Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

[Jules9]

Re: Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

I own my own construction business and completely understand everyones comments. A few times I have made mistakes and undercharged people when I've given them an estimate (couple hundred dollars) and have never went to a customer after the job was completed and asked them for more money because of my mistake. I just think it wouldn't be good for my business for me to do it. It has the potential for more customers being taken away from my business than adding to it in the long run. I have told a few that I undercharged them by mistake but whether or not they believed me is a different story.


As far as stores overcharging product, I've been at stores where the cashier has told customers that the item was priced higher or the item was on sale and gave them the lower price. A few times at the grocery store, my girlfriend had a product in her cart that she was willing to pay full price for and the manager came over and gave her a 50% discount on the item without her ever asking for it. Little things like that will get us to go back to the same stores again.

[BrewCrewSackers]

Re: Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

Yeah, i got a deal too. I was watching a Packer-Cowboy game used football that was listed at 500. It was suddenly marked down to 200. So I used a $50 coupon and got for 150. It took Steiner 4 days to process the order AFTER i paid. I was def worried that they would say it was an error.

[ziggy]

Re: Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

Since Bob Malandro left things have gone down hill at Steiner

[ereyes]

Re: Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

Speaking of errors on Steiners site, any chance that the shipping charge on the $100 Special of the Day Seatback is wrong. Never considered one when they were $250. But at $100 that didn't seem too bad until I put in my cart and te shipping amount cae in at $70.

the shipping is incorrect, if you're using the following sku # DEMOSEA000009 it should only be $4.99.

[ereyes]

Re: Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

We just haven't explored it as a payment type yet. Could be an option in the future.

[mbenga28]

Re: Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

FYI, the paypal logo is no longer on the Last Licks website

thank you Efrain, I'm just curious to know why, if you can publicly comment about this, Steiner Sports does not accept PayPal as a payment option?

[bronx_burner]

Re: Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

Speaking of errors on Steiners site, any chance that the shipping charge on the $100 Special of the Day Seatback is wrong. Never considered one when they were $250. But at $100 that didn't seem too bad until I put in my cart and te shipping amount cae in at $70.

[ereyes]

Re: Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

if there are people out there that will spend $50 at FAO Schwartz on an action figure you can find at Toys "R" Us for $9.99, there will be buyers for anything regardless of the price. it may take awhile to sell, but ultimately sell it will.

not sure why you would compare Macy's with Steiner. the first major difference between the two is, if I don't like Macy's price or policy I can shop somewhere else that might also have the exact item at a better price. Is there some other company that has an exclusive partnership with the Yankees besides Steiner where I can compare prices and policies with?

FYI, the paypal logo is no longer on the Last Licks website

[commando]

Re: Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

There are several basic rules of business that must be met to allow any business to operate successfully long term. A few are:

1. Accurate pricing, meaning you will sell the item for the price you are asking. (Believe it or not, competitive pricing isn't necessarily important in the right circumstances. Look at the continued success of the 7-11 convenience store franchise)

2. Reliable and consistent customer service, before during and after the sale.

3. Providing a service or product that has enough demand to keep you in business. (It ain't cheap to run a business!)

Does Steiner fall short on all three of these? It sounds like they probably do on the first two, anyway. But here's the point: If they truly have poor pricing structures, poor customer service and are stocking products that will not sell for their asking prices, how much longer will they be around? Anyone who has been in this hobby any length of time has seen the rise and fall of more than one memorabilia dealer.

In my mind however, none of the above justifies why a customer should be allowed to purchase an item for a fraction of the intended price because of a mistake. By the way, if a company were to make this kind of "mistake" on purpose, especially in today's internet culture, the company would be called on this almost instantly by the public (as has happened here in this great forum).

We don't know how much Steiner pays the Yankees. But I do know it can't be cheap. Then, factor in the many expenses of running the Steiner business, and you might begin to see why they charge what they charge. If these numbers don't work in the long run, we'll be saying goodbye to another memorabilia dealer.

[cigarman44]

Re: Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

And how many times has that story followed up with ... "but they agreed to sell it to me for a price in the middle"... ie listed at 250 shoulda been 750 so agreed to 500... Seems sorta potentially bait and switch tactics. I don't know that it is an intentional strategy, but they seem to misprice so many things that I have to wonder if it is intentional.

Conversely would they admit to an over-priced error that somebody bought? If the item should have listed something for $500 and accidentally sold it for $600, would they give the unwitting customer a price break before confirming the order or is the order confirmation a one-way street error? There are so many underpriced errors, there almost have to be some overpriced errors as well.

Anyhow, point being why hasn't Steiner found a control process to correct what seems to be an epidemic problem? Is it an intentional tactic to get people committed to purchasing something?

+1

Exactly what I thought when I first saw this thread. Get people interested that wouldn't normally be with the low prices, then say, sorry but you can have it at this price.

