all BEST kites used for $250

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knyfe
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all BEST kites used for $250

Post by knyfe » Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:14 pm

Just found it at BEST. And I bought myself just a big thing for light wind days. A 21 Nem for 250 is not to bad.... I assume the small kite tu be more or less "done" after a year with a pro...

http://www.bestkiteboarding.com/shop/pc ... roduct=281

CU, K

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OliverG
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Post by OliverG » Wed Feb 09, 2005 8:19 am

Yes, I saw that too and was perturbed and not too happy about it all as one who is trying to sell a Best quiver of kites (in perfect shape) from last year. Who knows what they are selling - they could be returns in great shape or well-worn team kites, who knows. I do think they're cannibalizing sales by eroding the used market for the kites. There are probably many folks like me who'd like to get a decent price for their 2004 kites to fund new gear, but how can we compete against them at $250 a pop? Also, consider future sales - we all knew that the kites would go for less at the end of the season than other brands, but some people may be hesitant to buy the new kites knowing that they'll be competing against Best to sell them later.

Whatever, bad move on their part if you ask me, they're devaluing the second hand market more than they need to and they might benfit in the short term by offloading all the used 2004 kites, but overall it's not a wise move. Personally, I can only hope that the perfect condition of my kites will allow me to fetch a slightly higher price (300). For 250, I'll keep 'em. :!:

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Post by Guest » Wed Feb 09, 2005 11:46 am

I agree with you. I'm a best customer and not too happy with everything they are doing. Increasing prices & devaluing the 2nd hand market.

knyfe
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Post by knyfe » Wed Feb 09, 2005 1:07 pm

I am also a best costumer but I still see it more from the consumer side. I will be lucky if look for a kite right now.

The 2nd market will be dramatically dropping and I am really sure that they will never make it again. It was the same with the flysurfers just 2 years ago. They learned their lesson and their 2nd prices are now way to high. Also BEST will learn. They just entering their 2nd year, a baby so to say.

Stay cool and hold your stuff this year. This is always the chaeper solution anyway....

Lets see what we will get on our swap meeting, K

wavie

Post by wavie » Fri Feb 11, 2005 5:18 pm

I am in total agreement on the comments about dumping these at low prices. So much for selling my 2004's for a fair price now. I am better off keeping them for spare parts or back up. They are good kites, but I am bummed they did this, makes me rethink my my future.

It is early in the evolution, so i do tend to turn over my ites more often then any other sporting good in the garage. Oh well. they make a great kite.

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jjm
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Post by jjm » Fri Feb 11, 2005 5:58 pm

If these are kites from sponsered riders, there has to be a finte number of these things available. Unless their selling the kites from their 30 days guarantee (and if this is the case, hopefully their testing to make sure the kites are not defective!), the supply should be gone soon. I would think that this would definitely affect the resale value of a 2nd hand best kite during this time, but once they're done selling used kites direct from Best, I would think the prices should climb back up.

The problem is that the resale on Best is already going to be affected by the fact that there is a stigma of them being a cheap (money, quality) kite. If someone is trying to sell their kite and try to recoup some of their loss, what is a fair price? For me personally, there needs to be a big difference between a used item price, and a new item, otherwise I would just spend the extra cash and buy new.

Ollie, as far as your kites go, I think you're offering a really fair price. You were offering them for $300(+) before Best came out with their $250 deal. The difference is real small, and a local buyer would be able to inspect the kite and be able to trust the seller because "it's that guy that I see at my local spots". Had I not totally misjudged the market and rushed to get a newer kite on sale, I probably would have purchased one or two of yours.

I believe that the used kite market is totally in favor of the buyer. There are a lot of people trying to get rid of their old equipment to either fund a new purchase or recoupe on a new purchase. Problem I've seen is that people get really attached and are asking too much because they don't want to have lost so much money, I can understand that.

But from the consumer end, I was seeing a bunch of kites priced around $400-500 for kite+bag and maybe a pump, but without bar+lines. I'm not into bargaining, but lets assume that people wanted to hold to their asking price and weren't high balling. Factor in cheapest option for new bar/lines from best $80 bar, $75 30m lines, that's like $650. I got my $1200 kite/combo for 40% off and it came out like $780 before tax. That's like a difference of $100. Wouldn't you buy new too?

Anyway, I don't believe that Best is going to destroy everyones chances of getting "fair" value for their 2nd hand kites in the long term. Then again, maybe their selling off their 2004 overstock as "used rider kites" as another marketing ploy, who knows?

Take my psuedo-economical analysis with a grain of salt, or whatever the saying is, I'm a high school drop out who has already totally misjudged the market. :)

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Post by Guest » Fri Feb 11, 2005 8:29 pm

They slashed the prices of new 2004s. If you take into account the extra gear for a complete package (bar lines pumpÖ) than the difference between a new and used 2004 is actually not that big. The extras that come with a kite package are very expensive separately, a Peter Lynn bar is $300 :shock:.

It's like McDonalds that gives the burger for less than a dollar and make money from the soda.

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