no longer welcome Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 We have all heard about the tax increases for April, right. Well some of the manufacturers have decided to jump on the FU band wagon as well, meaning they think this is the perfect time to jack anyone they can. We could expect no less from SB as they have raised wholesale prices but not retail, so you do the math, our wholesale prices go up in addition to taxes going up but the price is supposed to remain to you guys $19.99, and anyone online is able to bring the price lower due to the nature of competition. Well, I for one will be clearing out all of my SB inventory as planned, however today I got news that Nakhla is doing the same thing. In addition to taxes raising our prices, now Nakhla has decided to increase as well. Get ready for $10 a box Nakhla folks.Sorry folks, taxes are one thing and raising prices is another. If the tobacco companies would raise their prices at a time other than when we are getting a tax raise it would ease the pain, don't you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchard Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Capitalism ftl. Well, I guess I did see it coming. The retail (and I would assume wholesale in relation) prices of everything have been on the rise. It sucks, but I understand. Gotta make every penny you can in tough times. I'll still pay 10 bucks a box for Nakhla. I definitely won't be ordering as much, but I still will be forced to pick up my favorites. As i expect retail prices of SB to rise, I have one more reason not to buy that sugar coated poo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shisha fan Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 QUOTE (HookahJohn @ Mar 17 2009, 05:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Get ready for $10 a box Nakhla folks.thats still reasonable to me, considering the price for officially imported and taxed nakhla over here (22 euros or 29 dollars for 250g). anyway, the tax-raise on tobacco (even though i oppose it as a hookah connoiseur) is just another incentive to smoke less. i already quit smoking cigarettes among other things two months ago and i really notice i`m starting to taste more of the flavors and feel alot fitter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Oh no!!!!!! You were my go to guy for Starbuzz, always having the best prices. No one could touch your 3-pack deal!!! What am I to do now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchard Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 QUOTE (FSUReligionMan @ Mar 17 2009, 10:32 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Oh no!!!!!! You were my go to guy for Starbuzz, always having the best prices. No one could touch your 3-pack deal!!! What am I to do now Start smoking something better Well even after price hikes, if he still does the three pack you'll still probably get one of the better deals on SB you will find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 IMO There is nothing better than SB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a cliche affair Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 John, can we expect all tobacco prices to go up? Or mainly just nak and SB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuburbanSmoker Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 guess now would be the time to stock up on nakhla. thanks for the heads up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryno Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Dang! I get my Nakhla about an hour away here at school and the other day it was on 3.99 a 250g! I sure hope theirs doesnt go up, but I spose it could a few bucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny_D Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 A whole $10?However will you cope. Been paying $30 ish for yearsYour starting too see the true cost now that profit cannot be made via volumeApart from starbuzz, which has allways been overpriced shit.JD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybersist Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 ill go ahead and stretch my legs and back then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookah hippie Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 perfect timing finally able to purchase wholesale and the price rises Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColibriDon Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Not that big of a deal I guess but still...it's annoying. I smoke Nakhla a lot and I buy a lot so this is going to sting a little more, now. Oh well. What else are we going to do...stop smoking? hahahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HellCat Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 SOLUTIONS Grow your own tobacco. There are quite a few websites and forums about this fun, safe and legal topicGrow cheaper herbs that you can flavor Bend over and take it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattarios2 Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 funny, we were just talking in chat last night how nakhla was easily the biggest bang for your buck. Then again, even at 8-10 per 250g i still think it will be the best bang for your buck. I am most likely gonna stop buying fusion b/c of all this going on it will easily be 18-20 per 250g. 15.00 + discount was reasonable, but after this i doubt it will stay the same price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voski Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Hookah is still a lot cheaper then smoking cigarettes. I wonder what lounge prices are going to go up to. I can see some local places charging $25 for a bowl of starbuzz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newjacksm Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 That sucks, I think Eric said that he is also raising the price of Tangiers too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redjako Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Utah fusion and tangiers have always been 20 bucks. Starbuzz 13-15.Agggh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erufiku Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Bad news... what are we looking at in terms of Tangiers price hike? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voski Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 QUOTE (erufiku @ Mar 17 2009, 02:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Bad news... what are we looking at in terms of Tangiers price hike?I think Eric said like $1/250g. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchard Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 I believe that one dollar price increase was related to the new taxes, not just a price hike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilikemyusername Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 so SB is going up again, nobody in my hookah circle is going to lose any sleep over that one.I'm with JD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonthert Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 No, I think what Hookah John is saying...hmm. Look at it this way. Starbuzz wholesales for $42/Kg. Retailers sell it for $80/Kg. The markup is 90%. Starbuzz's wholesale price is going up, lets say $4, which is slightly less than the tax increase, so the Starbuzz will be still selling for $80/Kg, now the retailers will only have a 73% markup. So, in a sense, Starbuzz is making the retailers eat the increase in tax rate. You might see retailers break out and sell it for more than $20 to maintain the very reasonable 90%-100% markup level, you might see retailers dump Starbuzz, like John is doing. It wouldn't be unusual for a manufacturer/importer to buildup a brand on internet sales and slice margins until retailers had no interest in selling it, while the manufacturer/importer themselves were selling it. Get the public buying it and then cut out the retailers. Thats why I don't sell Tangiers from my own website...to prevent any misconstruing my intentions to support your retailers that you like to do business with and make sure they are putting food on their family's table. Al Fahker does this to some degree and Mya does it a lot. I always felt its a little shifty to start a business based on one distribution principle and then change it, thats also why I distribute all my own stuff. To me, the guys you buy from are our partners in hookah. they need to pay rent, have some money to eat with, etc. a 90-100% margin is more than reasonable for an internet retailer and 150% for a brick and mortar retailer. I sell my tobacco for more than it costs me to make it/acquire it, same for the retailers. Most brands aren't in a position to demand retailers take a cut in margins, like Starbuzz can, so expect the prices on just about everything else to go up. I've been holding off increasing my price for 9 months or so now, a couple of things went up in price, so the $3.80/Kg increase in taxes and then $1.20/Kg increase because of the price of molasses, bags and raw tobacco. $5/Kg is going to look like $1.25/ 250g package for Tangiers, for a lot of guys its going to look like about $1/ 250g....for the end user its not that much, for the government screwing us over and collecting back taxes, it looks real bad. Thats why Hookah John and others guys are stressed out, the government wants to come back and collect money for all the tobacco thats been sold since January 1st...even though we only collected taxes at the lower rate, so the manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers are going to have to pay that increase in taxes out of their own pockets. Its going to amount to somewhere around $2000 for me. Big guys like H-S might have to shell out $10,000! So, essentially, between Starbuzz and the government, the internet retailer is taking from two directions, hence John's frustration.For the record, I've increased prices before, as the prices I have to pay went up. I try to not be itchy and raise prices every time something goes up in price, like 6 months ago when glycerine tripled in price. I sat tight and the price has gone down to its lowest point in a long time, but sometimes the price has to go up. Its the nature of having an inflation rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookah hippie Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 Just what we need to boost the economy a raise in the price of tobacco when people are broke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erufiku Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 So less than $2 price hike on Tangiers? Sold I mean if Nakhla if gonna cost 10$ and Tangiers is gonna be around $14... it's a no brainer for me.I don't know about SB though. I think for a lot of people 20$/250g is very near the maximum price they're willing to pay.PS: how can they increase a tax from Apr 1 and then demand the retailers pay Jan-Mar as well? I mean, laws don't work "backwards", so I assumed it's the same for taxes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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