Farnell - element 14 force consumers to buy from retailers

[GuitarExtended]

Hi,

I'm not going to moan as it is forbidden here.
I order a RPi from Farnell 3 months ago, directly from their site, and all went fine (RPi manufactured in China...).
Now I need 2 more RPis. So I went back to their website, only to discover that now consumers have to buy from local retailers. I live in Belgium and there's only one retailer.
These guys generously offer 1 unit for 60 €, tax and shipping (11 €!) included (RPi manufactured just accross the channel!). Remember, I live in Belgium and they are a Belgium based company. And Belgium is not exactly the largest country in the world.

1st question : why take a system that was working fine and make it worse ? So that more people can make more money off it I guess.
2nd question : what good does this do to the RPi foundation ? This is making you guys sound more and more like liars, because only UK consumers can buy the RPi at the price you announce, while the rest of the world has to pay more (or much more).

In short, i find this sad and ridiculous.

[joan]

It does seem poor and doesn't sound right.

Can't you order from the UK site?

[jamesh]

For someone who said they were not going to moan that sounds suspiciously like a moan! Which isn't forbidden here -don't beleive everything you read elsewhere. Bad manners and rudeness are forbidden, and obviously libellous or incorrect statements.

The price you have been quoted does seem very high for one device. The manufacturers must sell the base device at the $35 price point, on to which they add P&P and tax. But to nearly double the price seems high. I will see if I can find out why, although the p&p charges are down to the individual resellers.

As an alternative you can buy from places like NewIT in the UK, who will send abroad, and will probably be cheaper than your quoted price.

[GuitarExtended]

Hi jamesh,

Thank you for your reply. I will take a look at NewIT. Do you know whether they deliver reasonably fast?

(I did not mention this in my original post to keep things simple, but I can't buy from RS either because they won't ship to an address other than that of the credit card. But that's my own problem and I can understand their policy).

Cheers!

[itimpi]

I will take a look at NewIT. Do you know whether they deliver reasonably fast?

By all reports they do. NewIT are active in the forum, so you might want to look at their thread (a few down from this one) and make up your mind based on that.

[GuitarExtended]

Ya, I read the thread reporting their arrival in the market. I've already ordered my RPis.
Thank again for the tip!

[plugwash]

You might also want to give the export guys at CPC a call.

[twolife]

In short, i find this sad and ridiculous.

Same story here

The first one cost me 42.40€
Now it's 60.30€ for *one* unit. Crazy

The RPi foundation should do something about this, it will cost them credibility and customers.

I'm ok with the fact that nobody outside UK can get a rpi at the announced price.
But almost twice the price for the rest of the world ?? Ridiculous

[GuitarExtended]

Hi,

I'm not sure this the right place to compare prices or to discuss other suppliers, but I bought 2 units from NewIT as suggested in this thread, and it costs me 87 € all included (which is an acceptable price all considered).

A guy from the Belgium Farnell retailer replied to an e-mail I sent today explaining that it is too costly for Farnell to ship to individuals outside the UK. (Read : it was all right until recently, and it still is for some companies apparently, only the RPi is becoming such a big thing that they're really trying to make the most money off it -that's my interpretation anyway!)

Cheers

[jamesh]

In short, i find this sad and ridiculous.

Same story here

The first one cost me 42.40€
Now it's 60.30€ for *one* unit. Crazy

The RPi foundation should do something about this, it will cost them credibility and customers.

I'm ok with the fact that nobody outside UK can get a rpi at the announced price.
But almost twice the price for the rest of the world ?? Ridiculous

Although this particular distributor does seem to charge a lot of P&P, many places in the rest of the world, not just the UK, get its at more sensible rates.

Just for records, which distributor are you talking about?

[twolife]

Now it's 60.30€ for *one* unit. Crazy

Although this particular distributor does seem to charge a lot of P&P, many places in the rest of the world, not just the UK, get its at more sensible rates.

Just for records, which distributor are you talking about?

I'm talking about minifo.be, the only distributor for who Farnell is redirecting people from Belgium.

What I find quite shocking is the fact that I was able to purchase one unit 4 months ago from Farnell at a correct price; and now they redirect me to those "thiefs" / "Approved Retailers"

[jamesh]

Now it's 60.30€ for *one* unit. Crazy

Although this particular distributor does seem to charge a lot of P&P, many places in the rest of the world, not just the UK, get its at more sensible rates.

Just for records, which distributor are you talking about?

I'm talking about minifo.be, the only distributor for who Farnell is redirecting people from Belgium.

What I find quite shocking is the fact that I was able to purchase one unit 4 months ago from Farnell at a correct price; and now they redirect me to those "thiefs" / "Approved Retailers"

Thanks. I'll see if I can find out what's up. It does seem a little over the top.

[mahjongg]

I see them priced at €39,96, but not in stock.

[jamesh]

Indeed.

