WOW! some very interesting feed back! Thanks to all.

anyway if you want a really cheep used kite come and see me at.... JUST JOKING(sort of)!!!!

One way to reduce the gap between new kites and secondhand kites is to pay less for the new one.I brought a 12 and 16 last year and saved about 300+ bucks on the deal. Why not get some mates who are intending to buy a kite this season and do it together through a single purchase. I'm sure any dealer would give a pretty good discount for the sale of 3 or 4 kite. He certainly wouldn't want you walking back out the door. A couple of us have got our eye on a couple of new Contra's and we won't be paying the full price. I'm sure you've all heard the expression "Team Work"

JB :-)

You know me, I have a good knowledge of what is going on out there and am broadminded enough to listen to anyones opinion.
Its fine to call BS what it is, its not fine to attack the person, I think that has always ben one of Lauries rules here. Not saying you or I did any of that.
However it has happened in this thread and it happens continually in the forum, and the quality of the forum suffers for it. Thats just my opinion though!

The original post was made by a person who works in a shop, my comment about the boss moaning was directed there. The comment about beer goggles, well that was just a general thing, I get beer goggles too, so don't beleive too much of what i say if I have been enjoying a few or several, as you know I can get messy!!!

I still don't agree with many of the things you said, but you are entitled to your opinion. I agree that we need to work together, one of the best ways to achieve that is to communicate better and more.

Something that can be said about premium brands though is that they definitely hold their value better than the lower priced brands. But there are still too many kites flooding the new and used market so prices are going to stay depressed, and times in retail and upline in wholesale and manufacturing are going to be tough. Consumers are having a great time out of all of this though!

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve McCormack

quote:

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Originally posted by JB

I think this thread has gotten alittle lost to some people, "kites not holding value". Unless i am wrong this was in regards to second hand kites. Of coarse a dealer is going to give you a good deal if you buy 4 kites! anyway, windslave is right, there is some great feedback on people thoughts of the market. Like anything people are going to dissagree about certain things, it's healthy, otherwise we're basically robots. As I said before, just agree to disagree. No BS, or bad mouthing someones opioin, or judging their opinion because of position, Take it in, it may change your opinion, or strenthen your original thoughts!

Oh, BTW PUPPA, my oringinal post wasn't directed at you at all, I only just worked out your angle there! must have been too much beer!

There are some hards times ahead team, lets build an industry, not make a war! If we work together and make the cake bigger, we all get a bigger slice!

regards,

JB

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I think some on here said it was a market for beginers,

Below is an example from the for sale section and what happens when nobody wants your gear and you want to sell

I imagine these would be a bargin for someone wanting to get into the sport.

"15 m Best Yarga'05 complete $600 $500 Very good condition no repair
17 m Best Yarga '04 kite only $300 $200 Very good condition no repair"

ric

kites dont hold their value cos they blow out,loose their shape,get trashed,degrade in the sun....u name it.

what i cant work out is how the industry works in regard to certain shops having exculsive rights to certain brands? i for one would love to buy the brand of kites i use without the shop owner telling me im an idiot and should be flying some other brand. kiting as we all know is an emotion charged sport....i want to get my gear from someone who is passionate about the brands he sells..... so how does all this stand with accc etc is it legal,does it happen all over the country or is it just a perth thing?

this may be the wrong thread for this query but would love to hear from people in the industry and a lot of u seem to be contributing to this thread

Except their BEST, Cheap to begin with, even cheaper after! I'll give you $5.00 for both!!

quote:

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Originally posted by wdric

I think some on here said it was a market for beginers,

Below is an example from the for sale section and what happens when nobody wants your gear and you want to sell

I imagine these would be a bargin for someone wanting to get into the sport.

"15 m Best Yarga'05 complete $600 $500 Very good condition no repair
17 m Best Yarga '04 kite only $300 $200 Very good condition no repair"

ric

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Kites have a VERY limited lifespan. THat's it
My first kite was secondhand. Lasted a bit over 1 month. Live and learn.
My second kite was new. So was my third, my fourth, etc.
You buy secondhand it's worth about $2 in my opinion. You just don't know what you are getting unless you are REALLY careful.

Two points to add for the sake of it!

company A makes high quality screw drivers that cost alot while company B sells cheapies. the screwdrivers are made in the same factory but from different materials. Company A is not worried about the cheap drivers on the market taking their share for two reasons.

