This could be subtitled 'North American dealers biatch about competition'

You want an open market economy... except when it doesn't favour N America.

This is one of the things that most people don't understand, the economics of world trade vs nationalization and tariffs.

I don't mean to get political, just saying. Nationalism only protects XYZ interests in the short term. Open trade will suck for a certain sector in the short term but in the long run everybody needs to do what they're more efficient at. Those displaced will have to learn another skill. That's how the math on economics works.

Anyways, sorry. This is not against you, just adding to the thread.

price differential will be even greater because of the tariffs.

I saw this too, but there will always be European retailers that don't follow this "ban" shipping to NA.

It was the same with SRAM - most stopped shipping to Canada/US, but some still did/do.

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I wonder what the effect of CPTPP will mean for buying made in Japan Shimano....?

Yeah, the NA dealers have a lot of gall for complaining about Shimano charginging them more at wholesale than a guy can buy retail from CR/Wiggle. They should just price-match, losses be damned.


If Shimano wants to charge different wholesale prices in different markets based on the different levels of average consumer spending power, they have to do something to discourage cross-market shipping. This is them doing just that.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

"Competition" implies that both sides can actually compete. CRC/Wiggle are able to sell Shimano parts for less than dealer wholesale. I would be fine with CRC/Wiggle being able to ship to the US if I, as a retailer, could purchase Shimano components for the same price they can. If anything, consumers should be mad at Shimano for gauging US customers for years. As a retailer I only ask for fair pricing so I can compete.

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Brian Jacobson
Fit2Ride Velo Studio
http://www.fit2ridevelo.com

My understanding is that SRAM (made in Taiwain) will be hurt much more than Shimano (made in Japan)

Well, we always have eBay

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MS: Exercise Science
Your speed matters a lot, sometimes you need to be very fast, where sometimes you need to breakdown your speed.

reship.com

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http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

Well for few $, I'll use a reship service.

There is no justification for different wholesale prices.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

My experience is that after Canada Customs has had their sweaty little paws on my purchases, any financial advantage I had when ordering from the UK is basically gone. So now I usually order new stuff through my LBS - makes me more popular with them so they help me out with my silly wrenching problems.

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Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.

You are in the EU? Why do you care.

OP is Canadian.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

That is short sided... next time i need to make a major purchase the choice will now be between Sram and Shimano, instead of just shimano

https://www.myukmailbox.com/

Don't you pay local VAT with a reshipper?

19% in places like Germany.

Free market at work. Ironic, at least, isn't it?

Another EU retailer has Shimano groupsets shipped to US below what we would pay at massive team discount pricing here (not to mention no sales tax or VAT). At some point, the bike industry here will hopefully stop shooting themselves in the foot. Electric bikes (with disc brakes) for everyone!

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"Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps"
Blog = http://extrememomentum.com|Photos = http://wheelgoodphotos.com

You are not being gouged by your LBS you are being gouged directly by Shimano although I am not sure gouged is the correct term. The problem comes down to the nuts and bolts of how the bike industry works. Some companies like Garmin have been excellent at working around the issues and levelling the playing field between shops and distributors. Others like Shimano and Continental have struggled because they need much higher volume orders. I strongly suspect Conti will be the next to strike.

The big manufacturers like Shimano sell parts by the thousands. No LBS cannot afford to stock to order a thousand 105 rear mechs so they have to work with distributor networks. That means paying a middle man and agreeing to a pricing structure arrangement set by the distributors. Wiggle on other hand can afford to buy 1000s of parts and so it cuts out the middle man and passes some of the savings on to the consumer. By avoiding the distributor Wiggle can also negotiate directly with Shimano and hammer down the prices. At the end of the day your LBS is not making any more off a given part than Wiggle even if Wiggle is selling the part for 50% off the retail price. Shimano also isn't really benefiting from the arrangement. Cutting out the distributor helps the consumer in the short term but is a kick in teeth for the industry as a whole.

I recently chose to buy from Competitive Cyclist (Utah) instead of Chain Reaction when I upgraded three bikes to 11 speed. The price was about $20 higher (out of $500) and was happy with the delivery.

With CRC/Wiggle out of the picture I'm curious if their prices will go up.

Economics should be about efficiency. Cutting out the middle man makes the system more efficient. I think the question is more, why do we need LBS in the current form? The obvious solution is to charge for labor and / or service instead.

P.S.: In this scenario the LBS could also just buy from Wiggle or CRC :-P

It seems the root of this is that some Shimano "dealers" *w.g. Wiggle) can open OEM accounts then resell the parts below Shimano's own MSRP. In an "open market economy" everyone should be a price taker. U.S. dealers can't "take" the same price as Wiggle.

But if you're reselling parts standalone, that seems to abuse the OEM model. That's retail, not OEM. I understand that Wiggle has house bike brands, etc. Could a U.S. dealer just buy a few open mold frames paint them to create a "house brand" then open an OEM account?

Yes.

I'm lucky to have a free reshipper to use - family in the UK - but often the VAT bump on the price when shipping to a UK address negates the free shipping most places offer within the UK.

Is there a country that doesn't have a substantial tariff /tax on imported bike parts? Except for the US of course. When I was making wheels, every country I thought about exporting to had a large tariff/tax. Even Taiwan. Even China. A bunch of countries in Europe. Australia. The Dominican Republic. Argentina. Just off the top of my head...

For a few decades now the US has had polices to force a large trade deficit. Unilateral "free trade". Some US industries have always been protected, but most are not.