firehawk wrote:Texas Sheepdawg wrote:Cabelas has them on sale for $689 in today's catalog. (Shooting catalog).
Looked at Cabelas website this morning around 9 am, and the 16" uppers were on backorder. Midway looks to be the only game in town right now. By their price is appears they know that. Whew....
Midway has several patterns that emerge if like me, you jump to their site more often than you should. The one that gripes my arse the most is showing something at a price that is too low, but on an item that is out of stock. Then, they bump the expected in stock date long enough so as to "
tease the fish" onto the hook, regardless of what bait they're using. IE, when it finally is in stock, the price is almost always higher and can be as much as twice the price of what it was when it was out of stock. The consumer having been teased into a frenzy, no longer cares and pays it. Women have perfected this tactic to an art form.
They don't have the market cornered on this tactic and a variation we see out there is when savvy resellers, knowing that many customers now use a price comparison, search query, meta site, will intentionally list a popular item at too low a price. This guarantees it will float to the top of the search results based solely upon lowest price. When the customer follows the link to the low priced item they want and discover it is out of stock, they add it to their cart anyway as a back-ordered item and wait. It will never return to stock at that price. Once again, when it finally does return to stock, it will almost always be more expensive and in line with the resellers who had it available at a higher price when the original search was conducted. By then, the frustrated customer has already gone elsewhere and ordered the product at a greater price, or who by then doesn't care what it costs as long as they get their fix and they just pay the new, higher price. Pushers figured this out over half a century ago.
The really successful pushers figure out a third tactic which gun enthusiasts get snared into all the time. The same tactic as number two, but as soon as you follow the link the price is already jacked back up to normal and the meta search site just hasn't refreshed their data soon enough to reflect it. The customer who is really looking to get their fix "
right now!", keeps the process afloat as companies have employees who's sole function is to analyze and game the price search process. Their salaries are reflected in the price you wind up paying.
IMHO, fanboy forums like ours are the breeding grounds for many of the customers who fit these models. We covet new products and experiences, but we are really coveting a meaningful and rewarding social experience with folks who share similar interests. We want to belong. We want to feel the satisfaction of an extended family sharing our successes and commiserating with us on our failures. It's not just the shooting community. It can be fly fisherman, golfers, scrap bookers, stamp collectors, DIY personal computer builders, etc. We are social creatures who shine the brightest in social endeavors. Other folks find great satisfaction conducting businesses that prosper serving to the material needs of all our like-minded groups.
The whole thing is a timeless dance. As consumers evolve their techniques utilized to get the most bang for the buck, the folks tasked with profiting from them evolve their techniques as well. When the music stops, the last person left with the debt load that "breaks the camel's back", is out.
Hoot
who is past due for his happy pill...