[CampWest]

Re: Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

Conversely would they admit to an over-priced error that somebody bought? If the item should have listed something for $500 and accidentally sold it for $600, would they give the unwitting customer a price break before confirming the order or is the order confirmation a one-way street error? There are so many underpriced errors, there almost have to be some overpriced errors as well.

If I bought this lineup card for $500, would Steiner cancel the transaction and say, oops, should have been $50, we totally hosed you?

http://www.steinersports.com/royals-at-yankees-9-29-2009-game-used-lineup-card

For the record, I side with Steiner on not needing to honor accidental mistakes, just curious if their "integrity clause" is a two-way street.

A couple days ago, I purchased an item for $250 on ebay... Seller stated they used the wrong template and it should have been $600 (which I could easily see they copied another item and forgot to change the price). I didnt know what "exact" market value was but knew I liked the item a lot at $250. I was gracious in their cancellation of the transaction and didn't fight it one bit. Though I wonder if they'd have admitted it if I paid $250 for a $50 item or been as gracious about me not paying if I realized the mistake later.

[CampWest]

Re: Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

Mistakes happen but lets get real here. Any reputable company that post something on their website rather correct or not should honor those prices. It was their mistake and it's called customer service. Steiner had a chance to make corrections before submitting it on the world wide web. It's called proof reading. Steiner making mistakes is something that seems to happen all too often and things like this make them look like a greedy and poorly managed company.

And how many times has that story followed up with ... "but they agreed to sell it to me for a price in the middle"... ie listed at 250 shoulda been 750 so agreed to 500... Seems sorta potentially bait and switch tactics. I don't know that it is an intentional strategy, but they seem to misprice so many things that I have to wonder if it is intentional.

Conversely would they admit to an over-priced error that somebody bought? If the item should have listed something for $500 and accidentally sold it for $600, would they give the unwitting customer a price break before confirming the order or is the order confirmation a one-way street error? There are so many underpriced errors, there almost have to be some overpriced errors as well.

Anyhow, point being why hasn't Steiner found a control process to correct what seems to be an epidemic problem? Is it an intentional tactic to get people committed to purchasing something?

[legaleagle92481]

Re: Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

if there are people out there that will spend $50 at FAO Schwartz on an action figure you can find at Toys "R" Us for $9.99, there will be buyers for anything regardless of the price. it may take awhile to sell, but ultimately sell it will.

not sure why you would compare Macy's with Steiner. the first major difference between the two is, if I don't like Macy's price or policy I can shop somewhere else that might also have the exact item at a better price. Is there some other company that has an exclusive partnership with the Yankees besides Steiner where I can compare prices and policies with?

Yes, the secondary market. There is plenty available of all players out there. For example, Steiner wants 13g for a Jeter but there is one on Ebay right now for 9.5g or best offer. Steiner wants 5hg for a Mo jersey on Ebay there is a signed one for 4.5 g. Alot of dealers have stuff at good prices from the Yankee-Steiner partnership as well, especially of the lesser players. There is always an alternative collectors and dealers who buy from Steiner do not hold the stuff forever, almost everything hits the market at some point. And I agree that often there are people who buy stuff for prices insanely higher than elsewhere but the demand at any price for some of these items is extremely low so it will take a deep discount to sell them.

[mbenga28]

Re: Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

if there are people out there that will spend $50 at FAO Schwartz on an action figure you can find at Toys "R" Us for $9.99, there will be buyers for anything regardless of the price. it may take awhile to sell, but ultimately sell it will.

not sure why you would compare Macy's with Steiner. the first major difference between the two is, if I don't like Macy's price or policy I can shop somewhere else that might also have the exact item at a better price. Is there some other company that has an exclusive partnership with the Yankees besides Steiner where I can compare prices and policies with?

[legaleagle92481]

Re: Forum Advice on Late Night Steiner "Sale"

since Steiner is dealing with the Yankees and their items are always in demand, why would they consider honoring an error price and lose out on a profit? sure, they might lose that customer and their reputation might take a hit but there are plenty more new ones who will replace him and pay full or close to full price.

Who do you know that would pay full price for two of the items in question? Justin Christensen $750 and Melky Cabera $1,000? Regardless, it is called customer goodwill when it is the COMPANY"S FAULT they should take the loss. You go to Macys pick out a suit that sells normally for $300 go to the register and the guy scans the tag says ok that will be $50. You think hmm well ok it must be on sale awesome so you pay him the $50 and he gives you a receipt as you are walking out of the store the manager comes charging after you and says wait sir there is an error in our computer system that suit should not be $50. He gives you your $50 back grabs the suit out of your hand and offers to sell it to you for $200 which would be a 1/3 discount off the original price. Yes, someone probably would buy the suit for $300 in the future but would anyone say that such would be acceptable conduct on Macys behalf? What is the difference here? They are both luxury goods being sold by major companies.