Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Mark, we're discussing accessories, I know virtually nothing about bikesales. We have a huge range of accessories, one of the biggest stores in QLD. But it is simply not possible to carry everything that caters to everybody, eg. I had a guy ring me who wanted a air filter for his goldwing, he expected me to have it in stock.. why? cos he bought the bike there 3 years ago.. I can get pretty much anything that people ask for, and it usually only takes a couple of days, we bend over backwards to help the customers, I even have about 150 road helmets (arai, shark, shoei, kbc, suomy, agv, rxt, m2r, rjays etc), about 100 pairs of draggins, 100 dirt helmets, 13 different styles of ladies jackets.. I just can't carry everything. We even have the LCD number plate blockers..


I do know bikesales get a lot of ppl coming in just to waste time and go on test rides, I know one guy test road 4 bikes the other day, and afterwards said *it's ok, I'm just looking* It works both ways. And i know whenever they get a new model first bike is always a demo. But I haven't heard of them refusing a test ride without a legitimate reason. There's a company up here I know of that refused to let someone ride the bike unless he signed the contract..

My work can't be too bad, we are No 1 Kawasaki dealership in Australia, so they guys must be doing something right. And we sell a LOT of bikes to ladies.

And KSRC members get a discount in the store... It was 10% but if I can I take extra off..

There's not much else we can do..

I don't expect the dealers to stock everything under the sun.... but what would be very nice, is if you could get the gear on a special order.... I would be prepared to wait for stuff for a month or so if it was what I wanted.... but the way it is, is that we are forced to shop overseas etc.

An example is the A*'s corset jacket I bought for my wife. To get it here in oz, required a special order through Monza imports, which would take min of 6 weeks, and it was a too bad so sad case if the jacket was not the correct size......no ability to exchange the jacket at all. And it was going to be $800+.

So a bit of searching and I got the jacket shipped to my door in 6 days for $480. And if it was the wrong size I could exchange it and all I would be hit up for is the postage.

So the lack of flexibility in the way our importers work ended up saving me around $320..... had they had a decent policy in the beginning regarding the ability to exchange if incorrect size etc, they would have gotten my money!

I agree completely swabio.. it ties our hands too

Are we not a big enuf market for it to be worthwhile for the importer
to start bringing shit over here

Kishy wrote:Are we not a big enuf market for it to be worthwhile for the importer
to start bringing shit over here

Going on the number of people who've had a go at importing apparel or accessories and gone to the wall with a back shed full of unsold stock, the answer to that would appear to be "No, we're not."

human nature..we realise not everything can be stocked, but we expect OUR relevant stuff to be stocked, and we get the shits if its not....

i think more ppl need to realise THEY ARE NOT as important as they think they are...and be a bit more tolerant...less assholes would make the world a nicer place...

I-K wrote:

Kishy wrote:Are we not a big enuf market for it to be worthwhile for the importer
to start bringing shit over here

Going on the number of people who've had a go at importing apparel or accessories and gone to the wall with a back shed full of unsold stock, the answer to that would appear to be "No, we're not."

Well then none of us really have a case to whinge then. Still sux
because I am hesistant in sending $$$ o/seas when I know I cant
do jack if they dont deliver, or they do & I'm not happy with whats
been dumped on my doorstep.

Neka79 wrote:human nature..we realise not everything can be stocked, but we expect OUR relevant stuff to be stocked, and we get the shits if its not....

i think more ppl need to realise THEY ARE NOT as important as they think they are...and be a bit more tolerant...less assholes would make the world a nicer place...

why carnt people in my industry think along the same lines

Kishy wrote:

I-K wrote:

Kishy wrote:Are we not a big enuf market for it to be worthwhile for the importer
to start bringing shit over here

Going on the number of people who've had a go at importing apparel or accessories and gone to the wall with a back shed full of unsold stock, the answer to that would appear to be "No, we're not."

Well then none of us really have a case to whinge then. Still sux
because I am hesistant in sending $$$ o/seas when I know I cant
do jack if they dont deliver, or they do & I'm not happy with whats
been dumped on my doorstep.

i agree matew..hence why ive been known to pay more & buy here, rather than off ebay etc....i dont trust ppl...