Code: Select all

Subtotal	€39.96
Shipping & Handling (DHL Express - Fixed)	€11.95
Tax	€8.39
GRAND TOTAL	€60.30

So, 11eur to P&P, about £8, plus the tax which is unavoidable. TBH, the postage costs are not excessive for a DHL express, which also includes the packaging.

However, charging nearly 40eur seems excessive ($52). Current exchange rate should be about 26euro's.

I suggest locating another supplier.

[mikie8]

The manufacturers must sell the base device at the $35 price point, on to which they add P&P and tax.

35 bucks is about 22 pound , 26 quid with tax , ill buy another pi right now if this was true .

[michele.x]

However, charging nearly 40eur seems excessive ($52). Current exchange rate should be about 26euro's.

I suggest locating another supplier.

For instance RS components? Yes, they're slow, but for half the price one could wait.

Goods total 27.40€
Tax 5.48€
Standard Delivery (Despatch expected within 3 week(s)) 6.28€
Order Total 39.16€

[joan]

Farnell are (currently) charging £27.21 + £5.95 delivery. Order several and delivery is free.

[Papa G]

In the US, from Newark (element14), I am paying:

Code: Select all

Your Merchandise Total $35.00
Your Freight Total $5.29
Your Tax Total $2.52
Your Order Total $42.81
Sale in USD

I think they are running a free freight Christmas promotion if your order total is over $75.

[KiwiHelpGeek]

Hi,
Now I need 2 more RPis. So I went back to their website, only to discover that now consumers have to buy from local retailers.

Lucky you, getting pointed to a retailer. Down here in New Zealand Element 14 are pointing non business purchasers to Trade Me, the local equivalent of Ebay! The only person selling on there is charging $NZ135 (around 70 pounds) for a Pi in a case, a 2 meter HDMI cable, power supply and 4 Gb SD with Xbian installed.

I will definitely consider NewIT if they will confirm they can deliver to New Zealand. I will not consider RS since they quoted a lead time of 11 weeks for my Pi in June but took more than 14 weeks to get it into my hands. And they are quoting 3 weeks at the moment so would probably take 6.

[minifo]

Hey Guys,

My name is Koen Schmeets, I am the owner of Minifo.

I would like to give you my interpretation of Farnell's reasons for

why take a system that was working fine and make it worse ?

First of all, the product is in high demand, Farnell has backorders for thousands of Raspberry's between every batch that gets sent out,
besides that, non-business customers mostly buy "just" 1 Raspberry Pi.
We all know how it feels to wait for a Raspberry Pi, it's the same feeling as waiting for your new Android phone or anything else that is exciting to get your hands on.
For this reason, customers will call to be informed on the status of their order and cancel their order if they see a chance to get the Raspberry Pi somewhere else faster.
Also, the margin of profit on a Raspberry Pi isn't really that much.

I think, all those reasons combined make it unviable for Farnell to continue doing B2C (at least for Raspberry Pi customers)


So, what about our pricing model?

We obviously made a mistake by looking at other Raspberry Pi dealers (non-official-resellers included) to determine a "correct" price.
Luckily, we learned quick and fixed this some time ago, if you shop at Minifo now, your order for 1 Raspberry Pi looks like this

€34.79 - Subtotal
€11.95 - Shipping & Handling
€7.31 - Tax
--------------------------- +
€54.05 - Grand Total

Compared to ordering 1 Raspberry Pi at Farnell (business customer)

€34,79 - Subtotal
FREE - Shipping & Handling
€7,31€ - Tax
--------------------------- +
42,10€ - Grand Total

I don't know how it worked when ordering a Raspberry Pi directly at Farnell as a non-business customer
in the past, but I can imagine it would include shipping costs too.

So the only real difference is the shipping & handling costs, which is something we are working on to improve.

Lastly, I am a developer / hacker myself, I know & love the product we sell and I am hoping to get more involved in the community soon.
We will keep doing our best at delivering the Raspberry Pi to our customers at the lowest price, and give the best support while we are at it.

I hope all your questions are answered, and we love to hear your suggestions and ideas (you can hit me up at info@minifo.com) or reply here of course

Cheers!

[kaweapony]

Dear Koen Schmeets,

We ordered 2 rasperry pi and 2 black enclosures last week. According too your website, the delivery takes about two working days. Unfortunately, we didn't receive it yet. We're somewhat disappointed. Could you give us some explanations? Are they out of inventory?

Kind regards.

[Cloudcentric]

The Raspberry Pi Foundation do not sell the PI, they are sold by authorised distributors

Please add to this thread http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... 23&t=26289

[tonyhughes]

Farnell - element 14 force consumers to buy from retailers

No one is forcing you to buy this commercial product.

There are competitors in the ARM based single board computing space too.

[jamesh]

The Raspberry Pi Foundation do not sell the PI, they are sold by authorised distributors

Please add to this thread http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... 23&t=26289

Previous poster was replying to another poster in the thread, so not sure what this comment is about...and this thread isnt't about RS anyway, so the link is not appropriate for this topic.