Yes I do agree with above. I thought it was made quite clear that Kite retail businesses do it tough like any retailer.

Most discussion was most definitely pro Kite stores and in-fact, those what did whine like little uninformed children, were shut down very quickly by more than one person each time.

But then again most people were very polite and gave their opinion in a balanced way...

The wholesale kite price list....nah that was a stretch too far (although the intention was a good one...just to show how little there is in it) and Laurie did the right thing taking that down.

Yes I'm not so sure that was a right move laurie... then again, it seemed to contravene the so called RULES of engagement.

Suppose someone needs to make a call, don't they.

Kites cost what they cost. Its a competitive business like any (infact it seems a highly saturated market with a relatively small consumer market to be frank). Prices will fall to the whatever the overall market decides.

It's not like their is a kiting oligopoly cartel secretly fixing prices somewhere.

Kiting is a passion...pay up or piss off I say. Waters needs less kooks in it anyway.

Kamikuza said..

eppo said..
It's not like their is a kiting oligopoly cartel secretly fixing prices somewhere.

You might be surprised. There's only so many factories, patent holders etc....

Although I think global market forces are more of an issue. Blame the investors, not your local store

Not wrong, your biggest brand Kite is driven by this force from the US

Peahi said..
I think if you paid a lot less for a kite you would also value it a lot less. Could you imagine a bunch of cheap chinese imports flooding the market? In the next Aldi catalogue maybe? There are $100 smartphones and there are $1000 smartphones, wonder which ones will sell more? What price do you put on stoke and safety and the relative limited time you get to spend kiting?

What a bunch of whingers seriously .. If you don't want to pay full price get last year's model for 30-50% off. That's the retailers/distributor's margin all gone so you can be fully smug about your purchase.

Lets face it. If i was flush with cash id be happy to pay full price. But I do too many activities and have too many children.... The money isnt there to pay full price.

I kitesurf - mutant and hydrofoil. Landboard, kite buggy, Longboard skateboard, Mountain biking do dh all mountain and urban riding. All requires different equipment

On my wish list right now: -
* A new mutant. One a bit less wave and more boost orientated
* Surf wings for my hydrofoil.
* Gocart rims for the landboard
* carbon wheels for the enduro mountain bike
* Change the dh bike from small to medium
* Fix my number one longboard
* new lights for night riding
* new pedals for enduro bike.
* 10m is worn out, need a new one
* 6m is like a patchwork quilt with that many repairs need a new one of those too.....

Let's not start talking about the fact that all 3 children need braces at $8000 each. Need to buy a car soon for the oldest and start wondering how we can fund her into uni .............ahhhhhhhhh...... 3 lots of school fees, the little buggars keep growing out of there clothes, Each child does 3 sports. For some reason they expect presents on their birthday and christmas, I feel abliged to take them on holiday, booking accommodation for 5 people for a few nights is the can be measured in kites per week! did i mention that the missis has to buy a few gautex jackets every week and her 75000 shoes arent quite enough. Plus for some reason we need to replace the floor in the kitchen, But apparently you cant change a floor without doing a $40k full kitchen rebuild and if you rebuild the kitchen it makes sense (apparently) that the bathrooms need to also need to be overhauled..............

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Has anyone got a spare money tree?


Oh the first world problems I have..............

psychojoe said..
I think your biggest problem Plummet is that it's their not there. You also misspelled missus and the brand is GoreTex.
And obliged. Can't let that one go.

Good luck with the reno.

Its true, my england is bad..... Thats why im in engineering and not a school teacher!

Peahi said..
I think if you paid a lot less for a kite you would also value it a lot less. Could you imagine a bunch of cheap chinese imports flooding the market? In the next Aldi catalogue maybe? There are $100 smartphones and there are $1000 smartphones, wonder which ones will sell more? What price do you put on stoke and safety and the relative limited time you get to spend kiting?

What a bunch of whingers seriously .. If you don't want to pay full price get last year's model for 30-50% off. That's the retailers/distributor's margin all gone so you can be fully smug about your purchase.

Wut? Knowing it's going to cost more to replace it means I treasure it.... Right up until the closeouts.

50% off for last year's kite? On what planet?

eppo said..
Yes I do agree with above. I thought it was made quite clear that Kite retail businesses do it tough like any retailer.

Most discussion was most definitely pro Kite stores and in-fact, those what did whine like little uninformed children, were shut down very quickly by more than one person each time.

But then again most people were very polite and gave their opinion in a balanced way...

The wholesale kite price list....nah that was a stretch too far (although the intention was a good one...just to show how little there is in it) and Laurie did the right thing taking that down.

