US Shops that will ship Burton OS

[yamabushi 3]

No making accusations or anything, but did the boards at US prices have serial numbers? Because if they don't, they are parallel imports and don't have a guarantee.

 

 

All these references to other things are irrelevant, but if you want one, the median cost of a house in Detriot fell to $7500 in 2009.

 

I would think so... It was at a Takeda Sports.

 

I think we are talking about export items that have an inflated price tag. Can't export the house and certainly not the land underneath.

[pie-eater 207]

 

 

An innocent mistake?

Or you just trying to make your point by posting incorrect numbers?

 

Nah, I'm just better at shopping on the U.S.

 

Google up Microsoft Office 2010 professional. Click on shopping instead of web search. The first two prices listed is for $189. For the Japanese price this is what I saw at the store.

 

 

No, you're not.

The prices you are looking at are for the Academic version of the software.

The similar Academic package on amazon.co.jp is 22,266 yen. That is the price in Japan you need to compare that with.

 

Most of the prices in the list you referred me to - for the full product - are indeed in the $350-$400 range.

I would say that the fabulously named 'BuyBargainDeals' site is simply trying to deceive by putting the academic version in there with the others which are the full non-academic product.

They certainly tricked you.

Unless of course you were just trying to trick us and 'prove' your argument.

 

------

 

As such, I submit that you are not better at shopping, but worse and actually quite rubbish at it.

 

I recommend reading details before you buy something and/or use something that proves to be incorrect as 'proof'.

[yamabushi 3]

Shit, another correction: The current price of the Japanese burton ruler went down to 35,700, the U.S. retail price is $199.

 

One thing that I noticed is that boots, gloves and clothes have a crazy markup, while boards are not as bad. The aforementioned Burton Ruler markup is a bit over 225%, while the Burton Vapor ($1,199 vs 126,000 suggested retail) is less than 40%.

[yamabushi 3]

 

Unless of course you were just trying to trick us and 'prove' your argument.

 

 

Nah, just sloppy on my part.

 

Funny enough that you pick only on the numbers that support yours. Care to discuss the $29 price tag of microsoft office in china?

[ippy 66]

Its fun you also mention warranty. Burton really DETESTED what sierra were doing (which is why sierrasnowboards no longer exists - burton in effect bankrupted them). So when they parted company around march 2010... actually hold up. A quick history:

 

Around july or August in 2009 after sierra already signed an agreement (in feb i beleive) to take in all burtons excess inventory (burton were FLOODING the market at this point so there was quite a lot), burton presented (after feedback from their local shops) decided unilaterally to bring in a new contract that forced internet retailers into a strict reduction timetable (the new burton website of course was not bound by this). Sierra told them they wouldnt sign it and that they would reduce it at their own discretion. Sure enough, come february sierra had a 40% sale on 2010 burton gear and burton went mental on it. They referred to a clause in the original contract where they could demand payment in full and thats exactly what they did. Now sierra clearly didnt have this kind of money so they told them to shove it and theyll see them in court.

At this point, because a new contract hadnt been signed, sierra decided that they were no longer bound by ANY of teh terms of teh old one since it had run out. And in a massive dick move they also decided that they werent bound by the export restrictions in their contract with burton. They in effect had no contract with burton, ergo they could do with tehir inventory what the hell they liked.

 

So they dropped it to 50% off and dropped teh export restriction. Obviously the australians on teh website at the time went insane. And as soon as they realised just teh kind of bomb theyd dropped sierra went all in and offered FREE SHIPPING on orders over $500

 

Needless to say it was very very popular with internationals. But come june and july it became pretty obvious that the shit was hitting the fan. Burton did indeed take them to court and in effect won. Sierra then filed chapter 11 bankruptcy to protect their assets and allow them to continue in business to pay what burton were demanding. An agreement was reached with some of the other big brands who sierra owed money too (like rome, dakine, nitro et al), and it seemed to be going okay. Then in August it went abslutely pear shaped. The consortium had a vote of no confidence in Mike Harrosh (the owner of sierra). Without burton for the 2011 season, tehy argued, the company was obviously in trouble. BUt then when k2/ride, and lib followed it was decided that the site was no longer sustainable. And the only way to bring these companies back was to get rid of Harrosh who they [censored]ING hated! Harrosh spat the dummy and threatened to liquidate the company in protest so that NO ONE got their money back (or they only got a tiny fraction of it). Eventually an agreement was reached and sierra and the forums were sold to the-house.com (well, teh owners of the house - active sports).

And now its trusnow.com. So there you go, lots of fun stuff happening there.

 

Anyway, because of the whole blatant flouting of the restrictions burton Australia REFUSED to take any board that was purchased in teh US and the US refused to warranty any board which was shipped over from the US. And i told you that entire tale just so i could explain this one tiny point. A sort of mate on the forums snapped his joystick i believe and was pretty much SOL. Ah the perils of being cannonfodder in the land of interantional business.

[rider69 18]

Seriously who wants to live in Detroit or Buffalo? I have been to both and prefer to keep on driving.

I think it was 75000 dollars for a house in Detroit.

