Cost of spares in the UK

[Lazurus]

I recently needed to buy a replacement switch contactor, I wont mention the make of the saw as that would be unfair on the distributor. I contacted the main dealer as I was struggling to find a local electrical factors who could supply what I needed. Said agent indeed had the part and it was duly delivered within a couple of days at a cost of £79. In the mean time I found the same item from the German manufacturer, again delivered within a couple of days, the cost 3 euros plus 8 euros postage.
Now I am all for companies making a profit, but this seems an extortionate mark up on the wholesale price. I was tempted to return the initial purchase, but like all of us I have kept the second "just in case" and fitted the first.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Why do dogs lick their balls? Because they can.

 

[dynax]

i would have returned the first one, then bought a couple more from the second one, and still would have been quids in,

 

[Lazurus]

I did think of that but having fitted the first before the second arrived I guess I had shot myself in the foot, hey ho, lessons learned.

 

[Rorschach]

Return the new one, if its the same part how will they know?

 

[sunnybob]

All electrical components have part numbers stamped into them. google search the part number and use images to make sure you have the right part.
Go to any electrical wholesaler with that part number.

They wont look it up for you, and they wont advise you because thats an insurance issue, but with the part number its a straight transaction.
And dont go in wearing a suit and tie or youll get charged top dollar.

I sent a friend in once to buy a part, and he went in straight from work in his office. he complained about the cost. I went into the same wholesaler and bought the same part for over 50% less, because I was wearing tradesmens clothes.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Likewise - don't send your wife.

 

[AES]

I do agree with these sentiments, (and it doesn't only apply to UK BTW). BUT .............

We (all of us) complain that when we order spare parts we have to wait, sometimes for weeks! So a dealer or distributor whose main business is selling, say, circular saws, is actually investing money "today" for something he may not be able to sell (so that he gets his money back) for months, or maybe even years! In other words, there is a definite cost in holding spares on the shelf for an indefinite period.

BUT (again!) we all know that the cost of borrowing capital (interest rate) is much lower these days than it was in the past. AND we shouldn't forget that the dealer or distributor who does invest in such spares SHOULD be able to recoup at least some of that extra cost because he'll increase his sales overall because of good customer service reputation.

So it comes down to "how much does it REALLY cost to make such spares investments?" That depends on a lot of factors, including the original cost of the spares, the mark up (profit plus), the amount of space taken on the shelf, and the frequency of turnover. But that last takes a lot of knowledge and experience to adequately "guesstimate".

So what's fair really? I dunno, it depends on all the above factors, but the mark ups mentioned do seem, at first sight, rather high to me (but that's without knowing all the facts as above).

One thing I saw a lot before I finally retired from the aircraft business (where spares really do cost an arm and a leg!) was that a lot of "genius newby consultants and bean counters" seized on the idea of "let's reduce spares holdings, it'll reduce our costs" (like it was a really clever, original idea)! 99 times out of 100 it wasn't of course, it just increased flight delays, which cost a LOT more in the long rune than holding spares! Experienced "guesstimating" again.

Anyway, just to say that there ARE costs in holding spares on the shelf, but as said, there ARE often savings to be made when it comes to buying "standard" spares like, say, switches, bearings, etc, from a specialist distributor rather than the tool manufacturer or dealer (normally NOT an option in the aeroplane business BTW).

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Who needs the shelf stock, though, other than extremely common basic parts? We can get anything we want delivered the next day (or two at most). I deal with a small garage that carries only very basic spares - they look at the car in the morning and have the spares delivered after lunch. And this population wise is out in the sticks. (I appreciate that there are far more cars than woodworking machines, obviously). I've had stuff from Hong Kong in ten days.
I remember the '60s and '70s - if you ordered someting mail order you were lucky to get it inside a month.

 

[AES]

Fair enough point phil, I was just trying to point out that spares on the shelf DO cost a business money.

As for "just in time delivery", yup, most of the time it works pretty well these days, but when it goes wrong (which it does from time to time) it can be a problem. "Only" annoying if you're "just a hobbyist" with, say, a broken power drill, but somewhat more problematic if you're a one-man professional who puts bread on the table with that drill, and of course can be absolutely disastrous if we're talking about big bits of broken machinery being run by a large company.