Yes I'm not so sure that was a right move laurie... then again, it seemed to contravene the so called RULES of engagement.

Suppose someone needs to make a call, don't they.

Kites cost what they cost. Its a competitive business like any (infact it seems a highly saturated market with a relatively small consumer market to be frank). Prices will fall to the whatever the overall market decides.

It's not like their is a kiting oligopoly cartel secretly fixing prices somewhere.

Kiting is a passion...pay up or piss off I say. Waters needs less kooks in it anyway.

Wholesale price list shut down all the guesswork about prices and markup. Now that it's gone its back to innuendo and hearsay

The old school business model & everyone was happy to buy a kite







Give people what they want - Not what they need

SaveTheWhales said..

No eye dear what you just said but I agree!

Happy2kite said..

Gazuki said..
When you are not aloud to to discuss kite prices on a kite forum I call BS. Vested interest,. Maybe.
I must have been misunderstood discussing such topics on a watersport forum. Guess it's better that you keep discussing flat earth, trump, Aus politics and other racist BS!
It's been fun!

Yep vested interest no doubt. Laurie has to make money this is his business.
But yes buzz kites got slammed but they don't advertise! See the contrast.
And yes eppo I had good intentions and I could of dropped a few more list which have slightly better margins but I was trying to show the variance in price from distributors therefore there margins which is stuff all.
But it proved that the margins aren't that great at all. And it's a tough gig trying to make a profit lol as most kiters expect discount. Now take that into consideration do you expect 20% plus discount on mortgage ,alchohol, fuel or cars or your shopping where the major supermarkets make billions in profit? As kamikuza quoted me I also explained personal expenditure for the shop owner. Truth is most kite shop struggle. Some are blessed with family money trust funds etc so it's just a hobby to them. But most are not. Usually there wife etc props up the business with there jobs.
Old quote which says to not get criticisms in life. Say nothing do nothing and be nothing.
I can take criticism.
As we all can't adapt that to our lives so criticism is a part of life.
And yes gfly now back to guessing and innuendo. As previously stated this is the cheapest bang for you buck. It's relatively cheap compared to other adrenaline based sports especially in the watersports field.
And unfortunately eppo there will always be kooks on the water. As kiters sell gear to newbies and have no regard for the consequences that may happen. Did old mate in Sydney who had the accident buy his kite cheap online? Keep your old gear and teach your mates so they don't be a kook then sell them your gear.

Ah, so being an advertiser is to buy immunity from bashing. Can we get a list of brands who advertise so we can deduce who we can bash?

Supermarkets do all sorts of discounts, but make the billions in profit through volume. Come on, that's Economics 101.

A tin of baked beans isn't $3,000 though...

Chris_M said..
Glad I'm not the only one wishing I had more money and more stuff. Probs just stupid keeping up with the Joneses feelings really....

What do you guys reckon is a good amount of household income? $100000? $150000? $200000?

When do people get to a point where they can start living without felling like they gotta be a tightass all the time?

I suppose it comes down to how much of a trap you fall into buying all the sparkly latest gadgets eh?

There are a lot of people with a lot of money who are still tight*sses, only they fall for latest brand stuff overpriced euro cars anything that makes them look good or any shonky investment promising unbelieveable returns, only takes a great salesperson to rub their ego. People with lots of money waste a lot of money.

You can still kite on a budget, get a good priced kite a few years old, someone desperate to sell in the middle of winter is a good start. I think I have managed net my kite outlays to zero (I used to make a profit but those days are gone). A good place to start is never buy a brand new latest kite.

Chris_M said..
Glad I'm not the only one wishing I had more money and more stuff. Probs just stupid keeping up with the Joneses feelings really....

What do you guys reckon is a good amount of household income? $100000? $150000? $200000?

When do people get to a point where they can start living without felling like they gotta be a tightass all the time?

I suppose it comes down to how much of a trap you fall into buying all the sparkly latest gadgets eh?

Poor old Gaz's goodbye thread has gone well OT now but i think honest discussions around finances are really important. I'm sure a lot of us on SB have witnessed financial stress ruin relationships and sadly, I've also no doubt that i'm not alone in knowing somebody who has chosen suicide when they can't deal with the pressure that debt has bought so i think its an important topic

I'd imagine about 90% of the general population feel exactly the same as you and with plenty of bad debt weighing them down as well. We are constantly inundated with The Jones's "living their best lives" and the side effects of tryinh to keep up are becoming pretty scary.

I try and look at things a different way now but of course i want the $2500 12m Core XR6 when it comes out later thiw year but is it going to make me a half decent kiter? **** no, so i'll try and be content with a clearance XR5.

