Mojotone pricing for fiber pickup bobbins :-(

[copperheadroads]

This is close to a 100% increase from last year & add in the Canadian dollar is really low is hard to swallow .

[zparts]

Yes I am, but really, I am not happy, I have been using a lot of your products, but with your price hikes and service is getting worse everytime we place an order, mojo have never filled a customs form although we have begged and pleaded for it, and we pay through the roof for customs to rip up your non descript boxes you send the stuff in, really fed up with this!

I don't have the same problem with stuff from Stewmac.. They ship in boxes with a logo, or just tape the says Stewmac and never had an issue, we have pointet this out to mojo on numerous occasions

Sorry to air this in public but this was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

Ok I get you are frustrated, but why haven't I heard about this? We ship worldwide everyday and this is the first time I've heard of such a thing. If you have an issue please email me directly david@mojotone.com so I can look into it. If I can solve it I will. I dont understand the tape thing though. How does a logo on the package affect customs?

[big_teee]

Back to the Dealer Discounts.
Even if you go up on your Flatwork?
Shouldn't there still be a difference in Dealer prices and Retail.
I thought that was the whole reason for Dealer Discounts?
I'm a bit frustrated too!
T

[Rog_B]

Yup I paid $2.06 last July for Strat flatwork from Mojotone direct, now it is $3.25 - I have put an order in again through Allparts UK which is really slow but saves on the shipping and UK customs charges but I am definitely looking for another flatwork source now.

[zparts]

Back to the Dealer Discounts.
Even if you go up on your Flatwork?
Shouldn't there still be a difference in Dealer prices and Retail.
I thought that was the whole reason for Dealer Discounts?
I'm a bit frustrated too!
T

Terry, did you read my email reply to you? Here is what I said...

Thanks for the email and your concern. As you know I have been spending a lot of time over the past 2 years re-evaluating our inventory costs, stock levels, etc. For flatwork, we haven't been offering dealer pricing for quite some time and it's just been quantity based pricing. We did that in order to be competitive with other suppliers who's consumer direct price was close to our dealer price on flatwork.

It's just one of those things where we make our flatwork here in house, we offer more options than anyone else, we make custom flatwork with logos, etc, for lots of pickup makers, and we source our Forbon material domestically. That being said, it just costs more than people realize and I had no choice but to go up in price. I did manage however to even keep our pricing competitive with suppliers who sell cheaper Asian made flatwork. In my opinion some of that stuff doesn't even compare to the quality of what we make.

I hope you understand, we aren't trying to punish anyone by making these changes. These are just changes that will keep us around for many years to come so we can continue to be a reliable source.

[big_teee]

Sure I read it!
Did you read what I said?
I don't get the correlation of why dealer prices and retail prices are the same price.
If they are both the same where is the dealer discount?
Lot's of us here are starting to think Mojotone doesn't want us dealers competing with mojo pickups.
I guess we are supposed to just buy them and quit making our own pickups.
The alternative is for us to start buying flatwork somewhere else.
Case and Point!
You sell Wide Range Pickups, but do you let your dealers & customers buy any of the parts?
You don't want us competing with mojo on Wide Range Pickups!
That is just one example!
We want our dealer Discounts back!
T

[kayakerca]

Back to the Dealer Discounts.
Even if you go up on your Flatwork?
Shouldn't there still be a difference in Dealer prices and Retail.
I thought that was the whole reason for Dealer Discounts?
I'm a bit frustrated too!
T

Easy to see from Dennis' pricing that there's a LOT of margin available on flatwork. I'm putting forward this as fact as I doubt he is using flatwork as a loss leader, so I'm sure Mojo can put it on the shelf at no more than the cost of a small supplier.

So. . . What is relatively new at Mojo lately that would motivate a move to making some component parts less "dealer" price favourable?

