Charity bike purchase

Hi
Just a quick question as I'm unsure if my reaction is either extremely rude and ungrateful or extremely fair.

Me and 4 friends are doing a charity cycle run next year over 2 weeks and we need new bikes so we approached a few manufacturers to see if they would be interested in discounting bikes for us to use in return for (admittedly very local only probably) advertising.

We got an offer from one that was just under 30% off which is very nice of them.
But I then found out through speaking to my local bike shop that in effect the offer they gave us is what they sell to shops for, so if we wanted he would get them and offer them to us at cost and we could post his shop as supplier of the bikes(its probably what we will do).

But we have a meeting with the manufacturer and I kind of want to ask for a bigger discount as they aren't actually discounting THEIR usual selling price..

What does anyone think?

Hi
Just a quick question as I'm unsure if my reaction is either extremely rude and ungrateful or extremely fair.

Me and 4 friends are doing a charity cycle run next year over 2 weeks and we need new bikes so we approached a few manufacturers to see if they would be interested in discounting bikes for us to use in return for (admittedly very local only probably) advertising.

We got an offer from one that was just under 30% off which is very nice of them.
But I then found out through speaking to my local bike shop that in effect the offer they gave us is what they sell to shops for, so if we wanted he would get them and offer them to us at cost and we could post his shop as supplier of the bikes(its probably what we will do).

But we have a meeting with the manufacturer and I kind of want to ask for a bigger discount as they aren't actually discounting THEIR usual selling price..

What does anyone think?

Take it man that's potentially £333 over every 1k you spend so that's a pretty good discount ?

30% is a decent discount, just take it.

So the shop is willing to give up their profit on 5 bikes? I'd say that's quite a generous offer.

The words gift horse and mouth come to mind. Take the 30% offered and be grateful.

There's no harm in asking for a larger discount but at the same time, you've been given a substantial one already so count yourself lucky.

Good on you and your mates for getting something organised, but someone's offering you cheap bikes to go on a cycling holiday? Count me in!

You can't shit for someone doing something for charity these days and the rise in popularity of cycling means that sponsored bike rides are at epidemic proportions: one LBS has had to circulate "sponsorship request guidelines" to clubs and charities in the area.

"...(admittedly very local only probably) advertising" isn't going to open many doors: a guy I know, got on the front of my local rag for getting stung by a bee and having an allergic reaction, I shit you not.

Just cycling from A to B, is a bit "meh" these days: have you thought about upping your game and doing something that would garner a little more attention, thus giving potential sponsors more incentive?

In the Summer, riders from all over the world came to cycle from London to Edinburgh and back again (1,400km), in just five days! More recently, riders from all over the country assembled to cycle as far as they could in twenty-four hours (the winner nearly rode 500 miles).

In both these cases, it was at their own considerable expense.

Have you considered co-operating with a local bike re-cycling project? They could build you the bikes and after the ride they could be raffled off or at least returned to the project to sell, thereby avoiding the thorny moral dilemma of you profiting from a charitable endeavour.

Good luck!

Just cycling from A to B, is a bit "meh" these days: have you thought about upping your game and doing something that would garner a little more attention, thus giving potential sponsors more incentive?

A thousand pluses for this.

I uppen the games by ditching the touring bicycle for a fixed wheel bicycle before a charity ride, just to make people shake their head at the idea of an underequipped hipster with Ray-ban glasses tackling 3,000km.

You can't shit for someone doing something for charity these days
This.

You're taking the piss.

Enjoy your bike ride.

^^^
^
This.

"Ask for a discount of 30 percent off of retail. Thirty percent probably amounts to the company’s employee discount, and it can probably handle one or two more of those without folding. Asking for thirty percent is another way to stand out among the true beggars, and shows you’re not greedy. The company will give more if it can, and it feels good for a business to feel like it’s going overboard for you. If thirty percent isn’t enough for you, don’t ask at all."

Much more here

Thanks all but I think some may be misunderstanding.

The first offer is from a manafacturer who are offering them to us at the price they normally sell at which is 30% below retail but isn't a discount on what they normally sell at.

My thought issue was that whilst grateful for that if we went with the other option and bought and gave any publicity to the lbs that would in effect buy them at retail for us and hand them over at no profit then it might be better. Or should we go back to manafacturer and push for more.

Whilst some may say this represents a cheap holiday or whatever. Each individual will certainly be spending more personally than we would be if this were not happening. We also plan to sell the bikes afterwards and give proceeds to the charity.

It's about trying to make as much for the charity as possible.

Not saying we won't have fun though ;)

If you're hankering for a bigger discount tell them the local bike shop has made you the same offer so you'd rather help them as you know they'll be making zero profit, and maybe they'll make a counter offer.

But if I were you I wouldn't play them off - i'd go with the local bike store anyway as a good gesture, plus they could probably do with the advertising a bit more.

people give discounts when they cut their profit margin, which is what theyre offering you. theyre not going to drop it further and eat in to their costs, get real.

also youre not offering any real advertising, they know full well theyll get 0 back as a result, theyre just showing you good will. you should accept what youre getting or just use older bikes rather than new bikes. flippin 'eck

The manufacturer will be selling at that price to retail as the shops will be buying more of them and more frequently. Offering the same to you who does not give them the same incentive is doing you a big favour. By all means ask for more if you need it but they certainly aren't stiffing you.

Ultimately, I reckon your main point here is the bigger the discount, the bigger the donation you will be able to make to the charity. Think of a figure you would like to pay, go in with that and say "If you are able to sell us the bike(s) for X, that would help us reach our target of Y"

The shop will be very unlikely to agree to make a loss unless it is a charity they are affiliated with or the owner knows personally etc. In fact, selling to you at cost is actually costing them money by the time you factor in all their overheads and so on.

The manufacturer has more room to move here, you just have to convince them to lower their price and take less profit from the sale.

Why not just hire bikes and donate the difference directly?

I work in a bicycle shop - 30% is a huge amount.

What make are the bikes, and what is the RRP?

Thanks guys a couple of really good points.

I've not made my mind up on anything yet, and was really asking the questions here so if necessary someone on here can tell me to stop being ungrateful or ask for more or take the money and run... Rather than me upset anyone who has been generous enough to discuss it with us and be open to helping us.

To address a couple of points.

Renting bikes, if we get them at 30% and sell say 6 weeks later we may potentially make a profit rather than a cost so hadn't really thought about renting.

Discount... Again they aren't offering a discount of their normal price this is what they sell the bikes at if my local bike store ordered 5 bikes from them this is what they would pay.

I have no plans to play them off against one another, I just wanted to voice my thoughts and get some feedback/suggestions.

Thanks all