I think the average family of 4 living a fairly modest lifestyle in Perth needs about $130k a year as a minimum to run a house ($450k mortgage might be the average in WA?) and a couple of normal cars, insurances etc. I'm sure it can be done for closer to $100k but it'd be really hard i think? Renting(?), company cars, mortgage situations etc changes things obviously.

Make the mortgage $650k, finance a Prado and barcrusher, private school fees, 15k of credit card debt etc and you'd need to be north of $200k just to stay afloat?

Plummet said..
Yeah, i agree $130k for a family of 4 with a mortgage is probably a fair amount of money to live reasonably.


However, as far as happiness is concerned, that is within the mind and not money related once you get past basic subsistence level of living. Ie once you can cloth, house and feed your family. Any money above the will not improve happiness. Hahaha apart from buying kites of course,,,, a kite is a bag of fabric happiness!.... hahahah

Seriously, though a couple of years back i took a career change that got me into doing what I love. An awesome move that I do not regret. However, it did mean a $30k pay decrease which was painful as f#$k. I had to get really lean on $$ and could not afford as an decadent lifestyle. My kites would need to last a lot longer before I replaced them!

Roll on a couple of years and am i less happy with less money? no! I have more happyness, Life is good.

Bwa-hahaha! You should listen to the 20-something's here in NZ moan about how hard it is these days, just impossible can't make ends meet will never be able to afford our own home wait in getting a call on my new iPhone XR oh it's the girlfriend with a picture of our two dogs in front of the 65-inch TV yeah you old guys have no idea how tough it is

$130k isn't a lot in some places though. Especially if you won't downgrade your living standards.

Chris_M said..
Glad I'm not the only one wishing I had more money and more stuff. Probs just stupid keeping up with the Joneses feelings really....

This is a common misconception. I'm one of the Joneses, and we are doing it as tough as most. The only benefit I get from being a Jones, is that I don't feel the need to keep up with anyone...

hilly said..
Same boat. Not sure how anyone on $130k pa would pay a $450k mortgage and have a life.

For the past 3.5 years we've been on 130k a year with a 480k mortgagr (mrs has only worked part time by choice and earns more than i do) and whilst it's been fairly stressful at times, it's been somewhat manageable. If we didn't have her car loan (30k @1.8%) or we put my girls into daycare (we dont want to) it would no doubt be easier but we have still been able to do swimming lessons, go up north once or twice a year, pay for private health etc. We don't have any savings, a wedding, 6 week honeymoon and my 4wd ate that up and then... a baby came along heh. Couples try for years to have kids so we are very lucky but that one time in New York

It's felt very much like we have just been treading water and that will change significantly for us within the next year or so but think the average aussie family in Perth is in the same boat but a lot of people are far worse.

You'd still prefer 160k+ to live an average life in a half decent suburb though but Plums is right, as long as you can pay the bills happiness is not just money related i guess.

There's a bloke i kite with who i look up to i guess? I'm sure he has his share of problems like we all do but he's just a good bloke who's setup his family up well (through hardwork of course) with what appears to be a healthy work life kite balance and a good relationship with his girls and wife. I wouldn't think a 40+ bloke could want much more?

MDSXR6T said..

hilly said..
Same boat. Not sure how anyone on $130k pa would pay a $450k mortgage and have a life.

For the past 3.5 years we've been on 130k a year with a 480k mortgagr (mrs has only worked part time by choice and earns more than i do) and whilst it's been fairly stressful at times, it's been somewhat manageable. If we didn't have her car loan (30k @1.8%) or we put my girls into daycare (we dont want to) it would no doubt be easier but we have still been able to do swimming lessons, go up north once or twice a year, pay for private health etc. We don't have any savings, a wedding, 6 week honeymoon and my 4wd ate that up and then... a baby came along heh. Couples try for years to have kids so we are very lucky but that one time in New York

It's felt very much like we have just been treading water and that will change significantly for us within the next year or so but think the average aussie family in Perth is in the same boat but a lot of people are far worse.

You'd still prefer 160k+ to live an average life in a half decent suburb though but Plums is right, as long as you can pay the bills happiness is not just money related i guess.

There's a bloke i kite with who i look up to i guess? I'm sure he has his share of problems like we all do but he's just a good bloke who's setup his family up well (through hardwork of course) with what appears to be a healthy work life kite balance and a good relationship with his girls and wife. I wouldn't think a 40+ bloke could want much more?

By having a life I mean the future when the lids go to Uni as mine are almost, one gone the other close. I was able to put money in super and ASG* so can retire relatively early in a few years and still afford trips and toys. It is not about treading water.

*www.asg.com.au/