Originally Posted by
CliffordK
Inventory can be an issue for those buyers who wish to purchase 20 tires at a time.
However, it doesn't exclude small shops who might want to list say ONE of each. Throw it up on E-Bay. When it sells, replenish.
The biggest risk, of course, is if 1000 new small Mom&Pop shops start selling on the internet, then competition will get intense, and people will be dropping that one penny to be the lowest, only to find their neighbor matching and dropping another penny.
Of course, I often look at lowest price, but other things like combined shipping, and delivery times will also influence my decision.
The other issue is competing with oneself. It would be hard to justify listing a derailleur on E-Bay for $50, and having it hanging in the shop for $100. And what about those sellers that find the shop on E-Bay, and insist on paying and walking in to pick up?
Of course, having greater inventory depth would benefit both online and the local shop. So, not only choosing one line of parts to carry, but to carry everything from Tourney to Dura Ace would benefit both online customers and local customers.
Having an online shop (not E-Bay) allows loss leaders. Tempt buyers to shop based on low priced chains, for example. But, then just hope they'll also add a few tires to their order at a greater profit margin (to get that free shipping offer with a $100 purchase).
Interesting discussion. I travel some for my job. I have a LBS that I use regularly at home, and one that I frequent when on the road. Spotted a couple of new bikes for my spouse and myself at this out of town LBS. I picked one up for myself, and inquired about the one for my spouse that I was no longer seeing on the floor. They replied that they still had it, but had taken it off the floor because they had it listed on ebay. This was a new bike. When we looked on ebay it was listed well below what the manufacturer would have allowed them to sell it for. When I inquired, they said we could buy it for the ebay price, but needed to realize that it would come without the manufacturers warranty, or we could pay a couple hundred more (the manufacture's discounted price) and get it with the warranty. We opted for the latter since it was a carbon frame. I could see stores following this practice for their bikes/parts that they list on amazon/ebay. If you purchase it for less online, great, you just don't get the store return/warranty service that you get if you come in the store and buy it.