Question on Clearing Pricing

[DigDug 5]

Right now, as everyone knows, Bauer is clearancing out all of the skates to make room for the new N series. The price seems to be uniformly discounted at all retails and it appears no retailers can apply additional discounts per manufacturer restrctions. The thing is, some of these stores have significant inventory. My question is: what happens if the stores don't clear out the stock before the new stuff comes? Will the Bauer-mandated price floor be lifted? I am eyeing a skate but want to know if it pays to take my chances on some still being around after the new series is released. Or are unsold inventory bought back by Bauer, and I'm wasting my time playing the waiting game?

 

Thanks for the insight!

[mickz 107]

MAP applies to just the advertised price and will be lifted when the newer product is coming out.  Retailers can sell for less in-store but it cannot be advertised, hence why some websites will list "email/call for price" instead of an actual dollar figure.  You can always take your chances and hope the skate will go down in price; whether or not your size is still available at that time is another issue.

 

Unsold inventory is not bought back by Bauer. 

[DigDug 5]

Ahh, thanks for the insight. Usually IW is good about the call-in thing (I've had them apply discounts on items "excluded from any discounts"), but they aren't budging in this particular instance - dude was saying that $229 is near cost, of which I have no frame of reference (but which put their hesitation into perspective). I guess it's just a gamble for me then. That said, the 6000s I'm looking at are only 70$ off retail, which isn't so huge of a discount that I can't just skip a generation (every 2 years, right?) and wait with my current skates. 

 

 

[althoma1 575]

Prices will definitely drop further, but popular sizes will sell out before the prices bottom out. I'll use the OG Mako as an example.

 

 

Sport Chek started trying to clear out the OG Makos at around $649 (dropped down to that from $899) around when the Mako 2 was launched in spring 2014, but ended up clearing the remaining sizes out for $239 in February of 2015. The sizes were pretty limited by Feb 2015 with only about 5 pairs of skates left at my local store.

 

Hockey Supremacy started clearing out the OG Easton Mako skates at $399 shortly after the Mako 2 came out...it was that price for a good 6 months and then dropped in increments after that. I recall them being $299 at one point and now they've been $249 a while (and have even reached $199 during a couple limited sales)....they didn't reach the $249 price until over a year after the new model was out though. The sizing was pretty good until the sales that brought them down to $199 for a few sales, but that's because Hockey Supremacy bought a bunch at a discounted rate after they were discontinued in order to blow them out. That's also why they were able to offer a lower price than Sport Chek from the start - Sport Chek didn't bring in new inventory and were just trying to clear out their remaining stock.

 

I was lucky enough to find my size at the lower prices at both the Sport Chek and Hockey Supremacy. I'm still using the Sport Chek pair as my main skates and have the Hockey Supremacy pair as a backup (and a lightly used pair for even less for a roller conversion). I'm hoping I can eventually find my size in the Mako 2 at similar prices. Right now the Mako 2 is still full price at Hockey Supremacy and $549 at Sport Check...I'm guessing I probably won't see pricing close to the OG Mako final clearance prices until 2017 and if I wait that long my size may be sold out, but I'm in no rush since I already have a new pair of OG Makos waiting in my closet.

[DigDug 5]

Quote

I was lucky enough to find my size at the lower prices at both the Sport Chek and Hockey Supremacy

 

God, that must have felt good! IW has a 25% sitewide sale and I told him if he'd apply that, I'd snap those puppies up in a heartbeat, but no go. 

[althoma1 575]

1 minute ago, DigDug said:

 

God, that must have felt good!

It did, but I almost missed out on the skates at Hockey Supremacy as they seemed to be sold out of my size shortly after I made my purchase. I was also very lucky with the Sport Chek deal - I just happened to come in to get my skates sharpened and found 1 pair in my size on a clearance table - I also had a coupon that I used on those which brought the price down a little further. I hope I get as lucky with the Mako 2. I'm tempted to get the Mako 2's sooner rather than later to secure my size, but I can't see paying more than twice what I paid for my clearance OG Makos...especially when I have  NIB pair in my closet already.

[EJB 488]

Call a couple of the other places.  I recently received an extra 20% off the discounted Supremes(190's).  

