I dont even think that the price is that outrageous. For similar pendant style fixtures and the same functionality your looking at the same price or more.

Don't get me wrong I too would like to see the price drop by $75 as well but their not out to lunch.

That is a lame answer you got, but I guess it could be true. The same cannot be said of these LED's........

If the local vendors and distributors cannot lower the price, people in Canada are going to continue to shop in the US. Sorry, sad but true.

You want us to buy from Canadian stores? Then give us a reason too!

Bahaha, okay.

Very well said. There is no reason we can't have a price that's competitive with the United States. This is the problem when you have "exclusive" distributors... they essentially have a monopoly and don't care about competition.

Did anyone else notice the disclaimer on the "flyer" stating that all features may NOT be available for the release version? Means they haven't finished the programming and will fix it with a firmware update "someday". That has to be one of my biggest pet peeves about electronic products in stores these days. Ship us a fully functioning complete product or give us a discount for buying one with less features than we are paying for right off the bat. Alternatively, in order to avoid false advertising they should remove references to features that are not currently available on the unit. As it stands now, a potential customer has no idea what they are buying.

he also sells proline products...

Oh I'm sure. The answer is still odd.

Anyway, I'm going to remove myself from this thread. Didn't realize it was in a vendor's forum when I made the first post (thx Long Weekend... )

Hmm.. so there are a few points here I would love to address.

Slick Fork, not sure where you are going with your train of thoughts about "exclusive distributors" because there are several Candaian distributors for Ecotech in Canada.


First off the features that may or may not be present when its release. We actually had to tone down our flyer and make it MUCH more generic than we would have prefered but for exactly the reasons that you pointed out. We didnt want the to make promises that would not be fullfilled by Ecotech. We do in fact have a huge long list of lots of REALLY cool features that SHOULD be available on this light but allas as the software is not fully ready yet we couldnt put them on the flyer.
I have seen the light running on a tank though and I must say, its already really cool!

We fully anticipate that the official CAD price should be launched shortly after MACNA this weekend.

Now as for pricing differences between Canada and the US, its simple. Importation costs. For the end user the costs are higher, but on a distribution level it costs about 8% to import products into Canada from the US once you are all said and done.

Assuming this product is built and shipped from the u.s.?
Do we know this is the case?

I worked in retail all my career and was a senior exec for some time before I retired. I can tell you any arguments about why prices should be higher in Canada are all bogus, and just excuses to make more margin and higher profits. I remember well when it was the other way around, when our loonie was down. We really had to squeeze as retailers, and our prices then did not account for the full difference in the lower CAD. Now it is the opposite, and they are just taking profit. The reason more US retailers are moving into Canada, is that we don't adapt fast enough, and don't think far enough ahead. Can't keep putting short term profits ahead of growth.

Even our politicians are taking note.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...rticle2156276/

First off, when you make a purchase in the US with a Canadian credit card you get at least 2-6% off of the current exchange rate.
This doesnt matter if we are buying it from ecotech or if a consumer is buying it from a retailer.
So at an absolute min conversion rate of 2%, with the CAD being only 1 cent below the USD as of yesterday, that means that the scale is actually being tiped slightly in the other directions and 1 USD costs $1.01 CAD.

Now add shipping to Canada from the US, brokerage and such and you end up with an importation cost of about 8%.

Ecotech typically sets the conversion at 6% and the 2% difference is absorbed by the distributors so that the retailers can still make their margins required to keep their doors open and giving their local clients the best help possible.

If the price for Canadian retailers was made the same as what it was for US retailers then this 8% would have to be absorbed by the distributor as the store still needs to make their margin on product or they will inevitably have to close their doors.

If this was to occur then as a distributor we would not be able to offer the same amazing customer support that ecotech currently is able to offer to the US clients. Then if you did have an issue with your pump or lighting it would have to be shipped back to Ecotech in the US and your savings of 6-8% would be grossly negated from the additional shipping expenses to get the unit back to ecotech and the brokerage when ecotech shipped it back to Canada.

IMO anyone that has owned an ecotech product and has had to send it in for their bumper to bumper warranty policy that covers everything from snail impact damage to updating drivers would agree that the level of service provided by all Canadian distributors is well worth the 6-8% price increase for the Canadian market place.