Big SeaKing price increase coming...... Dont shoot me!!!

[Steven Vaccaro]

We were just told that we can either stop selling Seaking products or raise our prices to the USA map pricing. For those of you that dont know what map is, its "minimum advertised pricing". The reason for this is that there is now a US distributor for Seaking. So for now I must comply with their pricing, even though I never signed a contact and dont get the esc's from them.

But Im looking in to other options.

[Brushless55]

Oh man!
how much will they go up Steven?

[Steven Vaccaro]

The worst increase will be the 180 at $99.99 to $119.99.

[Brushless55]

ok...

[tlandauer]

The worst increase will be the 180 at $99.99 to $119.99.
Saw that after I read your "heads up". Thanks for the 'heads up" though, it does make a difference for me knowing the reason behind it.

[1truckerdan]

hell the china manufactures don't worry about our copyrights laws........, so if you aren't buying them from them why do they have a right to say a thing about your prices?

[Steven Vaccaro]

hell the china manufactures don't worry about our copyrights laws........, so if you aren't buying them from them why do they have a right to say a thing about your prices?

Because the esc's are serial coded they can figure out where I got them. Out of respect for my China distributor I have to change the price. if not they will pull the HobbyWing line from him. Which I wouldn't want to do.

[tlandauer]

It is inevitable: labor cost is rising in China as the workers are demanding better pay and benefits. I know we tend to say many products from China are junks but the fact is we keep buying from them, and improvements are made, however incrementally. Same thing is true to Japanese products in the 60's and later South Korean products. I bought the Hyundai EXCEL in 1988, the only car in the US to be had for less than $5,000. But what a joke it was, after 15,000 miles I sold it because of poor quality. Look at the cars from Hyundai and Kia today, they are as good as any Japanese cars. Moving on, who have heard of Samsung in the 80's?
BTW, I have bought and owned US cars since 1990, currently proud owner of 2004 Cadillac CTS V and 2011 Chevy Malibu. :rockon2:

[Steven Vaccaro]

I think you misunderstood what happened. My wholesale price has not risen, but the retail price was forced to rise because of price fixing.

[tlandauer]

I think you misunderstood what happened. My wholesale price has not risen, but the retail price was forced to rise because of price fixing.
Got you, I am sorry for jumping in and say something that was not based on sound knowledge.
On a separate note, I am afraid that my rant will have some truth in it in the future, however distant it may still be, and I don't mean just what we use, but in a more general consumer world.

[Basstronics]

I think you misunderstood what happened. My wholesale price has not risen, but the retail price was forced to rise because of price fixing.

So throw in free shipping and it comes out in the wash

:buttrock:

[iamandrew]

Dosent sound good!
Shipping is going up and up, and it now prevents me from buying stuff from the states, because it used to be cheaper with postage, now It usually comes from china :(

[kendt]

I second the free shipping option.It has gotten very costly to ship. I cant see how they can regulate your shipping rates.

[Peter A]

Move to New Zealand lol! It's a nice place and we have parallel importing laws which stops price fixing like that! Down side is fe racing is low on numbers(ish). Needs a bit of a lift, hard going with the gassers being popular, but they'll wake up one day soon!

[Steven Vaccaro]

So throw in free shipping and it comes out in the wash

:buttrock:

Thats one of the fixes I was thinking about. But have to wait, I was told to let things cool down a bit.

And thinking out loud, I may stop selling them all together. I'm working with a esc company on some private branded OSE esc's.

[kendt]

That sounds very cool. Any idea when we might see some samples??

[Brushless55]

Thats one of the fixes I was thinking about. But have to wait, I was told to let things cool down a bit.

And thinking out loud, I may stop selling them all together. I'm working with a esc company on some private branded OSE esc's.

nice.... :thumbup1:

[egneg]

That's a real shame ... SK/T esc's are pretty good for the cost. I think if more retailers say screw you then they will have no choice but to back off. They just might flex their muscles into atrophy.

[Basstronics]

Thats one of the fixes I was thinking about. But have to wait, I was told to let things cool down a bit.

And thinking out loud, I may stop selling them all together. I'm working with a esc company on some private branded OSE esc's.

Take a note from Fighter Cat. Get a product out their to market and get some name recognition. Then your supplier wholesales direct and cuts you out...

Or... If they have issues or a bad batch you get stuck holding the ball...

I really like the Hobywing ESCs. They are stout and reasonably priced. I think the free shipping is best solution or... Maybe a gift certificate for your next order @ OSE? Just a thought.

[kendt]

You could also include some free goodies like the connctors, programming bxs,etc.

[Heaving Earth]

i dont feel like 120 bux is outrageous for this esc.to me its still worth the money.

[Alexgar]

Sounds like the manufacturer is trying to push people to hobbyking to buy there escs, are they going to have to increase price as well ?

[J.W. Pepper]

Thats one of the fixes I was thinking about. But have to wait, I was told to let things cool down a bit.

And thinking out loud, I may stop selling them all together. I'm working with a esc company on some private branded OSE esc's.

Dam Steve that really sucks!!

If it will make you feel any better, your primary competitor (Kintec) already sells the 180's for $115.60, I mentioned that in this thread (#4)... http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/showthread.php?40894-problem-buying-from-kintec-racing

My reasons for using Seaking's is: I've had great luck with HW ESC's in general (both land & sea) and I can use the same program box for both.

Thanks for the heads up Steve, hopefully everything will work out.

[J.W. Pepper]

Sounds like the manufacturer is trying to push people to hobbyking to buy there escs, are they going to have to increase price as well ?

Probably not - #1 They sell Turnigy not Seaking, #2 they ship from China not USA.

As Steve said, it's that MAP crap, the result of a USA distributor that we should all boycott. Why?? Because if you really wanna hurt somebody, hit them in the wallet; you'll get they're full & undivided attention quick, fast & in a hurry.