Discount offers - a good thing or not?

You will probably all recall SRS Microsystems had a big special offer weekend a while ago when we had a bit of a feeding frenzy, and sometimes other retailers have good discounts on individual items as well. I am keen to buy a 100 mm macro lens, the best price at the moment being £415.00 but I recall that in SRS's sale it was £299.00. The time wasn't right for me to spend that at that time although I did get a flashgun for a good price - however my dilemma is that if the lens could be bought for £299.00 then I don't want to pay much more than that now even if I have to wait a bit. I accept that equipment is sometimes offered less than we paid and we can all live with missing out by a few quid but more that a hundred is a bit hard to swallow. The other aspect of big discounts is the devaluing effect on your equipment and it's potential value on the secondhand and trade-in market. So, my question is, do you think such offers are ultimately a good thing or are they a bit of an own goal?

A very pertinent question you raise...i've thought pretty much the same thing these past few months. I don't ever recall, (going back about 30 years or so) such totally erratic and unpredictable pricing on photo equipment as we are seeing now. I know exchange rates can fluctuate slightly...but they always have.

One thing I have noticed is the increased preparedness of manufacturers to dump excess and end of line stock with Amazon and large Ebay traders to the detriment of their loyal dealer base who are probably carrying small quantities of stock bought at 'normal' trade prices and can't therefore compete.

These small often local dealers will in many cases be put out of business by the likes of Amazon. Maybe that is the agenda all along...restrict our choice of retail outlets to a handful of huge mainly online dealers who can shift boxes in large volumes. I'm just surprised that there hasn't been more of an outcry from those dealers adversely affected.

Regarding the other aspect to your question...coupled with apparently zero inflation or even deflation why would anyone want to pay more than the lowest price something has been sold at in the past 6 months or so? Particularly with photo gear with an 18 month product life, nowadays you expect the initial price to start dropping within weeks of introduction. The K-S2 is a good example..I might buy one at £399 or thereabouts and am happy to wait until my 'magic figure' appears...if it doesn't then I won't buy or i'll spend my money on something potentially more useful like a geiger counter or air rifle!

It's not about price, it's about value. The price we pay is one part, but also the time we have the product and enjoy its advantages, the service we receive, in other words its total value to us.

So, fair enough we assess the best way to buy a product when we want it, but after that I don't watch prices any more. If it costs me £100 more than a year later would have, I've enjoyed it for a year and that in itself has a value.

Got to agree with John here, I bought the KS-2 just after release for 650 Euros (body only), prices haven´t dropped at all and I have had it in constant use for almost 3 months, and it is the first camera my wife actually enjoys using.
I´m waiting for prices to drop to get one for myself though

It's obvious on here that people don't want to pay for R&D..... So Ricoh can sack their R&D staff to keep the prices low for their not very valuable customers

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I can't let that insult go unanswered. I don't mind paying a proper price as long as it is reasonably consistent; my point was that special offers may be ok short term for bargains and quick sales but in the long term it can be damaging to the product and trade-in/resale values as well as sales at the 'true' market value. I notice that the macro lens I mentioned has since gone up by 8% to £449.00.

My recent thread 'Lens Prices Up?' covered this subject too. I drew attention to the unjustified price hike across most current lenses and speculated it was in preparation for another round of offers as in USA just now.

I repeat I would like to see stable pricing and was NOT looking for price slashing bankrupt sales as i was accused of. We wouldn't tolerate the fluctuations in other walks of life. The pound has actually been up against the Yen.

Speaking as someone who can only afford to buy a camera when a new one comes out and either the previous model gets discounted or low-use used ones hit the second-hand market, can I just say "Thank you," to all you rich early adopters who 'subsidise' both the R&D and my hobby?

Oh, and to SRS who are now selling off K-S1 bodies for under £300.

Current USA promotion... link

Have they moved production to the old Zenit factories in Russia

The K-3 (Pentax or Zenit? ) is currently £440 in Japan. I wonder what it cost to make? ......... Not £440 you can bet

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I too favour stable pricing but the chances of it happening are about the same as someone buying a full price sofa from DFS. With the exception of very high end products retailing is increasingly driven by discounts and special offers - just look at the Black Friday monster we have adopted. Sadly not much hope of turning back once we have started down that road.