1- we all buy the cheapy drivers and complain when they fail, and although thousands of cheap screwdrivers are sold eventually we all decide that buying the cheapy is not worth the aggro and go buy a set of quality drivers. But because the market is huge, company A still sells alot of their product to people who realise the value of the quality product and company B still sells alot of cheapies.

2- Usually the cheap brand B is owned by company A so all profit goes to the same end place. sometimes the public knows this and sometimes they don't.

The kite market just isn't big enough for this to take place. If brand A released a budget range of kites they would lose in the sales of their premium range. So Brand C sees an opening and comes in with the cheap stuff. If the market was bigger there would be room for both.

You don't see tv companys whinging about the chinese rip offs as most buyers are aware that buying a brand name Tv, in most cases, is going to last longer that the cheapie. But again the cheapie is often owned by the larger parent company.
One the other hand you don't see people bitching about the price of tv's as they have a good choice - buy quality or budget - and yet the quality sets are walking out the door at $3000 a pop.
Although you use your tv more than a kite yet they update to new models at the same rate.
Everyone bitches about the price of kite/windsurfing gear (and petrol) but all drive new bigger more expensive cars and are busily updating to a bigger more expensive houses and fit it out with the latest home theatre gear.

One of the main retailers of tv were selling 100 wide screen sets per week because of the world cup soccer, instead of the usual 10 per week.

Lastly, even though most people are happy to buy a good kite at a reasonable price and keep it for a few years, the loudest noise comes from those looking for the latest and greatest. Because they are heard from the most, the companys rush out new stuff as fast as possible as they think it is what the public wants. That's the noise they are hearing so that is the perception. The techo junkies are driving the market while the majority of the market goes about their business quietly.

Not sure if I made much sense. Oh well.

so far i've read about the cheap brand of kites referred to as screwdrivers, commodores, t.v.s, motocross bikes and god knows what else
Has anybody got the balls to name this phantom brand of discount kites .

well said JB.

All the analagies are just that and not some code breakers wildest dream.

Kites wear out, bag out, and are attacked by all the forces of nature.
when you add this to the market size, rate of development, and it's extreme sport clasification. Then for sure the value drops.

But in the end it is the Market that sets the prices, in this case thats the general kiting public. They set the prices of S/H kit via their network of Buy&Sell media.

So how do you change that? or do we just except it?

The original post was made by a person who works in a shop, my comment about the boss moaning was directed there.

Not the case Steve "NO ONES MOANING" here... except the customer when he finds out he can't get a reasonable price back on his next to new still current model kite. With due's...pls read things through before jumping to conclusions.

Even last year kites were holding there value more.

Sh#t I paid $900 bucks for a used Aero 2 when I started and the kite was 2 years old.I was happy thought it was a good deal still do. Now I have used 2006 kites on the shelf in the shop that are only a couple of $100 more! and there still current models whats up with that???

Hi Peeps,

FYI In the paraglider and Hang glider market, they release gliders every two years as advances in design have slowed. This would allow designers plenty of time to produce real changes and improvements after having them thoroughly tested by team riders to iron out the bugs of models released with minimal test time.

It would also allow the market to grow which would raise the price of new and 2nd hand gear and would allow us time to save for gear. Overall, I don't think anyone really needs to update gear every year unless you are in the top 5% of riders pushing the envelope of the kites capabilities.

Just my 2 cents worth, good winds,

Reading all the views above one could assume kites value doesn’t hold because of theses intertwined factors.

1. kites are continually evolving comparable to computer speeds/cost/resale value as an example (notice computers are getting cheaper yet not doubling in processor speeds as several years ago - same as Darren mentioned with the paragliders slow down in evolution now the designs have matured. this all comes back human desires for the best newest improvements and so selling a one or two season old kite for whatever price to get the latest kite.

2. brands and market focus - different brands market through different approaches - "price friendly" over "quality and image" or to "new innovations in designs" (which brands are at the forefront of bringing new ideas as opposed to which brands just copy what selling now) these market approaches are all mixed and matched. In any case it all adds to consumer wants and desires which in effect keep the kite market healthy and the secondhand market flooded.

3. One of the biggest factors on value would have to be kites life span. and just because your kites only one season old its still seen by a potential buyer as a risky buy and so price has to be reduced to get the sale, after all why are you selling it? (Especially if only your grandmother took it out on Sundays.)

Not holding value seems like an oxymoron question because in most cases the answers tend to be ironic - when you want to sell your kite and it’s not the value you think it should or would like it to be... Ask yourself do you relate to any of the above reasons and if so, that is perhaps why it’s lost its value.