Pelco, Is This The Worst Promotion Ever?

JH
John Honovich
Feb 09, 2015
IPVM

Maybe there is some time machine to 2005, but I am truly dumbfounded about the 'savings' being offered here.

Take a look.

This is a promotion from 123SecurityProducts but does reflect general Pelco pricing:


A DVR for $5,000 on sale? What kind of offer is that?

An extra TB of storage for $1,999? In 2015?

If someone could explain to me why anyone would take this offer, I'd be most appreciative.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Feb 09, 2015

They're stuck in the "we build surveillance equipment" twilight zone from the 80s... They like so many other OEMs (cough Bosch.. cough Honeywell) think that their "computers" are unaffected by trends in the computer market. The market deflation in PC prices should be to a certain extent reflected in the surveillance pc market as well. Any savvy errr customer with google search can see right through their overinflated marketing. I see it a lot, buy a $20,000 system get a free camera... I'm thinking so you want me to fork over $20,000 so that you can give me a "free" $150 1.3mp dome? That'd be like going to a car dealership and the dealership giving you free floor mats.

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Jon Dillabaugh
Feb 09, 2015
Pro Focus LLC

LOL beat me to it. I just posted the same sad ad...

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Michael Budalich
Feb 09, 2015
Genetec

Just another example of how Pelco has their heads up their ass.

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SP
Sean Patton
Feb 09, 2015

lol can someone explain how a 4TB Windows XP box with a 16 channel analog card, could possibly cost over $11,000? If you can explain how it could cost more than $2000... I bow down.

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MI
Matt Ion
Feb 09, 2015

Start by explaining how each TB of storage is worth $2k extra!

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U
Undisclosed #4
Feb 09, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Wait a sec, that's not even 2k a terabyte...

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JH
John Honovich
Feb 09, 2015
IPVM

Right but Pelco needs a 300% markup, remember Pelco is, according to Pelco, "the premier camera company ever', and that 'Pelco was like saying Jello'.

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Ari Erenthal
Feb 09, 2015
Chesapeake & Midlantic

Pelco stickers cost $9,000.

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U
Undisclosed #2
Feb 09, 2015

'Open Box' stickers are only $7000 - While Supplies Last!

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U
Undisclosed #2
Feb 09, 2015

"While Supplies Last!"

- quick, someone get me a phone!

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Feb 09, 2015

Here you can use mine!

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UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #3
Feb 09, 2015

If someone could explain to me why anyone would take this offer, I'd be most appreciative.

If you buy more than 5 you get a free trip to Clovis on a private jet? :)

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JH
John Honovich
Feb 09, 2015
IPVM

I was wondering when someone was going to make a Pelco jet reference...

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U
Undisclosed #5
Feb 09, 2015

If you buy more than 5 you get a free trip to Clovis on a private jet? :)

Is a trip to Clovis reward, or punishment?

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #6
Feb 09, 2015

Clovis, NM? punishment

Clovis, CA? less of a punishment

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U
Undisclosed #5
Feb 09, 2015

I don't know about you, I've been to Clovis, CA. A free trip is certainly not what I would consider an award of any sort.

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JH
John Honovich
Feb 09, 2015
IPVM

I know Pelco is getting the brunt of this, but one has to wonder why did 123securityproducts.com think this was a good idea? Are their customers really interested in $5,000 - 10,000 DVRs?

A few weeks ago, they promoted a Cantek HDTVI 16 channel DVR for $432 and now they went with an SD analog DVR at 10x the price? Were they doing this as a inside joke against Pelco?

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Jon Dillabaugh
Feb 09, 2015
Pro Focus LLC

My best guess is this was a promo by Pelco and 123 received ad revenue. They made them out to be open box in order to justify the price drop, just in case any real Pelco customers were watching.

TC
Trisha (Chris' wife) Dearing
Feb 09, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Believe it or not people will buy stuff at prices like this with a straight face. Especially if it is a 'fair' price for the exact model in question. Consider a large system that already has ten of these beasts and needs to replace just one ailing one.

Sure, there are many cheaper ways to do it, but for large corporations it's easier to justify $5000 in extra materials cost than to recommission the system and retrain if necessary.

