Friul only selling direct to customers

I saw on the Friul website today that they will only be selling direct to customers starting in 2021. They will no longer be selling to resellers. The news is on their homepage at www.friulmodel.hu.

interesting news, I wonder if it has anything to do with the Chinese virus or possibly that most retail shops are shut so their profits are seriously down.

Or, that buy selling direct, they keep all of the profit instead of splitting it with a reseller. A good web site well integrated into a good back end system that handles the international trade documentation allows them to sell globally with same effort as domestic.

Rick

With the base cost plus postage (even for bulk lots and remember to add the weight of the packaging they will be sent in) the sale direct price is actually more than what I could buy from a retailer here in some cases, and only a couple of dollars less in others. Obviously they will be lining their pockets more by selling direct.

I was always surprised that I could buy them in the US for two thirds of the price I paid in the UK, considering that to get to the US they must have gone past the UK.

Still, he used to attend the IPMS Nats at Telford some years, so that was the best place I found to obtain them. Hopefully that opportunity will exist again one day.

Any number of reasons, but they maximize profits selling direct though. If you pay MSRP from a dealer, the dealer bought it at a cheaper price and that is what Friul made. If you buy direct for MSRP, Friul gets all of it, so more profit.

I’m sure there is a tradeoff between increased profit and decreased sales. I’ve been thinking I might try a set of their tracks, but if I have to buy direct and pay postage, it will be harder. If I could tack it on to some kit purchasers from a retailer I’d be more likely to get a set. But I’m not sure how important that is for most buyers…

Exactly Phil. To make it really worth the effort, you would need to buy a few sets to spread the postage and handling, but that then becomes a considerable investment outlay, especially for someone that does not know what to expect with Fruils. In some cases it maybe even putting the ‘cart before the horse’ (or tracks before the kit in this case). Tacking a single purchase for tracks you are about to use onto another order means you don’t have a lot of money sitting in something you may not actually like once you use them.

Well if you live out side the EU it’ll be a sever price hike because they are charging VAT on export orders. When I asked them about it, this is the reply I got…Hungarian customs regulations only allow VAT exemption for companies or after an individual customs procedure for individuals as well, but this procedure is more expensive than VAT. Now I’ve bought from other companies in Hungary and haven’t been charged VAT. Sounds strange to me.

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