 

 

[mickz 107]

9 hours ago, althoma1 said:

It did, but I almost missed out on the skates at Hockey Supremacy as they seemed to be sold out of my size shortly after I made my purchase. I was also very lucky with the Sport Chek deal - I just happened to come in to get my skates sharpened and found 1 pair in my size on a clearance table - I also had a coupon that I used on those which brought the price down a little further. I hope I get as lucky with the Mako 2. I'm tempted to get the Mako 2's sooner rather than later to secure my size, but I can't see paying more than twice what I paid for my clearance OG Makos...especially when I have  NIB pair in my closet already.

 

Rumor is all the pre-Bauer Easton gear in Canada is destined for Sportchek/Canadian Tire.  The smaller LHS can't get their hands on it.

[althoma1 575]

5 hours ago, mickz said:

 

Rumor is all the pre-Bauer Easton gear in Canada is destined for Sportchek/Canadian Tire.  The smaller LHS can't get their hands on it.

That wouldn't shock me since Canadian Tire has a lot of buying power and owns Sport Chek, National Sports and Pro Hockey Life. I could see the lower end stuff ending up in Canadian Tire's and the higher end stuff ending up at Sport Chek (or Pro Hockey Life or National Sports). I'd be a little surprised to see Mako 2 skates at Canadian Tire, but I guess it's possible since I've seen E700 helmets...generally the highest model skate a Canadian Tire would carry would be an SMU around $300 though.

Since I picked up a few Sport Chek $50 gift cards on eBay when they were on sale for $40 I hope I can find my size in a Mako 2 there when they hopefully dip to around $300 or less at some point.

[ABodie 1]

The MAP pricing will go down over time. Companies will have a set timeline for retailers for when and how much an older model will be discounted. Take the MX3's for example - initial MSRP was $799, then the initial discounted price was $649, now it is down to $549. Retailers have sold below MSRP, but they are not allowed to advertise outside their own building (i.e. online, etc.), which is why you'll see the "call for pricing." If they break that contract, in certain cases, a retailer can risk losing their ability to sell that brand.

 

It gets to a certain point where MAP doesn't apply anymore and the retailer can sell the product for whatever price they want just to get rid of it. Usually it is a pretty significant amount of time after a product has been discontinued (1+ year). At that point, though, it'll be tough to find anything other than abnormal sizes. 

[GreatestAmericanBeardo 258]

1 hour ago, althoma1 said:

That wouldn't shock me since Canadian Tire has a lot of buying power and owns Sport Chek, National Sports and Pro Hockey Life. I could see the lower end stuff ending up in Canadian Tire's and the higher end stuff ending up at Sport Chek (or Pro Hockey Life or National Sports). I'd be a little surprised to see Mako 2 skates at Canadian Tire, but I guess it's possible since I've seen E700 helmets...generally the highest model skate a Canadian Tire would carry would be an SMU around $300 though.

Since I picked up a few Sport Chek $50 gift cards on eBay when they were on sale for $40 I hope I can find my size in a Mako 2 there when they hopefully dip to around $300 or less at some point.

 

wait, what??  theres a retail store called "Canadian Tire" that sells Hockey Equipment?  ...do they sell tires?

 

 can you buy stick/shin tape at the grocery store too?

 

EDIT: and i'm not busting chops here, actually curious. I may have to move to Canada 

[althoma1 575]

3 hours ago, GreatestAmericanBeardo said:

 

wait, what??  theres a retail store called "Canadian Tire" that sells Hockey Equipment?  ...do they sell tires?

 

 can you buy stick/shin tape at the grocery store too?

 

EDIT: and i'm not busting chops here, actually curious. I may have to move to Canada 

Canadian Tire does sell tires and other automotive stuff, but they also sell housewares, lower end sports gear (in general...you'll find the odd higher end item at select locations since they purchased the Foranzi group a few years back) low-mid end electronics ect. A few locations have food as well. Think K-Mart or Wal-Mart with less focus on food (although a few Canadian Tire stores do have food) and a bigger automotive department.

 

You can buy tape and laces at some stores that also have groceries - Walmart Supercentres in Canada, Real Canadian Superstore (I don't know if they still carry laces and tape, but know they did a few years ago) and Costco in the fall/winter are a few places I can think of off the top of my head. You won't find a lot of selection or high end gear where you buy groceries though. If you just want some laces or tape then you can pick that up pretty easily.

[GreatestAmericanBeardo 258]

Just now, althoma1 said:

Canadian Tire does sell tires and other automotive stuff, but they also sell housewares, lower end sports gear (in general...you'll find the odd higher end item at select locations since they purchased the Foranzi group a few years back) low-mid end electronics ect. A few locations have food as well. Think K-Mart or Wal-Mart with less focus on food (although a few Canadian Tire stores do have food) and a bigger automotive department.