[pie-eater 207]

 

Unless of course you were just trying to trick us and 'prove' your argument.

 

 

Nah, just sloppy on my part.

 

Funny enough that you pick only on the numbers that support yours. Care to discuss the $29 price tag of microsoft office in china?

 

But, but, but.... I'm not the one making the argument with numbers.

I was simply pointing out your totally incorrect and misleading US price comparisons.

 

And I have absolutely no idea about China.

My wild out-there somewhat outrageously reckless guess is that it is not possible to buy a legitimate copy of Microsoft Office Professional 2010 for $29 in China.

But that's simply a guess, I really do not know.

Whatever the truth there, though, it does not somehow make your US comparisons correct.

[yamabushi 3]

 

Unless of course you were just trying to trick us and 'prove' your argument.

 

 

Nah, just sloppy on my part.

 

Funny enough that you pick only on the numbers that support yours. Care to discuss the $29 price tag of microsoft office in china?

 

But, but, but.... I'm not the one making the argument with numbers.

I was simply pointing out your totally incorrect and misleading US price comparisons.

 

And I have absolutely no idea about China.

My wild out-there somewhat outrageously reckless guess is that it is not possible to buy a legitimate copy of Microsoft Office Professional 2010 for $29 in China.

But that's simply a guess, I really do not know.

Whatever the truth there, though, it does not somehow make your US comparisons correct.

 

Which is why I went looking at the U.S. burton site and the official japanese importer for the actual numbers to update the numbers. Here they are again.

 

Burton ruler boots: 35,700 Japanese MSRP, $199 U.S. MSRP (225% markup).

 

Burton Vapor 126,000 Japanese MSRP, $1,199 U.S. MSRP (40% markup).

[pie-eater 207]

Someone check those numbers, hey?

 

yamabushi really ain't too hot at this 'finding the correct prices to compare' lark....

[ippy 66]

On non burton related info, i remember a while back theer being a thread on here (its probably now on the second page - actually im off to find it) where i had a bit of a moan about teh price of a bataleon riot in japan.

 

http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/topic/20494-current-snowboard-gear-prices-in-japan/

 

Page 6! this place has got WAY more active since last year

 

Ah damn, i didnt find the riot price for this year. I　thought id mentioned it in the thread. Either way i think it was somewhere in tehregion of 81,000yen.

For a $550 deck.

With no export restrictions.

 

I was kinda surprised to be honest. Saying that though, before they even had them in stock one of the dudes in the store was offering me a 10% discount on it. I really think for board prices they do artificially inflate them at the start of the season and then reduce them as it gets closer to the start of the season... and well, when you think about that, its probably fair. Most japanese shoppers dont use US websites. And likely most stores import on the basis of actually clearing their stock as soon as. Not to pretend like i understand japanese people, but they are quite fixed in their appropriate seasons... didnt we all just have a bit of a laugh at WEBSITES being pulled when it was off season sometime in the last few weeks

 

So maybe they buy to clear and in that precious window when people gear up for the season, prices are at their highest. And as it gets closer to the start of teh season, they drop it down to ACTUAL MSRP (er, i mean 30% off!!!!) to draw in people looking for a deal.

 

Of course, msrp is BS anyway. The sierra line of snowboards (made by burton based EXACTLY on burton boards) have MSRPs about $200 above the comparative BURTON board. and then they discount that by FIFTY PERCENT!!!!! (when in reality its about 20-30% for a board thats now two seasons old ).

 

Evo in fact just pulled a different variant of the sleight of hand (not msrp, but in terms of "sales"). We all know about the shipping scam they seem to have going on (well, those of us who got quoted ridiculous prices to ship the deck to japan (and bought it from backcountry instead)). But the other day i popped in to see the price of their bataleons.

 

In their normal site they had them at 30-40% off. They put them in the outlet section and now theyre 20-30% off WITH AN EXTRA 20% off ALL ITEMS IN OUTLET!!! COME SHOP AT OUR STORE!!!

 

You have to giggle

[NoFakie 45]

Yamabushi

 

I think what you have with the Vapor in Japan is a saturation point in the price. Once you're over 100,000 for a snowboard, you might as well get a Gentem, a personally handmade one, or something else that will get you far far more cred points and envious looks in the gondola line than a Burton. I think you can almost ignore the price of that one and simply state that the overall tendency is for Burton's most popular gear to cost double in Japan. Other companies, Oakley, etc. are just as bad. In the big picture, I think the high cost of gear in Japan stops more people from enjoying snowsports. Compared to the price of lift tickets and the cost of accom, I would say the price of gear is much more dubious.

 

Google detriot median house price 2009. It was $7500 due to all the foreclosures. It sounds like they're ripping a decent chunk of the town down and turning it back to fields. Some of it seems to be the original suburbs that would have been pretty nice in their day. I only mentioned it as a price of something else that is irrelevant to Burton snowboards. I wish I'd never mentioned it.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

my local Spopia Sports shop doesn't actually advertise the price of bindings......they usually have them stamped on somewhere but its small and not easy to find, as far as I'm aware its an invitation barter the price with the staff member.....dunno why they do this as it seems unusual in Japan

[tripler 0]

Care to discuss the $29 price tag of microsoft office in china?

you have to consider the average wage difference between japan and china. Don't know what it is but it must be huge; whereas the states, australia and japan are on pretty similar wages.

