Hi,
I'm managing the Stirling Broadcast sales - so here's an explaination !
Before I start I'll just say that I received a pair of V3s and AB-2s for updating their website, but I did spend several hundred on software to do it, plus time spent on it. I'm getting nothing for all the work I've done on getting stuff retested and ready for sale (11 days at the workshop so far, when I sleep over it's on the kitchen floor in my sleeping bag) and I've driven over 800 miles so far visiting the workshop. I am doing all the main work on this, his neighbour Steve will probably help with or do the listings and dipatches later once things are running more smoothly.
My incentive has to be to help Doug as he is having health issues, and to get those V3s sold, and the AB-2s where possible as I think the combination is extremely good. I originally visited to pick up some records I had lent Doug years ago, and to get his help repairing some LS3/5as I have, but those repairs are on hold with all this other stuff going on. I'm not getting any commission on sales either.
So if you look at the updated website at
www.stirlingbroadcast.com and the sales page you will see the actual prices Doug is asking for the V3s, and V2s, and the other speakers.
Namely :
LS3/6 : £2625 ex-VAT, £3150 inclusive of VAT*
SB88 : £1916.66 ex-VAT, £2300 inclusive of VAT*
LS3/5a V3 : £1208.33 ex-VAT, £1450 inclusive of VAT*
LS3/5a V2 : £916.66 ex-VAT, £1100 inclusive of VAT*
AB-2 : £583.33 ex-VAT, £700 inclusive of VAT*
So the V3s are at £1208.33 without any UK VAT, which is a pretty big reduction from what they were priced at, and about £412 ex-VAT cheaper than the Chartwell LS3/5a from Graham Audio.
My reasoning at picking that price point was that the V2 is now priced at £704.17 ex-VAT less than the Graham Audio LS3/5a and I've seen several comments comparing the two and preferring the V2.
The crossover upgrade from the V2 to the V3 is pretty substantial (1.2Kg in weight increase per speaker) and is only a little less than the price difference between the V2 and V3. The combination of V3 and AB-2 at the new prices is about the same as the Graham LS3/5a.
We've got just over 40 pairs of V3s in stock, and about 145 pairs of V2s which I am hoping to convert to V3s for sale if the current V3s sell well. We could also sell an upgrade kit for V2s already sold. For either of those we would have to buy some more crossovers though.
What's happening with ebay at the moment is that I am servicing sales enquiries that we have had to the website, which, unless they are in the UK, we sell only through eBay so we can use their global sales program, as it is a lot less hassle to manage than using the normal couriers, although I am starting to rethink that a bit because of issues with UK VAT.
So I am creating listings for the speakers that people have requested, but pricing them very high so that nobody else presses the Buy It Now button. The multiples are 3-6 times the correct price, and the person who wants to buy then send me an offer at the corrected price, which I accept and the sale goes through. Taxes and shipping on the auction page are listed as too high, but when the person makes the lower offer, the correct figures are shown.
For normal sales, where there is no requesting buyer via the website, I will be listing at the prices shown on the website, and above.
I am also having a problem with UK VAT on listings.
In theory I specify the VAT rate on my auction and when the items are listed in the EU eBay will adjust the amount to remove the UK VAT and apply the correct tax for that country, which it collects. I have yet to be able to get this to work, and so I have been creating more highly priced listings and viewing other ebay sites through VPNs in order to try and figure it out. Talking to ebay support hasn't helped so far.
But even if I get that to work then sales to countries outside the EU, like the US, will still have the UK VAT on, which is not correct. As I don't want to have two listings for each item, one with VAT on and one not, I think I will have to leave the VAT on and then instruct buyers from outside the EU to submit an offer for the amount divided by 1.2 to correct for tax (and correct the shipping/local taxes).
There's also a thing called eBayMag for listing on multiple sites, but that also looks too complicated and I am also not sure if we can use the global shipping program with it.
Note that I am testing each pair of speakers using Omnimic V2 before sale, in order to reduce the likelyhood of problems found after shipping.
The warranty period has been reduced from 5 years to 1 to avoid the need to keep Stirling Broadcast running for 5 years after the final sale.
However I didn't want to restart sales unless there was a good stock of spare drivers and crossovers in stock ready to service any warranty claims or service requests outside of the warranty period.
This is the case, there are quite a few trays of the high frequency drivers and several dozen of the SEAS bass drivers available, either on the shelf or built into baffles that can't be sold as there are no more LS3/5a cabinets in stock. Recent LS3/5as have used a different bass unit, and crossover to match, and there are even more of these in stock. I've not taken an inventory, but I will do.
This is also the case for the SB-88 and LS3/6 loudspeakers and spare parts/drivers. For these speakers there are also several cabinets waiting to be built up. We are short on LS3/6 grills but I think I have found somewhere that will make some.
So the only issue going forward is what happens if Stirling Broadcast closes down and the factory is sold. In this case we will make sure that these drivers/parts are put into storage somewhere so service requests can be dealt with for the duration that there are spare parts.
If I have to take over this part then I might end up with some financial interest in it, and also if the plan to convert V2 to V3s is executed as that will be laborious.
