What's in the vac Shops

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williamr1248

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My friend Tania came to visit last week and we spend 5 days checking out vac shops. We saw some very interesting patterns in shop after shop after shop.


(1) in more than one shop we saw "back rooms full " of traded in Dysons


(2) many,many almost new Kirby Systems traded in 


(3) almost no used machines


(4) NEW Miele line of canisters


What we were told by several shop owners was many people become disenchanted with the Dyson's bulk and having to empty the bin and people don't like the weight of the Kirby and difficulty of changing to suction tools. It is always hard for me to understand because I like both the Dyson's attachments and I never thought the Kirby was difficult to change to attachment use.


Also liked the looks of the new Miele line . It is quiet BUT it looks like a toy vac as it is so small. The bag is very  small too. It came in pretty colors! They are offering more straight suction machines with this line. 


It was a fun week.
 
Sounds like a great time I understand the dysons being traded in but I don't get what's with the Kirby's you think if some one was going to spend that amount of money on a vacuum they would use if for at least ten years thanks. Zach
 
I have a friend that worked for a major bank from 08-09 cleaning out houses that had been foreclosed on. He said that he was always finding stuff that people left behind when they were evicted including flat screen tv mounts left on the wall, stock car rims where the person had obviously bought custom rims and left the old ones behind, and yep, that's right, high end vacuums were very common too. He said probably half the houses he cleaned out had a rainbow, kirby, filter queen, tri-star, or aerus lux in them. Maybe that's where the trade ins are coming from.
 
almost no used machines....

We cut out selling used machines earlier this year. Just no room in our store for used machines to junk it up unless they are vintages on display.

As for Dysons, we get so many in on trade that we normally trash them if they require any sort of service or part (we do keep two on the floor in strategic locations to make people ask questions and start a demo).

Kirbys- we end up selling a lot of folks with Kirbys and they consign them with us. Craigslist or a bojack dealer works best to unload those monstrosities.
 
No Used Machines

I too would like to know why no one sells used vacuums anymore. My local vac store, "Sun Vally Sew n Vac" used to have part of their sales floor filled with used vacuums, along with their large section of Riccars and Royals. One time I went in and they had an 80s F&G Eureka for sale, and I begged my mom to buy it. I did not get my wish, and that was the last time I saw a used vacuum for sale there.

The last store I saw selling used vacuums was in Tempe, but the recession forced it to close. Are there too little profitable vacuums to sell? I'd rather buy a used Electolux or Hoover than a new machine, and I am sure many non-collectors would agree with me, especially since not many people want to spend much money on vacuums these days.
 
I'm not going to junk up my floor with $30-75 used vacuums. A lot of the nicer vacuum stores do not want to sell other peoples' filth. 95% of customers do not want to buy someone's old vacuum cleaner when they come into a specialty store. I'm not sure why you think most people would want to buy a used vacuum in this economy, when the people without money are mainly shopping at Wal Mart and buying the $40 Bissell special.

Although most, if not all, of a used vacuum is profit, I would much rather make a nice margin selling a new machine than wasting valuable real estate on my sales floor with some old vacuum. It really does make a store look like a "used" appliance store when they have a section of used vacuums. We just phased ours out about 4 months ago and have had no complaints.
 
Used Vacs

Maybe used is not the correct word. I would like it if vacuum stores sold refurbished vacuums that they cleaned themselves. When I did see used vacuums for sale, they were all in almost like-new condition with new bags and belts, thus they were refurbished by the store. I think if refurbished high-end brands were sold, not Wal-Mart junk, customers would think even better of your store. You are saving them money, and they will be using a quality vacuum.
 
My biggest issue with "refurbished" high-end vacuums is we already carry new high end vacuums. It is a bad use of resources to spend time selling a used Kirby or Electrolux for $500-800 when I can sell them a new Riccar Immaculate or Radiance for upwards of $1300 and make more money selling the new vacuum while promoting the brand.

