What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?
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I was doing some server builds for 2x R740's and an R640. I spec'd everything out using Dell's website based on our needs and noted the retail price. I then sent my builds to my Dell VAR who of course quoted me ballpark -$1,000 than the retail price. Then, just now, I happened to think of xByte again and I went through and selected the exact same build and the price difference going through xByte is AT LEAST $16,000 LESS total. What gives???!
I know the stuff at xByte is "refurb" which does not mean used in this case. I just thought it was stuff that was maybe a bit older and that Dell no longer supported. But I see that xByte on these servers that I just checked out also offer the exact same Dell ProSupport options as the Dell website. So it's like essentially the same thing as going through Dell, just not as insanely expensive.
So this seems like one of those things that seems too good to be true... or maybe it's that my Dell VAR is ripping us off... I don't know. Obviously, if I can get equipment that is just as good as the stuff I'd get going through my Dell VAR and I get Dell ProSupport options, then I would be going through xByte for sure.
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Answered my own question from their "Why Refurb" section:
When a Dell customer places an order, the company sends the order to an assembly line to be built, packaged and shipped. Technicians pick the necessary parts and send them to the assembly line, along with parts for the hundreds of other orders being fulfilled that day. If a customer changes or cancels their order, rather than bring the line to a stop, Dell finishes the build and sells the equipment at a discount. When this process happens, the machine is labeled refurbished.
This means that many of the refurbished machines sold by xByte Technologies are not just refurbished, they’ve never been in production. Often times with a refurbished server, you receive the benefit of never used equipment at a significant cost savings by taking advantage of the realities of made to order manufacturing.
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So the difference is what Dell (new) is willing to let go of the equipment and what Certified Referb gets you.
The equipment from xByte could've been used as a demo unit, open box or ordered incorrectly and returned.
xByte is a way better value than purchasing direct. Especially since you can get a 3 or 5 year warranty.
I'll actually be having this argument within a few days I bet. . .
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Look at this deal. . . http://www.xbyte.com/hw/xbyte-specials/r720xd-special-opt-4.html
That's amazing.
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@dustinb3403 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
So the difference is what Dell (new) is willing to let go of the equipment and what Certified Referb gets you.
The equipment from xByte could've been used as a demo unit, open box or ordered incorrectly and returned.
xByte is a way better value than purchasing direct. Especially since you can get a 3 or 5 year warranty.
I'll actually be having this argument within a few days I bet. . .
Yeah I see that now. I've been working on server builds, price quote comparrisons and spreadsheets for weeks now and I've only just seen the xByte stuff and we have a presentation tomorrow for a request to spend money on a much needed server refresh. Having the xbyte prices in there is going to make things look really good.
I think I will go through xbyte even if my VAR tells me they can match their prices...
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@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
I think I will go through xbyte even if my VAR tells me they can match their prices...
They can't. That is not how it works.
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@jaredbusch said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
I think I will go through xbyte even if my VAR tells me they can match their prices...
They can't. That is not how it works.
Well actually one time my VAR matched the exact refurb prices that I was going to get from xbyte like last minute. I got like 5x Dell N series switches brand new for refurb price - which was like $2,500 each instead of the $7k or w/e they were when I was buying them.
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@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@jaredbusch said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
I think I will go through xbyte even if my VAR tells me they can match their prices...
They can't. That is not how it works.
Well actually one time my VAR matched the exact refurb prices that I was going to get from xbyte like last minute. I got like 5x Dell N series switches brand new for refurb price - which was like $2,500 each instead of the $7k or w/e they were when I was buying them.
You very likely got the same equipment pool that xbyte sells.
New but never used. A VAR can't match the price.
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@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dustinb3403 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
So the difference is what Dell (new) is willing to let go of the equipment and what Certified Referb gets you.
The equipment from xByte could've been used as a demo unit, open box or ordered incorrectly and returned.
xByte is a way better value than purchasing direct. Especially since you can get a 3 or 5 year warranty.
I'll actually be having this argument within a few days I bet. . .
Yeah I see that now. I've been working on server builds, price quote comparrisons and spreadsheets for weeks now and I've only just seen the xByte stuff and we have a presentation tomorrow for a request to spend money on a much needed server refresh. Having the xbyte prices in there is going to make things look really good.
I think I will go through xbyte even if my VAR tells me they can match their prices...
You're VAR would lose a fortune to do that as they don't have access to xBytes equipment. The only way your VAR could do that is if they bought from xByte themselves, and sold to you.
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@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@jaredbusch said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
I think I will go through xbyte even if my VAR tells me they can match their prices...
They can't. That is not how it works.
Well actually one time my VAR matched the exact refurb prices that I was going to get from xbyte like last minute. I got like 5x Dell N series switches brand new for refurb price - which was like $2,500 each instead of the $7k or w/e they were when I was buying them.
