Bathroom Products Price Variations!

IvyFlood

Hi, just wondering if anyone can tell me why the price of the same bathroom products seems to vary massively?

For example, twice now I've found two vanity units on online sites and both are twice the price from the manufacturer

I've got brochures from the merchant our fitter uses (all different manufacturers) trying to budget and then I'm finding the same products online for half the price so its really confusing me!

BUFF

the manufacturer will set an MSRP  & will have a discount structure based on volume and/or displays. Retailers are able to set their own margins on cost  though - some will go for high volume at low margin, some will have loss leaders in the hope that they will recover margin on the taps, waste etc. that will go along with it.
& then, of course, there is also service level.

TELLIT01

Retailers can try to charge whatever they want for a product.  You'll find the same  breakfast cereal at different prices in different shops.

GDB2222

The merchant your fitter uses is giving the fitter half of what you are paying?

IvyFlood

GDB2222 said:

The merchant your fitter uses is giving the fitter half of what you are paying?

Sorry I don't understand your question?

ashe

When we did our bathroom we made a spreadsheet and we looked at everything we needed

we Then searched for best price and discount codes and considered warranties and trustpilot ratings of firms

some of the price differences are wild. We made huge savings doing it this way - some were more expensive on victoriaplum but they had nhs discount + discount codes that made them cheaper but then some items they had even despite that were cheaper elsewhere 

IvyFlood

ashe said:

When we did our bathroom we made a spreadsheet and we looked at everything we needed

we Then searched for best price and discount codes and considered warranties and trustpilot ratings of firms

some of the price differences are wild. We made huge savings doing it this way - some were more expensive on victoriaplum but they had nhs discount + discount codes that made them cheaper but then some items they had even despite that were cheaper elsewhere 

This is exactly it!

I've already got a spreadsheet going! 

I'm guessing you sourced and paid for most things yourself then? Did you have a fitter or did you also fit the bathroom yourself?

I'm not really a fan of buying from these online sites like Victoria Plumb etc as I've heard bad things and its a hassle if anything is wrong! But I guess its the risk you take when you buy yourself to make that saving.

ashe

IvyFlood said:

ashe said:

When we did our bathroom we made a spreadsheet and we looked at everything we needed

we Then searched for best price and discount codes and considered warranties and trustpilot ratings of firms

some of the price differences are wild. We made huge savings doing it this way - some were more expensive on victoriaplum but they had nhs discount + discount codes that made them cheaper but then some items they had even despite that were cheaper elsewhere 

This is exactly it!

I've already got a spreadsheet going! 

I'm guessing you sourced and paid for most things yourself then? Did you have a fitter or did you also fit the bathroom yourself?

I'm not really a fan of buying from these online sites like Victoria Plumb etc as I've heard bad things and its a hassle if anything is wrong! But I guess its the risk you take when you buy yourself to make that saving.

I've shown you ours before on your other threads I think - we are the ones that had to change the layout of the bathroom. Our fitter supplied everything plumberish - grout, tile spacers, pipes etc - we supplied everything like suite, taps, waste, tiles

Victoria Plumb were pretty good with issues to be honest - we had a buzzing mirror for example, slight buzz from the transformer but it was a bit annoying. They sent another one out, told us to keep the original. Sold it on. I think a rad had a mark on it too and they did the same with that, again sold it on. 

I had worse service off one of the independents with a RAK free standing bath tap, nothing really bad but they would email the supplier (RAK) each time, wait for a response then send it to us, then send the part for us, which we  had to arrange to be fitted, luckily our guy didnt charge us extra for it, and in the end they sent us another tap. We haven't fitted that yet but if we do we would probably do the same again and try move on the other. It works fine, just the diverter is a bit sticky. 

IvyFlood

ashe said:

IvyFlood said:

ashe said:

When we did our bathroom we made a spreadsheet and we looked at everything we needed

we Then searched for best price and discount codes and considered warranties and trustpilot ratings of firms

some of the price differences are wild. We made huge savings doing it this way - some were more expensive on victoriaplum but they had nhs discount + discount codes that made them cheaper but then some items they had even despite that were cheaper elsewhere 

This is exactly it!

I've already got a spreadsheet going! 

I'm guessing you sourced and paid for most things yourself then? Did you have a fitter or did you also fit the bathroom yourself?

I'm not really a fan of buying from these online sites like Victoria Plumb etc as I've heard bad things and its a hassle if anything is wrong! But I guess its the risk you take when you buy yourself to make that saving.

I've shown you ours before on your other threads I think - we are the ones that had to change the layout of the bathroom. Our fitter supplied everything plumberish - grout, tile spacers, pipes etc - we supplied everything like suite, taps, waste, tiles

Victoria Plumb were pretty good with issues to be honest - we had a buzzing mirror for example, slight buzz from the transformer but it was a bit annoying. They sent another one out, told us to keep the original. Sold it on. I think a rad had a mark on it too and they did the same with that, again sold it on. 

I had worse service off one of the independents with a RAK free standing bath tap, nothing really bad but they would email the supplier (RAK) each time, wait for a response then send it to us, then send the part for us, which we  had to arrange to be fitted, luckily our guy didnt charge us extra for it, and in the end they sent us another tap. We haven't fitted that yet but if we do we would probably do the same again and try move on the other. It works fine, just the diverter is a bit sticky. 

Ahh yes I do remember!

I'm just finding it a complete mission at the moment. I'm looking through all the brochures from the shop the fitter users and had anticipated just giving him the list once we'd chosen but then I'm finding exactly the same products online. I.e. the vanity unit - £805 in the brochure and £436 online so I'm thinking just get that ourselves.

rob7475

If you're buying branded stuff from the likes of Victoria Plumb etc, you're probably fine. The cheap unbranded or own brand stuff they sell shouldn't be touched though. If / when things go wrong 5 in a few years, you'll struggle to get spare parts for unbranded taps etc. You'll find with good branded stuff that you'll be able to pick up spares for many years quite easily.

As for Victora Plumb just sending out replacements with no quibble and telling you to keep the faulty items - they can afford to do this as they are making such a massive profit on the items due to them being so cheaply made. Decent manufacturers mostly only send replacement parts as their items are better made so it isn't viable to replace a full item.

I always source my own bits as like you say, it's usually cheaper than getting from the local merchants. However, you may find your bathroom fitter may be less willing to help if something goes wrong and they haven't supplied the items

ashe

rob7475 said:

If you're buying branded stuff from the likes of Victoria Plumb etc, you're probably fine. The cheap unbranded or own brand stuff they sell shouldn't be touched though. If / when things go wrong 5 in a few years, you'll struggle to get spare parts for unbranded taps etc. You'll find with good branded stuff that you'll be able to pick up spares for many years quite easily.

As for Victora Plumb just sending out replacements with no quibble and telling you to keep the faulty items - they can afford to do this as they are making such a massive profit on the items due to them being so cheaply made. Decent manufacturers mostly only send replacement parts as their items are better made so it isn't viable to replace a full item.

I always source my own bits as like you say, it's usually cheaper than getting from the local merchants. However, you may find your bathroom fitter may be less willing to help if something goes wrong and they haven't supplied the items

Not sure I agree with the cheaply made part - they were branded items. I've also had similar experiences with other firms - radiators, garden planters etc. for some firms it just makes financial sense, if you pay return postage on a "faulty" mirror what are you going to do with it? You might sell it on. You might not. Return postage expensive, lot of the time it's easier to just write it off. Amazon does the same even with some items  sold by third parties.