chembree 0 #1 September 6, 2009 For those of you considering a new rig (or any other skydiving gear for that matter), I thought that I would post the results of my recent search. First, I gathered and filled out the manufacture’s order sheets for the gear wanted. These forms were then scanned into .pdf format so that they could be attached to a ‘request for quotation’. The ‘RFQ’ included a harness/container, main parachute, reserve parachute, AAD as well as the other details of the order such as assembly, delivery, and my shipping address. I then e-mailed the request to eight advertisers selected from the pages in ‘Parachutist’ magazines. Each quotation was divided by the lowest overall quotation, expressed as a percent, and summarized from lowest to highest in the following list: Advertiser -- Price/Low Price Parachute Equipment -- 100% Para-Gear -- 103.31% Sunshine Factory -- 106.02% Para-Service -- 106.07% Chuting Star -- 107.82% Square 1 -- 111.01% Skydive Store -- Did not Respond Bad Dog -- Does not Sell Rigs Most advertisers have an e-mail address listed in their ad or their website; however, some had to be called in order to get their e-mail address. All of the vendors that I spoke with were very friendly and helpful. Although there may be other ways to buys gear, this seemed to work for me. Would like to hear your comments regarding purchasing new gear. Blue Skies Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skybytch 273 #2 September 6, 2009 The percentages you give will change with any change to the specific items on your "RFQ." Different canopy manufacturer? Different percentages. Different main canopy? Different percentages. Addition or deletion of one option on the container? Different percentages. So yours are really only useful to someone ordering the exact same combination. It'd be interesting to see which vendor responded the fastest. Since many skydivers consider customer service to be as or more important than price when buying skydiving equipment, knowing which vendors make an effort to respond quickly might be helpful. Did you send the emails separately to each vendor or did you mass email them? That might make a difference in how quickly they responded. Speaking as a former gear salesperson, I tended to respond to the emails that were addressed solely to the company I worked for first, then I dealt with the ones that were addressed to nearly every gear dealer out there. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elton01 0 #3 September 7, 2009 Hmmm, I just bought two Vector III containers (with all the trimmings on each), a Crossfire II and Smart 190, Gas helmet and Altitrack from Chuting Star. They came back with not just the quickest quote, but the best price out of the following. Chuting Star Rigs and Things Paragear Square1 Sunshine Factory I was a little dissapointed with Sunshine factory as they didn't even respond to my request for a quote. I guess 8000+ in sales just isn't worth the time. Anyhow, J and Mike at Chuting Star are first rate with making sure that you are answered quickly and they seem extremely driven to make sure that you get the attention you deserve. Doesn't hurt that their reputation proceeds them on DZ.com and everyone has nothing but first rate things to say. I'm in Ottawa, Canada, and even though there are a lot of closer places to buy gear, I dont' think that I could find a better deal than what J quoted me and certainly couldn't get any better service. Two thumbs up for Chuting Star. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bigway 4 #4 September 7, 2009 Going by your results, I would be willing to guess your quotes were invloving PD canopies. PD have a very strict pricing policy where you can not sell below retail. If it did not involve PD canopies, then I am certain you would have seen a much higher gap between many of the quotes. For example, I will sell a Micron with all options, A Safire 2 with a Smart reserve assembled and shipped for about $5400-$5600 IF that had a Sabre 2 canopy and a PD reserve it would be higher more like $6000 and you would find all other dealers would have very similar quotes as the only product they can discount in that scenario is the Container. Dealers can not discount PD gear so if your experiment included PD canopies then it does not show very accurate results as you have not asked them to do a quote on anything they can actually sell below retail price. .Karnage Krew Gear Store . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skybytch 273 #5 September 7, 2009 Quote PD have a very strict pricing policy where you can not sell below retail. Yet another reason PD rocks. They actually want their dealers to make a profit! Not much of a profit but still, what a concept!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GravityGirl 0 #6 September 7, 2009 Awe. No Gravity Gear. Oh yeah... I don't advertise in Parachutist! Small industry. Small margins. Lots of competition. = Close pricing. Shop for best service instead of lowest price. Usually that means start local where you can physically be measured by the dealer and get a personal gear consultation. That's my 2 cents... worth what you paid for it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peace and Blue Skies! Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chembree 0 #7 September 7, 2009 These are good comments and questions. Let me try to respond to some of them. Of course the percentages will change with a change in specifications. It should come as no surprise if the percentages were to change using the same specification but waiting until next month before requesting the quotes. The point here is that when buying gear, one should introduce competition in the quotation process in order to determine the best value. E-mail technology makes it real easy to analyze the vendor response time: Advertiser – Response Time Parachute Equipment – 1 hour – 0 minutes Para-Gear – 47 hours – 13 minutes Sunshine Factory – 24 hours – 57 minutes Para-Service – 0 hours – 40 minutes Chuting Star – 2 hours – 56 minutes Square 1 – 6 hours – 14 minutes Skydive Store – No Response Bad Dog – 21 hours – 27 minutes The range of response time varies from 40 minutes to 47 hours. Certainly all of these are within reasonable expectations. We must consider that Skydive Store might not have gotten the original e-mail – their e-mail address was only obtained after a phone call to them and then typed in manually (although I did not receive a ‘non delivery’ notice). An original RFQ was sent to each vendor in respect for the fact that each vendor will have to spend some time in order to respond. It’s not surprising that a vendor might put a mass-mailing request at the bottom of the pack. As you can see from the response times above, Sunshine Factory did respond to my request in a timely fashion. Although Chuting Star was not the successful vendor in my deal, dealings with them were very pleasant and professional. Thumbs up to all dealers who responded. Square 1 responded quickly that they no longer were dealers for Precision canopies and therefore could not discount them – hence their pricing was the highest obtained. No matter what you are buying, shop around. Make your purchases where you get the best value. Keep in mind that value includes more than just price. It includes service, availability, clear communication, and good customer follow-up. I agree with GravityGirl – “Shop for best service instead of lowest price. Usually that means start local where you can physically be measured by the dealer and get a personal gear consultation.” The sweetness of low price is quickly forgotten when the bitterness of poor service is tasted. Just be sure that you do your homework and select a dealer that provides the price at the service level that you want. In the current economic times, it seems to me that any information that anyone can provide to assist others in purchasing decisions might be helpful and appreciated by the skydiving community. I know that I appreciate it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theonlyski 8 #8 September 7, 2009 Quote Shop for best service instead of lowest price. Usually that means start local where you can physically be measured by the dealer and get a personal gear consultation. That's my 2 cents... worth what you paid for it. And thats why I got my rig from you "I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890 I'm an asshole, and I approve this message Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chutingstar 1 #9 September 8, 2009 QuoteGoing by your results, I would be willing to guess your quotes were invloving PD canopies. PD have a very strict pricing policy where you can not sell below retail. If it did not involve PD canopies, then I am certain you would have seen a much higher gap between many of the quotes. For example, I will sell a Micron with all options, A Safire 2 with a Smart reserve assembled and shipped for about $5400-$5600 IF that had a Sabre 2 canopy and a PD reserve it would be higher more like $6000 and you would find all other dealers would have very similar quotes as the only product they can discount in that scenario is the Container. Dealers can not discount PD gear so if your experiment included PD canopies then it does not show very accurate results as you have not asked them to do a quote on anything they can actually sell below retail price. It was for a Javelin Odyssey, Precision Fusion, Precision R-Max, Cypres2, full assembly, shipping and/or free jumps at the local drop zone if being picked up. MikeChutingStar.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bigway 4 #10 September 8, 2009 Cheers mike. .Karnage Krew Gear Store . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