[jblesener 1]

I recently bought a house for 13 million yen for a 120 square foot 8 year old house.

 

I think you got ripped man, this guy got his 120 square feet for 24000 USD

 

I was looking at helmets this season and couldn't believe the price difference between here and the US. Smith Vantage is 27000-30000JPY online/retail here and 100-165USD on Amazon. The weird thing about this is there doesn't seem to be any restriction on having them shipped here. There does seem to be a 5-10% tariff (couldn't really figure out the total) on helmets/hats but that only accounts for a bit of the difference.

[yamabushi 3]

Yamabushi

 

I think what you have with the Vapor in Japan is a saturation point in the price. Once you're over 100,000 for a snowboard, you might as well get a Gentem, a personally handmade one, or something else that will get you far far more cred points and envious looks in the gondola line than a Burton. I think you can almost ignore the price of that one and simply state that the overall tendency is for Burton's most popular gear to cost double in Japan. Other companies, Oakley, etc. are just as bad. In the big picture, I think the high cost of gear in Japan stops more people from enjoying snowsports. Compared to the price of lift tickets and the cost of accom, I would say the price of gear is much more dubious.

 

The point I was making is that, for these types of thigs, importation costs do not play that big a role in determining prices.

 

My experience is that most Burton soft goods sell like hotcakes because of the fashion statement. Anybody that has been to a sports store here knows how big a fashion whore your average Japanese is (please don't take this the wrong way. Me, I'm a Oakley and Patagonia whore). When it comes to boards and bindings, the market is more competitive, hence the ungodly markup between the two categories.

[NoFakie 45]

Hiya

 

I was just trying to guess why the top priced one that you pointed out isn't as highly marked up as much as the rest. I 100% agree that with your basic point that import taxes and delivery aren't to blame for the official prices in Japan. Due to the wholesale prices and Burton's policies, I don't think individual shops are to blame either.

 

Perhaps Burton's gear in Japan would be cheaper if they didn't have a flash shop in Shibuya and didn't put twenty page catalogues and multipage ads in Japanese snowboarding magazines etc. I feel Burton Japan push the gear, which is honestly pretty good, as fashion items and so burn through loads of cash on largely unnecessary promotion. If Burton USA have got Shaun White, do you really need lots of extra advertising in this country?

 

Of course, some other things cost three times or more the USA price in Japan without flash promotion and showrooms, so the ripping the customer for what you can explanation always remains as a possibility.

[rider69 18]

I did mean 120square meters. 7500 bucks in Detriot that is right some research into the situation says this.

In the 1950s Detriot had about 4.5million people. Now detriot has 900k plus only. There must be alot of empty

houses in Detriot.

[NoFakie 45]

The median house price for the entire USA is now under 170k (13 million yen or thereabouts). That means half of all houses go for less than that. Thanks to all the foreclosures, there are literally thousands of 2005 to 2008 built houses going for under than figure. Some won't be far from big national parks and ski areas. Three or four years ago, some would have been priced at 450 or 500k, or 60 million yen at the time.

 

http://www.realestat...ook/overall.htm

 

With at least 10% unemployed in the USA, prices won't be shooting back up for some time. I don't recommend looking at USA real estate and converting to yen prices, because its pretty depressing.

[SKI 15]

How do prices vary in the US countryside/city? About the same as in other places or is there some special thing going on there?

[panhead_pete 27]

Back on topic for a sec. My jacket turned up today from eBay seller Frieco. It's exactly as advertised, got here really quickly and I'm generally stoked with it have saved well over $200.

[gareth_oau 2]

The median house price for the entire USA is now under 170k (13 million yen or thereabouts). That means half of all houses go for less than that. Thanks to all the foreclosures, there are literally thousands of 2005 to 2008 built houses going for under than figure. Some won't be far from big national parks and ski areas. Three or four years ago, some would have been priced at 450 or 500k, or 60 million yen at the time.

 

http://www.realestat...ook/overall.htm

 

With at least 10% unemployed in the USA, prices won't be shooting back up for some time. I don't recommend looking at USA real estate and converting to yen prices, because its pretty depressing.

 

I had heard somewhere that if a mortgage is foreclosed in the US, then when you buy (at around the advertised price) you also have to pick up the outstanding debt in addition.

 

Is this correct?

[gareth_oau 2]

The median house price for the entire USA is now under 170k (13 million yen or thereabouts).

 

the Australian median is around $316,000 - thats a huge difference!

[grungy-gonads 54]

Should you. It be comparing what this median actually looks like?

 

Do the prices quoted in each county include the cost of the land or just the house?

 

Just a few of the kind of things that might devalue such comparisons.

[blu 3]

Pete, I use ShipIto for US forwarding. You get your own unique "street address". Works well.

[knobbly knees 0]

I have used that too.

Bloody annoying, though I don't understand the ins and outs of it all.