bauer vapor rx:60 inline

[raganblink 82]

you guys do realize that the reason this skate is 100 dollars more is because it costs stores 100 dollars more to get it in? Tuuk + steel is alot cheaper than bearing, chassis and wheels.

as for bitching about the price, people who want to spend that much on a skate will, others who wont, will not. and really americans and canadians have it 10 times better than europeans or austrailians. these skates will cost almost twice as much USD. And didn't the one95 retail at 650 last season for ice? Grafs cost $650... everyone has the price they're willing to spend. These are top of the line rollers.. expect them to be expensive.

[DaveTheWave 0]

I'm really looking forward to the new skates, but with those prices I'm not buying a pair until a year+ from now, when they go on sale.

That's the idea. The sale price is probably where most of the sales will be, but sell a few at the starting price and maybe it's a comparable profit.

Most likely the sales volume is higher when they go on sale, but if you have a higher starting price, you can shave off dollars and still make more than with a lower price if you have an in demand skate.

It's a psychological thing too. No matter the true value of the skate, if it starts out at $700 and then you see it a year later at $300, you short circuit the logic and take that original value for granted, and then maybe decide to purchase that once "untouchable" skate. Unfortunately this is almost always the wrong value to start out with (the RX-60's look sweet, but $700 in the US is too high IMO). Evidence of this is the "Regular Price; $839.99, Our Price $699.99" thing you see on Hockey Monkey. That skate will never sell there for $839.99, it's there to create false perceived value and enhance this sales technique.

Along this same line, if this is effective in the mind of the customer you can gloss over the fact that skates may have serious flaws (the boots too stiff to wear in, wheels chunk, etc) or only have ineffective/minor improvements. I'm not pointing fingers here, but it happens. If the skate is cheap while on sale, and is top of the line but was once expensive/untouchable, the customer may just reason that because they were expensive or high end, they must be quality skates. It also doesn't help that sale items may be nonreturnable.

With electronics like the iPhone, the company may take a loss in manufacturing to eventually get somewhere, but I don't see how up front costs on skates could get anywhere near as expensive as in this case (we're dealing with plastics, composites, etc not parts that are probably made by one supplier only).

Anyone with expertise want to provide specific evidence?

I hope this prices start equalizing sooner than the year after the release. This might even help out with competition between companies and bring better products, and create incentive to not make minor improvements and avoid flaws through R&D.

[monoclub 5]

Surprised to see the monkey have adjusted the Pre order Sale price from $700 to $650 now...

It is very unusual for Bauer skates go on closeout/clearance/sale (beyond the usual false retail/sale price you mention) after the first 12 months. Usually it is 22-24mths after the launch at the earliest, when a new model is imminent or launched. Additionally there is no way that they will move more product in the closeout sale phase of the product than in the first 12mths of it being launched.

[sdcopp 1]

IW dropped the price a few weeks prior, they may have seen the feedback that $700 is just too much money on both boards. $650 is better, but still more than a skate should cost IMO

[Aussie Joe 0]

It is steep, doesn't even feature the Sprung chassis either. ;) Maybe then we could justify the cost.

I think it's just one of those things. When new and top of the range it will always be expensive. Lets not forget this is Bauer's first top of the line Roller hockey skate for many years. Previously it was a low grade boot, heavy frame and crap wheels. This is top shelf at top shelf prices.

Still, I won't be buying these, love my One90/Sprung setup.

[stock07 1]

you guys do realize that the reason this skate is 100 dollars more is because it costs stores 100 dollars more to get it in? Tuuk + steel is alot cheaper than bearing, chassis and wheels.

as for bitching about the price, people who want to spend that much on a skate will, others who wont, will not. and really americans and canadians have it 10 times better than europeans or austrailians. these skates will cost almost twice as much USD. And didn't the one95 retail at 650 last season for ice? Grafs cost $650... everyone has the price they're willing to spend. These are top of the line rollers.. expect them to be expensive.

I guess you just skipped reading the other post in this thread huh?

Anyway, Im with everyone else, either buy them or dont....They are expensive, but I can remeber year after year this same topic "the top line skate is way over priced" comes up...Look around you, EVERYTHING is more expensive...For you younger guys who's parents still buy your groceries you have no idea, but for us older guys the pricing is not that big of a deal....I remeber argueing this same thing about 4-5 years ago when a skate broke the $500 mark....Prices will continue to go up, remeber that and save your pennies.....