They can take a loss if they want, most likely they were just having xByte deliver them directly and not marking them up.
But here is a simple rule... if you need your VAR to match a better price somewhere else, your VAR is making you do extra work and burn other relationships up front to lock you in. You waste time and effort (that's money) and other vendors won't keep quoting you good prices if you don't then buy from them. Tricking you into raising the price from other vendors is how price matching works out for your VAR.
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@scottalanmiller said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dustinb3403 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
So the difference is what Dell (new) is willing to let go of the equipment and what Certified Referb gets you.
The equipment from xByte could've been used as a demo unit, open box or ordered incorrectly and returned.
xByte is a way better value than purchasing direct. Especially since you can get a 3 or 5 year warranty.
I'll actually be having this argument within a few days I bet. . .
Yeah I see that now. I've been working on server builds, price quote comparrisons and spreadsheets for weeks now and I've only just seen the xByte stuff and we have a presentation tomorrow for a request to spend money on a much needed server refresh. Having the xbyte prices in there is going to make things look really good.
I think I will go through xbyte even if my VAR tells me they can match their prices...
You're VAR would lose a fortune to do that as they don't have access to xBytes equipment. The only way your VAR could do that is if they bought from xByte themselves, and sold to you.
Which would still mean they'd have to mark up the pricing to make any money. Which wouldn't beat the price or match the price that xByte has. . .
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@dustinb3403 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@scottalanmiller said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dustinb3403 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
So the difference is what Dell (new) is willing to let go of the equipment and what Certified Referb gets you.
The equipment from xByte could've been used as a demo unit, open box or ordered incorrectly and returned.
xByte is a way better value than purchasing direct. Especially since you can get a 3 or 5 year warranty.
I'll actually be having this argument within a few days I bet. . .
Yeah I see that now. I've been working on server builds, price quote comparrisons and spreadsheets for weeks now and I've only just seen the xByte stuff and we have a presentation tomorrow for a request to spend money on a much needed server refresh. Having the xbyte prices in there is going to make things look really good.
I think I will go through xbyte even if my VAR tells me they can match their prices...
You're VAR would lose a fortune to do that as they don't have access to xBytes equipment. The only way your VAR could do that is if they bought from xByte themselves, and sold to you.
Which would still mean they'd have to mark up the pricing to make any money. Which wouldn't beat the price or match the price that xByte has. . .
But they don't have to mark up the price, they only have to convince you to burn your bridges.
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Not all sales tactics are about making money right this second, a smart salesman is going to lead you to where he makes money "eventually". A VAR knowing they are about to lose a customer will almost always do something drastic to retain you, and price matching is an easy one. It sounds like they are doing you a favour and makes it feel like a good thing to do, when it almost never is good to do at all. It makes the customer into the bad guy and burns relationships on both ends.
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@scottalanmiller said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dustinb3403 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@scottalanmiller said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dustinb3403 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
So the difference is what Dell (new) is willing to let go of the equipment and what Certified Referb gets you.
The equipment from xByte could've been used as a demo unit, open box or ordered incorrectly and returned.
xByte is a way better value than purchasing direct. Especially since you can get a 3 or 5 year warranty.
I'll actually be having this argument within a few days I bet. . .
Yeah I see that now. I've been working on server builds, price quote comparrisons and spreadsheets for weeks now and I've only just seen the xByte stuff and we have a presentation tomorrow for a request to spend money on a much needed server refresh. Having the xbyte prices in there is going to make things look really good.
I think I will go through xbyte even if my VAR tells me they can match their prices...
You're VAR would lose a fortune to do that as they don't have access to xBytes equipment. The only way your VAR could do that is if they bought from xByte themselves, and sold to you.
Which would still mean they'd have to mark up the pricing to make any money. Which wouldn't beat the price or match the price that xByte has. . .
But they don't have to mark up the price, they only have to convince you to burn your bridges.
This is true. . .
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@scottalanmiller said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@jaredbusch said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
I think I will go through xbyte even if my VAR tells me they can match their prices...
They can't. That is not how it works.
Well actually one time my VAR matched the exact refurb prices that I was going to get from xbyte like last minute. I got like 5x Dell N series switches brand new for refurb price - which was like $2,500 each instead of the $7k or w/e they were when I was buying them.
They can take a loss if they want, most likely they were just having xByte deliver them directly and not marking them up.
But here is a simple rule... if you need your VAR to match a better price somewhere else, your VAR is making you do extra work and burn other relationships up front to lock you in. You waste time and effort (that's money) and other vendors won't keep quoting you good prices if you don't then buy from them. Tricking you into raising the price from other vendors is how price matching works out for your VAR.
I don't understand this part: "Tricking you into raising the price from other vendors is how price matching works out for your VAR."
