[GS3] Franke stonewall beginning to crack?

[gislipals]

I noticed La Marzoccoman (http://www.marzoccoman.com) selling the GS3 for $6k, which is what it's being sold for in Europe and rest of the world.

Other places seem to still price it at $7.5k, but is this a sign of US distributors stopping this nonsense and getting back in line with what the machine should actually be priced at (based on antipodean and European prices)?

*Edited to remove 'actually worth' cause I know many people don't consider it to be worth even the 6k*

[JimWright]

I'm not sure I'd call their suggested list pricing a stonewall even though a lot of us were peeved (or worse) about the increase - new products, especially highly anticipated ones, generally tend to get cheaper after an initial burst of early adopter sales.

That said, I can confirm availability from at least one dealer for under $6k - if you're ready to buy and have the confidence to do the setup yourself (i.e., you don't need the installation service/support you'd get from a local dealer), let me know and I'll introduce you.

[jakline]

...I can confirm availability from at least one dealer for under $6k - if you're ready to buy and have the confidence to do the setup yourself (i.e., you don't need the installation service/support you'd get from a local dealer), let me know and I'll introduce you.

I'm ready to buy. I have the confidence to setup myself *only* with good instructions on what to do.

[VS_DoubleShot]

Maybe they're trying to make up for all the money they lost when Starbucks switched machines.

[gislipals]

I'm not sure I'd call their suggested list pricing a stonewall even though a lot of us were peeved (or worse) about the increase - new products, especially highly anticipated ones, generally tend to get cheaper after an initial burst of early adopter sales.

That said, I can confirm availability from at least one dealer for under $6k - if you're ready to buy and have the confidence to do the setup yourself (i.e., you don't need the installation service/support you'd get from a local dealer), let me know and I'll introduce you.

The general tendency of expensive things getting cheaper over time is true, sure, but I don't think it really applies here, especially since it was, from release, significantly cheaper in countries where similar equipment is usually significantly more expensive than in the US. But fine.

Presumably Franke just decided to milk the prawn sandwich crowd (as Roy Keane would say) by slapping a good premium on the thing, all the while planning to drop the price back in line with other countries when that demand dissipated. Perfectly logical that, in a short-termist sort of way. The only impression I've taken away from this whole thing is how fascinating a thing corporate greed is, but that's hardly news to anyone.

[JimWright]

Presumably Franke just decided to milk the prawn sandwich crowd (as Roy Keane would say) by slapping a good premium on the thing, all the while planning to drop the price back in line with other countries when that demand dissipated. Perfectly logical that, in a short-termist sort of way. The only impression I've taken away from this whole thing is how fascinating a thing corporate greed is, but that's hardly news to anyone.

Agreed. This was utterly, utterly misplayed - you can milk the early adopters, but not by making promises & not keeping them, and they probably lost more than a few buyers for this. (Myself almost included in that group.) Let's see how they do with service now.

Oh, and John, drop me a PM.

[barry]

Presumably Franke just decided to milk the prawn sandwich crowd (as Roy Keane would say) by slapping a good premium on the thing, all the while planning to drop the price back in line with other countries when that demand dissipated.

More likely, their US distribution plans changed, and the price increase was to accommodate the additional layer between distributor and end-user. Consider the new list price is exactly a 40% mark-on to the original direct-from-ESI price.

[annp]

Agreed. This was utterly, utterly misplayed - you can milk the early adopters, but not by making promises & not keeping them, and they probably lost more than a few buyers for this...

Yup - I was on that list and you know - when the local guy called me, I actually thought about it for 5 minutes, especially when they started talking about wanting to give me more of a discount to address the price issue.

The salesman actually made me 3 different offers - but since he couldn't get it down to 4.5K, I said "thanks but no thanks" and bought something else. I don't hold that particular dealer responsible at all - but it was the principle of the whole thing with Franke.

Now I'd like to know how much Franke dropped their dealer cost and what they are doing for their dealers who are stuck with inventory? Inventory they have money tied up in that they will eventually have to pay taxes on if it sits around too long.

And you know, I spent 1800.00 on the intro cost of the VBM DoubleDomo, which was interestingly enough about 1K more than the intro cost on Anita and I got what I wanted (I'm making good espresso), even with the new machine issues and the fact that I'll be putting a new boiler in at some point soon.

I feel like I got the good end of the deal here!

Ann

[JimWright]

Indeed Ann, though some of us just waited for the price to get closer to the original price than to the "revised" one, and it didn't take that long.

[annp]

Indeed Ann, though some of us just waited for the price to get closer to the original price than to the "revised" one, and it didn't take that long.

I hope, Jim, that it works as well as it is supposed to!

And - dare I ask, paddlegroup?

Ann

[gislipals]

I hope, Jim, that it works as well as it is supposed to!

And - dare I ask, paddlegroup?

Ann

Well, with the falling value of the dollar, I'd say that $6000 *IS* the original price, adjusted to euros.

Without getting too analytical, I'll compare the $4500 tag using the conversion rate of exactly 2 years ago and the current $6000.

2 years ago: 0.792 EUR for a USD
Now: 0.648 EUR for a USD

GS3 price after EUR conversion 2 years ago = 3564
GS3 price after EUR conversion today = 3888

a 9%ish price increase is quite normal over 2 years, especially with the dramatic rise in raw metal prices seen recently. I know the above math is simplistic and I'm sure I'm leaving out some important factors, but I'd say that an American should be happy with paying 6k for a European import that he could have bought for 4.5k 2 years ago, and further I'd suggest that those who still want this machine for 4.5k should perhaps blame the Bush regime's fiscal policy rather than LM or Franke

[JimWright]

I hope, Jim, that it works as well as it is supposed to!

And - dare I ask, paddlegroup?

Ann

No paddle group yet - that I certainly miss, but at $8500 for the Cyncra now, an over 40% difference, I'll live without it! And yes, it's already making very, very good espresso so far after only a couple days of experience, though I'm still just getting the hang of it, and my machine has some of the documented issues (vibration, etc.) and will end up either getting repaired by LM/Franke or swapped out shortly.