INSERT FUNNY DOMAIN NAME HERE!!

We have implemented quite a few changes within Don’t Pay Retail over the last couple of months. The most exciting and noteworthy change is our current offer of free freight on ALL orders!

We understand that freight is one of the negative aspects that must be faced when purchasing goods online compared with a traditional shop front. We wanted to tackle this issue in the most efficient way possible. We believe we have done this by removing it altogether!

This initiative has been extremely popular with our customers and we have had plenty of enquiries from the unbelieving which follow the lines of: “Is it really free freight for ALL orders? Really really?”….Yes, really really!!

What we are offering is this: Free freight to all postcodes in Australia, for any number of items, whatever the weight, whatever the size. Not bad…!

There has been plenty of discussion around the rumour mill of just how we have managed to implement such a thing.

Basically we have introduced a few new distributors (and therefore now offer an even wider range of goods) and have been working hard to incorporate these improvements and bring this concept to fruition. Well, most of us have been. Not everyone was invited to attend the Australian Open as a guest of Kingston memory (Its okay Daniel, I obviously didn’t want to go anyway).

Digression aside, we feel that this initiative of free freight is what our customers want and at DontPayRetail are all about making our customers happy!

One last note, I couldn’t finish up without giving special mention to our favourite person at our favourite distributor who will remain anonymous, but who reads our blog and then emails us on a Saturday night telling us how much she likes it! Now that’s dedication. It’s just a pity that she refuses to come out with us after certain work related functions!!

An unfortunate long time between posts.

At DontPayRetail we work hard at constantly improving, reviewing, streamlining our business. We expect even our accounts dept or poor order processing slave to voice an opinion or suggestion, as it all helps.

We are changing a few things on our site.

First, we have been able to secure for our customers a fixed rate freight option. I cannot go into details with how this was done, however, after working on it for nearly 6 months, we finally have some agreements in place that essentially allow us to cap our freight charges to our customers. We still lose money on freight, on every order, but this has been reduced enough to a simple cost of doing business.

We have also removed our pickup option. The extra administration involved in this has been quite a chore. Essentially, we feel our shipping cost of only $10 is so low that we can now remove the pickup option.

Finally, thanks to those customers that made it a great end of financial year for us. We had a few mishaps, 2 customers are still waiting for the correct goods to show after the wrong ones were shipped (big oops) but all in all, about 112 satisfied orders were shipped in the last 2 days before EOF - and that we are proud of.

This little unit has been a very popular item for Dont Pay Retails customers this week.

Many people think about backing up their systems, even their personal ones, only after they suffer a major crash.

For under $335, you can have a 500gb external hard drive that will back up your computer, notebook, even Mac whatever with the click of a button.

One button backups!

On top of that, external hard drives can be very useful. One can run their email from them (as in store their email file on an external drive), same for all their other documents.

Store sensitive documents on there, your accounting application data file, excel spreadsheets etc.

How about all your photos?

We have been looking at offering these items as an add on to the notebooks we sell and will be integrating bundle specials in the near future. When looking at a $2-3000 notebook, an extra $335 is not much to pay to have all your data secure and safe, in a very reliable unit that doesnt look half bad.

Other details for the specification minded like myself.

USB 2.o as well as Firewire connections.

500 GB storage capacity

7200 rpm HDD

One Touch backup capable

Weighs 1.5kg’s and is only 16.5 * 16.5 cm, only 4.5 cm high.

Check it out! Lacie MINI HD 500GB USB2/FIREWIRE

Low prices = low service, or does it?

Well first define service.

The service we provide our customers is above and beyond the expectations for some, and well below for others.

So how can we say we provide good service?

We cant, in all honesty, but we can describe to you how we do things, and you can decide if that’s acceptable, that way everyone can be happy. Hopefully. Someone’s definition of “good service” is going to be different to another’s, so how can we say we provide good service? (we think we do – well we have overwhelming customer satisfaction)

So what do we do?

We process orders. You order, we ship.

When we get your order, we look for payment.

If you have paid for your order via bank transfer or cheque, we check to see if its cleared.

If your orders payment method was Credit card, this doesn’t apply, yet.

We then check what you have ordered, do we have stock available?

If so, and your orders payment has cleared we process, or if we have stock available, and there are no other problems, (like fraud) we charge your credit card. (we check stock levels before we charge a credit card).

Then the order goes to the warehouse, they pick and pack the goods and either ship or prepare for pickup. That turnaround is usually within 1 working day, if you order and we get the order to the warehouse by 4pm, its generally available for pickup or ships next day.

You will get emailed an invoice within a week or so (we email invoices out after you get the delivery to make sure you have the goods and are happy), and then, here endeth our work.

Or it should.