Maybe if, say, a company started to scale up the manufacture volume of something, say, like pickups themselves compared to a 2 - 3 years years back? Price creep increasing ~ $5 a set to the cost of sets of pickups of the competition (who are in fact also their customers in the parts division) can't be seen as bad thing. . . Right? ? ? It's a big decision for a company to decide to compete directly with its customers in an significant way. Sooner of later, something gives.

I'll obviously continue to buy from Mojo, just not flatwork. Hmm. . . But what to run at for competition derailer next? Magnets? Well, those are available elsewhere as well. What about covers? Nope, those are available elsewhere and from the REAL big guy on campus.

They're just feeling there way along in the dark. At the end of the day, if a company prices themselves out of the market, they price themselves out of the market. What's that old expression, "You don't shit where you eat?"

So it boils down to the fact that we will buy from sources that are giving us the quality of product we want at a price we are happy with.

Rock and Roll!

[David King]

Maybe Dennis hasn't had to rebuild his laser yet. Once the tube gets old I hear the cost of each cut takes on a new meaning.

David ZParts.
European countries have very aggressive customs agents these days as so much revenue needs to be raised. The Danes are particularly strident. A logo on the box or the sealing tape must indicate to them that they are dealing with a legitimate business that isn't likely to fudge numbers on their customs forms. A value added tax is tacked on to both the contents and the shipping charges. It adds up fast but it's something everybody pays. Where the trouble is is when customs agents get suspicious and decide to hold a package for a few weeks to go through the contents and check the prices on line. That extra time can break the bank.

[zparts]

Sure I read it!
Did you read what I said?
I don't get the correlation of why dealer prices and retail prices are the same price.
If they are both the same where is the dealer discount?
Lot's of us here are starting to think Mojotone doesn't want us dealers competing with mojo pickups.
I guess we are supposed to just buy them and quit making our own pickups.
The alternative is for us to start buying flatwork somewhere else.
Case and Point!
You sell Wide Range Pickups, but do you let your dealers & customers buy any of the parts?
You don't want us competing with mojo on Wide Range Pickups!
That is just one example!
We want our dealer Discounts back!
T

It's simple. Buy more quantity and get a bigger discount. I even offer cheaper prices to dealers who buy higher quantities that exceed our pricing schedule. 500 to 1000+ piece pricing in some cases. This whole Mojotone pickup competition is absurd. If I was trying to compete with you then why would we sell you pickup parts? We sell you parts so you can start a successful business and grow so eventually you can buy your own tooling to make your own parts and become self sufficient. It's a partner thing, not a competition thing. I don't sell certain parts because we have customers who also make the same pickups and they buy other parts from us. I don't want to lose them as a customer. Also just like them, I invested in my own tooling to make some of these pickups, so selling those parts to everyone would just kill us all and our investment. In fact, most of the parts I use for Mojotone pickups are not the parts we sell anyway. Magnets, keepers, covers, frames, all of these parts I have made or source from my own suppliers on my own manufacturing budget that have absolutely nothing to do with the parts we sell in the warehouse. Besides, I started winding pickups for Mojotone customers long before we ever started selling pickup parts, so using Mojotone pickups as a competition argument makes no sense to me.

[big_teee]

I don't understand all I know so I'm done on this.
Guys buy whatever you can find at a discount.
T

[zparts]

Whatever you think, Mojo might want to take Will Rogers advice?
"When You find yourself in a hole, Quit Digging!"
Your hole is getting bigger, not smaller!
No, on the Flatwork, I'm going to try to buy it somewhere else, or make my own in the future.
So if you don't sell us what you use to make pickups?
Do we get the superior, or inferior parts?
You didn't mention the Wide Range parts.
Why can't we buy those?
I'm sure you can come up with something to tell me!
My Last transmission on this one!
Later,
T

Terry you took this too far. I run Mojotone pickups as its own business and I try not to mix our inventory with the warehouse because it would be unfair to our customers. How's that free $500 winder I gave you? I bend over backwards for you and this is how you represent me? Trying to throw your suppliers under the bus isn't how I would do business. If you want to wind as a hobby, how is fair that I give you the same discount as the guy who is winding as a full time business and buys bulk?

