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Mine lab x-terr 705 Gold
- Thread starter rooster
- Start date
BarnacleBill
New member
Most likely exchange rate but as the U.S. has become a debtor nation other currencies will vary more on the upside against the USD. Since electronic components are international in nature it could be something as simple as a change in the price per ton of a needed ore to produce the semiconductors. China recently is limiting export of rare earth needed for electronics and prices are soaring. There are rare earth deposits in the U.S. and I believe a Canadian Mining Company is trying to open them up, but of course the usual suspects are out with magnifying glasses trying to find an endangered species to stop it.
TURNMASTER
Active member
That is quite an opinion Bill, I like it.
Jeff
Jeff
Big Boys Hobbies
Well-known member
Rooster unfortunately everything is going up these days. Food dealers are more sneaky about it. They don't charge more, they just make a smaller box.
mapper65
Member
This is slight off the original topic of this thread but very much related. I know I've brought this up before and I'll say upfront, "no offense to the dealers on the site" but it almost feels like a scam when buying a detector these days, at least a Minelab.
If you could just pay what the detector is worth and not an inflated price with some accessory(s) they would probably sell more detectors. I think that cheapens the reputation of Minelab and it's dealers. I blame Minelab for that because I'm guessing that they have a set price that the dealer can't advertise below and the only way to distinguish which dealer to buy from is who offers you the best quality or in some cases the most amount of bundled items with the detector.
I don't feel that you are getting service from the dealer because the detector has to go back to Minelab for warranty repair. I'm not sure if there are authorized warranty service centers that are also dealers or not. Sure, the dealer may give you some pointers if you are new to detecting but I don't see any real benefit from one dealer to another, especially online dealers. I'm sure there are some ways that a brick and morter dealer can rationalize their worth like being able to go into their store and actually put your hands on the product but for some, that may or may not have any value. I bought my 705 sight unseen based pretty much on reviews and comments on this site. Maybe that's a rarity but I'll bet there are many other people on here that did that exact same thing.
When I bought my detector the company that I chose gave me a small shovel that I gave away, a really bad magnifying glass that was really unusable, a fake coin, a bag to put the detector in, a back issue of a detecting magazine, an apron, some other type of find bag and an environmental cover. The only thing that I use all of the time is the environmental cover which probably sells for $10 or so. During the winter months I store the detector in the bag so that wasn't a total loss but I wouldn't have bought that on my own. Some companies give headphones away and I don't use headphones, might be a downfall but just my preference.
Im sure Minelab isn't giving the dealers this stuff to give away so that means that the cost of those accessories must come out of the markup that the dealer is putting on the detector. If Minelab is giving the dealers those items to give away, that's really sad on Minelab's part just to sell a good quality detector. I couldn't find one company that will just cut to the chase and sell the detector at a discounted price without any accessories, at least a Minelab 705. They all want to bundle at least something with the detector and sell for that lowest price that everyone else is selling it for. It's sad that they do this to their dealers. When we bought the 2nd 705, the company that I dealt with the first time sent me a $20 off coupon with my detector that could be used on anything else that they sold over $200. That was the deciding factor that we would buy the 2nd detector from this same company with all of the crappy accessories because we could at least save $20 off of the same price that everyone else was charging and that coupon probably flies under Minelab's radar so we were at least able to get that discount. When someone in my family bought the 3rd 705, we used the same coupon.
Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't buy anything else but a Minelab but you just can't seem to walk away from your purchase like you received the best deal that you could. For the most part I like to buy things new, but I really think if you feel like taking the chance, used is not a bad way to go.
I'd like to once again mention that the dealers on here not get offended by my comments. This is my personal opinion and if someone is really able to sell a detector below what this predetermined industry wide price is, let us all know who you are. You might get some more business. From what I've seen on his site I know that Bart at Big Boys Hobbies has tried to deal with this by offering a little better quality of bundled accessory but still the same base price as everyone else.
I'm a big Apple fan and they pretty much handle things the same way as far as set prices (on new items) but they are giving software updates which add more usability to the product while you own it. That at least makes you feel like there is some ongoing value being added to the product regardless of what you paid. Maybe if Minelab offered software updates for all of their products during the life of the product my opinion of their business practice would be just a little different.
Again, BIG Minelab fan, just think they could goto market a little differently.
