Philpug

I will be skiing Christmas eve and day at Kton.

What hasn't been mentioned here is "swing weight', where the weight is distibuted on the ski. ex: my Volants and Atomics (w/ a Neox) are bout the same weight, but the Volants "feel heavier" due to having the stainless steel still at the tip and tail of the where the Atomic has the majority of the weight in the binding area. I did upgrade my 05 Metrons with the 06 Neox's to shave that 500g off of each ski. I also go with (and for other reasons too but) Thermoflex liners in mt Kryptons because they are much lighter than the stock liner. Poles I like a carbon vs. Alu because of swing weight. My helmet is a Giro Fuse, also very light. When you are fat oand overwieght like me, it is easier to shave it off of the gear instead of myself Cars were mentioned earlier on..I still agree with the Colin Chapman method of engineering..."add lightness".

Correction, I used to be from the Pocono's.

And it can also be very awe inspiring, you have the opportunity to see some of the best skiers in the East skiing too.

You would be surprised.

I think it has its beauty.

I think MRG is ready to upgrade to a lowspeed detatchable single chair with power blankets. Go..Go...Go...

That validates my point. Even a good shop is barely getting by. Todays market is tough.

I know Dave at Langhorne, he runs a great place there, and has arguably on of teh best shops in the Philly area. I am sure the site is one of the things that he "indends' to get to. But we jusge others on their actions and he judge ourselves on our intentions. There are successful B&M's and successful Net sellers...I am curious how many do both successfully.

A lot has changed in ski retailing since pre 80...let alone pre 2000's. Mill files and (back then) helmets were the execption. I thought you were refering to hardgood/softgood i.e. big ticket items. "end cap" items do have a larger mark-up usually to their low cost. I can't speak for Pelican, but just under my impression of them was that it wasn't a very good place even before you refered to them. They are an exeption to retailers jsut as high margin stuff is. I said before and I will re-itterate, retailers are a huge blotch on manufactueres ledger sheet. Again another reason the secondary market is being flooded with gear...they need to move the stuff and shops are just not doing it. Is this a chicken/egg scenerio? I don't think so, shops were going under and closing well before ebay became a clearing house.

300% markup is an exeption to tthe rule, not the norm. 800.00 skis will wholesale for 400 but also have a street price of about 550-600.00. Where the problem lies there is at the end of the season, manufacturers are blowing out the stock of those 800/400 skis to clearing houses for 2-300 and the dealer who paid 400 still has 5 pair sitting on his wall and wondering why he isn't getting any factory support. As far as the "sweat" of the shop rat. It IS a low paing job, because of the beni's that come with it. Pro forms and discount/free skiing. It is kinda like waitresses making less than min wage because they are getting tips. If you don't want to accept the lowert pay and get the freebies, go work at the mall or Mickie D's. You work in a ski shop because you want to, not because it is the best paying gig in town. As far as Pelican...I can't speak for how he runs his business, but leeing what he sells, I would bet a day at Blue that he makes the money on the pools, hot tubs, pool tables and outdoor furniture and the ski part keeps people employee'd

If I can buy a ski on Ebay for 250 that has a street price of 500 and I break those skis I can 1. send them back and hope that I get them replaced and I have. 2. Say oh well, I just go back to Ebay and pick up another pair for another 250 (or even less because it is near the end of the season). It is a risk I am willing to take. I have had close to 50 ski specific transactions on Ebay without ONE problem. If I have 2-3 problems in my next 50 I am still adead. The problem here is not people buying closeouts on Ebay..it is the manufacturer flooding the market with overstocks. I am just taking advantage of them. This is the beginning of the end of the Ski shop as we know it.

So, you are saying that shops are charging for knowledge. Fine, I don't need that knowledge, therefore I see no need to pay for it. And I will say the whole ski industry retail system is completely screwed up when I can go onto Ebay and buy THIS (or even last years) product for well under what wholesale is. It is there because the manufactures are blowing out the gear. The ski shop IS getting screwed in the whole deal.

I am with and against Papa here. Are there bad Ebay dealers? Maybe, not not near as many as there were in the past. Do you knw why there is so much gear out there on Ebay? it is because the manufactures get it out there. They can only make mony by producing gear. The employees are getting paid and they are wholesaling it to anyone who is willing to buy in bulk. Ski999, Ski shop owners aren't getting rich by any means. I have managed shops and most are surviving year to year. 300% markup? The majority of the inventory is there on 30-50% and less as the year goes on. "Long margin" had become a bit of a buzzword, but that stuff is just being marked down further. Both of you are making broad judgements on shops and Ebay that are based on either old or partial information.

I will add... If I needed a computer, I would never look on Ebay, but I know people who would. I want a new Mac, I will walk into the Apple store and pay asking price for one. A car? I have access to Manheim and maybe 10 wholesalers, but I will still shop privately or even scour lots, because deals are to be had. It is just a matter of knowledge vs. cost vs. convenience for me.

I agree about sucking info from a shop then buy on line, if you see my post in the other thread about "Theft of knowledge" I agree 100%. Past that... I was in Flexons for 20+ years I got some Kryptons last year (which I was the first person that was NOT a Dalbello employee/sponsored skier to get Kryptons. I got them even before ANY shop got them) They are the right shell size They are for my son (who also has been in Flexons for 5 years) Fit..schmitt..I am using thermoflex liners that I will be molding myself and have molded over 2 dozen pair already.

Here

I just picked up a NIB pair of Dalbello Krypton Pro's for 227.00, these list for 750.00, have a street price of about 450-500.00 and even on shop forms are close to 300.00. I also used a 10% off Ebay couple, so I basicly got these boots for 204.00 Why wouldn't this be good? Also I bought 2 pair of Dalbello NX8.4's for my wife to 100.00 shipped (That was for BOTH pair).

Changing the title name is fine too.

Not cool. Infact, becuase it is such misinformation, this thread should be deleted. This is why the internet can be bad.

The peopel that weren't at Hunter were at K-mat. it was a tad crowded, but the skiing was pretty good.

Busy. Not Holiday weekend busy, but busy. There was sections that there was some serious conjestion.

You could come up to Killington? 13 trails and 3 lifts today and hoepfully more tomorrow.

I will be heading up Friday night now. So, a full day Saturday too. (Full day..HA!, I will be toast by 2-3 )

Monday I will be outta there by 12 at the latest.