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Posted by Bill S on August 20, 2006 at 6:55:42 pm EDT
In reply to Re: Anybody use Ebay for equipment? posted by Blackbeard on August 20, 2006 at 6:22:13 am EDT

Steve,

I don't believe that items like tires are any different between the Sears/Penney/etc stores and the tire brand stores for the same label on the tire. Two reasons why I believe they are the same - first is that you can go to any shop that carries the tires for warranty service. So at the least, the manufacturer warranties on wear, etc, are identical. Second is that Consumer Reports, among others, does comparison shopping and would long ago have commented if there were differences.

Now what the source of the comments might be is this - the major tire manufacturers make private label tires that are sold through various outlets. Michelin used to make tires for Sears with an Allstate label. Big O has tires made by Bridgestone (which also makes Firestone these days), General, BFGoodrich, and others, but with a Big O label. The Big O specs are different from the manufacturers' own brands. Also, the majors have different lines of tires.

This is off the backcountry topic, but you used the analogy for backcountry gear. One thing you may find is that some shops sell seconds. Northern Mountain sells a lot of seconds from the major outdoor manufacturers. Most are just cosmetic seconds, but some are indeed seconds for a significant reason (Northern will tell you what the problem is). Most of the time, the problem does not affect the usability of the product. Sierra Trading Post sells overstocks, discontinued, and seconds. All at deep discounts to the MSRP. They note what the problems are with the seconds. Discontinued may just be last season's color (at the OR Show, I have had a couple of the sock manufacturers talk on at length about the wonderful new colors of the same old line of socks - does it matter in the backcountry whether the socks are dark grey or light grey? Or whether this year they call the shade of grey "fog"?.

Anyway, it comes down to the same thing we have all suggested - know what you are bidding on, and know what the new, full retail price is.

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