Internet buying vs. local

[polo1665]

One of our cats has tapeworms, which can be treated with a widely available medication available at pet stores: For the exact same product I got the following prices:

Petsmart: $24.99 and 6% tax for 3 tablets

Our vet's office: $26 and 6% tax for 3 tablets

Ebay seller with 100% + feedback: $9.99, no tax, free 3 day delivery.

As much as I believe in supporting local businesses, their mark up is simply obscene. The Ebay seller is going to pay at least $3 for postage, plus the time they spend pulling, packing, and shipping. Meaning their actual cost for the 3 tablets was probably $5 at most....a 500% markup locally for the same item.

The mark up for medications, whether they be for humans or animals, is definitely obscene. I worked for a veterinarian years ago and his mark up for medications was at least 200% - 300%. Petsmart is probably just trying to beat the vet's price by a couple bucks to get the business.
I usually make my decisions on a case by case basis. I like to pay a lower price, but also realize that local jobs depend mainly on local sales. I will often frequent the local hardware and pay a couple extra bucks instead of going to Lowes. It's nice to have that local hardware when you really need it.

I imagine if you are on a fixed income your view might be different.

 

[clemsonfor]

OK heres the scoop. My wife works at a vet office as a vet Assistant. The price is right on the ebay sale. Hes only making a few $ at most on you, but he is probly making several sales a day and dropping them off on the way to a real job or something else. Tapeworm pills no worries. But the med reps that visit the office tell them that many things like heartworm and flea meds you have no way to know if there real or fake or if they were kept at proper room temp (and not in a hot warehouse or bldg) to ensure properstorage. Have also heard about repacaging or just outdated stuff.

I forget which flea juice type stuff it is but they only sell to licensed brick and motar vet offices. When thier stuff shows up on Petmeds or any other ones they have a person "ghost buy" it off the website and then they can track it back to the vet that was originally sold that lot, they will then loose thier license or ability to be a carrier of it as they sold the meds for a profit to Petmeds against the companies policy and i think its illegal as well cause petmeds dosent have a prescription.

OK, most pills and vaccines have easy 300-1500% markup. We needed some pill for one of our cats she had bladder issues and got some pill that was used to treat i think basically a behavioral issue like depression or something like that. Cat got like half a 5mg pill once a day. The med had a side effect that helped bladder issues beleive it or not, which is why it was prescribed?? Anyway my wife gets half off the meds there at office. Were were paying something like $6-9 for about 30day supply. The girl that orders asked if my wife just wanted her to "buy" her a bottle, which they only pay cost on if its ordered for you. The cost of a bottle of like 250 pills was $2!!!! Another is like the distemper vaccine i think, they sell it for something like $40 it costs them a few $$ at most for it. Rabies vaccine i think is no more than $1 maybe more like $0.50 i think there $10-15 and those pet med places are never more than $6 for it, thats 500%. Your meds like advantix, advantage multi, revolution etc only have 100% markup usually. So if your 3 pk of advantage costs you $40 it cost the vet something like $20.

But they have to order hundreds of dollars of these pills in each brand in all different weight sizes and hold the boxes till you come in. They then have to pay the staff, what happens in a bad economy when folks stop taking pets in for every little thing or only give flea meds every 2 months or not at all?? Some days the wifes office does $5K in grosse sales a day some days $1k. Its like anything there is a profit and the meds are a known proffit booster and where the huge markup is.

 

[clemsonfor]

Also to further explain my point which i realize you understand, but at my wifes office which is the biggest vet in town of the 5 offices doing the most sales etc. Town is i guess 20k people and then the surrounding smaller towns come to ours for vet stuff. Anyway even at her office they may only prescribe a few tapeworm pills a week at most from what i hear her talk about. If the pill are $1 apiece probly more like $.50 and they come in a bottle of 500 that $250 for the bottle that you may have for a year or more? Think about all the bottles of this stuff that they keep. I think the wifes office has like 6 kitchen cabinent size upper cabinets full of bottle of stuff?? Pluss the vaccine refridge that they have to carry the costs on.


Think about the guy charging $30 to cut some tiny city front yard every 2 weeks. It may take him 15-20 mins to do it. And he can cut it with a $150 lawn mower, but he has to go out there pay fuel and cut the grass. You the homeowner can buy that same $150 mower and come out way cheaper. A little different situation but should he only charge you $10 to cut that grass?

 

[JDgreen227]

The mark up for medications, whether they be for humans or animals, is definitely obscene. I worked for a veterinarian years ago and his mark up for medications was at least 200% - 300%. Petsmart is probably just trying to beat the vet's price by a couple bucks to get the business.
I usually make my decisions on a case by case basis. I like to pay a lower price, but also realize that local jobs depend mainly on local sales. I will often frequent the local hardware and pay a couple extra bucks instead of going to Lowes. It's nice to have that local hardware when you really need it.

I imagine if you are on a fixed income your view might be different.

Been on a fixed income over 9 years now. And what you say about markups on medications is 100% correct. I have been taking Provigil since 1998...back then 180 tablets, a 90 day supply for me, cost about $500 with my insurance picking up 95% of the cost. The company that holds the patent for the drug has been steadily increasing the price for the last eight years, because when the patent expires, generics will be available. What cost $500 for 180 tablets back in 1998 now costs over $4200!! A year ago, the cost for 180 tablets was $3600. I don't understand why this kind of price gouging is permitted.

 

[Triguy1]

We have four cats and paid our local vet close to $1400 last year...and I too wondered about the possibility of imported medication...Ebay seller has close to 5000 transactions with 100% positive feedback. Highly unlikely anybody with that reputation is a scammer.

Just my opinion, but of you are willing and able to spend $1400 on cats, you probably do not need to worry about spending the extra $$ on the meds. (I am not judging you on that) My inclination would be to support the local guy.

