Marked up prices . . .

[RonPeter]

I'm not mad...I DID save money off their everyday low prices anyways I was just surprised they did what they did, I will still continue to mail order from them as they have the best prices around for me.

[fakename]

I also have heard that it is illegal to raise prices and then offer a percentage based discount, which is what it sounds like J and L has done. I believe that it is illegal in the sense of being false advertising, and that if there were complaints it might end up with them being fined.
Instead of figuring out the legalities though, maybe someone who has a good relationship with J and L management could tell them that what they are doing seems less than honest....

Aaron

[prospero31]

To be completely pragmatic about it (and as Jason McK says) - irrespective of any increase in prices - they continue to out compete other vendors - so I will also continue to purchase items from them.

<shrug> lose some on style points - if it was intentional but they still win where it counts - wallet

[smokinreefer]

i couldnt agree more.

bottom line is a deal was still to be gotten.

it's just how the deal may have been percieved that may be of concern.

[Xtasia]

Why is this such a huge surprise? Grocery stores like SUPERSTORE, SAVEON, IGA and SAFEWAY all do it.

If you dont' believe they do.. you don't spend enough time grocery shopping haha!

It's all about perceived discount. You still get a big discount (ernough that the change could pay for a lunch out..ya?!) but percentage wise it's less. In the grand scheme of things.. It's what you are willing to pay and how much they can sell it to you without going out of business.

Choices. Choices!

[fakename]

Reeferaddict: The problem is that their website offers a percentage based discount on boxing-day, but the percentages are being calculated from an artificially elevated price that J&L NEVER sells it's product for.
It sounds like J&L's logic is that everything in their store is always on 5% sale because the canadian dollar has gone up........
I'm not sure of the rules in BC......in Ontario retailers cannot claim that a price they offer everyday is a sale price.

So if J&L offered (and advertised) a 10% discount on product X, with an everyday price of $100, the expected price would be $90. However, if you assume that the price at $100 has already been reduced by 5%, then the "real" price is $105.26. A 10% reduction in that price gives a final price of $94.73.

So expecting a 10% discount on a $100 item, you only actually get a 4.27% discount from what they sell it for everyday.

I don't think the argument here is about whether or not J&L has good prices (they do), or if they are allowed to sell their products for what they want to (they are). The real issue is that a lot of people on the board, many good customers of J&L, feel that the store was dishonest.

While the laws around this issue may or may not permit it, it is certainly never a good business stratagy to alienate your customer base. I hope that J&L knows that people are upset, it's important to their business that they do. Businesses that don't care what their customers think, or don't care if they upset good customers soon find themselves having going out of business sales.

Aaron

[BCOrchidGuy]

The sad truth is that many places do sell stuff at an elevated then reduced price on boxing day. I have seen this at many many places. The only TRUE deal will always be on clearance or door crasher items, IE of all places Big Al's has a 120H for $199, I believe it's a 5 foot long tank. They also have 10 gallon tanks for $7.99 maybe $6.99 but I think it's $7.99. Yes it's a perfecto but if anyone wants a good deal on a tank to make into a sump or refugium for their nano it's a good deal. I think it's a damn steal on the 120 but most of the other stuff there is priced way to high.
Anyone here who knows me knows where I prefer to shop and to avoid a bunch of flames about the one store I'll just say I believe I always get the best deal there on my stuff. I can't afford Tunze powerheads, I still go to J&L's from time to time and I've never been dissapointed by their prices and only had one bad experience with their live stock and if I had followed MY OWN advice and the advice of many others here and used a QT tank my bad experience would have been just a bit of a bummer rather than a horror, that was my fault not theirs and I know it.
I don't agree with the BS of bumping up prices so the sale looks better, yes the dollar moves up and down but it does that daily so if that is their only reason for adjusting prices they should be adjusting them daily. ALSO!!!! if they purchase something on Dec 15, 2005 and the dollar is good and strong then on Dec 20 the item that came in on the Dec 15th purchase should be priced accordingly. Doing the pricing this way would be a logistical nightmare
with prices on some items being a few percentage points higher than identical items from the same vendor. Customers would be demanding prices be adjusted accordingly so it would end up being a waste of time anyway.
I myself would go to the store and argue for the discount advertised, according to their pre boxing day price. If I got satisfaction great, if I didn't I would be clear with them that I am not pleased.
All in all J&L is one of the best stores around, my own personal belief is that they should have stayed in the store on Austin, up by Blue Mtn. I think they had the world by the tail there, either that or they should have stayed mail order out of the basement. The new store must be a burden on them, about 2 years ago I went in and they all looked exausted, completely and utterly exausted. It's my understanding that they sold the store or part of it and then it was purchased back or something, I really do wish them the best of luck. The origonal owners were very good people, very easy to talk to and when there was something I said taken out of context a quick visit to the store and a talk and they were very very understanding. I even helped one of them get started in orchids with a gift of an orchid and a book.
We need LFS stores like this to help keep our market competitive, I think we are spoiled in a lot of ways, our prices are low because the stores are trying to compete on price point. Store A tries to compete with store B's prices on dry goods and equipent, maybe store A has a better selection of livestock though but they won't stay in business if that's all they sell or if they try to keep their customer base happy with just good livestock but sell everything at suggested retail price. Lets not forget they are just a fish store, some of the other stores they compete against sell dog food, cat food, birds, cages etc, etc. Supporting a store like J&L helps us have the prices we do, I know for a fact that the stores in Seattle are all priced way above what we would pay for livestock, the fish we pay $39 for here would go for close to $100 there just because they wont compete the way our stores do.
Anyway, I've been gone for just over two years, the board has changed, lots of new names, my life has seen some huge changes, I'll find some time later to catch up with everyone, in the mean time, best of the season, and a Happy New year to everyone.

Doug

[j83]

Originally Posted by fakename

Reeferaddict:

I don't think the argument here is about whether or not J&L has good prices (they do), or if they are allowed to sell their products for what they want to (they are). The real issue is that a lot of people on the board, many good customers of J&L, feel that the store was dishonest.

Aaron

I think Aaron says it best here. I will continue to support J&L, their prices are great and so is there service it just ****ed me off with what they did on boxing day. Just be honest and call it as it is. If your only gonna take 5% off your regular prices then call that.