Normally anything high-end refurb we sell on CL or to a die-hard customer specifically looking for a certain model. There are strategically placed vacuums in the windows. The Kirby, E-2 Rainbow and Dyson are all there for the simple reason that people walking or driving by will pique interest in the store and know that we carry and repair those machines. I actually prefer NOT to sell my window vacuums because they are mainly there to attract customers.

In terms of Wal-Mart and other BBS vacuums, I'm going to try to liquidate them by sending an employee to the flea market with them in hopes that they it will actually make money and not lose money. If they lose money, then they will continue being dumped off bi-weekly when we clean out the trade-in closet.

The ONLY way we actually will sell a refurbished high-end (yes we keep some in the back of the store) is if a customer brings in a dead HE vacuum and insists that they replace it with a newer version of the same thing. That results in about a 10 minute sale at maximum profit.

I would never, ever demo a used vacuum against a new vacuum and call it a better value than our high-end new vacuums, that's called shooting yourself in the foot.
 
In Sa you get only a few high end brands , dyson miele sebo vorwerk kirby and Rainbow


 


We sell the dyson Miele sebo & vorwerk vacuums interestingly we can't get enough refurbished vacuums particularly dysons. we strip them wash them rebuff them and resell them for half the price of a new one with a 2 year guarantee. these machines are pretty expensive here and do not sell aswell as in other country's due to there price.


 


I have only seen a few riccars and recently did a Voltage conversion on one ( you do not get them here) but they wouldn't sell in SA as they use bags and look a little old fashioned like our vacuums did in the 80's and 90's. They are very nice and I was impressed with them but  every thing here has to be the latest and greatest It must look modern or it will not sell , S is very image conscious thats why Audi's and BMW outsell Toyota's here
 
monstrosities?

cant expect dumb people to use heavy machinery like a kirby.
i like that it weighs a ton and is clunky- function over form, they truly deep clean the best- period, end of story.
we almost never get any kirbys in, lots more dysons, but almost all traded in ones are scrapped- they are pure junk after a few years and not worth putting the money into them to sell them.

lots of hoovers, over here the only machines we get traded in are dead cheapie machines that we just scrap.
 
monstrosities?

cant expect dumb people to be able to use heavy machinery like a kirby.
i like that it weighs a ton and is clunky- function over form, they truly deep clean the best- period, end of story.
we almost never get any kirbys in, lots more dysons, but almost all traded in ones are scrapped- they are pure junk after a few years and not worth putting the money into them to sell them.

lots of hoovers, over here the only machines we get traded in are dead cheapie machines that we just scrap.
 
hardly ever get Kirbys in for repair??


 


Do they not sell well in your area ? we mus do about 10 -15 Kirbys a week , mostly sentria s. every thing from the standard busted fan to burnt out armitures & failed powerdrives. Every shop I know both here in SA and in the states has loads of kirby's in for repair , hang I drove out into the farm lands to see a friend who has a general appliance repair store out there the other day , 1 old hoover 3 electroluxes 4 Samsung's and 14 Kirby's( g3,g5,g6 rest sentria's )  in for repair . face it they don't make them like they used to. they used to be good quality well made , I had 2 sentria's last week in with cracks is the brush head aluminium , only when I had a real close look did I see why its paper thin.


 


they do clean well but for what you pay there is better out there. 


 


When I stopped of at our local Kirby dealership, the owner a nice guy shook his head when I commented on all the sentria's he had in for repair, he told me that most customers ask for there old (traded inn) Kirby's back as the new ones don't last. Thats from the Kirby guy himself !


 


Don't get me wrong I love Kirby's , they look wonderful all polished up and on display and that's were they'll stay
 
What's in the Vac Shops

What you are saying about the Kirby's make perfect sense to me. I could be a regional thing or maybe the Kirby is one of the few vacuums a customer would feel has enough value to even try and repair. It does seem like to me that the norm around here is to toss out what ever plastic vacuuum they have and buy new.


I was just shocked to see so many new Dysons that were traded in . It seems like I would not want to invest in another new machines if I still had a working machine and had paid that much for a new machine. People do strange things with their money.