If there is a courier mess, like they can’t find the addressee, or no one is home, then it can get messy, but that’s generally it. So from time to order to the time you get the order could be only a day depending on time of order, stock levels, and your location.

Now, what we don’t do.

We don’t sell our customers anything. What do you mean?

We will help you with your buying but we are not a sales orientated business.

We don’t have sales staff. We wont discuss options, features etc etc. We wont sell you things we have a good deal on, even though its not in your best interests (like other companies).

We don’t talk to you on the phone. This is good and bad. Some customers don’t like this, and that’s fine, others are neither here nor there on it. If we do our job, you wont have to speak with us, and us not with you.

Its not that we are miserable people here at DPR, its just that our systems are such that to pick up the phone every time a customer has a query, about their order or product on our site, would run us into the ground with admin, and we could not do things as low priced as we do.

Oh and not having a phone number protects us from customers. Don’t laugh, until you operate your own business. Its amazing the enquiries we get via email, and when we operated a phone, OMG.

Customers calling every 15 minutes to see where our courier was?

Customers leaving 15 messages over the weekend because they ordered 9pm Friday night and we haven’t done anything with their order until we got in Monday morning…..then abusing our staff.

Internet Ferals.

Its quite sad actually.

Some people call this a lack of service. We call it “how we do things”. Hopefully we fit your purchasing experience expectations, if not, there are many that do, and charge for it.

If your looking for a great place to buy a notebook, printer, screen etc at a great price, without fuss and overheads, pomp and ceremony, commision hungry salestaff drooling over you, then, try Dont Pay Retail!

It never ceases to amaze us.

If I had a dollar for the amount of “is this legit?” queries, Dont Pay Retail would retire its staff to a private tropical island.
Allow us to explain.

We get so many enquiries about our low prices - and how we can do things lower than the retail “giants” its becomming tedious.

Lets analyse the industry.

A vendor brings a product, say a Printer, into the country for sale. The Vendor will offer it through various channels like the retail or reseller channel, or worse, a direct channel.
The Vendor gives the reseller or retailer a discount - a margin to make for selling the printer.
If the vendor is reputable, the margin for a reseller, and the margin for a retailer, are similar. Most Vendors are NOT reputable in this regard.

So, we both buy the printer for say $100 and Recommended Retail Price on the printer is $130.

We sell the printer for $104 - a Retailer sells if for $130 (sometimes even more).

How do we do it?

Well, for a start we dont have extravagent property to manage.
Have you any idea how much even the car parks cost to lease each year? We are talking many millions of dollars each year just for the premises they operate out off.

We dont have huge amounts of staff either.
Think about it, it costs at least $200 to the retailer, each DAY, to have the each and every floor staff member they have. An average retailer will place 20 - 30 “sales people” on the floor every day.
That works out to between $4000 and $6000 a day. Just for floor staff. What about management etc? We know what salaries they earn……(wish I was in management:))

Lets look at marketing.
Dont Pay Retail barely spends a dime on marketing - we dont need to (arrogant a little we know).
Your average Retailer operates dozens of Television ads each day, at an average of $2000 - $10000 for each 30 sec segment - its a lot…
Full page spreads in your national papers, hundreds of thousands of dollars for each edition. Lets stop before it gets out of hand.

You might be thinking how come retailers are still in business? Well they are and they are not.

A big national chain went under in Australia recently, was bought out buy another retail chain, and closed down.
This company had big dollars behind it, and still could not make it work.

How do the ones that are around sill remain.

Margins. They are able to retain margins.
Retailers get better pricing from the vendors than resellers. Simple.
They are subsidised with rebates and other kickbacks. Vendors “pay” them to sell their products.
They pay to be put in their catalogues, to be put on the showroom floor as well.
They have their advertising paid for, or most of it by Vendors as well.

Why, they do large numbers (turnover - sales). They sell lots, simple.

They do not do large numbers because they are priced better than Dont Pay Retail, or any other reseller, they do large numbers because customers walk in the door.
Why do customers do this? They are not educated enough. They dont know. (not saying they are unintelligent - just not product knowledgeable and buying savvy)
They think they are getting a good deal because something is 20% off.
So the $130 printer that is now on special for $110 at a retail store, because its 20% off, is all of a sudden a better deal than our $104 price that we offer 24/7?

You would be surprised. Dont laugh, it happens all the time.

Retailers refuse to compete with us. Go into a Retail store like Narvey Hormal (name altered to protect identity…:)) with a print out of a product on Dont Pay Retail and ask them to beat us.
They wont.

They have a price guarentee, but it only applies to other retailers…..They cant compete with us, and they dont.

You decide where your money is going.

Do you like the flash associated with a retail store?

The friendly floorstaff, the neatly presented product displays?

Is the warm cushy feeling worth the extra money?

We didnt think so.

www.dontpayretail.com.au