Difference in Prices

System
System Posts: 2,511 admin
in General Solar Power Topics #1
Why do different dealers seem to have different prices. So the panels do not have a MSRP and the individual dealer pics the profit level and price point.
***e Solar has the SUNTECH STP180-24/Ab-1 and the 175 both for four dollars a watt in stock. Is this a unregulated market as far as price? Is it up to the individual retailers...and if so is their much room to bargin?

I understand Wind/Sun runs this board so I will not fully mention the "other" company
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  • lukey
    lukey Registered Users Posts: 21 ✭
    #2
    Re: Difference in Prices

    The difference in price of solar panels really depends on three things: Quality of the panel, purchase power of the distributor and where that particular distributor is located in the chain. If they do not purchase directly from the manufacturer, but from another distributor who already has the panel marked up, it makes the panel more expensive when you purchase it from a third or fourth party.

    The retail prices of some distributors is actually ridiculous. Do not depend on the internet solar store pricing. They really do not reflect the actual prices of the market.

    Do a little research into other distributors and do not depend solely on distributors in your general area.

    Luke

    P.S.- Availability also plays a role in pricing
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  • nigtomdaw
    nigtomdaw Solar Expert Posts: 705 ✭✭
    #3
    Re: Difference in Prices

    What Lukey says is correct, we all live in a market driven economy. and RRP is just that a reccomended retail price. You must factor in the service that the vendor provides as well as just the price. Box shifters can always be cheaper but what support service do they give when warranty claims come arround. If I had a local supplier who offered a good service warranty backup then I would pay a relative premium for that support.

    You have choices to spend your hard earned cash where and how you want its just a balance of choice that you make, dependant on your location, technical ability, risk assesment of supplier, shipment costs and damage liability, product choice, performance, availability, desireability ,manufacturer warranty and reputation, cosmetic seconds , 2nd user and so on.

    I live in Spain and we end up paying twice as much for equipment than USA on most renewable energy equipment. Just the way it goes in a free market economy.
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  • Windsun
    Windsun Solar Expert Posts: 1,164 ✭✭
    #4
    Re: Difference in Prices

    The SunTech panels are kind of a freakish deal.

    And if you look around, you will notice that very few other dealers are selling them anymore, and many that do have some for sale (like us) are on close out sales. We will no longer carry them once our stock is out. One dealers cartoon about it

    That other company you did not mention is generally regarded in the solar industry as a total nut case. He has over 500 total junk websites, a fake distribution company that buys as a distributor, then "moves" them to their retail store and lowballs them at retail.

    If you follow his website you will notice that there are a lot of panels and a lot of brands that he does not carry. He has been blacklisted by at least a couple of manufacturers. He may say in some cases that they "don't meet his standards", but the word from the grapevine among dealer/distributors is that he has been cut off not by his choice.

    He made a deal with the US SunTech sales rep to buy a bunch of panels claiming to be a distributor, and is now blowing them out at prices that no other dealer can match. That also means that no other solar distributor can sell any to dealers, so SunTech has basically locked itself into one single outlet in the US as nearly all other dealers are boycotting them.

    The solar industry is in a bit of flux right now. Even with the solar hype and increased sales, some dealers and distributors are going under or being swallowed up. This is the boom phase of the solar cycle, so a lot of not very smart money is floating around looking for some place to "invest". And a lot of new manufacturers are moving in trying to find a spot, especially the Chinese solar companies, like SunTech.

    And another thing you have to be aware of is that many companies on the internet do not update their sites very often, so a lot of prices are badly out of date. It is not hard to find companies that still list panels and inverters and such that were discontinued years ago.

    We have seen this now about 6 times, and for every boom there has been a bust. As far as I know we are the only pre-1980 solar company that is still under original ownership and operation.
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  • SolarJohn
    SolarJohn Solar Expert Posts: 202 ✭✭
    #5
    Re: Difference in Prices

    In addition to the wide range of prices for the same product, I'm wondering when the price of PV panels will start to decline. I often read about new PV panel manufacturing plants being built, new silicon processing plants, and and about cheaper materials and processes. Still, for the couple of years I've been watching PV panel prices, there has been no price decrease. What gives??????

    John
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  • Solar Guppy
    Solar Guppy Solar Expert Posts: 1,989 ✭✭✭
    #6
    Re: Difference in Prices

    Demand far exceeds supply and the US Dollar continues to devaluate to the country's where PV is manufactured
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  • Windsun
    Windsun Solar Expert Posts: 1,164 ✭✭
    #7
    Re: Difference in Prices

    In fact, despite what all the folks said about more solar demand would equal lower prices, solar panel prices are about 25% higher now than in 2003.

    It seems that those people that were wanting all the solar subidies and rebates failed to take into account the laws of supply and demand.
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #8
    Re: Difference in Prices

    Thanks for the info
    Wind/Sun I dont want to bash any of the companies. In fact I applause him for having over 500 websites. Like any business, this is a cut throat industry that depends on discipline, purchasing power, inovative thinking, and MARKETING.
    At the same time I applause WIND/SUN for being in business for so long. That truely is a great acomplishment.
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #9
    Re: Difference in Prices

    Lol just found out who owns http://www.az-pv.com/ lol
    In fact most companies have multiple websites sometime aimed at different consumer types.
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  • Windsun
    Windsun Solar Expert Posts: 1,164 ✭✭
    #10
    Re: Difference in Prices
    solarnoob wrote: »
    Lol just found out who owns http://www.az-pv.com/ lol
    In fact most companies have multiple websites sometime aimed at different consumer types.

    That is our ASP.NET development site, it only has about 3 pages and is used only for testing programming and scripts.
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  • Windsun
    Windsun Solar Expert Posts: 1,164 ✭✭
    #11
    Re: Difference in Prices
    solarnoob wrote: »
    Thanks for the info
    Wind/Sun I dont want to bash any of the companies. In fact I applause him for having over 500 websites. Like any business, this is a cut throat industry that depends on discipline, purchasing power, inovative thinking, and MARKETING.

    There is a difference between marketing and spam. If he was actually "marketing" then he would actually show up in the search engines for some of those sites, but almost none of them do - in fact the vast majority have been hit by what is called the "Google -950 penalty". What that means is that Google has recognized that all of the site URL's have identical content, so has set kind of a search index rating of negative 950 - which essentially puts you at about #100,000 out of 105,000.
    what is the google 950 penalty? a website or page suddenly drops to the last page of google results, a loss of approximately 950 places, hence the term "950 penalty"

    does the penalty actually exist? absolutely yes. a website does not drop to the last page because it has suddenly become less important or relevant than all the websites that havent dropped. it drops to the last page because it has been penalized.

    why is the penalty applied to a website? google isnt saying anything, so nobody knows for sure. our guess would be that the most likely explanation is that the website does not follow the google webmaster guidelines, or has triggered some kind of spam filter.
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #12
    Re: Difference in Prices

    Once again, thank you for all the info. Wind/Sun obvously has all around knowledge on the industry.
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