Email I sent to Sal @ Zaino
- Thread starter Kewjoe
- Start date
Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
I think this is another instance of an old distributor relationship, like the one that prevents us in NJ from ordering from the Zaino online store. It seems some of these agreements must have been signed in perpetuity.
I have to laugh at this. First of all, why not wait for a response before posting a prejudicial email like that? IMO it just shows ignorance because you are completely ignoring the high cost of shipping and customs expenses to Canada from the US. Even though there is no duty to be paid because of NAFTA companies like UPS and FedEx charge heavy fees to simply fill out all the documents to clear customs and not pay the duties. It really is very expensive and very time consuming for a company to deal with all this.
Do you think the Canadian importer doesn't deserve to make his money back on all these expenses by adding it to the price of the goods?
Do you think the Canadian importer doesn't deserve to make his money back on all these expenses by adding it to the price of the goods?
SpoiledMan
New member
DFTowel said:
Leo, I think his only real issue is this:
Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
DFTowel said:
I think that argument would have more validity if we were talking about a single online purchase. Presumably the distributor is buying the Zaino product in bulk, where the manifesting costs would be amortized over a large number of Zaino bottles, adding perhaps 1 or 2 dollars per bottle rather than 20+, but I could be wrong about the duties.
imported_memnuts
New member
I just hope you also CC the e-mail to the Zaino.ca knowing the fact that they have the real say on the final cost of the product.
Are there any Zaino distributors not obligated to Zaino.ca? Have you tried contacting a US Autopia member and compare the pricing with double shipping?
I am sure Sal will get back with you but give him some time to analysis the concerns and the fact that this is a holiday weekend. It is wonderful at least one can contact the Head Dog at a company.
Are there any Zaino distributors not obligated to Zaino.ca? Have you tried contacting a US Autopia member and compare the pricing with double shipping?
I am sure Sal will get back with you but give him some time to analysis the concerns and the fact that this is a holiday weekend. It is wonderful at least one can contact the Head Dog at a company.
DFTowel said:
The point of posting it here wasn't to flame Zaino, but to get other opinions on the matter.
In fact the whole point of the email was to say "Hey! I love Zaino, why do i have to pay such a premium?!"
And your point about how expensive it is to pass customs and duty and all that is great and all, but I showed prices from another retailer who has to deal with the exact same problem and his prices aren't outrageous.
blkZ28Conv said:I just hope you also CC the e-mail to the Zaino.ca knowing the fact that they have the real say on the final cost of the product.
Are there any Zaino distributors not obligated to Zaino.ca? Have you tried contacting a US Autopia member and compare the pricing with double shipping?
I am sure Sal will get back with you but give him some time to analysis the concerns and the fact that this is a holiday weekend. It is wonderful at least one can contact the Head Dog at a company.
Good point about CCing Mike at Zaino.ca. I'll probably do that. I just wish it wasn't one distributor we're tied to, if Sal opened up the market for his products this probably wouldn't be a problem.
imported_Blake
New member
I find it amazing no one has brought up the ridiculous price difference between buying Meguiars products in Canada and buying them in the states. The difference is much worse than the Zaino difference.
DF Towel missed the fact that E Shine is a Canadian retailer bringing in products from the US and not charging the ridiculous markups.
DF Towel missed the fact that E Shine is a Canadian retailer bringing in products from the US and not charging the ridiculous markups.
imported_Picus
New member
I don't think there is anything wrong with this post. Ultimately Sal will have a say in what Zaino will cost in Canada. I don't find it odd that the prices are so disparate, actually I find it odd that Optimum's prices are so close, US vs Canada.
richy
New member
Why not order from a US supplier and have them shipped REGULAR MAIL to Canada..that way no shipper (UPS, etc) will mark it up. You may still have to pay GST at the door, but that 's a moot point since you would online too.
Paulie Walnuts
New member
DFTowel said:
Gotta agree with DFT here
Richy, You cannot buy Zaino from the US and ship it to Canada (Through the Zaino website).
