Dolmar 7900 Report = NICE!, AMICK'S Rave too...

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166 said:
We have one customer that drives 10 hours each way to buy new saws and get repairs. He's originally from here but moved to Ohio a few years ago. He comes up a couple times a year to get parts, a new saw or two, and any major repairs.
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Some folks enjoy driving. But man is it getting expensive! Myself, I prefer to spend more time out in the woods and less time in the car. I will say, if someone is driving 10 hours to see your shop, you guys are doing something right.
 
Me

166 said:
We have one customer that drives 10 hours each way to buy new saws and get repairs. He's originally from here but moved to Ohio a few years ago. He comes up a couple times a year to get parts, a new saw or two, and any major repairs.

Also have a lot of customers that drive in the 2-4 hour range for our service whether it's a dolmar, redmax, ventrac, steiner, ferris, giantvac, or timberwolf.
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I'm one of'em. I'd do it for the service I get. Wouldn't even try going anywhere else now...

:cheers: :clap:
 
I’m all for internet sales, and told a Dolmar rep that I thought it was good for Dolmar. If I have a crappy local dealer that wants too stick it to me, at least there is another option.
Luckily I found a good dealer real close, 80 + miles one way.
(I have other dealers closer but if I want a 5100 or 7900 I’ll have to order it! Same with parts)
I checked and this dealer is not out of line with the online prices, if he was too high I would go elsewhere and I don’t have a problem buying a used saw from an online dealer. (hint hint)especially if its been slightly modded by Ed.

This is just my opinion
 
Haywire Haywood said:
Edge and Engine... I won't beat around the bush. Did you rat Tony out?

Ian
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I won't beat around the bush either. I contacted DOLMAR to find out why I wasn't allowed to sell saws mail-order, when others were doing so, on a public forum, a forum where the DOLMAR North America technical manager is a member. Look at it like this:

You decide to take on a new equipment brand. You do the research, you find that they make a great product, well liked by end-users. You also find out that they aren't sold in box stores (+1), and do not allow online sales. (Alright with me). You sign up, and you're told specifically, in your face, no shipping of wholegoods. Period You sign your name to it. Then you go online and find out that this equipment IS being sold mail-order, publicly. You think to yourself, what's going on? I mean, if he is allowed to, why can't I? So you contact the company, and they say NO we do not support such sales. OK. Maybe you're discriminating against me, because I'm a little guy, and the other guy moves a lot more, so it's OK if he does it. But not you.
Then, hours later, you find out that this particular dealer is no longer shipping saws (quick work, DOLMAR:dizzy:, I guess you mean what you say!!).
I have to commend DOLMAR on their loyalty to the independent dealers, something that's becoming rarer and rarer. That is the quality that will make a company successful. Not whether or not they allow online sales.

Now you can bash me and call me names all you want:cheers:
Pissfirwillie said:
Who's the Rat?

My bet is on another Dolmar dealer. Nothing pisses off a dealer more than someone selling the same product for less. So much for competition! It's the European way!
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Personally I don't have any problem with that. If Tony wants to sell his saws for $1 above cost, (for that matter, I don't care if he gives them away!), that's his business. But if I have to play by the rules, I don't see why he shouldn't have to.
 
Good Dealers Are Not Threatened By Shipping

Good dealers are not threatened by catalog or internet sales of chainsaws. Most progressive dealerships can benefit from box store sales also. A dealer return on investment is minimal on a chainsaw sale, and maximum on parts and service. Dealers willing to market toward their maximum profit margin (parts and service) will do much better than those who rely on the sales of power unit themselves. Dealers who are shipping saws are just trying to broaden their customer base in order to sell more parts and service. As stated above, many folks are willing to drive long distances to get good service, just think how many more customers progressive servicing dealers would gain if they were able to ship saws without issue.
 
I guess this makes it almost official. I will probably now never own either a Husky or Dolmar that is new. I just don't have dealers near me for either of these saw brands. Two Dolmar dealers 40+ miles. One is an idiot that doesn't stock anything and the other is a rental place that is only a dealer so they can buy their saws at cost. The Husky dealer is supposed to be good but at 50 miles is way too far. Especially if I start driving in that direction I will have passed 6 Stihl dealers before I get there.
 
NBailey said:
Good dealers are not threatened by catalog or internet sales of chainsaws. Most progressive dealerships can benefit from box store sales also. A dealer return on investment is minimal on a chainsaw sale, and maximum on parts and service. Dealers willing to market toward their maximum profit margin (parts and service) will do much better than those who rely on the sales of power unit themselves. Dealers who are shipping saws are just trying to broaden their customer base in order to sell more parts and service. As stated above, many folks are willing to drive long distances to get good service, just think how many more customers progressive servicing dealers would gain if they were able to ship saws without issue.
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Well said:)
 
I don’t see why Dolmar and others wont allow mail order sales when their dealer network is so pathetic. When a so called dealer only carries a couple of homeowner saws and no parts you might as well go to Home Depot/Wal-Mart and get a Wild Thing.

Sure there are a lot of good dealers out there, but they are few and far between.

At least Solo allows mail order sales, so at least the customers that don’t have GOOD dealers close by have another option. I bet their sales will increase if they keep the price competitive.

I think a lot of the dealers (sponsors) on this site and others would benefit from online sales, because people/customers will buy from them because they offer help with no strings attached.

