FestoolRecon.com coming VERY soon (US)

[semenza]

      Seems pretty simple to me. When a tool is put up for sale on the recon site the price will be posted. Just like when anybody sells anything any where.

    Don't want to give out your email address, then don't. Not really any different than getting sale notifications from other sites / companies.

Seth

 

[ben_r_]

Awesome! Cant wait for this!

 

[antss]

I'm with Seth on this.

Registering just gets you closer to the front of the line. Or rather, notice that a line is forming.  You can que up, or not.

And, Festool already has your email address if your a member of this forum. And I'm guessing the service agreement allows them some altitude in using it for marketing purposes.

To their credit , they don't send us daily "infomercials" like a lot if outfits under the heading of announcements.

 

[#Tee]

its genius marketing if you ask me.  every company is out to make money.  by simply implementing this method they get new buyers in the door by selling off recon tools which they been doing. their marketing team is doing what theyre paid to do, keep it the way it was or try a different approach and get more buyers, its a no brainer.  with that said...i just want some bare tools without the systainer lol

 

[rmwarren]

I look at it per my prior comment, i.e. they have a business issue (how to handle the disposal of returned tools) to resolve in the most cost effective & expeditious manor. My hunch is that the magnitude of this issue has grown as they have expanded sales and continue to offer the 30-day return policy. The old process of annual sales thru the dealers has become unmanageable. I recall the stampede the past few years where Bob, Tom (RIP) and others were sitting up all night dealing with a flood of email orders and manually processing them, silly given the state of technology. If anything I would ask why they didn't get this dealt with years sooner.

Anyway, I agree with Seth. Simple, easy and fair (our Canadian brethren aside). Participate or not as you see fit.

RMW

 

[antss]

Do we think this is actually going to bring a lot more people to the fold?

Or, will they mostly get scooped up by current customers ?

Anyone have any idea on how much new business the previous disposal sales brought in ?

 

[peter halle]

Of course any answer on how much business the previous recon sales brought in would be pure speculation whereas Festool doesn't release that type of answer nor discuss their marketing strategies.

Peter

 

[mcooley]

Thank goodness it is not one item at a time!

One batch seems reasonable. I wonder if the odd hour times items go up will happen again this time?

 

[jeh]

Being Canadian I'm not a happy camper. Why are we being left out. I thought North America included Canada. It does for your product launches and even the roadshow.

JC

Probably because of the paperwork required to ship items of value to Canada. I know on some pricey items I have sold to Canadiens they have always wanted me to put the value at a ridiculous low number or call it a gift. I never did because there was absolutely nothing to be gained by lying about it. After a few of these I only ship to the lower 48.

 

[James Biddle]

Couple of observations:

-How many returns does Festool have that they need an ongoing strategy for getting rid of them?

-How do you take a tool that the original buyer found to be so poor that he returned it, and then resell it with only a one year warranty?

-Will the reconditioning be done by the same group having recent issues with timely, properly repaired tools?

-What happens when the tools for sale are not being scooped up; will the price be lowered or will the whole resale system screech to a halt?

-Will the people be able to sign up to be notified only when the tool they want is for sale, or will they get the privilege of seeing an email for every tool that comes up?

-If a tool does not sell and the price is lowered, will an additional email blast go out at each price reduction?

-How is it that the Festool software developers had time to work on this new project but not enough time to finish the ongoing tool registration project?

 

[Getmaverick]

Well I see no reason to purchase a recon tool for only a 10% savings, especially if it only comes with a 1 year warranty.

 

[HarveyWildes]

Well I see no reason to purchase a recon tool for only a 10% savings, especially if it only comes with a 1 year warranty.

Agreed - in another merchandise world, I consistently buy high-end refurbished Dell computers.  I get technology that is not more than a year old for 30-50% off, depending on the deals that the outlet is running that day.  That makes it worthwhile to buy refurbished.  And I usually get a PC where the component that is going to fail has failed - I've had great luck with refurb reliability.

I'm betting that Festool is not going to sell refurbs at 50% off, but I agree that they should do better than 10-15% if they want to make a go of it.

 

[TylerC]

I'll try to offer some clarification on some of this:

1. Yes, the "one tool at a time" thing is one model — not one single tool. For example, it might be that the TS 55 becomes available. There will be a certain number available. Once we sell out of them, we'll move on to the next tool.
2. [member=44099]Cheese[/member] - We're not doing multiple discount levels. I'm not sure if I can say that the level is yet ... but it's definitely more than 10%. I think you'll be happy with that it is.
3. [member=24938]JCLP[/member] - I feel you. Trying to offer this in multiple countries becomes much more difficult from a financial, legal and distribution standpoint. There's a possibility that we'll expand to Canada at some point, but simplicity was the best way to get this off the ground.
4. [member=727]antss[/member] - I don't necessarily see this as a way to get new customers. Clearly, if someone wants to use this as a means to get their first Festool product, that's great. However, it's not really the objective.

