Letter to Hardwareversand from boards.ie users

uncle_sam_ie

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Personally, the best way to go about it would be from a marketing angle.

Not too shabby if I may say so myself. If people were happy with the idea, i'd be glad to volunteer and send the email to them.

You nailed it.

Seifer

This is confusing to me. People order from them and recommend them because they are the cheapest and are reliable. So you are asking them to provide a discount because they are the cheapest?

Also did you contact any admins to see if it's ok to write a letter/email and sign it, "Boards.ie users"?

Copper_pipe

Any sort of a discount is a win as far as im concerned

uncle_sam_ie

Seifer wrote: »

This is confusing to me. People order from them and recommend them because they are the cheapest and are reliable. So you are asking them to provide a discount because they are the cheapest?

Also did you contact any admins to see if it's ok to write a letter/email and sign it, "Boards.ie users"?

No, we are making them aware of the business we bring and the advantages of giving a coupon code of some type would be to their sales.

I do agree that we need to run this by the admins.

FlyingIrishMan

Hopefully they don't just realise that they're still the best site regardless of a discount or not and we'll still buy of them and recommend them even if they don't give it to us :P

uncle_sam_ie

BTW, doesn't Scan do this for one of the UK forums?

Tea_Bag

I think it would be wise to email it from a frequent customer, (or several?) no offence to anyone here. Just a little more sugar coating maybe? Im not sure who's the largest customer, I think Deceit takes the e-peen on that, but i know IrishMetalHead does a few builds too, maybe more than me?

They might just find it harder to ignore a customer who drops €1000's into their bank account every few months.

opinions?

Tea_Bag

uncle_sam_ie wrote: »

BTW, doesn't Scan do this for one of the UK forums?

yea, AVforums. im a member there just for the shipping discounts. they keep recommending GTX480's in their building forums, so i dont hang around there much :P


Did you translate it to German Partyatmygaff?

partyatmygaff

Seifer wrote: »

This is confusing to me. People order from them and recommend them because they are the cheapest and are reliable. So you are asking them to provide a discount because they are the cheapest?

I worded my version of the email carefully to avoid that. What I said was that they're highly regarded by many members of boards.ie and that they're recommended often on the site but new users don't find the price difference significant enough to warrant the inconvenience involved with ordering from them over the likes of say Dabs.

Also did you contact any admins to see if it's ok to write a letter/email and sign it, "Boards.ie users"?

I shouldn't see why it would be necessary. The email does not represent boards. It's signed " .... & other Boards.ie users". Boards and its users are two separate entities and even when we speak collectively we aren't necessarily speaking on Boards.ie's behalf.

Tea_Bag wrote: »

I think it would be wise to email it from a frequent customer, (or several?) no offence to anyone here. Just a little more sugar coating maybe? Im not sure who's the largest customer, I think Deceit takes the e-peen on that, but i know IrishMetalHead does a few builds too, maybe more than me?
They might just find it harder to ignore a customer who drops €1000's into their bank account every few months.
opinions?

Probably a good idea actually. I've already sent the email though. Perhaps they could draft similar emails? All in all though, I don't think they're going to just take our word for it. They'll have a look at the forum and their own sales records before making any decisions.

partyatmygaff

Tea_Bag wrote: »

Did you translate it to German Partyatmygaff?

I considered it but decided not to in the end. Google Translate is fine for phrases but when it comes to things like these the quality of the translation dives massively. A lot of their staff have pretty good English anyway so I don't foresee it being a major issue.

Tea_Bag

im not sure they're going to search boards.ie for PC Building and Upgrading. a newbie to find this forum is extremely difficult. should have linked to the specific forum. Ill try do that in my edited version.

anything else?

Copper_pipe

Perhaps a link to fluffys script.

How lomg does it usually take HWVS to reply to emails

partyatmygaff

Tea_Bag wrote: »

im not sure they're going to search boards.ie for PC Building and Upgrading. a newbie to find this forum is extremely difficult. should have linked to the specific forum. Ill try do that in my edited version.

anything else?

I linked to the forum, this subforum and the basket->post script. The hyperlinks broke when I copied it here.

Tea_Bag

Im going to use most of what you said PAMG, if you dont mind, but try spin the 10% thing into a store credit bonus or something. 10% sounds like they're losing 10% out of their pocket, but people come here with €1000 to spend, and when we say they'll get €100 off, most people would keep the budget at €1K and get more/better stuff.