As a brick and mortar retailer I am sensitive to the "death by a thousand cuts" that Internet shopping represents to us. It does seem like a lot of people want it both ways. A local, knowledgeable professional to help them, but want to pay for stuff at the price of some guy selling stuff out of a garage miles away, with no stake in your local economy. Also, I know everyone likes to avoid taxes, but when our local governments loose that revenue stream, it's a problem for us all.

Just my two cents.

Jon

 

[clemsonfor]

Just my opinion, but of you are willing and able to spend $1400 on cats, you probably do not need to worry about spending the extra $$ on the meds. (I am not judging you on that) My inclination would be to support the local guy.

As a brick and mortar retailer I am sensitive to the "death by a thousand cuts" that Internet shopping represents to us. It does seem like a lot of people want it both ways. A local, knowledgeable professional to help them, but want to pay for stuff at the price of some guy selling stuff out of a garage miles away, with no stake in your local economy. Also, I know everyone likes to avoid taxes, but when our local governments loose that revenue stream, it's a problem for us all.

Just my two cents.

Jon

I understand you on this argument and hate that this is how todays economy and society have evolved.

But most of us have to wactch where our money goes. I personally would have half of what i do or some busted up junk without the internet. It allows me to buy parts for things way less than i can local. Im fine with internet ordering as i live in the country and have to drive to get things anyway. The internet saves me an hour drive to and from town $7 in fuel each trip and i can buy things for example way less than a local store. Weather it be lawnmower parts or auto parts i pay about half of what i would at the local store, which allows me to actually maintain and fix my stuff when necessary. I know you dont want to think of it this way but yes your money is leaving your economy and going away but unless you really live in a one horse town the law of averages says that someone inyour area is doing internet sales and money is flowing into your area from elsewhere. The marine repair business down the road from me in a town of 3500 people is a big supplier on ebay. Look up marine fuel water seperator or some random common boat part and i bet he is one of the top 25 things on ebay that returns. He sells a lot according to them. The part yes is cheaper than in the actual store they maintian but they still turn a profit, and those are dollars that in most cases did not start in our local economy. I also just ordered a spindle for my 30 year old random brand mower, its an uncommon part. One of the few that came up on ebay was for someone about 1hour away from me in my state. It was a real store you can go into. I did not end up buying from him as the variation was just not right on it, so i had to buy from someone else, but i was untill i noticed the tiny difference. I was going to pay a dollar or so premium to buy in state. But no way was i going to spend 1.5 to 2x what i did on ebay by walking into the local lawnmower store. I just dont make enough money to do that on every purchase. That and either i would have to go 30 minutes out of my way and spent $7 in fuel or have the wife run clear to the other side of town fighting downtown traffic to pic up my part on her lunch. Its not gonna happen in todays cyber economy. Local jobs lost will be offset in delivery people if everyone does it anyway. Fedex and UPs will need more people to deliver a highr # of packages.

 

[RobertBrown]

We have four cats and paid our local vet close to $1400 last year...and I too wondered about the possibility of imported medication...Ebay seller has close to 5000 transactions with 100% positive feedback. Highly unlikely anybody with that reputation is a scammer.

If your vet goes out of business it's not your fault, and if that vet goes, another will take the place.
You have a responsibility as a consumer to get the best product at the best price, it's called free enterprise and it works both ways.
Too many people just pay the bill and don't question it. That's why your bank, phone company, insurance company, cable provider........yada yada yada all charge rediculous fees and raise rates as they see fit. If we wouldn't pay it thay wouldn't charge it.
Understand that if this product you buy is not as it should be, it's more difficult to hold this business accountable if they are in a different state or even a different country. That's your trade off, that's your concern, not the welfare of your veterinarian's balance sheet.

 

[Bird]

Had to take our Chihuahua to the vet yesterday. Cost me $192.33. I don't like such bills, and I do shop for the best price on most things, but there's just no way I'd buy medications for either pets or humans on eBay regardless of price or feedback. But I certainly do not fault you for doing so, if that's what you want to do.

 

[murphy1244]

Been on a fixed income over 9 years now. And what you say about markups on medications is 100% correct. I have been taking Provigil since 1998...back then 180 tablets, a 90 day supply for me, cost about $500 with my insurance picking up 95% of the cost. The company that holds the patent for the drug has been steadily increasing the price for the last eight years, because when the patent expires, generics will be available. What cost $500 for 180 tablets back in 1998 now costs over $4200!! A year ago, the cost for 180 tablets was $3600. I don't understand why this kind of price gouging is permitted.

As with most meds the first pill cost 10 mill to 25 mill and the second is 7 cents. The cost for testing and approval from our esteamed goverment is very expensive.I am a cancer survivor so I'm very gratefull for that awlfull chemo meds.

 

[Jstpssng]

The mark up for medications, whether they be for humans or animals, is definitely obscene. I worked for a veterinarian years ago and his mark up for medications was at least 200% - 300%. Petsmart is probably just trying to beat the vet's price by a couple bucks to get the business.
I usually make my decisions on a case by case basis. I like to pay a lower price, but also realize that local jobs depend mainly on local sales. I will often frequent the local hardware and pay a couple extra bucks instead of going to Lowes. It's nice to have that local hardware when you really need it.

I imagine if you are on a fixed income your view might be different.

I lean in the same direction. Most of the local vendors try to keep their prices down; mostly by reducing inventory and ordering as needed. The shop which keeps my snowsled, ATV, and other miscellaneous items are generally in line with what I would pay online; plus they are there with free advice when I need it. Yet when I was looking for a 3500 lb trailer axle they couldn't even buy it for what TSC sells a comparable item ... I can't afford to pay an extra $100.