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Puzzling pricing at Hannants for AZ Spitfires


Meatbox8

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Having just looked at the AZ Models website they are selling their Spitfire IX 'Joypack', containing three complete kits but with no decals, for 14 Euros which seems pretty good value to me. On the Hannants site they are selling the same for £19.99. How come, I wonder. Not only that but the 'Joypack' is the same price as the other single Spitfire kits on AZ's site whereas on Hannants they are £16.50 (or £17.30 in one case!) Seems odd don't you think?

Am I missing something here?

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I've noticed this before with AZ and other kit pricing methodology at Hannants. There was a case of an exactly the same kit with only decals and boxing different , came in at the same time and priced about £2.00 difference. I asked them about this and all I got was that was the price that they were given by whoever supplied them. Don't make sense to me.

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Retail prices depend upon what the retailer thinks the market will bear. It is not simply cost plus. This is a capitalist society, after all. Hannants must believe that they can sell these at the price they are asking, so have a duty to maximise their profits (if only to cover the kits that don't sell).

Then again, we don't know that AZ are selling the Joypak to Hannants at the same price as their single kits. It's a fair assumption, but just that.

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Well, I guess so. But taking the exchange rate into consideration it's practically a 100% mark up, which seems a bit steep. They seem to be the only UK distributor as well.

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Its all down to who Hannant's buy their stock from. They are wholesalers as well as retailers. As wholesalers they would normally buy in stuff at roughly a third of the normal RRP, thats standard. Once VAT is added (or deducted) they get their 'cut'. Now thats all well and dandy for stuff they are wholesaler's/distributors for..RRP will generally reflect the RRP cost elsewhere. Its where Hannants aren't wholesalers or distributors it gets a bit confusing. They still have to get a 'cut', a charity they ain't, so if they are buying in items at a discounted rather than wholesalers rate then prices will be more expensive than buying direct. Simple choice really. Just buy direct if money's an issue, or use Hannants for their service and excellent and wide stock levels!

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Well, I have used Hannants for many years and I agree about their decals, particularly their own Xtradecals range, which are excellent and cover many of my favourite topics. These pricing anomalies do seem very strange to me though.

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Dear friends,

I watch everything and I know about everything. I know that our models are at AZ Hannants bit expensive, but everything is full-service and available in one place. We are preparing for the meeting in Nuremberg Trade Fair 2013 with our distributor fa. Hannants .. I'll try everything to solve and negotiate a compromise and better prices. I'm sorry about the situation in our prices, but unfortunately, I just figure it out ..

Our models on our site are in accordance with the official companies AZmodel, Legato kits and Admiral still the same price for several years. These are only recommended retail prices, dealers and distributors each make up prices by themselves.

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Dear friends,

I watch everything and I know about everything. I know that our models are at AZ Hannants bit expensive, but everything is full-service and available in one place. We are preparing for the meeting in Nuremberg Trade Fair 2013 with our distributor fa. Hannants .. I'll try everything to solve and negotiate a compromise and better prices. I'm sorry about the situation in our prices, but unfortunately, I just figure it out ..

Our models on our site are in accordance with the official companies AZmodel, Legato kits and Admiral still the same price for several years. These are only recommended retail prices, dealers and distributors each make up prices by themselves.

Thanks Peter. A great idea, the Joypack. Do you intend to release other kits this way?

Tim.

Well take the recent Legato Kittyhawks . At Hannants they are £13.99 . I purchased mine via an Internet seller on Ebay as a "Buy it Now " for £8.95.

You just have to use the Internet to your advantage.

Cheers

Terry McGrady

That's a great price. I could only find the normal boxed Spitfire IX range on ebay, from Poland at £13.99 plus £3.50 p&p, so not much advantage there really.

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Emodels have them.:

http://www.emodels.co.uk/plastic-kits/models-supermarine-spitfire-mkix-7701-p-3667.html

And you can pop in and collect rather than pay postage if you'r nearby. I was there last Wednesday and they had them in stock. Bit cheaper than Hannants.

BTW Petr, excellent idea, well done and please consider supplying other kits in this format!

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Its all down to who Hannant's buy their stock from. They are wholesalers as well as retailers. As wholesalers they would normally buy in stuff at roughly a third of the normal RRP, thats standard. Once VAT is added (or deducted) they get their 'cut'. Now thats all well and dandy for stuff they are wholesaler's/distributors for..RRP will generally reflect the RRP cost elsewhere. Its where Hannants aren't wholesalers or distributors it gets a bit confusing. They still have to get a 'cut', a charity they ain't, so if they are buying in items at a discounted rather than wholesalers rate then prices will be more expensive than buying direct. Simple choice really. Just buy direct if money's an issue, or use Hannants for their service and excellent and wide stock levels!

My LMS deals with Hannants but as a general rule they only give him a 10% discount (no discount on decals). Ok, maybe this figure increases with (much) larger orders however there are other wholesalers that will give him a sensible trade deal on all of his orders. As a result he generally only orders from Hannants when he has a customer order and cannot get it anywhere else. It is as though they are not interested in dealing with the small LMS.

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Hannants have always been the same. If they think there is a market on a product they will put the price at a level where they can make money on it. They do have large overheads and on the plus side they do have a huge stock.

At the end of the day buy off one of the shops they supply who based on order quants will get a % trade discount from hannants and therefore push a 20-40% saving (depending on the level of profit they want to make and product). If its quantity of sale the shop is after they will offer a greater rate as they dont have the same overheads. Simple dont buy from hannants buy from another source.

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At Telford, The Aviation Hobby Shop seemed to have the best prices on the AZ kits - the two in one Isreali/Egyptian boxing was a fiver cheaper than Hannants and the girl I spoke to said that they were getting them direct from AZ.

Edited by The wooksta V2.0
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Lee, thats Clare (Tony's daughter), very helpful and they dont deal with Hannants that much any more (which is good as they are much cheaper than them). I spoke to her a couple weeks ago and she stated the same thing, they had just spent a few thousand on kits from the CZH and are able to pass that onto us.

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Dear friends,

I watch everything and I know about everything. I know that our models are at AZ Hannants bit expensive, but everything is full-service and available in one place. We are preparing for the meeting in Nuremberg Trade Fair 2013 with our distributor fa. Hannants .. I'll try everything to solve and negotiate a compromise and better prices. I'm sorry about the situation in our prices, but unfortunately, I just figure it out ..

Our models on our site are in accordance with the official companies AZmodel, Legato kits and Admiral still the same price for several years. These are only recommended retail prices, dealers and distributors each make up prices by themselves.

Good evening

I would like to recommend Peter at Azmodel last week I ordered this kit

For 27 euros including post charges for France and have received them today

Thanks a lot Peter

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Dear friends,

After long negotiations with Hannants and other stakeholders, we finally agreed on decent prices of our models.

We all had a bit to change our pricing systems including us as a manufacturer AZmodel production.

Now, I think that everything is settled to the satisfaction of all. For this I am very happy and I want to thank everyone.

Our models are now on sale through our distributor company Hannants on the English market for a very decent money.

You see for yourself in December.

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