Prices paid for Sundance Optima

[Cajun_Mike]

Please tell me what you paid for your new Optima delivered, setup and everything that was included in your price so I can kinda get an idea of the ranges to be expecting.

Thanks.  

[doodoo]

$12,000 CND.

All taxes, easy lift, cover, 18 months chems + 5 micro filters and 1 reg filter, CD Ozonator, LED light, crane delivery, don't pay for a year, I'm sure I missed something.

[needaspa]

7200 without tax including:

led lights
cover
lifter
chemicals

I am trying to get to a more reasonable price of 6500.  Spas have 60 to 75% (probably more) markup.

[doodoo]

Although I am never one to contradict. Lost too many arguments with my wife. Needaspa, I seriously doubt you figures. You have proof on your profit margin claims??? if not don't grandstand like that. It really does not add value to a board as respectable as this.

[Julie]

Like doodoo, I paid approx 12 000$CND, NOT including his crane delivery.  The spa was 9500$CND (about 7300$US) before taxes and extra package (LED, Ozone, lifter, ...).  Our dealer told us they shoot more for quantity with a LOW margin of 20%.  Maybe it is a lie, but why tell us that then?   Then it doesn't leave much haggle room at 7500$, needaspa, they have to cover their expenses AND make some money.  With my figures, at 6500 your dealer would be losing money, provided its cost is the same as mine.  Shipping cost may be higher here (Northeast Canada), but it wouldn't be that big either.  So think about it.

[needaspa]

Julie,

'With my figures, at 6500 your dealer would be losing money, provided its cost is the same as mine'

What figures do you have?  I am trying to find the true, preinflated cost.  

Thanks

[Electro]

Cajun_Mike,



Reading perhaps a thousand or more threads in the past month, I studied and compiled the prices posted for several specific brands on this site, over a 2 year period.  A typical price for the Sundance Optima, with the usual goodies (cover, cover lift, dual step, starter chemicals, ozonator, and setup and delivery, excluding any crane work) was about $8,000 or a little less at $7,700.  The highest price was $8,400 and the lowest was $7,300.

The actual price at your dealer and location is highly dependent on the local market situation and how much overhead your dealer has, as well as the costs he has to pay for shipping from the manufacturer.  Some folks do not realize that the typical price usually includes a really cheap set of steps, an aftermarket ozonator, and minimal chemicals.  You can negotiate or pay for an upgrade for better steps, the real manufacturer's ozonator (which typically put out at least twice as much ozone per specs), and enough chemicals to last a couple months or so.  By and large, you'll have to pay $300 to $500 more than the base price to get these upgrades.

This is as definitive as it gets.  Good Luck!

Electro

[Julie]

Electro:

Thanks for the price research!  So I should be happy to have paid approx 7300$US (using a the 1.3 factor conversion effective at the time I purchased).

Needaspa:

I you would have read my post carefully, you would have seen that my dealer told me about a 20% margin.  Then you can figure out the rest yourself, if you can do basic maths!  Selling price of 7300$ and margin of 20% gives its cost: 6250$, and margin 1250$.  So at 6500$ the dealer is not really making any money, probably not even covering its costs.  I don't know why I waste my time telling you about this, I don't feel you really want to know.  It seems more that you want to tell everyone that the dealers rob and overcharge them, and how little you are going to pay for your spa compared to us!

[poolboy34]

kudos Julie, it seems everyones "friend" needaspa needs a dose of reality.  He's being unreasonable, and thus will probably never own a sundance optima.  actually I have a better idea................needaspa why don't you go to the bank and take out a small business loan and then call sundance and tell them you would like to become a spa dealer for them and start your own spa business!!!!!  maybe then you will finally realize the cold hard truth of it all...............dealers are not out to rob customers of all of their hard earned money, dealers sell their products at a fair price that benefits both dealer and customer.  Heck, you should be able to make a fortune, what selling your optimas for 6500$, heck I bet you can do better then that............how about selling them for 5000$  a great savings after the "manufacturers" 5500$ reabte

[Mendocino101]

lol....Poolboy....

that is right you know that old saying...sell cheap and make it up in volume...or its close twin.......go broke twice as fast....Needaspa .....And also your good buddy whypaymore...have either of you heard of a company..."Buy.com" a few years ago they were the 4th largest retailer on the internet...boy you two should have worked for them.... your business minds are so much a like.... anyway if you don't know their story you 2 will really appreciate it...their plan was to sell everything at cost or below and make it up on advertising and service contacts.... well...after  accumulating several hundred million dollars in lost revenue...they went bankrupt.....but perhaps you two geniuses can tweak it a little and see if you can go broke together quicker than they did.....good luck....

[ndabunka]

NeedaSPA's figures are off. It is true that spa's have significant mark up. But that's at the FULL REATIL price. On the Optima/Cameo that price is $8,900. The Mark up is NOT 60%. It is more like 40% (unless they are a big dealer where it "might" get as high as 50%). Assuming the 40% mark at $8,900, the dealer cost is around $6K. The Lowest price ANYONE has EVER claimed online for a NEW bare bones Optima is $6,800 and that was a seasonal close out. The most common "best prices" we've seen online are $7,200 to $7,300. If that's the figure he has, he should buy it before the dealer decides he's had enough of needaspa and sells it to someone else.

[poolboy34]

thank you bunka.................hopefully wantasaspa....I mean needsaspa will listen to you and take the deal he has on the table!!!!!!!!  and then hopefully he'll take his ball and go home

[Cajun_Mike]

Let me assure all of you... the dealer margin on these tubs is at a minimum 30% and likely 40%.  I was in the durable medical equipment industry for almost 20 years until a year ago.  At one point in the 80s we even sold spas.  That whole industry uses a factor of 1.666.  In other words if a tub costs the dealer 5 grand he multiplies 5k X 1.666 to get his list price and if he wants to stay in business he will never sell any tub lower than a 25% margin.  Factor for a 30% margin is 1.443 and for a 25% margin 1.333.  I'm sure the manufacturers also give them a retail price list that is somewhere between 30 and 40%.  I'm sure bigger dealers might be able to get a deal where they order so many spas and get free freight from the manufacturer.  Or maybe there is a secondary discount of a few points if they pay their invoices within 30 or 60 days.  

The bottom line is that the dealer has to stock the spas, service them, advertise them, pay his utilities, pay his employees, his rent, etc.  Some of these profit margins that I have seen cited on this form are an absolute joke and fabrication.  If there is anyone here that thinks that a business can operate and succeed with a 20% profit margin, I will show you someone that was probably a liberal arts major in college.  

[needaspa]

Cajun Mike,



'That whole industry uses a factor of 1.666.  In other words if a tub costs the dealer 5 grand he multiplies 5k X 1.666 to get his list price and if he wants to stay in business he will never sell any tub lower than a 25% margin.'

25 % markup - the factor is 1.25
30% markup - the factor is 1.30
etc

So you are saying the industry has a 66% markup.  Close, but it is prob in the range 75% to 100%.  

'if he wants to stay in business he will never sell any tub lower than a 25% margin' - You can speak for all dealers?  There are so many factors that go into the equation that creates sale price some including time of year (a sales quota needed to achieve), discounts from manufacturer, etc.

[Brewman]

I am more apt to belive Cajun Mike than you.

He at least cites real life exaples, and sounds credible and reasonable.  You on the other hand, can't provide one gram of evidence to support your claims.  Where did you get YOUR inside track on spa pricing?

Brewman

PS- How's that $6500 spa deal going?