 
 
It would seem that ANY high end vacuum such as Kirby,Filter Queen,Rainbow,Compact-Tristar would be worthy of repair and resell.This may apply to Meile as well.I too,have seen Dysons and other bagless vacuums get traded in toward bagged vacuums--because the user decided that bagless wasn't for them.
 
Kirbys!

There are LOTS of them here, and TONS of them at the Goodwill outlet for 5.00 a piece, I saw just lat week, a Heritage, two G3s and a G5,I never buy them because I cant sell them, I dont like Orecks, but I buy everyone I find that is decent, 5 bucks a piece and I can sell them all day for 50.
 
Another machine we are starting to see alot of in the repair side is sebo, considering they are not big sellers in SA its a bit surprising to see 5 or six a week. mostly blown circuit boards on the x4 and yesterday our first Felix with a snapped joint. cleaning lady apparently fell on it. ( you will believe it when you see the cleaning lady ) nice machine otherwise.


 


According to our Kirby guy the sentria has outsold every other Kirby by a hefty margin so that could be why we see so many in our shop , There are just allot more out there.Still not my favorite kirby though. 
 
In much of America, Dysons are the number one vacuum brand to be in for service at the vac shop. I think this is because of the trend that Americans seem to think everything is disposable. Because I don't have an actual shop and operate out of my apartment (I currently have more than 40 vacs in my 1BR apartment), I cannot pick up any name brand dealer status and thus only handle used vacuums. My point is that I constantly pick up used vacuums on the side of the road that typically only need to be cleaned, replace a belt/bag/filter, and they work perfectly fine and I have a piece of merchandise worth $30-$75 that I will sell within the week. I do this about a dozen times a week in my free time and wind up making more money do it than I make at my regular job. As for my experience, all the vac shops I frequent routinely carry used vacs that can range anywhere from $35 to $150 but they don't sell used high end vacs. I usually wind up picking those up and selling them on eBay. This way, they have product for a discerning, thinking, buyer who wants a product that will serve them well and last a long time and they also have a product for the cheap people who don't know any better and don't want to know any better and/or stupid vac collectors who come in and go "ooh, I don't have a Hoover Windtunnel Dual V"... Wait! That's me!
 
we do allot of dysons and the number one hassle , blocked filter. not blocked from not cleaning it but blocked by improper cleaning and not letting it dry. the filters are so cheap we just fit a new one. they are even cheaper than most Electrolux /eureka filters.


 


Most of the vacuums we get as trade inns just need a new belt or filter 
 
The lack of used vacuums...

Is due in large measure to the cost of repairing a cheap vacuum. People will spend another $30 to $40 and get a new vac with a new warranty, and a new brush and belt.

Bagless vacuums have dominated the market for some time now, and it is not easy to male one look like it is worth any money.

When I worked in a vac shop in 1976, there were fewer brands, and fewer places to buy a decent vacuum. Kirbys, Compacts, Luxes, Filter Queens, Rainbows, Hoovers and Royals were rebuilt by the hundreds and sold.

People want ease of use, lightweight, and no maintenance, as well as indestructibility at low cost. The manufacturers that fill those desires will last the longest, bottom line. Only now are people just beginning to see the folly of bagless, but the trend has not run its course yet.

Bare floors and frieze are changing the type of vacuums people need, but they do not realize that, for the most part. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
 
and it is not easy to make one look like it is worth any mon

You are exactly right Robert.

It is not worth my time to make people who can't afford anything pay what its worth to buy a rebuilt machine. Its already $54 to service/change filters/ belt on a Bissell that only costs $48. We still have plenty of customers who spend that money blindly...I'm not going to invest that money into a used machine when I can throw it away even cheaper.

We would not want to advertise the cheap used vacuums on Craigslist either, because that attracts a customer that we do NOT want in the store. That is part of my decision to get rid of used vacuums. We try to keep our average ticket very high, and attracting the "used" vacuum market is not something we intend to do for long term growth. You come to my store to buy a nice vacuum, get your existing one repaired, or buy parts for your vacuum. You don't come in to buy some old piece of junk that was formerly owned by a stranger.

