Bubble Magus Pricing
In respect to a sponsor's request to keep this discussion out of his thread I would like to continue the discussion here. I would like to explore the reasons for the often large disparity in pricing of products in Canada vs. overseas pricing and specifically the Bubble Magus line.
Now I will first start by saying I think that the Bubble Magus line are a great bunch of products that are well made and work well. Their most attractive feature, however, was their price. The Bubblke Magus skimmers are as well built and perform as well or better than many other brands that are (or were) priced higher than Bubble Magus. I think that is what made Bubble Magus so attractive was the price point vs. the competition. They were bringing a quality product to the market at a very attractive price.
Now that some exclusive distributors have taken over the line the prices in Canada are much higher compared to overseas and the reasoning given does not seem sound to me.
So first let’s do some price comparisons:
Product China Price Canada Price Difference
BM-NAC6 skimmer $130 $195 $65 (+50%)
BM-NAC7 skimmer $170 $240 $70 (+41%)
BM 150Pro skimmer $236 $379 $143 (+60%)
BMQQ nano skimmer $68 $139 $71 (+104%)
BM 180CS skimmer $305 $500 $185 (+64%)
BM 220CS skimmer $500 $800 $300 (+60%)
BMT-01 Dosing Pump $276 $320 $44 (+15%)
BMT-02 Dosing Pump addon $130 $260 $130 (+100%)
BM 2.5L liquid storage bucket $20 $60 $40 (+200%)
BM 5.0L liquid storage bucket $25 $75 $50 (+200%)
The distributor attributes the higher costs to shipping costs, duties and providing warranty support. He also stated that they are paying the same to Bubble Magus as the Chinese retailers charge us or something to that effect (perhaps he would clarify that as the original post is not there anymore). Let me state my take on it:
1. Shipping costs. I was quoted $70 to ship a BM180CS skimmer from China by EMS. The distributor is having them shipped in a container by sea so the cost per unit to ship will be far less than $70. So that still leaves room for markups etc. and I would say the prices of the NAC line of skimmers are reasonable in Canada vs. the cost to get one from China. However, the prices of the Aquabee equipped 150Pro and CS cone skimmers is a bit inflated vs. the Chinese prices at close to $200 and $300 more than the overseas prices. There does not seem to be some set percentage or per item markup to cover shipping. It is somewhat variable.
2. Duties. I was not able to find specific information on this but it looks like there may be no duty on aquarium equipment. So the importer would pay GST and possibly some brokerage fees if using a customs broker instead of doing the paperwork themselves. I may be wrong about the duties but I could not find aquarium equipment in the tariff listings and haven’t taken time to try to contact Canada Customs to find out. If somebody knows about duties on aquarium equipment please chime in.
3. I would be curious to know what the cost of providing customer and warranty support is as a percentage of their sales. Shouldn’t be a huge percentage unless you are selling a bunch of low quality product which Bubble Magus does not appear to be. And from what I have heard from others this particular vendor isn’t the most responsive or helpful when it comes to warranty support.
4. Finally, it was implied that the wholesale price Bubble Magus is charging the distributor is the same as what the Chinese retailers are charging. I find this doubtful. Bubble Magus should set their wholesale price and the retailers then add a markup for their profit. I would find it had to believe that the wholesale price charged to Chinese retailers would be that much lower than what is charged to overseas customers. Sorry I don’t buy it.
So basically, I would like to understand the economics of the price differences. It doesn’t make sense to me and the reasoning presented in the other thread just did not seem believable.
There was some implication that Bubble Magus were not seen as a quality product because the prices were low. That is just an excuse to try to price gouge. Sorry. The attraction of the Bubble Magus line was the value proposition. Good quality products at lower prices. At these prices Bubble Magus is just another option in a sea of competitors and will not sell as well as they could at better prices. Those dosing solution containers are especially overpriced at 3 times the price for the same product in China.
I would love to hear some other opinions or additional input on this.
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