Lee valley Seconds Sale

[Steve Catts]

Hi All,

It seems that this is the time of year for LV to have their sale on factory seconds. Have I missed it or is anyone aware of when it is scheduled?

Thanks,
Steve

[Prashun Patel]

Sorry, you missed the Cyber Monday sale after Thanksgiving. It was on from 12:00am to about 12:20am EST.

[Frank Pratt]

Ya, those are always the first things to be sold out & it happens real quick.

[Bill McNiel]

LV currently has free shipping on orders of $40 or more through Jan 5th.

[Greg R Bradley]

Unless you like the challenge of staying up until midnight on the east coast and trying to "win" the purchase of a "second", I have to wonder if just buying what you want and the free freight of the current deal makes more sense.
Auctions and sales seem to mostly sell to the "biggest fool". Of course, if you have lots of time on your hands..................
I would rather get something done but them I'm not snowed in for half the year...........

[Victor Robinson]

Unless you like the challenge of staying up until midnight on the east coast and trying to "win" the purchase of a "second", I have to wonder if just buying what you want and the free freight of the current deal makes more sense.
Auctions and sales seem to mostly sell to the "biggest fool". Of course, if you have lots of time on your hands..................
I would rather get something done but them I'm not snowed in for half the year...........

That and the amount discounted on seconds seems to have slowly crept downwards. A few years ago the sale had bigger discounts, before it became such an "event." Since the sale never comes with free shipping at the same time it almost makes more sense to buy the discounted gift cards during the sale and then buy what you want when a free shipping event comes around.

[Bill McNiel]

Victor has the sane approach IMHO.

[Chris Merriam]

I logged in around 730am that morning and all the planes had been purchased already

[Victor Robinson]

It should be noted that while it may sound like we're griping, Lee Valley has continued to put its customers first with different ways to keep us happy (the discounted gift cards being a nice substitute for seconds that sell out too quickly), while maintaining a successful/profitable business. Great company.

[Brian Tymchak]

Victor, thanks for the tip about the discounted gift cards. I had not noticed LV was doing that.

[Bob Grier]

How much were the gift cards discounted?

[Frederick Skelly]

How much were the gift cards discounted?

IIRC it varied with the amount but it didn't exceed 20%. Still a good deal.

[Jeffrey Martel]

It's still a better deal to grab a seconds plane if you can than the gift cards. But it makes a good backup plan. My shoulder plane was $50 off, or a bit more than 25%. Still not 100% sure where the mark is that made it a second. I think I found it, but it's small and I can't be certain.

[Frank Pratt]

Maximum was 15% of a $1000 card.

[Cody Colston]

Just a thought but I wonder if a horde of consumers vying for "seconds" during a sale could eventually impact the quality of the tools? If "seconds" are always in high demand, would there be a tendency for the mfg to ask, "why make premium tools when the lesser-quality seconds sell so well?"

Like I said, it was just a thought. I am a Lee Valley fan and have bought a lot of tools and hardware from them.

[Victor Robinson]

It's still a better deal to grab a seconds plane if you can than the gift cards. But it makes a good backup plan. My shoulder plane was $50 off, or a bit more than 25%. Still not 100% sure where the mark is that made it a second. I think I found it, but it's small and I can't be certain.

But you had to pay shipping on your seconds plane. Depending on the size of your order, that could amount to roughly 10% of your total purchase. If you bought a grand worth of stuff, then the shipping becomes insignificant.

We're splitting hairs though. Lots of people were frustrated that seconds sell out so quick and they didn't want to play the midnight game (that also came with an hour long server glitch in 2014 I believe). So LV started doing the discounted gift cards (started maybe 2014?) so you could still get yourself something at a decent discount.

[Victor Robinson]

Just a thought but I wonder if a horde of consumers vying for "seconds" during a sale could eventually impact the quality of the tools? If "seconds" are always in high demand, would there be a tendency for the mfg to ask, "why make premium tools when the lesser-quality seconds sell so well?"

Like I said, it was just a thought. I am a Lee Valley fan and have bought a lot of tools and hardware from them.

You're probably right when it comes to many business models and many companies. However, Lee Valley (at least to this point) seems to maintain an internal standard of quality that they may not be willing to compromise for a few more dollars. I think at one point Rob Lee made a comparison to Apple (or pointed to Apple as a source of inspiration).