diesel research
Well-known member
(as Stick would say, "it depends")
As in it depends how many other places sell the same item, and for what cost?
I decided to test it out. I have a big selection of tools sitting in tooltopia shopping cart. Approx $1100. No fancy chrome, no fancy diagnostic tools, no power tools, but a few air tools, impact sockets, and some other "mundane" shop/specialty stuff.
Tooltopia is generally considered best price in town, but now and then Amazon has some better deal going on. Cripes and Epsteins are mostly in a different category, for different purposes. More conventional retailers have other limitations such as the brands they carry.
That said, I decided to see what advance could do for me. I tried out a few different discount codes such as "big35" "visa" and one I think called "p20".
Everything in my cart or "wishlist" from tooltopia was factory shipped items for advanced, likely due to obscure brands and non hardline tools. Nothing was listed as "available for in store pick up", which meant I had to deal with shipping unless orders were over $75.
The "big35" discount knocks a helluva chunk out of an $85+ purchase. $35 to be exact. Unfortunately, if you pick something close to $85, the discount is steep enough to knock you out of free shipping. When I added more stuff to pad the cart, the additional markups kind of diminished any discount. This one works great for in store pickup on a purchase right about $85 if that option is available.
The 20% "p20" discount wasn't anything worth noting, or worth the effort. It just reduced the markup slightly, but not compared to online retailers.
The visa one was a little tricky and required a good bit of cart shifting to get retail price as close to $150 as possible. Again, purchases over that amount still get a discount, but savings diminish as markup increases. Hence the reason I actually made multiple separate purchases, trying to keep the price right at $150 or close to it. I have that luxury since my original list contains $1100 in various items. I can pick and choose a bit more and not wasting money on padding the cart just to be eligible for the discount.
So how did it do? (all advance prices AFTER discount, discount split between items)
2 separate purchases:
______________________________________________
Armstrong Deadblow ballpein 32oz
Tooltopia-$58
Amazon-$59.65
Sears-$62.59
Advance $53.29 (+8.25% tax)
***TrustyCook actually sells a similar 36oz for $44.72, but $16 s/h diminishes any of that.
OTC/SPX engine barring socket (1/2" drive socket with a starter pinion type gear on the end)
Tooltopia-$40.92
Amazon-$43.41
Dealer-$73.44
Advance-$37.17 (+tax)
Sunex 13pc 12pt metric impact sockets
Tooltopia-$25.76
Amazon $22.28
Sears $37.79
Northern $34.99
Advance $22.01 (+tax)
Advance total $120.62 delivered.
_____________________________________
Next purchase
25pc multi spline extractors
Snap on $105
Amazon $42.86
Tooltopia $53.29
Advance $49.12
Jumbo crowfoot
Tooltopia $64.87
Advance $57.36
Total $114.20
_________________________________
This is not a post boasting about specific deals.
It is not a discussion about specific tools or brands.
It is not to draw a solid conclusion that advance ***** or is awesome when it comes to purchasing tools. ONLY a look at the effect of promo codes on the out of pocket price.
It is only a study in analyzing a specific retailers promo code to see how it matches up.
Real world results vary by the day as these prices can swing like the stock market. Up and down several dollars within the same day.
Shipping has to be accounted for depending on the retailer. So does sales tax. You may also argue about service after sales or warranty if that is your personal preference, guiding YOUR tool purchases.
The time it takes to research the desired items can be taken into account if your time is worth money. The quantity required to be eligible for what ever discount needs to be taken in account.
From these 2 separate sales made approx 30 minutes apart from each other, conclusions could be drawn several ways. One could claim advance beat most everybody by a few to several percent on out the door cost. A few individual items were cheaper elsewhere but also had higher shipping costs and/or higher costs on other desired items that could be used to become eligible for free shipping. One could also claim it wasn't worth the time of having to plug in different codes and look for the perfect combination of tools to maximize discount. One could claim tooltopia, amazon, or any of the other vendors prices were close enough not to bother.