That said...we do have such a collection of used sticks right now, I am considering sending an employee to the flea market next week to liquidate them all. I'm sure we could sell off 50% of the 50 or so machines we have accumulated over the month and trash the rest. Even at $20 per machine, thats $500 to be made.
 
This is very interesting to me as I have two degrees in business. In my eyes, any customer is a good customer. But just as my operation is akin to "Shifty Seans Shweet Shweepers" yours would be more like "The Promenade of Sanitation". I currently work with a vac shop that deals almost exclusively in low end used vacuums. I pull them from Goodwill, side of the road, random vac shop, trade in, etc. refurbish them, and trade them to the shop for higher end models that I sell on eBay. I just traded 5 "plastic"s (generic plastivac) for a DC24 that I got $130 for on eBay, whereas I would struggle to see $10 a piece for the plastics and he has had this dyson for 3 years priced at $150 with no luck of selling. The difference of customer base even within the same general market is fascinating to me.
 
Used Sales

This is a very interesting topic. I am glad to hear some more vacuum store owner's opinions on used vacuum sales.

Other than what was brought up about selling a stranger's vacuum, I still can not find a reason NOT to sell a used, or seller refurbished, cleaner IF IT IS A HIGH-END BRAND. If you get a good Electrolux, Rainbow, Kirby or other high-quality brand, why not sell them? Of course you would not sell a used Bissell.

I am also not asking vacuum stores to give me a sales pitch on a used vacuum. That would be bad business. If you have a used vacuum in good shape, why not sell it?

Trebor says "People want ease of use, lightweight, and no maintenance, as well as indestructibility at low cost". That is exactly what a used Electrolux/Aerus offers. There is very little reason to not sell refurbished vacuums.

-Nathaniel
 
The problem is that if you make it your policy to sell used vacuums in any condition, there are positive and negative attributes. First thing that happens is customers start to question why to spend 1300 bucks on a new Riccar Radiance when you have a used one for half the price. Second, I'm not sure about vacuums, but with most dealership agreements you have certain sales requirements to meet, another factor that could be hurt by carrying used machines. Third, if you want to sell your used machines for good money, you'll need to offer a warranty with it and honor it yourself since the vacuum is used. Not to mention having to carry parts for just about anything that walks through the door and displaying the general perception that you could be walking out with a cheaper machine if you bought a used one. If a largely price oriented customer walks in to a store and the cheapest model at a Simplicity dealer is a $300 7 Series, they are likely to buy that model. If the dealer has a used Riccar on the shelf for $120 and the customer asks about it and the salesman, morally bound to tell the truth, says it's a fine machine made in America at the same factory as the Simplicity. Voila! A $300 sale that counts in your sale quota has just turned into a $120 sale that doesn't and the general perception that your shop sells cheap used vacs.
 
A customer that buys a quality used high end vacuum-just may return in the future to buy one of your "main" product line ones.Just remind the customer that you have a line of new machines to sell.Don't force though-the customer will spin on his heals and walk out-probably not to return.
 
we do sell allot of rebuilt vacuums but it is a different market hereto you guys in the USA,  mainly dysons & vorwerks but you do make more money off new machines in the end when you factor in labour &parts.


 


what toilvac said is also true , we have had a number of customers buy a rebuilt machine for there son or work and then comeback and buy a new one for themselves.


 


Every machine that comes in our shop for repair gets completely stripped down , steam cleaned polished and reassembled so the rebuilt ones follow the same route. we offer a 2 year guarantee on our rebuilt machines. 


 


Our cheap tradeinns we send to the flee market and atleast recover the trade inn, Like scvacuumguy said it is not worth keeping cheap used vacuums on valuable floorspace and at one stage I just kept them in a storage room. the end of last year I decided to send them to a flee market, we cleaned them up made sure they were working ok and sent them down, I made just over $2000.00 in the weekend, not bad but in reality I think I just  broke even on time labour and what we traded them in for.