 

[mbartlett99]

Maybe its just me but for an electrical part it wouldn't even enter my head to got to the manufacturer or a local factors - straight on RS Components have it the day after.

 

[Lazurus]

I tried all the UK electrical suppliers I could find and no one had this item. I could get a similar spec however due to how it is mounted in the switch box it had to be the original or the wires and contacts would not fir, also the switch box was molded to fit this particular component. I dread to think what a whole switch box replacement would have cost though. I did exhaust the interweb before ordering, it was pure luck to find the OEM part on a last chance Fleabay search

 

[Mike Jordan]

I think that many manufacturers in Europe regard the UK as treasure island, if you think back a few years cars imported to us were much more expensive than the same models in th country of origin. If you need a demonstration Google a. CMT part number for a router cutter and compare prices in the UK and those in the USA. My experience was that we pay double for the same item. After brexit we really will need a minister for value!

 

[Robbo3]

In the mean time I found the same item from the German manufacturer, again delivered within a couple of days, the cost 3 euros plus 8 euros postage.

If this is a common part could you supply a link please in case anyone else has the same problem.
NVR switches start at £3.62 from Hong Kong but can take up to 3 weeks to arrive
- https://www.banggood.com/search/nvr-switch.html

 

[Lazurus]

I FOUND IT BY SEARCHING THE SWITCH PARTNUMBER (as printed on it) on Ebay, so I guess using the manufacturers code was more helpful than the machine part number.

 

[yetloh]

I had a very similar problem with a Kity 613 bandsaw some years ago. I eventually got the switch innards from its German manufacturer at a fraction of the importer's price.

Jim

 

[Sideways]

And I replaced the whole Kity 613 NVR switch with one of these generic £7 KEDU parts off the shelf from Axminster for £17 plus a fiver for a box to mount it in.
It costs companies money to maintain a spare parts service so most of them, anywhere in the world, treat this as a high margin profit opportunity and take advantage of the fact that they have all the details and drawings of their past products. Many customers find it easiest to buy from them.
If you know how to source original parts direct or equivalents you save a fortune.
There are many companies making replica parts to undercut the original manufacturers premium pricing too. Cars and domestic appliances are rife with this, but it costs to copy anything and the replicators have to have access to enough spares business to make the up front investment worthwhile.

 

[pcolbeck]

I sent a friend in once to buy a part, and he went in straight from work in his office. he complained about the cost. I went into the same wholesaler and bought the same part for over 50% less, because I was wearing tradesmens clothes.

Sometimes a part with two target customer bases can have two prices. I used to have an old Fiat X19 which had a Fiat 1500cc Mirafiori engine in it. When I needed some valve shims the local parts dealer got some in and they were stamped Ferrari (Fiat owned Ferrari) and had them do quite a bit of the tuning and performance work on Fiat engines). He said that the same part was listed twice once for Ferrari engines and once for Fiat and the Ferrari part was 10x the cost of the Fiat part. Apparently it was a known wheeze and independent Ferrari garages always ordered the Fiat part.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Years ago I noticed that the points for my car, a Volvo, were the same serial number as for my BMW bike - £3.35 for the bike and £2.45 for the car. I told a friend this and he said huh! you should have bought them for a VW Beetle - they're identical and they're 85p.

 

[Noel]

I sent a friend in once to buy a part, and he went in straight from work in his office. he complained about the cost. I went into the same wholesaler and bought the same part for over 50% less, because I was wearing tradesmens clothes.

Sometimes a part with two target customer bases can have two prices. I used to have an old Fiat X19 which had a Fiat 1500cc Mirafiori engine in it. When I needed some valve shims the local parts dealer got some in and they were stamped Ferrari (Fiat owned Ferrari) and had them do quite a bit of the tuning and performance work on Fiat engines). He said that the same part was listed twice once for Ferrari engines and once for Fiat and the Ferrari part was 10x the cost of the Fiat part. Apparently it was a known wheeze and independent Ferrari garages always ordered the Fiat part.

Forgive the nit picking but I think that all the variations of the X1/9 engines were derived from the 128 Sport? The 1.5 were great little cars although you needed to be alert and embrace the slightly iffy handling on a country road, not to mention the usual Italian non-optional foibles. Fiat should've let it evolve into an MR2 type of car but lost their way and let Toyota capture the affordable mid engined market, which was a pity.