If you could just pay what the detector is worth and not an inflated price with some accessory(s) they would probably sell more detectors. I think that cheapens the reputation of Minelab and it's dealers. I blame Minelab for that because I'm guessing that they have a set price that the dealer can't advertise below and the only way to distinguish which dealer to buy from is who offers you the best quality or in some cases the most amount of bundled items with the detector.
I don't feel that you are getting service from the dealer because the detector has to go back to Minelab for warranty repair. I'm not sure if there are authorized warranty service centers that are also dealers or not. Sure, the dealer may give you some pointers if you are new to detecting but I don't see any real benefit from one dealer to another, especially online dealers. I'm sure there are some ways that a brick and morter dealer can rationalize their worth like being able to go into their store and actually put your hands on the product but for some, that may or may not have any value. I bought my 705 sight unseen based pretty much on reviews and comments on this site. Maybe that's a rarity but I'll bet there are many other people on here that did that exact same thing.
When I bought my detector the company that I chose gave me a small shovel that I gave away, a really bad magnifying glass that was really unusable, a fake coin, a bag to put the detector in, a back issue of a detecting magazine, an apron, some other type of find bag and an environmental cover. The only thing that I use all of the time is the environmental cover which probably sells for $10 or so. During the winter months I store the detector in the bag so that wasn't a total loss but I wouldn't have bought that on my own. Some companies give headphones away and I don't use headphones, might be a downfall but just my preference.
Im sure Minelab isn't giving the dealers this stuff to give away so that means that the cost of those accessories must come out of the markup that the dealer is putting on the detector. If Minelab is giving the dealers those items to give away, that's really sad on Minelab's part just to sell a good quality detector. I couldn't find one company that will just cut to the chase and sell the detector at a discounted price without any accessories, at least a Minelab 705. They all want to bundle at least something with the detector and sell for that lowest price that everyone else is selling it for. It's sad that they do this to their dealers. When we bought the 2nd 705, the company that I dealt with the first time sent me a $20 off coupon with my detector that could be used on anything else that they sold over $200. That was the deciding factor that we would buy the 2nd detector from this same company with all of the crappy accessories because we could at least save $20 off of the same price that everyone else was charging and that coupon probably flies under Minelab's radar so we were at least able to get that discount. When someone in my family bought the 3rd 705, we used the same coupon.
Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't buy anything else but a Minelab but you just can't seem to walk away from your purchase like you received the best deal that you could. For the most part I like to buy things new, but I really think if you feel like taking the chance, used is not a bad way to go.
I'd like to once again mention that the dealers on here not get offended by my comments. This is my personal opinion and if someone is really able to sell a detector below what this predetermined industry wide price is, let us all know who you are. You might get some more business. From what I've seen on his site I know that Bart at Big Boys Hobbies has tried to deal with this by offering a little better quality of bundled accessory but still the same base price as everyone else.
I'm a big Apple fan and they pretty much handle things the same way as far as set prices (on new items) but they are giving software updates which add more usability to the product while you own it. That at least makes you feel like there is some ongoing value being added to the product regardless of what you paid. Maybe if Minelab offered software updates for all of their products during the life of the product my opinion of their business practice would be just a little different.
Again, BIG Minelab fan, just think they could goto market a little differently.
I agree with you mapper. It's like what we used to call a "fair trade" item. I'm not sure if those still exist, but if everyone is selling the same product for the same price, then what is my incentive to buy from one dealer versus another? None really unless like you say the quality or quantity of the bundled freebies that a particular dealer is giving away with the detector. I got pretty much the same freebies that mapper got, and still use the trowel and apron and environmental cover. But that was not the incentive for me to buy from the dealer I bought from. My incentive was availability. One dealer advertised the unit I bought (505) but didn't have it in stock and apparently wasn't going to get it in stock for some time. They weren't upfront with that information and they refused to sell me the next unit up (a 705) at the same or discounted price, but couldn't tell me when the 505 was going to be available, so I cancelled my order and went to another dealer. Had they had some flexibility on pricing, they might have saved a sale and also had a future customer for subsequent purchases. I don't really blame the dealer because Mine-lab appears to be setting the price on their detectors. But I would think long and hard before I went back to that original dealer to buy anything. I believe I was strung along so they could save their sale and I've seen that rodeo before. Their customer service changed my mind on who I would buy from at that time and who I will buy from in the future. And with Mine-lab setting the prices, customer service and freebies are all they have to set their dealership apart from the "other guy". JMHO