Apparent Change of Festool UK Catalogue Pricing Policy, and a Price Rise?

[Forrest Anderson]

This post is probably only of interest to members in the UK, as it's solely about the prices charged there.

Up to recently, Festool have published a price on their website and in their price list for each item. As is common for tools designed for trade use, these prices exclude VAT, which is currently 17.5% for tools.

Dealers usually take this official Festool price, deduct 20%, and advertise it at that, displaying the price with and/or without VAT as per their normal catalogue policy.

Let's take an example:

The Rotex RO150FEQ-Plus GB 240V (Order No 571592 ) is shown in the 2007 UK Price List  as 376.00 GBP excl VAT.

Reducing the Festool Price by 20% gives us 300.80 GBP excl VAT, or 353.44 GBP incl VAT

We can now compare this to the price offered by some Festool dealers:

Axminster - 351.33 incl VAT
Rutlands - 349.95 incl VAT

So far, everything is as expected, but wait...

The Festool UK website is currently showing the same machine at 314.00 GBP excl VAT - not 376.00 GBP.

Two possibilities spring to mind:

-  Festool has cut the prices of their kit, so that we now might expect to actually pay 314.00 - 20% = 251.20 GBP excl VAT or 295.16 incl VAT from a dealer, which would be a saving of about ?55.

or

-  Festool has now changed their catalogue policy and is now showing the discounted price, ie the retail price. If so, that means that you would get the Rotex from a dealer for 314.00 GBP excl VAT, or ?368.95 GBP incl VAT. This would mean that the retail price has increased by about 10 GBP.

I strongly suspect that it's the latter scenario, as several Festool dealers on eBay are now charging 368 GBP:

ITS - 368.95 GBP incl VAT
Healy's -  368.95 GBP incl VAT

One dealer is even using both prices - selling it at 351.50 on their normal website, and 368.95 on eBay!

It therefore seems that Festool have recently put up their prices in the UK, and at the same time changed their catalogue price policy so that customers get the real price, rather than being confused by the 20% off arrangement.

Given how some dealers are using the old prices, and some are using the new ones, members in the UK might want to shop around before buying!

Forrest

 

[dirtydeeds]

ive had the same story given me by a dealer

price fixing is illegal in europe and the uk. festool arnt stupid, theyve set aside money to fight any claims of this type

whats the betting they DONT try increasing the prices by 20% in the usa

 

[jonny round boy]

Festool UK's prices have changed. Some have gone up (the example of the rotex given, +10GBP), some have come down (the jigsaws have come down by 15GBP) - but they are now equalised with the prices charged across the rest of Europe, rather than being different (though I have no idea what exchange rate it's calculated with). This is what I was told by my dealer, who I have got to know quite well and I trust him not to tell porkies.

As for the switch from showing the 'full list price' to showing the 'actual list price', I know nothing of this, so thanks for the heads up.

DD, I don't think ANY of the prices have gone up by 20%, so your statement is pretty much irrelevant. I know from your other posts that you're not overly happy with Festool, so maybe that explains it...

 

[Forrest Anderson]

Festool UK's prices have changed. Some have gone up (the example of the rotex given, +10GBP), some have come down (the jigsaws have come down by 15GBP) - but they are now equalised with the prices charged across the rest of Europe, rather than being different (though I have no idea what exchange rate it's calculated with). This is what I was told by my dealer, who I have got to know quite well and I trust him not to tell porkies.

Thanks for the confirmation! Nice to know that there have been some decreases in prices too  ;D

Forrest

 

[jonny round boy]

Thanks for the confirmation! Nice to know that there have been some decreases in prices too  ;D

Forrest

Yes, but (and I haven't checked) I bet more have gone up than have come down...

 

[dirtydeeds]

johnny round boy

first lets kill your inuendo stone dead
ive spent approx ?12K (approx $20K US) on festool stuff so dont tell me what i do and do not like

second, lets clarify what has happened

up till last year the purchase prices in the UK were between 20% and 22% below the list prices, my dealer says there will be NO discounting any more, so effectivly the prices have gone up by 20%.

by the way the kappex im told is going up by ?110 to well over ?800 excluding 17.5% vat

and that is not the full kit with the stand

ps, towards the end of last year festool UK started demanding copies of the invoices when registering the warranty..................

 

[jonny round boy]

up till last year the purchase prices in the UK were between 20% and 22% below the list prices, my dealer says there will be NO discounting any more, so effectivly the prices have gone up by 20%.

I think you've got the wrong end of the stick, Tom. The OLD system was to take 20% off the list price, and add the VAT. Now, you just add the VAT to the list price, as the 20% has already been taken off.

Example 1: Kapex KS120 EB GB

(Note, I've rounded up to the nearest pound)

OLD list price = 836GBP; less 20% = 669GBP; add the 17.5% VAT on top = 786GBP

NEW list price = 729GBP; no discount; add the 17.5% VAT on top = 856GBP - an increase of just under 9%, or 70GBP, not 110GBP (still a big increase, though, I'll grant you).

