True? - EcoTech Marine Price increase

[vetteguy53081]

Maybe they are going to try a more aggressive sales promotion(s) this year. They can put it on sale 10% a bunch of times throughout the year (instead of just the normal one or two times) and on Black Friday do 20% off while not taking any additional losses.

They already have by charging their customers for parts rather than fix them unlike Neptune who focuses on customer satisfaction for customer retention. I will NEVER ever forgive Ecotech for the recent and ultimate slap in the face refusing to repair or replace my MP40QD that was shy of 8 months old and implying that it fell into the tank although it looked like new and is a DRY side (duh) and sent it back to me in pieces rather than re-assembling it the way they received it. I then attempted to call a customer relation mgr and left both email and phone message and it has been 9 days without courtesy of a reply. This IS the Service and support they furnish. Just a word of caution.
They lost an 11 year customer and former pet store owner for Life

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Seems like an odd business decision to raise prices while Chinese competitors are continuing to improve quality at a fraction of the cost.

The Chinese competitors will still face tariffs. Overall, my experience with things with moving parts made in China is the quality and reliability still doesn't touch EcoTech. A lot of the issue with Chinese moving parts(for the aquarium hobby) is tolerances are not kept in check, and to discard/reject the fewest amount of parts, their QC process tends to be minimal.

Furthermore, EcoTech also has to pay product liability insurance, patent costs, customer support cost, electrical certification cost (If they are using UL, expect about 20-25k per certification plus annual checkup costs), show costs, warranty costs, and advertising. I doubt the guys at Ecotech are rolling in cash.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

You know, I'm almost certain this is in response the changes in tariffs, which looks to be upwards of 25%. I'm sure that EcoTech held out as long as they absolutely could since the action went into effect, July 6th, 2018.

I've hardly seen manufacturers and vendors actively encourage their customers to make purchases prior to price increases personally, but I'd say kudos for EcoTech for the announcement. Also I wouldn't be surprised if other manufacturers, with products that are subject to the same tariffs, begin to follow suit. This may be something to consider for reefers in the market for some reef gear that might also be affected.

Since most manufacturing for this hobby (and most things in general) happens in China, I'm very curious to see how the overall market reacts and how the price increase will "bleed" through the distribution path. The USA needs a ton of tooling engineers here to start really ramping up production of stuff in the USA. When an injection mold costs $15,000-$25,000 in the USA and $2k or less in China, and many pieces of equipment require multiple molds, its hard to make the decision to manufacture domestic.

 

[reef-rc]

typically with any technology, price trend downward over time due to process efficiency, better supply chain, increase competition, etc. maybe this is just a slight "bump" due to economic market. I can't imagine a 10 years old product like MP10 that most like can just ask for a price increase due to popularity.

 

[Saveafish]

I said this was coming way back before thanksgivings giving. I was told I didn't know what I was talking about. But they have to make up for loosing their fan base slowly to others in the market. The bleachers on their side of the team are getting bare.

 

[GlassMunky]

Seems like an odd business decision to raise prices while Chinese competitors are continuing to improve quality at a fraction of the cost.

Every single company in the United States that has any parts made overseas now has to pay extra tariffs to get into the USA so literally EVERY PIECE of electronics that you buy from now on will have that extra tax on it. Welcome to trumps America

 

[new2reefin]

Does anybody know if the prices on Aqua Illumination products will increase also?

 

[GlassMunky]

Does anybody know if the prices on Aqua Illumination products will increase also?

If they have any parts that are made overseas then you should probably expect an increase

 

[jd371]

It's the tariffs.

 

[Amps Reef Life]

They already have by charging their customers for parts rather than fix them unlike Neptune who focuses on customer satisfaction for customer retention. I will NEVER ever forgive Ecotech for the recent and ultimate slap in the face refusing to repair or replace my MP40QD that was shy of 8 months old and implying that it fell into the tank although it looked like new and is a DRY side (duh) and sent it back to me in pieces rather than re-assembling it the way they received it. I then attempted to call a customer relation mgr and left both email and phone message and it has been 9 days without courtesy of a reply. This IS the Service and support they furnish. Just a word of caution.
They lost an 11 year customer and former pet store owner for Life

WOW! Ouch, that is terrible.

 

[jschultzbass]

Every single company in the United States that has any parts made overseas now has to pay extra tariffs to get into the USA so literally EVERY PIECE of electronics that you buy from now on will have that extra tax on it. Welcome to trumps America

I don't mind things going up 10% because of chinese tariffs. Some pain for long term gain is the goal. And Glad to be here!

 

[MSB123]

I don't mind things going up 10% because of chinese tariffs. Some pain for long term gain is the goal. And Glad to be here!

What is the long term gain?

 

[puffy127]

Why are China tariffs affecting Ecotech? I thought Ecotech was All-American?

 

[MSB123]

Why are China tariffs affecting Ecotech? I thought Ecotech was All-American?

The parts cost more.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I removed some posts about an old article from 2011 that was not substantiated. When it comes to litigation and hearsay I don't want it here in the forums. Thank you for understanding.

 

[jsvand5]

Every single company in the United States that has any parts made overseas now has to pay extra tariffs to get into the USA so literally EVERY PIECE of electronics that you buy from now on will have that extra tax on it. Welcome to trumps America

Oh I get that and believe me I think Trump’s tax on the American people is a terrible idea. That fact remains though that ecotechs products already cost around 3-4 times (or more) the cost of Chinese competition. This will just widen that gap.

 

[chk4tix]

Do you know their financial details? I’m sure they did the math . It’s not a kid in a garage... it’s a big company.

I have seen plenty of large companies make terrible financial decisions.

 

[new2reefin]

The goal of the tariffs is to make it possible for American companies to be able to compete with China's low manufacturing costs. The big question is, will any American companies be able to step up and compete? With products like the Ecotech pumps I would be willing to pay the prices for an American built pump but I doubt these companies will move manufacturing to the US. I personally find the prices on the Ecotech pumps to be high. I know there is a lot of research and development that goes into these products but the costs between an Mp10 and an Mp60 is crazy. It's just a larger Mp10. If they lowered their prices they could possibly sell more pumps with the larger sales volume making up for the difference. Pay it forward Ecotech.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Ecotech has been the industry standard for how a company should treat their customers. They have the hands down best customer service in the hobby. I'm sure that plays a role in their marketing. To pay the extra money for a quality product backed by a great warranty is (in my book) well worth the investment.

If you thing that Tariffs are going to lower costs for the end user, you're mistaken.

 

[new2reefin]

It's not that tariffs will lower the costs for the end user. American companies cannot produce products at the same price point as China. If tariffs raise the cost of products made in China, American companies may be able to produce similar products at the higher price point. But in the end, American made. The statement was that a lower price could in turn produce more volume of sales keeping revenue for these companies the same. They would make less on each unit sold, but sell more units to make up for the difference.