BIcycle prices

[skizilla]

I recently bought a bike at a store that was out of my general area...about 70 miles. I negotiated the price down 50 bucks using this as an argument and the bike costed 500 origionally it was a giant fcr.
I later checked the web and giant suggests the msrp of this bike to be 500. They guy kind of hemmed and hawed that a 50 buck discount wass killing him on this bike. I found this ridiculus most places you buy things at do not sell at msrp they are almost always 10 % lower. Given normal compettion and winter coming one could expect even greater barganing power.

I am abou to buy another bike my question is how much barganing power do you think I have going into winter and how much competition is there out there? Should I ask for a 30 % dicount. How much do bike stores generally purchase a bike for. I would think a little less than half its show room price. Am I wrong?

 

[andyzee]

I would say anywhere from 10-20%, depending on the model, it's markup, and popularirty.

 

[cbcbd]

It depends on the bike, the manufacturer, and the store.
At my EMS we have some $2K+ bikes that are discounted 25-30% right now. Compared to the wholesale prices they are still making money.
But you don't really haggle at a store like EMS, you just don't do that there. They can afford to discount bikes that much and still make the numbers through sales of other items. You just have to wait for the sales and discounts.
Smaller bike shops that only sell bikes will let you haggle but they just can't afford to discount their stuff that aggressively, they just wouldn't survive.

If EMS is discounting bikes 15-30% then that means that a small shop won't be able to afford that sort of discount. I wouldn't expect more than 15% from a small shop.