Computer Fairs down the pan....

time low just now. Maybe its the end of the road for the computer fair.
I for one won't be visiting them anymore because I can buy everything
online for less cost and less hassle and without leaving my chair.

I gave up ages ago - I went to one recently, but it was rubbish - mobile
phone traders, cheap, awful looking brands that I'd never heard of, and
dodgy retailers slobbing over motherboard cases, smoking, and, to cap it
all, brining their Chav kids with them. ****.

Johannes H Andersen wrote:

I like to go to British computer fairs once a while, not really buying
very much. There used to be a stall for computer books, but this is no
longer the case. Perhaps it's a trend that people no longer bother, or
they get info from CDROMs and the internet. There were some books in a
London fair, the one on saturdays near Tottenham Court Road, but the
prices were disappointingly high. I tried to negotiate down a book, but
seller didn't budge. Then I bought the same book cheaper from a discount
bookshop in the area. I couldn't resist going back to the fair and show
off my bargain to the stubborn stall holder...

Chances are his purchase price wouldn't be much short, or possibly
even higher, than the price you paid from a bargain book store. The
guy has to make a living.

Quite, we all have to make a living. That's why I expect to pay about
half price for outdated computer books.

I rarely buy computer books but I wouldn't buy them from a fair. I
haven't brought *anything* from a fair for about three years.

My point was that going back and waving it in the face of the
"stubborn stall holder" serves no purpose and is just childish! It's
their prerogative to sell what they want at the prices they choose -
just as it's your choice not to pay it.

And just because you're not willing to pay that price it doesn't mean
that no one else is.

Possibly, there may be some mugs around...

Or maybe people who want it there and then, don't know where to get it
cheaper or perhaps have worked out the cost of going into town to the
bargain bookshop (which might not even have the title in stock) would
negate any saving.

--
iv Paul iv

"AMO" wrote in news:418d6204$0$33600
:


There is no longer a reason to go to computer fairs.

The only time I go is if I broke something on a Friday/Sat and need a
replacement/upgrade quick and PC World dont stock it at a "reasonable"
price.
This year I've been about 3 times.
The year before that was closer to 10-15.
Next year hopefully zero!

Having said that, as demand drops there can be bargains to be had..
My last emergency was looking for an XP 3000. I picked one up for 80quid
(mail order price was about 95UKP, PCWord Price 118UKP) with a fairly quiet
heatsink thrown in (which I didnt need at the time).

Now I found a use for the freebie heatsink after a hopelessly failed
attempt at lapping my existing cooler! Long story, but when people suggest
a THICK piece of glass, they mean it!

--
Lordy

Paul Hopwood wrote:

[...]
I rarely buy computer books but I wouldn't buy them from a fair. I
haven't brought *anything* from a fair for about three years.

Most parts of my newly build PC are from fairs this summer. Bracknell
has a large fair, probably most people there are into computers.

My point was that going back and waving it in the face of the
"stubborn stall holder" serves no purpose and is just childish! It's
their prerogative to sell what they want at the prices they choose -
just as it's your choice not to pay it.

Perhaps I could tempt him to sell other books. It's not a system I have,
it just happened that day. Anyway I still had my hand-stamp so I wanted
to look around again before going home.

And just because you're not willing to pay that price it doesn't mean
that no one else is.

Possibly, there may be some mugs around...

Or maybe people who want it there and then, don't know where to get it
cheaper or perhaps have worked out the cost of going into town to the
bargain bookshop (which might not even have the title in stock) would
negate any saving.

As I said: mugs.

Hooray someone that agrees with a view i have had for a long time, my local
fair use to be jammed solid with people on a sunday morning....Now its
empty with only a few retailers selling overpriced rubbish




Agreed - they hold one in a medium-sized room at a local sports centre
but since they charge £2 for the privelege of just entering the room I
have no idea if any of the stuff's worthwhile 'cos I refuse to pay
unless I can have an initial look-see round first and they won't let me!

There's a massive Sunday market nearby and they charge a 10p 'club fee'
which covers the site loos, stewards, cleaning and rubbish removal.
There's often a handful of computer stalls and their prices are on a par
with the small shops in the area (ie: less than PCW but more than
online) - I bet some of them 'do' the sports centre fair too anyway!

There used to be a massive amateur radio/electronics/computer fair at
Brighton Racecourse in the summer - haven't been for years - it used to
be chock full of all sorts of amazing stuff - is it still going, anyone?

"Linker3000" wrote in message
...

