FLO and price match?

[Greymouser]

I wanted a cheap new, but decent 32mm eyepiece, thought I knew the price from FLO, went to their site ( always first choice, for now, ) only to find it had nearly doubled in price and there was no longer a price match option! When did this happen? I have never used the price match option, anywhere, but was aware it was there on FLO, no more it seems.

It seems I need to shop around again rather than assume things. Ah well, such is life...

Not even sure the 32 mm will work for me, hence the cheaper option.

[Chris]

Which 32mm EP are we talking about? 

[Greymouser]

Celestron Omni. Still £39 elsewhere, £69 on FLO, though it wasn't a couple of days ago. Not the best of eyepieces but half decent and will give a good idea if it fits in my scheme of things.

[Colinhunter]

38 minutes ago, Greymouser said:

Celestron Omni. Still £39 elsewhere, £69 on FLO, though it wasn't a couple of days ago. Not the best of eyepieces but half decent and will give a good idea if it fits in my scheme of things.

Competitive Pricing

found this on the FLO website

In the unlikely event you find a lower price please email us details. We will then do our best to match. 

Please note: 

The competitor must be an authorised retailer (appointed by the manufacturer or manufacturer’s distributor). 
The product on the competitor's site must be identical to the one on our site. 
The comparison price must include the competitor's delivery price. 
The product must be in stock with the competitor or available for delivery within five days. 
If the competitor includes a ‘free’ accessory or some other bundle we will do our best to match or offer something similar. 
If the competitor is offering a product at below cost price we will bury our face in our hands and sob. 

[vlaiv]

I noticed that price in Euros and Dollars is no longer available. I guess it has something to do with UK leaving the EU, but it is minor inconvenience for me when comparing prices to other retailers.

On other hand - it looks like FLO is now dealing with GSO and there might be more GSO eyepieces under StellaLyra brand - Maybe 32mm GSO plossl as well?

[Greymouser]

There is vlaiv, but I think it is 2", and as I want to keep things as small as possible for now, not suitable for me.

@Colinhunter thank you, nice to see it is still offered, but too late now, ordered elsewhere. First time order with them too, only the fourth supplier used so far, with FLO taking the vast bulk of my business.

Edit: I am trying very hard to not think about how much I have spent with FLO too, else I might have a break down...

Edited November 12, 2020 by Greymouser

[vlaiv]

7 minutes ago, Greymouser said:

There is vlaiv, but I think it is 2", and as I want to keep things as small as possible for now, not suitable for me.

GSO 32mm plossl? It is definitely 1.25" eyepiece - I've got one.

Here is TS branded version:

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p151_TS-Optics-Super-Ploessl-Eyepiece-32-mm-1-25-.html

(TS is a bit crazy with prices at the moment)

Here is version that I have:

https://tavcso.hu/en/product/GSP32

[Greymouser]

That looks the same eyepiece, expected I guess.

The price has just changed on FLO again! Yesterday or the day before £39, today £69, now just changed to £51!!!!

What's going on?

Not helped by the fact that the FLO website is no longer reliable on my tablet...

Edit: Oh and the Stella Lyra 30mm is 2".

Edited November 12, 2020 by Greymouser

[FLO]

Our Celestron prices will be fluctuating for a few days because the Celestron distributor we normally use is closing. The new (to us) distributor has provided a new price list. We imported it into our inventory system which initially set everything at RRP. That was earlier today. Now we must work our way through the products, series by series, accessories too, setting them to something more realistic. By the end of tonight they will make more sense but it will probably be another week or two (after we have run some price comparison reports) before they settle. 

This is something that affects all specialist astronomy retailers. Not just FLO. 

Please feel free to email price-match requests. 

HTH, 

Steve 

[Greymouser]

Thank you for that, very interesting, certainly food for thought. I had assumed it was the end of the month before David Hinds closed? 

 

[FLO]

Just now, Greymouser said:

Thank you for that, very interesting, certainly food for thought. I had assumed it was the end of the month before David Hinds closed? 

They haven't set a date, they say only that it will be this month. I guess they will stop distribution when stock in their warehouse has cleared, along with any remaining incoming stock. 

HTH

[FLO]

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

I noticed that price in Euros and Dollars is no longer available. I guess it has something to do with UK leaving the EU, but it is minor inconvenience for me when comparing prices to other retailers.

We switched off the $ & € buttons only because they caused confusion. They were provided in the hope our non-UK customers would find them useful. The prices they displayed were based on the daily currency exchange-rate, which varies. Also payment providers like Paypal, Visa, etc, apply their own currency conversion rates so the amount paid differed slightly to the price displayed on our product page. Only by a small amount but enough to cause confusion. 

HTH, 

Steve 

[FLO]

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

... it looks like FLO is now dealing with GSO and there might be more GSO eyepieces under StellaLyra brand - Maybe 32mm GSO plossl as well?

There are a lot of new products in the pipeline, from a number of manufacturers 🙂 

[vlaiv]

35 minutes ago, FLO said:

They were provided in the hope our non-UK customers would find them useful.

Well, you were right, as far as I was concerned

31 minutes ago, FLO said:

There are a lot of new products in the pipeline, from a number of manufacturers

Exciting times ahead!

[Matt01]

4 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Exciting times ahead!

Not for our bank accounts😨😄