 

You can buy tape and laces at some stores that also have groceries - Walmart Supercentres in Canada, Real Canadian Superstore (I don't know if they still carry laces and tape, but know they did a few years ago) and Costco in the fall/winter are a few places I can think of off the top of my head. You won't find a lot of selection or high end gear where you buy groceries though. If you just want some laces or tape then you can pick that up pretty easily.

 

cars AND hockey??????  i have found my Macca!   

signed,

GreatestCanadianBeardo!

 

PS: i will not go to Walmart though (ever)

[RickDC 24]

22 hours ago, althoma1 said:

Prices will definitely drop further, but popular sizes will sell out before the prices bottom out. I'll use the OG Mako as an example.

 

 

Sport Chek started trying to clear out the OG Makos at around $649 (dropped down to that from $899) around when the Mako 2 was launched in spring 2014, but ended up clearing the remaining sizes out for $239 in February of 2015. The sizes were pretty limited by Feb 2015 with only about 5 pairs of skates left at my local store.

 

Hockey Supremacy started clearing out the OG Easton Mako skates at $399 shortly after the Mako 2 came out...it was that price for a good 6 months and then dropped in increments after that. I recall them being $299 at one point and now they've been $249 a while (and have even reached $199 during a couple limited sales)....they didn't reach the $249 price until over a year after the new model was out though. The sizing was pretty good until the sales that brought them down to $199 for a few sales, but that's because Hockey Supremacy bought a bunch at a discounted rate after they were discontinued in order to blow them out. That's also why they were able to offer a lower price than Sport Chek from the start - Sport Chek didn't bring in new inventory and were just trying to clear out their remaining stock.

 

I was lucky enough to find my size at the lower prices at both the Sport Chek and Hockey Supremacy. I'm still using the Sport Chek pair as my main skates and have the Hockey Supremacy pair as a backup (and a lightly used pair for even less for a roller conversion). I'm hoping I can eventually find my size in the Mako 2 at similar prices. Right now the Mako 2 is still full price at Hockey Supremacy and $549 at Sport Check...I'm guessing I probably won't see pricing close to the OG Mako final clearance prices until 2017 and if I wait that long my size may be sold out, but I'm in no rush since I already have a new pair of OG Makos waiting in my closet.

 

From this Thursday SportChek is doing a 10% to 50% off promotion... Today, I just had the Hockey Shop price match SportCheks M8 price and match SC's 10% off... (I'd far rather buy it from them than SC).

 

[althoma1 575]

2 minutes ago, RickDC said:

 

From this Thursday SportChek is doing a 10% to 50% off promotion... Today, I just had the Hockey Shop price match SportCheks M8 price and match SC's 10% off... (I'd far rather buy it from them than SC).

 

Thanks for the heads up. I did know about that sale. There was also a Scene member sale last Tues and Wed with 10% off sale items and 25% off regular price items...Sport Chek did reduce their price on the Mako skates, but don't have them listed as sale or clearance items online. It just appears to be their new regular price; so one may have been able to get 25% off the current prices. That'd still be a little over $400 before taxes though and my first Makos are still going strong and I have a backup pair in the closet...so I'm willing to wait hoping my size will still be available when they drop even further. I've heard they'll have a friends and family sale in May (I think the 11th and 12th) with the same deal - 10% off sale items and 25% off regular price items. There's a small chance that the price will drop a little further before that sale, but the big drop probably won't come that soon.

 

In Toronto I know Majer Hockey has a yearly sale at the end of May and there's also one in London, ON in July at the Source there...I expect they'll probably be on sale for around $400 for those sales. Now if they dip to the $300 mark or less I'll have a harder time resisting if they have my size, but they may not get that low at all depending on how much stock is remaining (there was probably more stock of the OG Mako since the life of that skate was cut short - it was supposed to be around for 2 years, but was replaced after 1) and if it does it'll probably be whatever sizes are remaining at some point next year.

 

I know with the RBZ skates different places had them for around $399 last year and now the remaining stock can be found at Sport Chek for $229....that's the kind of pricing that would make me scoop up whatever I could find, but it took a while for the RBZ to drop down that low.

[DigDug 5]

6 hours ago, GreatestAmericanBeardo said:

 

wait, what??  theres a retail store called "Canadian Tire" that sells Hockey Equipment?  ...do they sell tires?

 

 can you buy stick/shin tape at the grocery store too?

