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A comment on WTF is up with Dell?. Parent comment

Re:WTF is up with Dell? by absconditus on Thursday November 05, 2009 @01:43PM (#924420)
If you don't want to "fuck around with a salesguy" you pay the same price that everyone else does. A few vendors I've dealt with over the years have had a system in place which allows large customers to buy products with discounted prices online, but it isn't common. Even if they do, you can still get a better price by calling, especially if you are able to provide a quote from a competitor.
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Re:WTF is up with Dell? by lsc on Thursday November 05, 2009 @02:29PM (#924534)
Yes. that is why I build my own shit. it makes no sense. I waste the time of a highly paid salesguy, and you charge me less than the guy who quietly pays what the website says? that seems backwards to me.

No matter; I usually pay less than half buying parts (which are usually sold in a rational manner) and assembling myself.

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Re:WTF is up with Dell? by dkokelley on Thursday November 05, 2009 @04:18PM (#924797)
Aren't the salespeople paid on commission? In that case I find it hard to believe that you really would be paying less than the guy using the internet.

But then again, the salesguy might be there to ensure future business. The next time you need a server, are you going to pick on the phone and give Mick a call, or are you going to waste your (presumably) valuable time doing some comparison shopping?

Maybe it's worth it to give the through-salespeople orders a discount because there's a person to person relationship built that encourages future sales.

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Re:WTF is up with Dell? by absconditus on Thursday November 05, 2009 @04:21PM (#924802)
The discounts are often given based on annual purchase totals.
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Re:WTF is up with Dell? by CWuestefeld on Thursday November 05, 2009 @02:56PM (#924606)
My employer provides a completely customized catalog for each customer. We view this as one of our competitive advantages.

In fact, I'm working on this subsystem right now. For large catalogs and large numbers of customers, this becomes quite challenging. There's a huge volume of data, and keep it current while product pricing, availability, licensing terms, etc. change, is tough.

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Re:WTF is up with Dell? by lsc on Thursday November 05, 2009 @07:13PM (#925128)
that's the thing, though, I want less complexity in pricing, not more. Buying parts, unfortunately, even though it means I buy and price compare many more things than buying servers, actually makes the price of my next server a lot more predictable. This is what I'm saying is messed up.
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