A lot of dealers will try to put the screws to you because they know they can, and that is a fast way to get me too switchs brands!

Don’t get me wrong, I would be pissed to if someone was selling online and I couldn’t.
So it needs to be fair! Let all the dealers sell online if they want, the good/helpful dealers will prosper and the useless dealers will get the customers that wont bother to research the product.

If they Screw the customers they will fail in time, if they take care of them everyone wins.

The supplier will win and the customer will win and the dealer will win! Weed out the chaff and you will have a great dealer network Dolmar!
 
NBailey said:
A dealer return on investment is minimal on a chainsaw sale, and maximum on parts and service.
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Spot on, when you sell the saws at such a steep discount as many online retailers do. If you'd sell at MSRP or even slightly under, you'd make a better return on investment.
We have the lowest labor rate in town, but we don't mark down the prices as low as some I've read about here on the site.
 
Congrats to you E&E for coming forward on your role. There is that visceral reaction to say why couldn't you keep your mouth shut and let all of us consumers stay happy gettin' our deals. But I think in the end you are really forcing Dolmar to face their weakness sooner rather than later, and that is a great product but pi$$ poor support. There just does not seem to be much of a plan behind Dolmar marketing and distribution in the US.

I hope all you dealers that are the core support to us with Dolmars/Makitas can find profitability in their line. There is nothing you all can do to improve the weak dealers in their network, but hopefully you all will show corporate the potential in having good dealers. It will be interesting to see the sales numbers over the next few months if the mail order sale ban is enforced.
 
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It won't hold. There are already a few dealers of Husky that I've found selling online again. They held off for a month or so but they are back. Don't know if they are risking their dealer status but they do seem to be selling near MSRP. Which now seems very high to me based on the supposed discount prices before the first of the year.
 
Oh, for the record, I am NOT against internet sales as a whole, but if a manufacturer decides that their products are better represented by purchasing from a local dealer (which is true in some cases, not in others - as we all know), and they (the mfg) determines that they can make a profit like that, I can't tell them how to run the company, and if those who want to sell their product have to acknowledge that. :cheers:
 
E&e

Do you pay for your dolmar saws when you order them? If you do, then you actually own the saws.. You, By the laws of our great country can do anything you want with them.Sell them for a dollar over cost, give them away or whatever.
Now if you were just warehousing their saws until you sell one, I can see them telling you what to do with them.
Maybe instead of ratting Tony out to Dolmar you should have just got on the bandwagon?
 
ericjeeper said:
Do you pay for your dolmar saws when you order them? If you do, then you actually own the saws.. You, By the laws of our great country can do anything you want with them.Sell them for a dollar over cost, give them away or whatever.
Now if you were just warehousing their saws until you sell one, I can see them telling you what to do with them.
Maybe instead of ratting Tony out to Dolmar you should have just got on the bandwagon?
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If we order a bunch at a time, then we can get dating. Otherwise it's net 30. Dolmar doesn't care what you sell their stuff for. They do however, tell you that they don't want you to advertise for less than xx price.

Getting on the bandwagon? Nope, not an option. :) Like I posted earlier, when we signed up, we agreed NOT to ship, with a signature. I'm not a dishonest person.
 
As an interesting note, I just tried calling the FTC to see if there were any sorts of policies about this, as it seems like it could potentially be considered an "anti-competitive practice"... (Whether or not the gov't should be interfering in the market in such a way is a seperate issue...)

I may not have asked the right question, but they said there are no rules dealing with internet sales, as the internet is essentially not regulated.

Perhaps a better question might be does a company have the right to keep it's dealers from shipping their products to a distant consumer? In a lot of ways the internet aspect is irrelevant - it seems the rules are really against shipping the product long distances - regardless of how one actually ordered the product or heard about the fact that a dealer was selling it. Indeed I actually purchased my saw over the phone (there was stuff I wanted that wasn't on the website) even though a lot of my information gathering was online... From comments, it sounds like some of the other shipping dealers got into trouble for putting saws in paper catalogs, or even just selling over the phone rather than in person....

Gooserider
 
Additional comment - As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'd left a message on the Dolmar website (contact us page) and also called them this morning to express my unhappiness with their "dealer only" policy...

I just got a message back from Trey Brown, Dolmar North America acknowledging the contact, and saying that the current policy was "under discussion"

The key paragraphs:
As for internet sales - we support the established policy of our
distribution partners in building a Service Dealer network. At this
time, the policy joint developed with our distribution partners to
restrict internet sales is being reviewed and discussed by committee.

Ultimately, our intention is to satisfy the concerns of our Dealer
network - while providing customers like yourself with the most
convenient access and service to our products - with a policy that
serves all to the best advantage possible.
Click to expand...

What this means in terms of future distance sales (perhaps a better term than internet sales since it covers all not-in-the-store sales) I have no idea, but it seems Dolmar is listening, perhaps more input will help...

Gooserider
 
I bought my 7900 from the nearest (stocking) dealer, about 35 miles away.
I paid roughly $100.00 over what I could have ordered on online for.
Figured it would be worth it to support the local dealer, who was brand new with Dolmar.
Went back later for a 5100 and they sold it to me below (a little) the online price and thru in couple extra chains!
Made me a whale of a deal on a big generator after that, too.
Overall I'm pretty happy with this arrangement, so far.

BUT....I woulda ordered one online without this dealer cause....I wanted one!
 

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