.

Sure I understand it's just a suggested price. In the end the snarky attitude was what bothered me the most and that is not something I typically see in this retail outlet.

[PHILIPPE JEANTY]

Porter*Cable 690LR *router

Grizzly: $89.95
Rockler: $159.99

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Is the local Rockler a franchise or a company owned store?

It's not unusual for retail stores to have different prices on the same products. Different stores may not pay the same wholesale price for a given product. Thus with the same percentage of markup, they will have a given product at different retail prices.

Some companies can afford to buy in larger quantities and therefore are able to get a better wholesale price.

Some times companies are able to buy merchandise at a much lower price when another business is going out of business.

Not all stores have the same business model, thus they may markup one product at a different percentage than another store does.

How long has that product been on the shelf? If it was purchased wholesale 5 years ago, it may have been purchased at a lower or possibly a higher price.

I've actually found online prices for a company to be higher than the same product in their local store BUT the online price advertises "Free Shipping". Is the shipping really free?

There can be a lot of different business reasons a retail store has a different price for a given product.

[Frederick Skelly]

Porter*Cable 690LR *router

Grizzly: $89.95
Rockler: $159.99

A quick web search shows that router is priced between $130 and $160 among the outlets I checked. And yes, Rockler is definitely at the high end of the range. The regular price at Grizzly is $149. So Rockler's high but the difference isn't as substantial as you sort of imply. The $89 price is on "sale".

So, you found a really good sale and I posted it in the Deals and Discounts section crediting you as the finder. Thanks for letting us know.

[Ben Rivel]

When I have found price dependencies between the store price and the website price I have always just told a store employee and they gave me the lesser price.

[Cary Falk]

Rockler is like HF. Never walk in there without a 20% coupon. Ha! Ha!. Even then they are still higher than other places some times. I don't know about the online pricing match. I know Home Depot will not match online prices. So you stand in the store and order it through the store with free pickup and make an associate fined it for cheaper that if you had to wander the isles yourself. Utterly stupid.

[Frederick Skelly]

I realize that I'm responding to a necro-thread here but the subject interests me.:D

If I go to a brick and mortar hobbyist-type shop, I'm never surprised if the price is higher than online. If I "want it now" and they won't price match either their own web store, or a competitor, I bite the bullet and buy it anyway. I figure I'm paying for the convenience and no one is forcing me to buy it "right now". If I am willing/able to wait, I order it.

But if I'm trying to compare different devices that do the same thing - say several miter gauges - I'll usually buy wherever I found the one I liked best - even if they are 10-20% higher. Especially if I was able to compare all of them in the same store. I am willing to pay more in this case because they provided me with the valuable service of having them in stock, where I could actually try them out. In my book, that counts. But I realize that many people probably think that's silly. :)

[Brian Gumpper]

My local Woodcraft (haven't been in there in a while) used to sell Whiteside router bits over list price while the internet dealers were 20% off of list. Like others said, if you need it quick i guess you'll pay for it.

[Ben Rivel]

My local Woodcraft (haven't been in there in a while) used to sell Whiteside router bits over list price while the internet dealers were 20% off of list. Like others said, if you need it quick i guess you'll pay for it.Almost always. It pays to shop around and have a little patience.

[Earl McLain]

The nearest Rockler and Woodcraft to me are about 10 minutes apart--but nearly 3 hours from home. I get to that city about 12 times each summer, but usually drive in late Wednesday night, work all weekend and drive home Sunday night. Once we had a rain-out, so I went to both stores in an afternoon (about 45 minutes from where I work & stay)--it was cool to visit. The point--for me, it's normally buy in an e-store or Craigslist. There's a good WW retailer (Berland's) about 1:45 away, and i'm in Joliet 3 or 4 weekends a year--but it's the same deal, drive in-work-drive home. Shoot, I live over 30 minutes to a Lowe's and 45 to a HD, so with a day job it's still more efficient to order up a delivery.

For all of you who have easier choices--appreciate the dilemma. Many of us just have to get to know the driver of our brown or red/white/blue truck. Actually, even USPS driver is a rural carrier driving a Tahoe (tan), so we don't even see an LLV!!
earl

[fRED mCnEILL]

I just bought 2 items on Amazon-a Benchdog router plate and some Kreg leveling gizmos to level the router plate. The router plate was $89 from Benchdog and$47 on Amazon . The Kreg stuff was $7 on Amazon and anywhere from 16-60 also on Amazon. So there doesn't seem to be a consistent reason for different pricing.
As for this "weekend delivery" I ordered an Incra router fence last week and it was delivered the next day. And the thing I REALLY like from Amazon is their return policy.No arguments. Gotta love it. But being a retired retail store owner I do sympathize with those guys. Thats just the way the world is changing.

[Ellen Benkin]

Make sure online prices include shipping (when appropriate) and tax. Then it's a fair comparison to brick and mortar stores.

[Peter Kuhlman]

On the tax topic -----
I ordered some gifts from Amazon to be shipped elsewhere. Was somewhat surprised they added sales tax for Michigan and Colorado. I know Amazon is planning to have warehouses for quick shipping in most every state so will see more of this. Here in Louisiana our sales tax is now 10% and with the state being basically bankrupt they are talking raising it even more. At this percentage I know several families who even do their grocery shopping via internet to avoid sales tax. The state just doesn't get it that raising the rates reduces in-state shopping thus lowering revenue. Yea you are required to claim purchases and pay sales tax on your year end taxes but I bet most ignore that. 10% and rising is a huge adder on an automobile! Getting very painful. My very first new car in 1977 cost less (all taxes and fees included) than the sales tax on a $30000 vehicle now.

[Frederick Skelly]

On the tax topic -----
I ordered some gifts from Amazon to be shipped elsewhere. Was somewhat surprised they added sales tax for Michigan and Colorado.

I think I recall a court judgement a year or so back that decided Amazon had to charge sales tax. I don't know the background or terms, but Amazon's website says this:

"Items sold by Amazon.com LLC, or its subsidiaries, and shipped to destinations in the following states are subject to tax:
Alabama Florida Maryland New York Tennessee
Arizona Georgia Massachusetts North Carolina Texas
California Illinois Michigan North Dakota Virginia
Colorado Indiana Minnesota Ohio Washington
Connecticut Kansas Nevada Pennsylvania West Virginia
District of Columbia Kentucky New Jersey South Carolina Wisconsin"

[Art Mann]

The truth is you were always supposed to keep up with what the sales tax would have been in your State and send the money in once a year. That is true of all mail order and on-line purchases - not just Amazon, There never was a legal "no sales tax" policy. You could always be charged with tax evasion if you didn't do that. Amazon is probably seeing that they will soon be forced to collect sales tax anyway so they started proactively doing it now. Other on-line stores are also starting to charge tax too. I hate it for myself but we shouldn't be able to just skip the sales tax. It cripples the local economy and gives the on-line stores an unfair competitive advantage.

On the other hand, I would not disagree with anyone that sales tax in most locations is too high.