Anyone else notice their ad on page 159 in Stereophile.
In a nutshell, you get to hear their $24k loudspeaker in you home for 30 days. If not to your liking, send them back. If you keep them, pay $299.97 a month. Lets assume interested is included, thats payments for 80 months or about 6.5 years.
Any takers?
Not a whole lot of info here....Link... (http://bsiloudspeakers.com/) :duh
Interesting marketing for the industry, nice to see.
But if a guy can pull that off (justifying a $24k speaker), I'd imagine he doesn't need a line of credit.
To justify that, he's probably already got a large chunk of change invested in amps, sources, etc...
I'd be curious to see that done with less expensive items.
Bob
I checked the BSI website, and only see a $17K speaker...
http://bsiloudspeakers.com/ (http://bsiloudspeakers.com/) (?)
Bring back layaway. Depends on finance costs. If no finance costs it is a win win. Repossession, if required may cause some issues for the seller. Risky.
I often wondered why brick and mortar stores did not offer a way of financing a system or highend item. Just makes sense. Just like a car loan.
charles
Too many questions ...
- Just because the selling company says it is full of boutique parts does not make it a $24k speaker.
- Do you really think you will be able to sell these on the used market after 2-3 years if you don't like them, and have someone "pick up" the payments?
- Is there a buy-out clause?
- If they are $299/month for 6 years, then what is the initial buy it for cash price? What is the financing costing you?
Well I checked their web site, and it seems the speaker lists for $16,700 so @ $299/month for 72 months, they end up costing $21,528, so financing is costing the buyer $4,828.
Quote from: Barry (NJ) on September 11, 2012, 03:02:37 PM
Well I checked their web site, and it seems the speaker lists for $16,700 so @ $299/month for 72 months, they end up costing $21,528, so financing is costing the buyer $4,828.
(http://blogs.capecodonline.com/cape-cod-politics/files/2010/10/Scan-102740000-550x505.jpg)
When I was selling stereo equipment back in the 70s the store I worked at had something called a finance contract through a third party. If you read the fine print the APR was somewhere between 28% and 32% on the amount financed. I guess at that time in the state of Montana this wasn't illegal, but I refused to have any part in trying to use a finance contract as a selling tool.
I had to be able to sleep at night.
Scotty
There are a lot of ways to finance speakers... a student loan helps... don't ask how I know.. :oops:
Big box stores offer financing all the time for package deals... or they did at some point. Get a Circuit City credit card! Ha. Then you get a loan that keeps on loanin'... ;)
Smaller stores have to get a finance company to sell loans... usually loan shark places are the only ones willing to take those deals. 32% APR sounds about right. 22% if you have good credit.. the type of place that would want you to come into their office if you were late on a payment. So, you get a big mismatch in your customer type and your loan company.
B&M stores don't usually have the capital or knowledge to support a loan business. It's a separate business.
Having a speaker manufacturer offer them financed is a huge risk. It makes no sense from a business standpoint. It is like financing a car, with similar depreciation and damage risks. However, you can repossess a car from the driveway... you can't break into someone's house... Plus, a car is titled with a lien holder...
Unless.... the speakers cost 1,k to make.. and anything over 1,k is a good revenue stream. 8)
edit.. I just checked out their $600 website.. a bit cheesy.. Kind of reminds me of a DAK catalog.. Even reads like one. If I were selling $17,k speakers I think I would have a more sophisticated looking site. Also, I didn't see anything about a finance deal.. They have 1 speaker and 5 photos... that's it. Was there more and now it's gone?
QuoteI had to be able to sleep at night.
Good for you. These types of loans are usually high risk but if you have to take out a loan with such high rates to buy audio gear, you probably should be buying gear at all.
Now even credit cards have very high rates. All due to so many defaults and bankruptcies I imagine.
http://www.eficion.com/leasing.html (http://www.eficion.com/leasing.html)
Two year lease with purchase option
The lease concept is a more interesting avenue... and Eficion at least has a professional looking site that looks like they might be around for more than 2 years... and the designs look like they might even sound good... So, way to go, Eficion!
Here's a thread on Agon that I dug up
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1324767483&openfrom&1&4&&st50 (http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1324767483&openfrom&1&4&&st50)
Seems like the company is real, and they make more than 1 model of speaker. And their website is truly awful.
The model 3 ones look quite nice especially with the automotive paint job. Scan speak (IIRC) mid and tweeter and custom 12" bass.