In ten years you have replaced them all... Then they replace you and the new guy comes in with the new system and starts the cycle all over again.

p.s. Worked with a normally low margin VAR years back, but who intentionally had several items with ridiculous prices listed online. If someone actually bought one of the 'flytraps', *I am not making this up*, a siren went off, and the office adjourned to the pub next door.

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JH
John Honovich
Feb 09, 2015
IPVM

Yes, I believe that there are some existing users who have standardized on this model and will buy them as replacements but that's an extremely small segment of their mass email list.

An online marketer needs to balance attracting such a micro-segment with burning your email list on such an offer.

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SM
Stephanie Mayes
Feb 10, 2015

[Note: Poster is from Pelco]

This ad/promotion is not a Pelco generated or sponsored advertisement. Pelco customers are free to market Pelco products in line with their business needs. Pelco has a MAP policy, much like the majority of our competitors, with the goal of protecting our dealers and distributors in the channel. We do our very best to ensure any advertising to the end customer does not reflect a pricing structure meant for our partners. The pricing in this promotion complies with Pelco’s published MAP policy.

In addition, the DX8116 is an older product that is no longer available direct from Pelco; however, Pelco is committed to support these products.

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U
Undisclosed #4
Feb 11, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Stephanie, what I hear you saying is:

  1. We had nothing to do with this particular ad.
  2. We do not have a maximum price.
  3. We DO have a minimum price.
  4. This product is priced at or above that minimum.
  5. This price is nothing like what a Dealer would actually have to pay.
  6. Discontinued does not imply discounted

Is that a fair reading?

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SM
Stephanie Mayes
Feb 11, 2015

Yes to all your points except #3.

3 – Our MAP policy is a Minimum Advertised Price policy. So not exactly equivalent to stating we have a minimum price.

U
Undisclosed #4
Feb 11, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Right. No minimum price, just minimum advertised.

Do your products have a MSRP?

JH
John Honovich
Feb 11, 2015
IPVM

Yes, and pretty much every surveillance manufacturer I have ever seen has an MSRP. The main differences is how much they discount off of MSRP: Surveillance Pricing: MSRP and Discounts

U
Undisclosed #4
Feb 12, 2015
IPVMU Certified

My point being that if 123Security was selling over MSRP that would certainly be cause for condemnation. But based on the various Pelco price lists I see they are probably around half MSRP. But don't quote me on that because I can't find an official MSRP Price list, that's why I asked.

Nor are they the even the highest price out there, B&H has the same 4TB model, closed box, at $14,116 vs 123Security at $12,372, closed box.

And though you are right that

An online marketer needs to balance attracting such a micro-segment with burning your email list on such an offer

and that's good advice, but I don't know enough about them to know whether they are out of balance. Like how much Pelco they sell or what Spif was involved. And at the end of the day, it may just be a bad business decision. So I think it reflects more on Pelco than 123, that's all.

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Kevin Bennett
Feb 16, 2015

I can buy a Dell PE R720xd with 40TB storage, two additional flex bay drives for OS, 16GB RAM, and 1GB PERC card for about the same price (or less) than that "open box" Pelco with 1/10 the storage capacity. I can find no sound business reason (for my application) to go with the Pelco or any other similarly priced and spec'd equipment.

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Christopher Freeman
Mar 02, 2015

In this market place where pretty much all is open and visable to the internet you have to be pretty straight forward.

To display adds like this sets pelco back in the market place

For a proprietary replacement or repair where the end user, dealer cannot go elsewhere you would get what ever you asked ( to a pt.) But that being said this is not the case.

Who ever is doing thier marketing and promotions is not paying attention to the market place.

It is too easy to replace items today than to get ripped off by a fast paced salesman or rep firm .

The backlash will always come back to haunt you. ( Pelco ) used to be a great name, product, on the cutting edge.

With the products so easily accessable and the internet so easy to run comparisons, why would you stay with this kind of treatment unless your in a ( just because your family situation (loyalty no matter what the cost ))

Servers anywhere ( 2k to 4 k ) fully loaded with 4-6 tbyte ( raid 0,1,3,5 ) compatable

Cameras fully loaded ( 200 to 800 fully loaded with just about any feature you want .

market place is saturated with competition , low cost to over priced.

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