Hooray someone that agrees with a view i have had for a long time, my
local
fair use to be jammed solid with people on a sunday morning....Now its
empty with only a few retailers selling overpriced rubbish




Agreed - they hold one in a medium-sized room at a local sports centre
but since they charge £2 for the privelege of just entering the room I
have no idea if any of the stuff's worthwhile 'cos I refuse to pay
unless I can have an initial look-see round first and they won't let me!

Let me guess, is that a technofair??? Id bet a lot of money it is, it all
sounds way too familiar ;D

"Jeremiah Harbottle" wrote in message
...
This is not to say that it was a turn for the worse. Most people prefer
to buy from a large store where they know that they can go to to complain
if

Nope, I get all my stuff from a small local store, and usually go into the
large stores to laugh at their prices.

Whilst it is possible for you to do that in many cases, the other effect
which caused small local traders to go bust is the rise of the internet.

Even if you could laugh at prices in larger stores, you won't be able to
achieve the same thing online.

Large stores have become very competitive. Whilst local traders can still
undercut them, they can only do so by a very small margin.

Look at it this way. In the old days, local grocery stores ruled. They had
the privelege of going to the local Cash and Carry which denied access to
non-traders and got very good prices to sell through their goods in their
local shop. However, the rise of the supermarkets shifted the buying
bargaining power from the Cash and Carrys to the supermarkets as they were
buying on behalf of pretty much the entire population. The tables turned.

In the old days of the local PC trader, the same thing happened. Local
traders would buy in bulk from a larger company that would sell mainly to
only traders. Now the economics have changed. Not only do many of these
traders sell direct to the general public, but other companies have sprung
up and with the age of the internet have capitalised on direct selling
through to the customer, cutting out the costs of the middleman. The
combined buying power of the general public is overwhelming and there is no
way that local traders can compete.

Even going to PC World, there are many items now that local PC makers cannot
compete on in price. Fast changing model goods such as DVD drives can be
gotten from a local trader more cheaply than PC World although not as cheap
as via the internet from companies like EBuyer. Most consumables, e.g.
paper, CDs, ink cartridges etc can be obtained cheaper via both large PC
World type stores as well as the internet. There is very little that local
traders can do to compete on price.

As PC construction has been optimised and pretty much automated in large
organisations to make use of web technology to reduce administration, there
is no way in hell that a local PC trader can come close to competing.

To say that in today's current climate is like saying that a local grocery
store can compete with a supermarket.

It doesn't happen.

AMO

"AMO" wrote in news:41900e93$0$43750
:

Most consumables, e.g.
paper, CDs, ink cartridges etc can be obtained cheaper via both large
PC
World type stores as well as the internet.

PC World have very high margins on consumables because its a regular
source of income and makes up what they lose for their competative
prices on high value items.

"Low Cost Hardware" (eg IDE Cables, fans etc) also have a very high
markup.

I find items around the 70 UKP mark and above tend to have more
reasonable prices (but not always of course)

--
Lordy

This is not to say that it was a turn for the worse. Most people prefer
to buy from a large store where they know that they can go to to complain
if

Nope, I get all my stuff from a small local store, and usually go into the
large stores to laugh at their prices.

"Lordy" wrote in message
...
"AMO" wrote in news:41900e93$0$43750
:

Most consumables, e.g.
paper, CDs, ink cartridges etc can be obtained cheaper via both large
PC
World type stores as well as the internet.

PC World have very high margins on consumables because its a regular
source of income and makes up what they lose for their competative
prices on high value items.

"Low Cost Hardware" (eg IDE Cables, fans etc) also have a very high
markup.

I find items around the 70 UKP mark and above tend to have more
reasonable prices (but not always of course)

--
Lordy

Agreed!!! ;0)

Certainly you would not go to PC World for a USB cable for example. They
expect you to buy one at £10 when you can order one online at around
£1.60-£5.

However, with the possible exception of the odd offer by Amazon and Viking,
things like HP Printer cartridges are cheapest at PC World - actually,
they're the same price, but if you go online, you're paying shipping.
Premium paper is usually BOGOF at Amazon and cheap paper is pretty much £1 /
500 sheets at Viking - when on offer its sometimes 10p / 500 sheets (limit
to 1 box, 5 reams per customer).

It really is touch and go at PC World with hardware items. Getting a CD/DVD
drive from them for £30 - most of the time you're better off going for a
higher specced one online for the same price including shipping. With
graphics cards, its better to go online most of the time but on the odd
occasion, PC World buy in bulk and massively discount the graphics card to
get them sold - usually £50 off the lower performing version of the card and
£100 off the better performing version of the card. These kind of discounts
certainly can't be matched by local traders that simply order in bulk from
the larger bulk order companies.

AMO