Boskowski

Can't see it happening lads. Not in a coupon code fashion anyway. Lets face it, 2 days after they released a coupon code half the country would know it.

And I imagine they are the cheapest because their margins are tight and their overheads very small. 10% is probably going to be huge dent in their profit.

Also German companies and German customers don't like credit cards. Especially not if they're a discounter. Because the credit card company syphons another 3% or so off an already tight calculation.
IBAN/BIC bank transfers are easy anyway, what's the problem?

Good luck with it and you never know, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

uncle_sam_ie

Boskowski wrote: »

Can't see it happening lads. Not in a coupon code fashion anyway. Lets face it, 2 days after they released a coupon code half the country would know it.

And I imagine they are the cheapest because their margins are tight and their overheads very small. 10% is probably going to be huge dent in their profit.

Also German companies and German customers don't like credit cards. Especially not if they're a discounter. Because the credit card company syphons another 3% or so off an already tight calculation.
IBAN/BIC bank transfers are easy anyway, what's the problem?

Good luck with it and you never know, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

True, but I think they could offer reduce or free shipping on big orders.

uncle_sam_ie

Boskowski wrote: »

.
IBAN/BIC bank transfers are easy anyway, what's the problem?

Because, you need to trust the people your sending the money to with a bank transfer. A credit card is easy for people to use and if the seller screws you the credit card company will back you up.

deconduo

Looks good to me. I doubt they'll do anything about it, but there's never any harm in asking

Tea_Bag

uncle_sam_ie wrote: »

True, but I think they could offer reduce or free shipping on big orders.

I think this is the most likely/only potential option. i dont see HWVS budging on payment option. bank transfers is the german way. I also cant see why HWVS would give a discount. we've just admitted to them that we send 99% of customers their way, and they know theyre damn competitive anyway, so losing that trickle means nothing, and gaining it at the cost of 10% of profits isnt worth it.

Shipping prices is the only thing they might even entertain tbh. something like free shipping when spending €900+, even then, its €18.99 out of their pocket. you can be sure they dont make a profit off shipping costs. my last order was 41kg.


were going to get back a response saying:


"Thank you for your continued support, you will be happy to know that we reduced the price of shipping fro €30 to €19 as of this month. I hope that you are happy blah blah blah."


but it was worth a try.

Serephucus

If we could get people to PM or post order numbers for recent builds. This would give the guys on their end an idea of the volume of stuff we contribute to, as well as proof that we're actually telling the truth. :P

I wouldn't even bother asking for 10% to be honest. Not a chance in hell. If they do respond to this letter at all with anything remotely like what we're thinking of, I wouldn't expect more than 2%. Here's hoping, etc. but, well...

Great idea though. Hope something comes of it.

ShadowHearth

Tea_Bag wrote: »

I think this is the most likely/only potential option. i dont see HWVS budging on payment option. bank transfers is the german way. I also cant see why HWVS would give a discount. we've just admitted to them that we send 99% of customers their way, and they know theyre damn competitive anyway, so losing that trickle means nothing, and gaining it at the cost of 10% of profits isnt worth it.

Shipping prices is the only thing they might even entertain tbh. something like free shipping when spending €900+, even then, its €18.99 out of their pocket. you can be sure they dont make a profit off shipping costs. my last order was 41kg.


were going to get back a response saying:


"Thank you for your continued support, you will be happy to know that we reduced the price of shipping fro €30 to €19 as of this month. I hope that you are happy blah blah blah."


but it was worth a try.

well free shiping or discount on it would be still doable and profitable for them in some way i guess.
for example if i want to order just a GPU like gtx 680 or 7970 shiping cost of 20eu makes a huge difference. 480eu with free shipment would make me thing of buying it in harwareversand, but flat rate of 30eu ( now thx god 19eu ) makes me go to competitors, which will deliver way faster, similar/smaller money and no bank transfer stuff.

ShadowHearth

Serephucus wrote: »

If we could get people to PM or post order numbers for recent builds. This would give the guys on their end an idea of the volume of stuff we contribute to, as well as proof that we're actually telling the truth. :P

I wouldn't even bother asking for 10% to be honest. Not a chance in hell. If they do respond to this letter at all with anything remotely like what we're thinking of, I wouldn't expect more than 2%. Here's hoping, etc. but, well...

Great idea though. Hope something comes of it.

thats why i though it would be better to take off all 5-10% thing. 10% is unrealistic, but worth a try. best we could hope for - free delivery etc.

