Let's say you are a frequent goer to a tea shop for a few years, and the owner of the shop is very friendly, etc. You learned a lot from him. You think you have been offered good / discounted price and have trusted his product is original.
Now, lets say you found out that a Pu-erh selling at his shop is USD10. And another unknown / new2u shop selling the exact Pu-erh at USD22. Taste wise, not much a different after comparing both the samples at the same time.
Would you still stick to the same shop (being a fan boy) and buy the more expensive Pu-erh and have a better piece of mind that it is original, than buying from that unknown / new2u shop selling at the lower price?
Aug 9th, '10, 12:49
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Re: Would you pay slightly more?
I think you got your words backwards here... I would go up to your friendly vendor and tell him about the other store offering the same product at a cheaper price, ask him if he would be willing to lower or match the price as you really want to remain loyal to him. I sure he would gladly match the price to keep your business.auhckw wrote:
Now, lets say you found out that a Pu-erh selling at his shop is USD10. And another unknown / new2u shop selling the exact Pu-erh at USD22.
Aug 9th, '10, 13:32
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Re: Would you pay slightly more?
all else equal, I would tell him about the higher price and inquire about price-matching. If he has a good excuse to justify a higher price (i.e. more expensive rent, got a bad wholesale deal, etc.) I would buy it from my favorite place. Especially in the world of tea, I think it's pretty important to establish guanxi(relationship).
If he constantly charged higher prices for all his items, than maybe it's time to make new friends elsewhere.
If he constantly charged higher prices for all his items, than maybe it's time to make new friends elsewhere.
Re: Would you pay slightly more?
I´m going to assume you actually mean what you wrote and that the shop that you are loyal to has the lower price.
My advice is more expensive is not always better, if you can´t tell the quality difference between the cheaper one and the more expensive buy the cheaper tea and keep the relationship with the shop you know.
My advice is more expensive is not always better, if you can´t tell the quality difference between the cheaper one and the more expensive buy the cheaper tea and keep the relationship with the shop you know.
Re: Would you pay slightly more?
I wouldn't consider paying more than double, in your example, paying slightly more. I would pay 50% more from time to time.
Overhead is a huge consideration. If the tea shop guy has a store front, he is going to have higher costs. Whereas the internet seller could be using his home to run a business.
Overhead is a huge consideration. If the tea shop guy has a store front, he is going to have higher costs. Whereas the internet seller could be using his home to run a business.
Re: Would you pay slightly more?
Actually I am not writing this about myself. I was referring a friend who seems to be a super fan of his tea shop. During a recent visit to a tea shop we found out what I've mentioned above. The tea shop has quite a lot of tea in tongs and stacked up. The teas there in general is cheap. They even have LBZ at less than USD3 (which may sound quite obvious that may be a fake LBZ)shogun89 wrote:I think you got your words backwards here... I would go up to your friendly vendor and tell him about the other store offering the same product at a cheaper price, ask him if he would be willing to lower or match the price as you really want to remain loyal to him. I sure he would gladly match the price to keep your business.auhckw wrote:
Now, lets say you found out that a Pu-erh selling at his shop is USD10. And another unknown / new2u shop selling the exact Pu-erh at USD22.
My friend actually called his fav shop owner to tell about what I've mentioned in the first post, and the owner replied.. I am confident about my tea and price, you taste that cheaper tea and you will know. So, we tasted the tea. He said that the cheaper one is not good and said that his fav shop is better. I was actually ok with the tea for the price it is.
I told him how can you made such judgment without comparing side by side. I told him sometimes, words may influence your taste and it may not be a fair comparison. He didn't want to buy it as he was shaking his head while tasting it at the cheaper tea shop. So, I bought that pu-erh just for the sake of wanting to compare. I asked the sales person why is the tea at the lower price in the market. His reply: We are doing wholesale and some tea we tend to sell below market price to attract customers to come.
He then took some of the tea over to the fav tea shop, they (he and owner) tasted it. Owner wasn't passing any comment, and my friend's comment was there is a weird difference, he didn't know how to say more. I wasn't there to compare at the shop, so he took some samples back.
Yesterday, we had a side by side test with 3 other friends. We tasted 5 infusions. Conclusion is: There is slightly different in flavor and after taste in every infusion. Sometimes the cheaper one better, sometimes the more expensive is better. But at the 5th infusion, we think the cheaper one tend to be a tiny little bit better. It could be because the volume of tea is slightly more (we didn't have a weighing machine). But anyhow, all of us think that both the tea is quite similar and the more expensive tea price does not justify the price difference.
I told my friend, my point: Don't be a fan boy and pass judgment that other shop's tea that is cheaper may be lesser good than his fav tea shop
To answer the poll above, my reply would be Yes. I wouldn't mind paying more even knowing that my fav tea shop is more expensive. But the amount must not be a ridiculous amount. If for some particular items, it maybe more expensive I can understand, but if a lot of items are expensive and I find out... then time to make new friend elsewhere
Last edited by auhckw on Aug 10th, '10, 04:20, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Would you pay slightly more?
*laugh* great story! I'm glad you decided to do a side-by-side comparison.
I'm w/ puerhking on this one... I might tolerate a 50% difference on small sales, especially if I were at a nice store (or had good repor or discussions w/ the owner).
But when I go to make a big order (say, $100+), I would definitely consider getting more tea for my dollar (quality being equal).
I'm w/ puerhking on this one... I might tolerate a 50% difference on small sales, especially if I were at a nice store (or had good repor or discussions w/ the owner).
But when I go to make a big order (say, $100+), I would definitely consider getting more tea for my dollar (quality being equal).
Aug 10th, '10, 01:52
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Re: Would you pay slightly more?
I have certainly paid more on occasion for teas from a known source. If I want that same source to stay in business to find and share more great teas with me, I need to give him my business. I'm also coming to have an idea of how my palate compares to that of some of the merchants I've dealt with multiple times, so that I can more accurately predict how I will respond to a tea based on their description.
But paying ridiculous prices that no one else will support is not realistic either.
But paying ridiculous prices that no one else will support is not realistic either.