Neka79 wrote:human nature..we realise not everything can be stocked, but we expect OUR relevant stuff to be stocked, and we get the shits if its not....

i think more ppl need to realise THEY ARE NOT as important as they think they are...and be a bit more tolerant...less assholes would make the world a nicer place...

Those assholes pay the wages, we all have to put up with assholes in one form of another.

And as far as dealers go, I wanted a set of brake pads a month or two ago, one would not think it would be a big ask for Honda brake pads from a Honda dealer would you? did they have stock?=NO, I went to an SMALL TRADER and no problem had them on the shelf and cheaper to boot, now the question is how come a Dealer did not have them but a little guy has, ANSWER they don't give a shit, sell new or used bikes seems to be their only brief.
I know we have to put up with what we have at the moment, but it would be nice to have some level interest in maybe what US the CUSTOMERS require, or maybe we are all assholes and how dare we walk into their shop and spoil their day.

BladeBoy wrote: And as far as dealers go, I wanted a set of brake pads a month or two ago, one would not think it would be a big ask for Honda brake pads from a Honda dealer would you? did they have stock?=NO, I went to an SMALL TRADER and no problem had them on the shelf and cheaper to boot, now the question is how come a Dealer did not have them but a little guy has, ANSWER they don't give a shit, sell new or used bikes seems to be their only brief.

thats just clearly pissweak stock control
they prob had budgets to meet for the month or didnt pay their bills

a little while back i went into coles and did some shopping , went through the frozen food section and there was SFA of anything in there

i then went into the liquorland right next store and mentioned about coles and he said to me that they were doing stocktake hence they were down and also being a monday they would refill tonight ,

but of course they were also doing stocktake and it was also about figures ,

the liquorland dude also said to me that if i had come in earlier today they didnt have any VB nor Jim beam cans , WTF? these are stock lines that every man and his dog buys and that sort of shit will result in lost sales

I would question why you went to the dealer for brakepads , i only go to a dealer when i need to buy genuine parts and almost always they dont have stock , just yesterday went into actions , almost fell over when they had an air filter for a postie , but of course didnt have a speedo cable which i of course had to pay upfront and will have to make the 50k round trip again to pickup

bit like the day i went into actions for a top end for a RGV , ah sorry mate we only have 1 of the 2 pistons you require , why stock 1 piston when the bike requires 2 ?

I-K wrote:

Kishy wrote:Are we not a big enuf market for it to be worthwhile for the importer
to start bringing shit over here

Going on the number of people who've had a go at importing apparel or accessories and gone to the wall with a back shed full of unsold stock, the answer to that would appear to be "No, we're not."

i havent seen a place go down for a while , but example when mentors closed up they had an unbelieveable amount of spares , tanks, panels, stock exhausts, shit that wouldnt sell in their lifetime and obviously didnt

a fair amount of places have poor stock control and are run by monkeys that wouldnt know their elbow from the arsehole and also accountants that wont allow discounts on stuff that you know you had better get rid of or you will be stuck with it forever based on they cant let it affect this months figures

I would question why you went to the dealer for brakepads ?

The Central Coast has very little in the way of bike shops, or maybe an attempt to be a loyal customer?

BladeBoy wrote:

Neka79 wrote:human nature..we realise not everything can be stocked, but we expect OUR relevant stuff to be stocked, and we get the shits if its not....

i think more ppl need to realise THEY ARE NOT as important as they think they are...and be a bit more tolerant...less assholes would make the world a nicer place...

Those assholes pay the wages, we all have to put up with assholes in one form of another.

, or maybe we are all assholes and how dare we walk into their shop and spoil their day.

yea..thats pretty much it..ur an asshole, and u pay my wage...thanks mate....

Neka79 wrote:

BladeBoy wrote:

Neka79 wrote:human nature..we realise not everything can be stocked, but we expect OUR relevant stuff to be stocked, and we get the shits if its not....

i think more ppl need to realise THEY ARE NOT as important as they think they are...and be a bit more tolerant...less assholes would make the world a nicer place...

Those assholes pay the wages, we all have to put up with assholes in one form of another.

, or maybe we are all assholes and how dare we walk into their shop and spoil their day.

yea..thats pretty much it..ur an asshole, and u pay my wage...thanks mate....

Nice Neka