William, I'm sorry you feel that way. I believe I made the intentions of my email known. If you and DFT feel its prejudicial, nothing I can do about it.
regarding this thread. I got a reply from Mike Adams at Zaino.ca and I will be calling Sal on Thursday. I'm not sure if I should post Mike's response in this thread, I will ask a mod to determine if its appropriate here. I'm not implying Mike said anything wrong. There are parts of his response that could cause some controversy.
William, I'm sorry you feel that way. I believe I made the intentions of my email known. If you and DFT feel its prejudicial, nothing I can do about it.
regarding this thread. I got a reply from Mike Adams at Zaino.ca and I will be calling Sal on Thursday. I'm not sure if I should post Mike's response in this thread, I will ask a mod to determine if its appropriate here. I'm not implying Mike said anything wrong. There are parts of his response that could cause some controversy.
imported_memnuts
New member
Kewjoe said:
Just give Sal a call and ask him. I doubt Mike stated anything that is not public knowledge to justify his position on costing Zaino. :nixweiss
I called Sal this morning and had a nice chat with him. He's a really cool guy, spends lot of time talking to you, you get the feeling that he will talk to you all day about his products if you had the time :xyxthumbs
Essentially he broke it down to me like this. I'll use point form to explain where he is coming from
- Sal himself doesn't have the time to deal with shipping product to Canada. He used to back in the 90's and he found a lot of the time shipments would just go missing with no explanation. The hassle of getting chemicals into Canada was another reason he couldn't deal with it anymore
- Sal decided to have a Canadian distributor who handles all the issues of getting products through customs and shipments, etc. Mike at Zaino.ca had his own initial issues with getting the product to Canada so he has since changed to driving the product over himself. So add time, gas, custom charges, tax, Sal not discounting his products a huge amount, etc. plus the small mark up for Mike to make some money for his efforts leads to this discrepency
At the end of the day i supposed Canada isn't big enough of a detailing market to spend a lot of time and effort to improve sales. I appreciated Sal's honesty, and it was nice talking to the owner of a US based company and get their perspective on US/Canada dealings.
We started talking about his products. I'm looking forward to trying Z-AIO and Z-CS in the future. I'll probably buy them in the US and bring them back when on a trip.
I'm glad we have companies like eshine, carcaresmart, the detailing shop that have good product at competitive pricing. I'll still continue to use Zaino because I love the the products.
Anyway thats that. Good to have some action in the Canada section
Essentially he broke it down to me like this. I'll use point form to explain where he is coming from
- Sal himself doesn't have the time to deal with shipping product to Canada. He used to back in the 90's and he found a lot of the time shipments would just go missing with no explanation. The hassle of getting chemicals into Canada was another reason he couldn't deal with it anymore
- Sal decided to have a Canadian distributor who handles all the issues of getting products through customs and shipments, etc. Mike at Zaino.ca had his own initial issues with getting the product to Canada so he has since changed to driving the product over himself. So add time, gas, custom charges, tax, Sal not discounting his products a huge amount, etc. plus the small mark up for Mike to make some money for his efforts leads to this discrepency
At the end of the day i supposed Canada isn't big enough of a detailing market to spend a lot of time and effort to improve sales. I appreciated Sal's honesty, and it was nice talking to the owner of a US based company and get their perspective on US/Canada dealings.
We started talking about his products. I'm looking forward to trying Z-AIO and Z-CS in the future. I'll probably buy them in the US and bring them back when on a trip.
I'm glad we have companies like eshine, carcaresmart, the detailing shop that have good product at competitive pricing. I'll still continue to use Zaino because I love the the products.
Anyway thats that. Good to have some action in the Canada section
blkZ28Conv said:
Ya, i want to reiterate that Mike didn't say anything bad or wrong. I just didn't want Company A talking about Company B and it getting misinterpreted. So i kept it private. I had a few people read it through PM and they said it wasn't bad at all. Just a personal choice, perhaps no one would have thought anything of it, but I just wanted to avoid any potential problems.