AB Pricing

Brijm

Lifetime Supporting Member
Join Date
May 2006
Location
St. Marys, PA
Posts
645
Hi all... .it's been a little while.

I've been noticing lately, that I am getting very different prices from AB lately. As an OEM/Reseller, for one PLC, I get a descent discount, for another similar PLC it is list price. Then I call them back, and tell them it's for a project and I get a fantastic discount. It's really becoming a pain, wondering what type of pricing I'm going to get this time.

Anyways, really makes me dis-inclined to buy AB.... And also wanting to make sure that this is not more of the distributor, than AB. So have other's been noticing this as well? What do you think of it?
 
Last edited:
Not just AB. Our distributor 'forgot' that we were part of a multinational conglomerate that gets a 60% discount on list price.

Sales 101, get as much out of the customer as you can without pushing them away.

Purchasing 101, ALWAYS get two quotes.

Controls 101, A AND B = NOT(NOT(A) OR NOT(B)).
 
The distributor gets some set discount and maybe they negotiated a special discount on some product line so they can pass that discount on to entice a big fish customer. If your pricing is erratic, it's your distributor and specifically, probably just the one guy that handles your account.

I agree with jaden about not liking the opacity of industry pricing. You can't even get list price for most stuff, let alone the normal price people actually pay. You also rarely get a quote for individual components, and instead get a quote for a whole BOM. It's really frustrating when you can do an application just as well with product families, but have no idea what the pricing is.
 
That's why I like Automation Direct. The price and stock status is clearly shown on the website catalog, and that's what you pay.


yeah I gotta give kudos to AD. I really love their website and the layout is like a million times better than any other plc manufacturer.
 
Easy to access pricing and stock availability is exactly why I started with AD PLC's. I've been using Productivity 2000 and Click exclusively for the last 2 years.

On the flip side of that coin, AD wants nothing to do with volume discounts unless you're placing a single order over $15k. This year we'll have spent $120k with AD, but split up in multiple orders. I usually have an order going in twice a week (thanks free shipping!). Due to the nature of our business, it doesn't make sense to shelf stock a lot of things, plus designs are often changing. It's difficult for us to submit a single $15k PO for them to look at volume discounts. It's a little disheartening that someone that places a one time single large order will get better pricing than someone like us who consistently spends monthly with them and has spent nearly a quarter million in two years with them. I realize we're small fish compared to many, but frustrating none the less.
 
AB sell pricing is set by the distributors, the factory pricing to them is per contract always the same, unless it is a huge project with documented competition. But if you are trying to buy older systems like SLCs or other "Active Mature" products, they way they get you to move into newer platforms is to raise the list pricing on the older ones.
 
if you are trying to buy older systems like SLCs or other "Active Mature" products, they way they get you to move into newer platforms is to raise the list pricing on the older ones.

Yup. Get a quote for a replacement lamp for a PV550!
 
We have a Rockwell Account Manager who whips the distributors for us, because we buy in multiple countries. The distributors are also good at slowly hiking the price over time, until you say something.
 
I would insist on a meeting with your distributor's salesman for your account and the sales manager. Explain to them calmly that the **** has to stop, and that if they don't give you consistently good discounts off of list you are going to the Rockwell regional manager and arrange for your purchases to go through an adjacent distributor. You might also point out that you are not married to Rockwell. As an OEM you should be able to identify your total annual automation purchases. Let them know that these purchases are contingent on consistent competitive pricing.

Worked for me back in the day, and things are even more competitive now.
 

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