Those are all personal opinions, I have not drawn my own on the matter yet
As in it depends how many other places sell the same item, and for what cost?
I decided to test it out. I have a big selection of tools sitting in tooltopia shopping cart. Approx $1100. No fancy chrome, no fancy diagnostic tools, no power tools, but a few air tools, impact sockets, and some other "mundane" shop/specialty stuff.
Tooltopia is generally considered best price in town, but now and then Amazon has some better deal going on. Cripes and Epsteins are mostly in a different category, for different purposes. More conventional retailers have other limitations such as the brands they carry.
That said, I decided to see what advance could do for me. I tried out a few different discount codes such as "big35" "visa" and one I think called "p20".
Everything in my cart or "wishlist" from tooltopia was factory shipped items for advanced, likely due to obscure brands and non hardline tools. Nothing was listed as "available for in store pick up", which meant I had to deal with shipping unless orders were over $75.
The "big35" discount knocks a helluva chunk out of an $85+ purchase. $35 to be exact. Unfortunately, if you pick something close to $85, the discount is steep enough to knock you out of free shipping. When I added more stuff to pad the cart, the additional markups kind of diminished any discount. This one works great for in store pickup on a purchase right about $85 if that option is available.
The 20% "p20" discount wasn't anything worth noting, or worth the effort. It just reduced the markup slightly, but not compared to online retailers.
The visa one was a little tricky and required a good bit of cart shifting to get retail price as close to $150 as possible. Again, purchases over that amount still get a discount, but savings diminish as markup increases. Hence the reason I actually made multiple separate purchases, trying to keep the price right at $150 or close to it. I have that luxury since my original list contains $1100 in various items. I can pick and choose a bit more and not wasting money on padding the cart just to be eligible for the discount.
So how did it do? (all advance prices AFTER discount, discount split between items)
2 separate purchases:
______________________________________________
Armstrong Deadblow ballpein 32oz
Tooltopia-$58
Amazon-$59.65
Sears-$62.59
Advance $53.29 (+8.25% tax)
***TrustyCook actually sells a similar 36oz for $44.72, but $16 s/h diminishes any of that.
OTC/SPX engine barring socket (1/2" drive socket with a starter pinion type gear on the end)
Tooltopia-$40.92
Amazon-$43.41
Dealer-$73.44
Advance-$37.17 (+tax)
Sunex 13pc 12pt metric impact sockets
Tooltopia-$25.76
Amazon $22.28
Sears $37.79
Northern $34.99
Advance $22.01 (+tax)
Advance total $120.62 delivered.
_____________________________________
Next purchase
25pc multi spline extractors
Snap on $105
Amazon $42.86
Tooltopia $53.29
Advance $49.12
Jumbo crowfoot
Tooltopia $64.87
Advance $57.36
Total $114.20
_________________________________
This is not a post boasting about specific deals.
It is not a discussion about specific tools or brands.
It is not to draw a solid conclusion that advance ***** or is awesome when it comes to purchasing tools. ONLY a look at the effect of promo codes on the out of pocket price.
It is only a study in analyzing a specific retailers promo code to see how it matches up.
Real world results vary by the day as these prices can swing like the stock market. Up and down several dollars within the same day.
Shipping has to be accounted for depending on the retailer. So does sales tax. You may also argue about service after sales or warranty if that is your personal preference, guiding YOUR tool purchases.
The time it takes to research the desired items can be taken into account if your time is worth money. The quantity required to be eligible for what ever discount needs to be taken in account.
From these 2 separate sales made approx 30 minutes apart from each other, conclusions could be drawn several ways. One could claim advance beat most everybody by a few to several percent on out the door cost. A few individual items were cheaper elsewhere but also had higher shipping costs and/or higher costs on other desired items that could be used to become eligible for free shipping. One could also claim it wasn't worth the time of having to plug in different codes and look for the perfect combination of tools to maximize discount. One could claim tooltopia, amazon, or any of the other vendors prices were close enough not to bother.
Those are all personal opinions, I have not drawn my own on the matter yet