*****NO VAT INCREASE AT OCUK - See Inside for More Info*****

[Gibbo]

Hi there


Right we made a big decision at Overclockers UK this morning and have agreed to keep VAT at 17.5% but only when you use the following voucher code "novatrise" at the checkout page.







This offer/voucher code expires Midnight Monday 10th January 2011, so at Overclockers UK you can enjoy VAT at 17.5% for another week when you use the voucher code.

 

[Gibbo]

Remember this voucher code expires Midnight next Monday.

 

[Gibbo]

do we still get the free postage perk with this VAT freeze?

yup.

 

[Gibbo]

prices have gone up on certain things , is this to cover this ?

Nope, but many prices have gone up today due to our cost on items going up, a lot of CPU's have been effected.

Plus 69xx ATi series have now gone up considerably as AMD has now withdrawn its rebate offer to etailors, but I did say in December that 69xx pricing would go up in January.

However I have put some prices down today as well, but I change pricing daily in both directions, so nope its not to cover everything its just pretty much what happens everyday irrelevent of what offer is in place or not.

 

[Gibbo]

Nice of you not to charge us the VAT increase on stock items you purchased before the VAT rise!!!!

Nice marketing tactic!

Does not work like that for a company.

 

[Gibbo]

but the 6970's was already instock so why have these gone up , have you not paid for them yet ?

Prices have gone up, just way it is sorry.

 

[Gibbo]

Gibbo, ill prefix this by saying I think OCUK are great...

However there have been some huge price rises accross the board, many by much more than VAT...

GTX 460 Talon, was around 155, now its almost 180..

I bought a 1050 sapphire PSU 1 week ago for 132, its now 143...

I could go on... And its fair enough, you guys need to make a profit, I think you should just admit that maybe you have used the "VAT" rise to bash prices up accross the board..

Happy new year

Yep I increase the MSI 460 pricing massively, we were making peanuts on them as we were giving them away before Christmas. Now stock is nearly gone and pricing has gone up, plus 460's will be phasing out in the next 4 weeks or so for 560 replacement. Yes some of those cards increased as much as £20.

We get through huge volumes of stock here, already this morning I've given Corsair a $390,000 order, that will only last us 2-3 weeks and thats just memory.

Due to the volumes we move prices constantly move all over the place, sometimes cheaper, sometimes they go up, but its always been that way and always will be.

It has nothing to do with any voucher codes or offers in place because even when there is no promotions active prices still constantly moving on a daily basis, but that is the nature of this industry and is no different anywhere else and I've got quite a bit of experience now.

 

[Gibbo]

Gibbo, your 580 and 570 prices are quite a bit more expensive here compared to the Etailers in Bolton and Sheffield.

I know supply and demand is tight for the Nvdia 5 series but your prices are so much more than your competitors

The 580 i bought here is £30 more now.

Until supply improves our prices stay as they are simply because whatever we get sells out in days if not hours. Blame NVIDIA!

 

[Gibbo]

Fair do's matey, cheers for the detailed reply...

And I do go along with what you are saying... and in reverse, when the GTX 470's were circa 170 there were a load of really, really great deals flying around... Now you have to look a bit harder, and as you say things change for the better and worse....

We seem to be in a "leaner" time at the moment bar Memory..

Yeah last year was a bit different as from September - December last year many manufacturers, NVIDIA a prime example ran some truly staggering campaigns which meant not only mental prices but great free games too.

But most people are like nah, shall wait for Jan Sales etc. but if the manufacturer is promoting before Jan then unfortunately thats when the deals are, these guys don't wait for a specific date to arrive, they had to get sales volumes up and they more than suceeded.

What this means though now is the industry has been on a constant increase since September, all manufacturers are much better off and as such they don't need to give away margin/profits to shift stock and they don't have old stock to clear.

Its like GTX 470 is now upto £50 more expensive than it was when it dropped as low as £160, but they are still flying.

The recession has eased off, most are in a much better state, so I guess it will depend on what deals there will be to come, lets just say December was epic for deals, its like January sales were a month earlier and than factor in cheaper VAT, December was the time to buy.

Still saying that we've seen no slow down since the VAT increase and our pre and after XMAS weeks were record breakers.

 

[Gibbo]

Thanks guys.

How many prices do you usually change a day Gibbo?
I can imagine you just sitting down going through everything one by one.

A minimum of 10 per day with ease, sometimes 100+ and thats just me, there is 5 other purchasers too.

 

[Gibbo]

Yeah I'd be interested in knowing this as well. They sell so many products doing it by hand must take ages. I can only presume they use some kind of stock management price setting software where you enter in the stock, how many you sell, VAT and other things and tells you how much to charge with the margins you want, then updates automatically.

Edit-

Ah, so it is by hand Do you just judge it by eye?

Nope all by hand, software can't replace humans, it cannot cater for price drops, increases, shortages, product going EOL etc. etc.

So that why we have 6 Purchasers/Product Manager who check all of their products daily and research new products. Making adjustments to price, descriptions, making deals, promotions, controlling stock, bundles etc. etc.

We could use software but software can't cater for the above.

 

[Gibbo]

Sounds like you love what you do Gibbo. Now please crack some skulls together and get the water cooling section in order too.

With OCUK's buying power surely someone can make a better job of it than its current state? Its a joke at the moment and has been for some time.

A previous buyer who is now gone caused us quite a few issues regarding that area.

Let us know what you'd like to see or what you think is required, it is always good to here from customers and ideas.

 

[Gibbo]

Gibbo will you have plenty of Sandybridge on the 9th? All I need is one

Yes loads.

 

[Gibbo]

Remember guys to use the voucher code to get the discount and remember it expires midnight Monday, then it is unfortunately 20% VAT.

 

[Gibbo]

If you turned up to the shop can you still use the voucher or is this just online only?

Online only.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

2.5hrs and the code expires guys, make use of it whilst its still there.

 

[Gibbo]

Any chance of being able to claim the loss? The website said the code didn't exist and your sales guy over the phone said it expired as well. Bit annoying after Spending £860.

Yeah of course, give sales a call and ask for Sunny tomorrow, he is sales manager and am sure he can sort for you.