On calculator sales, and praise for The Calculator Store

[johnb]

I, too, have had an excellent experience with José and The Calculator Store.
He knows his audience, his customers, and his products! And he understands the magic of happy customers, word-of-mouth advertising, and repeat business!

Two things, one funny and one serious.

Funny item first. I carry my 15c Collector's Edition everywhere with me. Even though I have many HPs that I spent less on, they would now cost more to replace than my 15c/CE would, so why not have the newest one with me?

A friend who's in the banking industry (and who's supplied me with several 12c's he's rescued) recently chided me for calculating a tip. "You seem to carry that thing everywhere. Do you really need it for this?" I replied, "Nope. I can compute 18% or 20% in my head faster than I can even get the calculator out of my pocket."

Him: "Why, then?"

Me: "I use my HP calculators every chance I can get... or create..."

He thought that was just hilarious, and I guess it is!


Now for the serious item:
The original poster (@idnarn) said he asked Fiamo whether their price was a fair one or not. The only answer you should expect from any salesman is "sure, my price is fair, it's up to you to decide if you want to pay it." This is regardless of the price being charged.

Now, an exceptional salesperson might say, "my price is lowest and if you don't believe me, check the prices of these competitors of mine." Or they might say, "no, my price is not lowest, but here's why, this [blah blah] is the additional value you get by buying from me at a slightly higher price than competitor xxx. Check them out, then come back to me if what you see there worries you." If you get a salesperson who says either of these, they are solid gold: buy from them and stick with them!

However, in general, you should not otherwise trust what a salesperson says. Of course they think their price is fair: others are buying from them, and anything the market will bear could be considered "a 'fair' price."

It is the buyer's responsibility to do the research ahead of time, and to know what is the typical price range of something, and what the maximum price is that they're willing to pay, and what they expect to get for that price. This on virtually anything whose price is not set and regulated by a government entity.

Anything less is just asking to be taken advantage of.