Dusk Maybe, maybe not. Maybe a bit, maybe not all.
There are differences
If the Chinese keep on, eventually there won’t be any bricks and mortar retailers left and the only place to buy a grinder will be online from China….which would be a very bad thing for the consumer.
DavecUK eventually there won’t be any bricks and mortar retailers left and the only place to buy a grinder will be online from China….which would be a very bad thing for the consumer.
Appreciate Niche is a British company. But essentially… we are buying it online, and from China. Maybe they keep some stock in the UK, I don’t know. But the point being is that it boils down to money at the end of the day. One could argue it would benefit the UK economy if they had a factory here, but then it would be very unlikely they would be able to sell for the prices they do.
MediumRoastSteam But essentially… we are buying it online, and from China
Don’t be daft! You are buying it online, direct from the company that manufacture and designed it, and supply a fantastic warranty. China assemble it and have no other input. If you were buying direct from a Chinese based company and it goes wrong, what do you think would happen
dfk41 - I get it. But we are buying a fantastic product online and from china, are we not ? Or did you go to a bricks and mortar shop to buy yours? 😉
MediumRoastSteam Appreciate Niche is a British company. But essentially… we are buying it online, and from China. Maybe they keep some stock in the UK, I don’t know.
You are buying online from the UK and from a UK company who pays taxes and VAT as appropriate in the UK. In Europe or other countries local VAT and Taxes are paid by individuals as there is no under declaration. Also your consumer rights are maintained. It is a very different business model to the Chinese grinder company (ies). These companies rely on people not realising this.
MediumRoastSteam I went to the Niche UK based online store. Niche sell in the UK and across the world so all sales pay into the UK economy in one way or another. So, presuming the building Niche store their stock in is built from bricks and mortar, then you have answered your own, not so clever question
I’m still confused. What if I stocked lots of the same Chinese made grinders, built a nice and polished website, paid all my UK taxes and offered a two year no quibbles guarantee? Would that be acceptable?
MediumRoastSteam I’m still confused. What if I stocked lots of the same Chinese made grinders, built a nice and polished website, paid all my UK taxes and offered a two year no quibbles guarantee? Would that be acceptable?
Perfectly, but that is not the Chinese way of doing things
dfk41 - understood. However, the company in question here according to this post:
Dusk It’s not too dissimilar in the UK depending on where you buy from. The Duo is £658 from Niche but the DF64 gen2 can be had from df64coffee for £365 so it’s not far off double for the Niche.
Is an American Singaporean distributor. Not a Chinese company.
So I’m still confused. Honestly.
MediumRoastSteam df64coffee is based in Singapore and has a regional distribution license. Each region has a different distributor. In the US the distributor is Turin Grinders but Espresso Outlet may have a license too. Not sure. It may be that the US is such a bit market that there is more than one distributor. Here in Australia it’s Coffee Tech.
Also I think ‘Niche’ is considered the ‘Apple’ of the coffee world …. While the DF line would be considered the Android equivalent….
Being the ‘Apple’ in the coffee world means they charge whatever the hell they like and ppl will still buy
tompoland David, with respect, that comment needs moderating. I’m sure you have a basis for that comment but it’s at the very least out of date and at the other end of the spectrum it could be construed as racist, which I am genuinely sure was not your intention.
Bollocks Tom……please do not play that card. I am free to say what I think. If you are in the UK which we are, and someone bought a grinder direct from a Chinese company, then unless they pay the cost of return postage on behalf of the client it would simply not be feasible
drdre89 Being the ‘Apple’ in the coffee world means they charge whatever the hell they like and ppl will still buy
So do you think Niche overcharge then? The Zero stayed the same price from launch until earlier this year. Odd hey
tompoland df64coffee is based in Singapore
Thanks for correcting me. Got distracted even though it’s written quite clearly it’s based in Singapore in the link I referred. (Original post corrected for clarity)
tompoland When you play God Tom, do not be surprised if not everyone agrees with you.
There are multiple ways of doing business from Chinese or chinese related company (and don’t be surprised if df64coffeee is founded and run by Chinese people. They might just register there)
In both cases, support and warranty are almost non existent. If you run in the trouble and you are lucky, you can send the product back to the seller for repair. Which is almost as much as the grinder itself in case of df64/df83. I personally was sent replacement or refund when the item went missing on transport (and in one specific case lost my money even thought the tracking shows it was delivered in another country). But never on warranty.
There are cases (quite common actually) they will ask you to declare a very low value ($25 ) to avoid taxes in their end. That is blatantly lying to custom.
I have yet to see a Chinese company with worry free warranty policies. Except Decent but you can say it is not Chinese. Just doing business in HK.
That is the cost of direct to customers without a local distributor and retailer network. They cut the cost, cut the price, but you need to understand the risk.