[kayakerca]

If you want to wind as a hobby, how is fair that I give you the same discount as the guy who is winding as a full time business and buys bulk?

Hi David:

In my limited time here, you have always had volume discount pricing within the "dealer" account classification, which I assumed addressed the different size of pickup manufacturers purchasing from you. I would like to ask you 2 questions for greater clarification here if I am allowed:

1. Are you moving to effectively remove "dealer pricing" status from a segment of your current customer base that, while they manufacturer and sell pickups commercially (as in don't wind for personal use), you now deem not to be big enough to warrant being considered as commercial producers for purposes of your "dealer pricing" classification?

2. Will this group of accounts now see progressively more pickups parts pricing change to where the dealer pricing for the small manufacturer segment is the same as the for the retail (build for own use) customer?

Thanks in advance.

[Electricdaveyboy]

It's simple. Buy more quantity and get a bigger discount. I even offer cheaper prices to dealers who buy higher quantities that exceed our pricing schedule. 500 to 1000+ piece pricing in some cases. This whole Mojotone pickup competition is absurd. If I was trying to compete with you then why would we sell you pickup parts? We sell you parts so you can start a successful business and grow so eventually you can buy your own tooling to make your own parts and become self sufficient. It's a partner thing, not a competition thing. I don't sell certain parts because we have customers who also make the same pickups and they buy other parts from us. I don't want to lose them as a customer. Also just like them, I invested in my own tooling to make some of these pickups, so selling those parts to everyone would just kill us all and our investment. In fact, most of the parts I use for Mojotone pickups are not the parts we sell anyway. Magnets, keepers, covers, frames, all of these parts I have made or source from my own suppliers on my own manufacturing budget that have absolutely nothing to do with the parts we sell in the warehouse. Besides, I started winding pickups for Mojotone customers long before we ever started selling pickup parts, so using Mojotone pickups as a competition argument makes no sense to me.

Hi David!
I am located in Germany.
I am going with Mojo since maybe 8 years now. I like to order from you because I like to get my stuff from one and only source and I never had to look elsewere.
Pricing was okay with me and so no worries. But in my last orders I was wondering : That much money for such a small bulk of parts.???
Times are changing. Looking at your baseplate and cover pricing.... crazy. Today there are other sources elsewere selling those US made metal stuff for much less than mojo does.
Looks a bit like you are more interested in selling one or two parts to small Hobby builders.THat is okay and a good Thing.
I sold more than 600 pickups in the last year.So maybe it is time to to move on and get my flatwork cut locally.

[Rog_B]

Just to let you know, I heard from Addiction FX and was told the flatwork is stamped not laser cut.

[Mick Bailey]

I'm reading this with interest as to how the Mojo pricing model has been changed. I see this a lot with spares and components that have a retail presence or are seen as a commodity item. This means that anyone can buy a one-off or low-count quantity at the same price I pay on a trade account. The only thing that differentiates a trade purchase is higher discounts on quantity pricing and value-added services such as low or free shipping, or direct access to technical support etc. This is increasingly common due to economic pressures from the Far East. I don't see the same model being applied to 'trade-only' products - those that are not in parallel offered directly to the public.

In some cases suppliers offer 'retrospective discount' in the form of a payment or discount vouchers on future purchases. Because of the ease of how someone can set up a web page, letterhead and business card and register for a trade account, any suppler has to have a means of establishing whether someone is using an account just to get a discount on some hobbyist parts, or those people in the trade buying serious quantities. That's perhaps where retrospective discount can work out quite well - in effect you have to demonstrate you're a trade buyer through account turnover.

Another way I see of offering trade discounts is on total order value. One company I deal with charges trade and retail at the same price, but offers 40% discount on orders over £400 to anyone. They also do 'special bid' pricing on high-value orders.