PBTech Physical Store vs. Online Confusion

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1080p

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Ultimate Geek

Topic # 111182 26-Oct-2012 16:30
Colour me confused. I was after an external HDD today and naturally turned to PriceSpy for a decent price. I saw the Seagate Expansion Desktop Drive 3TB for $228.85 from PBTech which seemed a decent deal. I walked to their store to pick one up and it was priced at $286.XX... I asked if I could pick the unit up for the same price as their site had it for sale and was told $26X.XX was the best they could do. What? Surely the same product from the same store should be the same price, right? Or am I missing something? Workstation: Intel DH67CL ~ i5-2500 ~ 4GB Corsair RAM (x2) ~ Intel X25-M 80GB SSD Laptop: Dell Inspiron 1564 ~ i5-520M ~ 4.00GB RAM ~ 500GB SATA HDD ~ Win7 Home Premium x64 Common misconceptions.

sbiddle

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Biddle Corp

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Reply # 707028 26-Oct-2012 16:39
What store? I'm just wondering if you're in Wellington and looked at the PB Tech site rather than the PB Tech Wellington site. They are not one and the same. *Need help configuring your Linksys ATA or IP Phones for New Zealand? Check my blog post

1080p

980 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 707030 26-Oct-2012 16:40
Oh, I answered my own question by visiting their Facebook page. Apparently they are run separately. Their site is http://pbwellington.co.nz/. Interesting. Workstation: Intel DH67CL ~ i5-2500 ~ 4GB Corsair RAM (x2) ~ Intel X25-M 80GB SSD Laptop: Dell Inspiron 1564 ~ i5-520M ~ 4.00GB RAM ~ 500GB SATA HDD ~ Win7 Home Premium x64 Common misconceptions.

mattwnz

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Reply # 707031 26-Oct-2012 16:40
1080p: Colour me confused. I was after an external HDD today and naturally turned to PriceSpy for a decent price. I saw the Seagate Expansion Desktop Drive 3TB for $228.85 from PBTech which seemed a decent deal. I walked to their store to pick one up and it was priced at $286.XX... I asked if I could pick the unit up for the same price as their site had it for sale and was told $26X.XX was the best they could do. What? Surely the same product from the same store should be the same price, right? Or am I missing something? Was it exactly the same store? I think they have different ones around the country? What was their explanation if it wasn't a pricing error on the website? Just buy it from the online store if the other store won't match the online price. They just lose a sale.

1080p

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Ultimate Geek

Reply # 707032 26-Oct-2012 16:41
sbiddle: What store? I'm just wondering if you're in Wellington and looked at the PB Tech site rather than the PB Tech Wellington site. They are not one and the same. That was my issue. I wonder why they would do that? Pricing differently for Wellington then Auckland when I can just order from Auckland... Workstation: Intel DH67CL ~ i5-2500 ~ 4GB Corsair RAM (x2) ~ Intel X25-M 80GB SSD Laptop: Dell Inspiron 1564 ~ i5-520M ~ 4.00GB RAM ~ 500GB SATA HDD ~ Win7 Home Premium x64 Common misconceptions.

MackinNZ

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Reply # 707033 26-Oct-2012 16:43
Are you quoting prices including or excluding GST?

1080p

980 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 707034 26-Oct-2012 16:45
MackinNZ: Are you quoting prices including or excluding GST? All inclusive. Workstation: Intel DH67CL ~ i5-2500 ~ 4GB Corsair RAM (x2) ~ Intel X25-M 80GB SSD Laptop: Dell Inspiron 1564 ~ i5-520M ~ 4.00GB RAM ~ 500GB SATA HDD ~ Win7 Home Premium x64 Common misconceptions.

freitasm

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Reply # 707035 26-Oct-2012 16:45
Your first obvious problem is that you didn't use Geekzone Price Comparison. The prices in both PriceSpy and Geekzone/PriceMe are supplied by the store via a feed. These may have errors. Since these web sites are not the official online outlet I doubt you could make them sell for that price. Check prices in other retailers and go from there. Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure, my tweets, Web Performance Optimization) Geekzone Price comparison \| Amazon Kindle order page \| How to get the best out of Geekzone \| New Zealand IT Jobs \| Geekzone News \| Jinglebugs

mattwnz

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Reply # 707040 26-Oct-2012 16:52
1080p: sbiddle: What store? I'm just wondering if you're in Wellington and looked at the PB Tech site rather than the PB Tech Wellington site. They are not one and the same. That was my issue. I wonder why they would do that? Pricing differently for Wellington then Auckland when I can just order from Auckland... Are they actually the same store though, or just using the brand name. On their website they say they have 8 branches, and if thats the case you would think all the branches would have products at the same price. I can't see why the prices would be different. I mean if you go to chain like Noel Leemings or DSE, all their prices tend to be the same no matter where they are in NZ.

theEd

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Reply # 707043 26-Oct-2012 16:59
PB Auckland stores are all the same company, but Hamilton and Wellington have different owners, and their own pricing and websites. Just to confuse things even further, PB Auckland insist on listing Hamilton stock levels on their site, despite Hamilton's pricing not necessarily matching. I work for SnapperNet providing Tech Support for DrayTek modem/routers, Edge-core switches, Mobotix high-res IP cameras, QNAP network storage, Yeastar IP PBXs & more. Anything I say is my own opinion and not necessarily that of Snapper Network Distributors

dman

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Reply # 709987 31-Oct-2012 17:41
Wonder why they're owned separately? Parallel Imports is the same too, their webstore & the north shore store are owned by the same owners while the the rest are not (iirc, there are some other details too). Who I am: multi time Ironman finisher, University of Auckland graduate, Freelancer (mainly focused on website development, message me for work). twitter.com/TersoIT

theEd

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Reply # 709996 31-Oct-2012 17:50
dman: Wonder why they're owned separately? Parallel Imports is the same too, their webstore & the north shore store are owned by the same owners while the the rest are not (iirc, there are some other details too). I generally regard franchises as either a "Loose franchise" or a "Strict franchise". Loose franchises are essentially a group of independent businesses sharing business name and marketing. Lawnmowing "chains" like Jim's Mowing are often like this. Strict franchises give every illusion of being a single business. Pricing is the same across stores, vouchers are valid everywhere, etc. Best example of a strict franchise is McDonald's. What makes PB more confusing than your average "loose franchise" is that all of the Auckland stores are majority-owned by the same people, leaving Hamilton and Wellington as the only exceptions. I work for SnapperNet providing Tech Support for DrayTek modem/routers, Edge-core switches, Mobotix high-res IP cameras, QNAP network storage, Yeastar IP PBXs & more. Anything I say is my own opinion and not necessarily that of Snapper Network Distributors