 

EDIT: and i'm not busting chops here, actually curious. I may have to move to Canada 

 

Doesn't CCM stand Canadian Cycle & Motor? Seems that Canadian transportation companies have a penchant for getting into ice-based transportation :)

[GreatestAmericanBeardo 258]

11 minutes ago, DigDug said:

 

Doesn't CCM stand Canadian Cycle & Motor? Seems that Canadian transportation companies have a penchant for getting into ice-based transportation :)

Huh, guess that's why I'm a CCM guy. :D

[DigDug 5]

23 hours ago, EJB said:

Call a couple of the other places.  I recently received an extra 20% off the discounted Supremes(190's).  

 

 

 

This did the trick. Thanks EJB!

[mickz 107]

2 hours ago, althoma1 said:

Thanks for the heads up. I did know about that sale. There was also a Scene member sale last Tues and Wed with 10% off sale items and 25% off regular price items...Sport Chek did reduce their price on the Mako skates, but don't have them listed as sale or clearance items online. It just appears to be their new regular price; so one may have been able to get 25% off the current prices. That'd still be a little over $400 before taxes though and my first Makos are still going strong and I have a backup pair in the closet...so I'm willing to wait hoping my size will still be available when they drop even further. I've heard they'll have a friends and family sale in May (I think the 11th and 12th) with the same deal - 10% off sale items and 25% off regular price items. There's a small chance that the price will drop a little further before that sale, but the big drop probably won't come that soon.

 

In Toronto I know Majer Hockey has a yearly sale at the end of May and there's also one in London, ON in July at the Source there...I expect they'll probably be on sale for around $400 for those sales. Now if they dip to the $300 mark or less I'll have a harder time resisting if they have my size, but they may not get that low at all depending on how much stock is remaining (there was probably more stock of the OG Mako since the life of that skate was cut short - it was supposed to be around for 2 years, but was replaced after 1) and if it does it'll probably be whatever sizes are remaining at some point next year.

 

I know with the RBZ skates different places had them for around $399 last year and now the remaining stock can be found at Sport Chek for $229....that's the kind of pricing that would make me scoop up whatever I could find, but it took a while for the RBZ to drop down that low.

 

At $229, Sportchek was selling that RBZ skate at below cost.

[althoma1 575]

5 hours ago, mickz said:

 

At $229, Sportchek was selling that RBZ skate at below cost.

I don't doubt that - I'm sure most of the skates I saw on a clearance table last year for around $239 were also sold for below cost (OG Makos, Nexus 800, Bauer One80, Bauer One90 LE, RBK 20K ect.). I don't begrudge any company for trying to maximize profits, but as a consumer I look to stretch my dollar as far as I can. I also don't care if I have the latest and greatest model so am quite content waiting for the right clearance deals. I'm always interested in learning about the latest and greatest equipment developments, but generally either get them used (through here, eBay, kijiji, craigslist ect.) or on great clearance deals.

 

That RBZ deal is still on at Sport Chek. They're sold out online, but some stores still have limited sizes: https://www.sportchek.ca/categories/shop-by-sport/hockey/hockey-skates/player-skates/senior-hockey-skates/product/ccm-rbz-senior-hockey-skates-331323189.html. You can check store stock online.

 

I can't see moving away from a Mako style skate myself, but the price is right for those who like the fit and feel of the RBZ.

[DigDug 5]

17 hours ago, althoma1 said:

 

I can't see moving away from a Mako style skate myself, but the price is right for those who like the fit and feel of the RBZ.

 

Don't you eventually have to, as they are discontinued?

[althoma1 575]

10 minutes ago, DigDug said:

 

Don't you eventually have to, as they are discontinued?

I used KORs up until early last year and they went out of business in late 2008...I still had two pairs of NIB KORs that I sold off after moving to Makos. Right now I have a pair of converted Makos for inline, one pair for ice and a NIB pair as a backup in my closet. I'll be trying to pick up Mako 2 skates in my size either barely used or on clearance when I see them for a price I like...if I pick up enough pairs they should last me for quite a while. I tend to stock pile products I really like when they go on clearance - the 2012 Warrior Projekt elbows are another example of this as I have one pair I use and 3 new ones as backups.

 

If my stockpile runs out or I don't have any luck finding Mako 2's at prices I'm comfortable with, then I could fork over the cash to get custom VH skates that are also based on speed skating technology. Verbero also makes a one piece boot and the new CCM Super Tacks are also based on a one piece boot (although I'm not sure how close either of those two are to Makos).