Thought I'd wait for it but then the SST 50 lights were announced so at the start of February I cancelled the order and asked them to send me one of the just announced Aurora SST50 lights.
Three weeks later I get a response. OK it was Chinese New Year but the request was in for over a week before the holiday. But they didn't actually have any of them. By which I assume they couldn't get any as I don't imagine they hold much stock at all. Knowing what land and property prices are in Hong Kong I'm absolutely certain they don't have a warehouse in HK.
It wasn't really that - the refund will happen in due course, but they seem to be advertising things they either can't or won't deliver. Or the factories try making a very small batch and decide that the profits are inadequate.
I wonder what their margins are? UK retail is normally 5-35% except for stereo gear which used to be about 90% (early 1980's figures when I sold cameras)
The postage may cost them very little, but given that returning anything would usually cost me more than I paid for it, it has to be a significant part of the price.
Owning stock is expensive - in the camera retail business anything we hadn't sold in 3 months was costing us money. Even with a 35% markup.
It is annoying when they say it is in stock when what they mean is they think the factory has a batch available.
I also wonder about their margins. It can't be much. I've had an Ultrafire C3 SS that has been stuck for three weeks as "in stock" "ready" and "temporary stock shortage" at the same time. They are being just plain dishonest this time.