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@scottalanmiller said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
Not all sales tactics are about making money right this second, a smart salesman is going to lead you to where he makes money "eventually". A VAR knowing they are about to lose a customer will almost always do something drastic to retain you, and price matching is an easy one. It sounds like they are doing you a favour and makes it feel like a good thing to do, when it almost never is good to do at all. It makes the customer into the bad guy and burns relationships on both ends.
Yeah I got that feeling a little bit and I am careful not to burn bridges.
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@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@scottalanmiller said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@jaredbusch said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
I think I will go through xbyte even if my VAR tells me they can match their prices...
They can't. That is not how it works.
Well actually one time my VAR matched the exact refurb prices that I was going to get from xbyte like last minute. I got like 5x Dell N series switches brand new for refurb price - which was like $2,500 each instead of the $7k or w/e they were when I was buying them.
They can take a loss if they want, most likely they were just having xByte deliver them directly and not marking them up.
But here is a simple rule... if you need your VAR to match a better price somewhere else, your VAR is making you do extra work and burn other relationships up front to lock you in. You waste time and effort (that's money) and other vendors won't keep quoting you good prices if you don't then buy from them. Tricking you into raising the price from other vendors is how price matching works out for your VAR.
I don't understand this part: "Tricking you into raising the price from other vendors is how price matching works out for your VAR."
Your VAR is making you find the best price, and then swooping in and saying OKAY, I'll let it go for $X cheaper.
It's essentially them not taking any risk and getting all of the reward, while locking you into that single vendor. Since no one else will ever want to quote you anything, since you never purchase from them.
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@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@scottalanmiller said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@jaredbusch said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
I think I will go through xbyte even if my VAR tells me they can match their prices...
They can't. That is not how it works.
Well actually one time my VAR matched the exact refurb prices that I was going to get from xbyte like last minute. I got like 5x Dell N series switches brand new for refurb price - which was like $2,500 each instead of the $7k or w/e they were when I was buying them.
They can take a loss if they want, most likely they were just having xByte deliver them directly and not marking them up.
But here is a simple rule... if you need your VAR to match a better price somewhere else, your VAR is making you do extra work and burn other relationships up front to lock you in. You waste time and effort (that's money) and other vendors won't keep quoting you good prices if you don't then buy from them. Tricking you into raising the price from other vendors is how price matching works out for your VAR.
I don't understand this part: "Tricking you into raising the price from other vendors is how price matching works out for your VAR."
The vendor is convincing you to go get good prices from other people. Those people are providing good prices in the hopes of earning your business by being better. Your vendor then convinces you that even though the new vendor treated you better, to stick with them. Your old vendor (the price matcher) now knows that you aren't loyal and will shop around, so they know it's time to "drive to the bottom" and lower prices by lowering service. The new vendor (the one giving you a good price) gets taught that doing a good job for you gets them nowhere and getting you a good quote is a waste of resources, so they will stop doing so and just start quoting rack rates, because you are just wasting their time.
"Shopping around" for prices is a dangerous game unless you are just looking up public web prices. But a VAR, by definition, is not about price but about services. If you care about price, then using a VAR is a mistake every time. You want a pure reseller who isn't marking up to add services to the product. Yes, in IT we need to ensure our prices are good. But you can't get good prices by going around to everyone and getting quotes, it will feel like you are getting good prices, but the products are not directly comparable and the best prices exist only for loyal customers with good relationships.
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@dustinb3403 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@scottalanmiller said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@jaredbusch said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
@dave247 said in What's with the massive price difference between Dell VAR prices vs xByte prices??!?:
I think I will go through xbyte even if my VAR tells me they can match their prices...
They can't. That is not how it works.
Well actually one time my VAR matched the exact refurb prices that I was going to get from xbyte like last minute. I got like 5x Dell N series switches brand new for refurb price - which was like $2,500 each instead of the $7k or w/e they were when I was buying them.
They can take a loss if they want, most likely they were just having xByte deliver them directly and not marking them up.
But here is a simple rule... if you need your VAR to match a better price somewhere else, your VAR is making you do extra work and burn other relationships up front to lock you in. You waste time and effort (that's money) and other vendors won't keep quoting you good prices if you don't then buy from them. Tricking you into raising the price from other vendors is how price matching works out for your VAR.
I don't understand this part: "Tricking you into raising the price from other vendors is how price matching works out for your VAR."
Your VAR is making you find the best price, and then swooping in and saying OKAY, I'll let it go for $X cheaper.
It's essentially them not taking any risk and getting all of the reward, while locking you into that single vendor. Since no one else will ever want to quote you anything, since you never purchase from them.
And those other vendors learn you area bad customer - looking for the lowest price and not sticking around to be a customer. Once they learn you aren't ever going to be a good customer, there is no reason for them to try to win you over or do a good job - because they know that doing a good job for you doesn't earn loyalty. If you don't care if they do a good job, why would they?