 


Its not a money maker its money recovery. 


 


If they are unrepairable we send them for recycling they make plastic posts and various other things from the plastic shells . Im not a fan of just dumping stuff i have kids I want them to grow up on a clean planet 
 
When you walk into a vacuum store, especially one with over 60 machines on display, nobody wants to see an additional 20 used vacuums.

I like to consider myself a good businessman, here is how we handle pricing and moving people up and down. The last thing I want to do is sell someone a "quality" used vacuum in the $150-300 price range. All that will do is cheapen my store, and cause someone not to be back in for 5+ years. My goal on new vacuum shoppers is to sell them the best vacuum they can afford.

Our prices start at $69.99 and go all the way up to $1529. If you take uprights, for example, the "lower end" of uprights (under $300) would follow this pattern:

$69.99 1 Unit
$89.99 1 Unit
$119.99 2 Units
$199.99 4 Units
$249.99 2 Units
$299.99 3 Units
$349.99 3 Units
$399.99 2 Units

Notice there are 18 units total in the "lower end." Those make up close to 1/3 of our collection of new vacuums. Each price point has a specific number of units so that we may step people up. Notice the $199 price point has 4 units- this is about the easiest low-end price point to sell because of the selection.

We also stock sku's by features. So if you are looking for an upright that does carpet/bare floors, we offer everything from the Premium Radiance all the way down to the Hoover Bagless PET and the Hoover Bagged Pet. You can move down to the $119.99 machines for those who need that feature. If they want something a little better, you can move them up to the Hoover Air Max, or if they want a Royal, move them to the Royal Rewind. After the Royal Rewind, you would enter the Panasonic range, and then after Panasonics, you begin the Riccar Vibrance line. The biggest thing is to carry enough new stock so you can move people up down sideways, but never backwards.

At the point that the customer only has $120 to spend, we do have a "new" vacuum to sell in their price range. We can also confidently tell the customer that they are getting the BEST $120 vacuum on the market. All vacuums are tested by us, by our friends, cleaning services, etc in order to find the best value for the money. We sell them the $120 vacuum, and also give them expectations.

By selling them the best "new" vacuum that they can afford, we have left a good taste in their mouth. In 2-3 years when and if they can afford something nicer and more expensive, they will remember my store as somewhere that sold them the best new vacuum they could afford. Not as the store that pulled out some used vacuum cleaner. If we had sold them a higher-end used vacuum cleaner, they would not be available to come back into the store in 2-3 years to purchase another machine.

The profit margin is hefty enough on the lower end vacuums that we pretty much make close to the same on a used vacuum.

Like I have said, we do have the occasional customer who insists and asks directly if we have any used vacuums. We do have a back room with our trade ins, and I do not hesitate to sell a cheap stick for $40. We will never ever clog up our floors with that horrible looking stuff again.

When people come in my store, I don't want them to see things they can get everywhere else. They need to see shiny new vacuums that they are not used to seeing in big box stores (ie: sanitaire, panasonic, riccar, royal- our main lines).
 
I suppose thats the advantage of the owning a business in the USA. In Sa we are limited by brands, no royal , saintitare riccar ,simplicity panasonic is a cheap vacuum here , think kenmore.


 


Its very difficult here to own a vacuum store and do only new vacuums. miele dyson sebo are all the top end models that you get so if you can't afford them there is just this huge gap between entry level uprights and premium ones. Nothing in between.


 


There is a enfisis on Canister vacuums here but they do not have pn's . My clients want something to take care of there carpets so it has to be an upright.


 


To give you an idea , 


 


 


Eureka/electrolux 3200 series $133.00


bissel pet earasor                    $256.00


 


Dyson dc25                             $565.00


 


then the miele s7 sebo and a few other dysons 


 


That massive jump means plenty of market for a good rebuilt machine , but to be honest allot of the are shop soiled damaged box machines


 


 
 

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