Example 2: Trion PS300 EQ-Plus GB

OLD list price = 249GBP; less 20% = 199GBP; add 17.5% = 234GBP

NEW list price = 185GBP; no discount; add 17.5% = 217GBP - a reduction of 17GBP, or just under 8%.

Example 3: TS55 EBQ-Plus-GB

OLD list price = 406GBP; less 20% = 325GBP; add 17.5% = 382GBP

New list price = 325GBP; no discount; add 17.5% = 382GBP - no change.

So, the prices HAVE NOT GONE UP BY 20%. It's just that the 20% has been removed from the equation, making (IMHO) the whole process far clearer.

"I know from your other posts that you're not overly happy with Festool..." - I was referring to your post about the domino cross-stops. Sorry if that comment offended you.

 

[jonny round boy]

ps, towards the end of last year festool UK started demanding copies of the invoices when registering the warranty..................

I wasn't aware of that, but I don't see that as necessarily being a bad thing...

When my dealer sells any Festool to any customer he removes the warranty form, fills it in, and sends it off on behalf of the customer. So that saves me having to do it, or send copies of any invoices. Maybe you should buy yours from somewhere that knows something about customer service  ;D

 

[dirtydeeds]

customer service is clearly better in the USA and Austrailia

but i dont think they let mad dogs and englishmen in

im not that easily offended but i do bite back sometimes

 

[Eli]

im not that easily offended but i do bite back sometimes

You haven't done anything but bite in all six of your posts. Are you sure you weren't happier before you started sharing your misery with us?

 

[ROb McGilp]

ps, towards the end of last year festool UK started demanding copies of the invoices when registering the warranty..................

I wasn't aware of that, but I don't see that as necessarily being a bad thing...

When my dealer sells any Festool to any customer he removes the warranty form, fills it in, and sends it off on behalf of the customer. So that saves me having to do it, or send copies of any invoices. Maybe you should buy yours from somewhere that knows something about customer service  ;D

Well said, Johnny.
Again, ALL dealers I have bought from in Oz fill in the forms for me. Wherever DD is buying, he could do better. Myybe price is such an issue to him that customer service is a very low priority until he finds it wanting. Sort of like "Never mind the quality, feel the width"

Regards,

Rob

 

[martingchapman]

Not only have Festool changed the web site pricing policy, I have heard from a reliable source that they have changed the way they do business with their (UK and I think European) Dealers.
They have increased the wholesale price to the Dealer by 4% but will give back the 4% if their invoice is paid within 14 days (as opposed to the normal UK timescales of 30/60/90 days).
In practice, no Dealer is going to sell the full content of a delivery within 14 days so they are either going to have to pay the invoice up front from retained funds, pay late and loose 4% or increase their prices by 4% to try and retain the same profit margin.

Glad I am a Festool user and not a Dealer, although where would we users be without our Dealers.
I only hope that this does not force any Dealers that were on the edge to fold or stop sellling Festool.

Martin.

 

[dirtydeeds]

martingchapman

youve information was confirmed by a conversation i had yesterday, the new method of calcuating dealer discount has also had the effect of weeding out a large number of smaller dealers

the same conversation has reversed the information i had previously about the pricing. there is now only one price. the street price and the list price are now the same

this is an honest way of doing things and is unique? among UK manufacturers/importers/dealerships

 

[CNC Paul]

In practice, no Dealer is going to sell the full content of a delivery within 14 days so they are either going to have to pay the invoice up front from retained funds, pay late and loose 4% or increase their prices by 4% to try and retain the same profit margin.

Martin.

Uk Dealers who want to take up the offer of a 4% discount (from invoice date not delivery) could even be paying up front before they receive the goods if the get held up at customs !

Ouch !!!!

 

[dirtydeeds]

the UK importers then heap yet more misery on the dealers

they take an average of 10 days to deliver to the dealers

thats not good................ its only 70 miles from the importer to my dealer

 

[ROb McGilp]

Though I'm a long way away, it sounds like Festool may feel they are "overrepresented" in the UK and that the situation may not be in their best interests. I don't know how they manage the contracts with their agents in the UK, but squeezing them may be a way of limiting these agents to those who can seriously carry and sell sufficient stock. A byproduct of this would also be the ability to tighten regulation of market pricing.

Regards,

Rob

 

[dirtydeeds]

there's a shop close to me that has stopped selling festool, the guy wouldnt know a chisel unless it had "chisel" written on the box.

so getting rid of him as a festool "dealer" has certainly done them a favour

 

[ROb McGilp]

It seems likely, then, that you can look forward to a situation where the pricing is consistent and the level of customer service will improve substantially. Perhaps eliminating such issues as having to buy ten Kapexes to get one that works, or getting the runaround from people who really don't know the truth or haven't bothered to chase up problems, or worse, don't even care!

Regards,

Rob

 

[dirtydeeds]

that 10 kappex's story seems to have legs

everybody involved in that piece of customer relations should hang their heads in shame

 

[Eli]

Agreed. He should have been given the push after two or three. I guess I wouldn't do so well in customer service after all. ;D