Reku

Boskowski wrote: »

Also German companies and German customers don't like credit cards. Especially not if they're a discounter. Because the credit card company syphons another 3% or so off an already tight calculation.
IBAN/BIC bank transfers are easy anyway, what's the problem?

When compared to the added safety a credit card affords, and the significant reduction in hassle since you don't need to set up a transfer, just enter your card's details to the site when "checking out", I just couldn't be arsed to use Hardwareversand as a result.
I've used Scan instead and see no reason to change from them since IMO the prices, while higher than Hardwareversand, are decent and the ability to specify when the shipment should arrive makes a big difference too since I can't ship stuff to work and so need to be certain it will arrive on a day where someone will be available to take the delivery. Unless Hardwareversand start accepting credit cards (haven't used Paypal in years as they jerked me around too much with randomly suspending my account and the hassle I had to go to to update my credit card when the old one expired) and having a similar shipping arrangement I'm afraid a discount won't sway me.

Heck I don't know why they don't do what some of the specialist archery sites do, offer an annual membership that costs a fee but gives a discount on all orders for that year, that way those of you who do use them alot get a loyalty reward.

srsly78

The Germans don't like credit cards.

1. Fraud. The buyer can do chargebacks. You are protected but they aren't.
2. Fees. The card company charges a 1% or more fee. Bad for the seller.

Why in the name of god do you not have online banking setup in 2012? It is really not difficult to transfer the money to them. It's especially good for companies, I just transfer from company account - all sorted.

Getting them to knock the VAT off is big problem tho... But the ROS site allows european vat returns now, am waiting for my e500 refund from Germany.

uncle_sam_ie

srsly78 wrote: »

The Germans don't like credit cards.

1. Fraud. The buyer can do chargebacks. You are protected but they aren't.
2. Fees. The card company charges a 1% or more fee. Bad for the seller.

Why in the name of god do you not have online banking setup in 2012? It is really not difficult to transfer the money to them. It's especially good for companies, I just transfer from company account - all sorted.

Getting them to knock the VAT off is big problem tho... But the ROS site allows european vat returns now, am waiting for my e500 refund from Germany.

But, the thing is the Irish see a bank transfers as dodgy. Doing a Bank transfer for a PC build you need to trust the vendors not going run off with your money. Your totally screwed if they do. That's were I think they lose a lot of business from the recommendations here.

srsly78

HWVS are a German company. In Germany people feel differently about this issue.

I'm sure they are crying into their cornflakes at the tiny tiny amount of sales they lose in Ireland because of this. Are you actually saying that we the Irish should go over there and tell ze Germanz how to conduct non-dodgy financial transactions?

Boskowski

I really don't get the bank transfer reservations. It's cheap and reliable and easy to use. Insisting on credit card seems just lazy.
I mean you're buying off a reputable company that does god knows how much business all over the world. How would anyone think they're going to 'run off' with your money? Theyre going to ruin their reputation to scam you out of a grand? Come on...

uncle_sam_ie

No, I'm not suggesting they should change their German ways for their Irish customer base but, they are losing sales because of it. Recognising this forum by offering a shipping discount would go a long way in boosting confidence for new people to the forum who are reluctant.
There's a lot of builds recommended here weekly. It might be small but, not it's small enough to be sniffed at.

ShadowHearth

Boskowski wrote: »

I really don't get the bank transfer reservations. It's cheap and reliable and easy to use. Insisting on credit card seems just lazy.
I mean you're buying off a reputable company that does god knows how much business all over the world. How would anyone think they're going to 'run off' with your money? Theyre going to ruin their reputation to scam you out of a grand? Come on...

You took out the time factor too. Why should I go in to anal way, then have a huge delivery time? And yes, I am too laizy and could not be fecked with bank transfers

I do recomend Germans in my builds, but I built my system from scan.co.uk, I payed extra, but got all my stuff in less them 2 days.

uncle_sam_ie

Boskowski wrote: »

I really don't get the bank transfer reservations. It's cheap and reliable and easy to use. Insisting on credit card seems just lazy.
I mean you're buying off a reputable company that does god knows how much business all over the world. How would anyone think they're going to 'run off' with your money? Theyre going to ruin their reputation to scam you out of a grand? Come on...

They might be big in Germany but, I never herd of them before coming to this forum. I once booked a rental car in Australia from a well known company for two weeks and paid with a credit card. A day before I got there they went into bankruptcy and kept my money. One call to Visa and it was sorted. I could never see bank transfers working here in Ireland.