[member=560]James Biddle[/member]
- The vast majority of our recon tools are returned through our 30-Day Return policy. They're not in need of repair. The customer — for any number of reasons — simply decided to return it.
- We don't have a determined plan for what we'll do if a tool doesn't sell out. Once we launch this, we'll see what works, what doesn't, and adjust accordingly.
- By signing up for the list, you'll get an email each time a tool becomes available. There's not a function to only get a notification for a specific tool.
- The recon website was built by the Festool USA team, while the primary Festool websites (including the tool registration function) is built by the Festool HQ team. Separate teams and resources.

 

[Cheese]

Thanks Tyler...that makes things more transparent.  [thumbs up]

And thanks for confirming that there will be a 30% discount on these tools.  [poke]

 

[TylerC]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] 30%?! You're gonna get me in trouble.  [tongue]

Sorry that I didn't respond sooner. I posted originally from the [member=101]Festool USA[/member] account and wasn't getting email notifications from that one.

 

[ben_r_]

Man, well either way Im excited to see what pops up! This'll be fun checking as each tool becomes available! I can't wait!

 

[Gregor]

- By signing up for the list, you'll get an email each time a tool becomes available. There's not a function to only get a notification for a specific tool.

Any good reason for this?

 

[semenza]

As far as getting an email or notification every time a tool  batch goes up for sale .......... I just can't imagine that the  volume  of these notifications would be any sort of problematic inundation!  I really have no idea what the schedule will be like but I am thinking  maybe  1 - 3 per month sporadically.  In the world of the internet it seems that this would hardly be an issue compared to most notifications.

Seth

 

[James Biddle]

I'll try to offer some clarification on some of this:

1. Yes, the "one tool at a time" thing is one model — not one single tool. For example, it might be that the TS 55 becomes available. There will be a certain number available. Once we sell out of them, we'll move on to the next tool.  Is there a plan to list the number available with a countdown to zero?

2. [member=44099]Cheese[/member] - We're not doing multiple discount levels. I'm not sure if I can say that the level is yet ... but it's definitely more than 10%. I think you'll be happy with that it is. I'm wondering if you're inadvertently setting the used Festool tool price market. If you don't give enough discount, people won't buy from you.  If you set it too low, people will wait for one to come to market instead of buying new. Someone not able to sell their tool due to an artificially set price may not be as able to upgrade.

3. [member=24938]JCLP[/member] - I feel you. Trying to offer this in multiple countries becomes much more difficult from a financial, legal and distribution standpoint. There's a possibility that we'll expand to Canada at some point, but simplicity was the best way to get this off the ground.
4. [member=727]antss[/member] - I don't necessarily see this as a way to get new customers. Clearly, if someone wants to use this as a means to get their first Festool product, that's great. However, it's not really the objective.

[member=560]James Biddle[/member]
- The vast majority of our recon tools are returned through our 30-Day Return policy. They're not in need of repair. The customer — for any number of reasons — simply decided to return it.  So, if someone simply returned tool without reason, how far does the reconditioning go? Do you check a Domino for crosshair accuracy, or a a sander for being too jumpy?  I'm picturing a used Mercedes with it's 5,233 checks they do on a used car before reselling it?

- We don't have a determined plan for what we'll do if a tool doesn't sell out. Once we launch this, we'll see what works, what doesn't, and adjust accordingly. That's fair enough, but see the discount post above

- By signing up for the list, you'll get an email each time a tool becomes available. There's not a function to only get a notification for a specific tool. It's not a complicated programming change to do so.  Although you may entice a buyer looking for a different tool, you may lose potential customers to the annoyed email flood. Would someone need to sign up before purchasing from the site or can some just keep visiting the site and buy when they feel like it without receiving the emails?

- The recon website was built by the Festool USA team, while the primary Festool websites (including the tool registration function) is built by the Festool HQ team. Separate teams and resources.  That's fair enough

 

[James Biddle]

As far as getting an email or notification every time a tool  batch goes up for sale .......... I just can't imagine that the  volume  of these notifications would be any sort of problematic inundation!  I really have no idea what the schedule will be like but I am thinking  maybe  1 - 3 per month sporadically.  In the world of the internet it seems that this would hardly be an issue compared to most notifications.

Seth

Doesn't sound so bad in a vacuum, but when you multiply that by the number of companies with the same attitude, an individual is faced with countless numbers of such emails.