The Maggots Have surfaced

[Graeme Harrold]

Just got this through today:

Hi

My name is Giles birch and I am company director of bookmysurvey Ltd, we are a solar pv installer.
As I am sure you are aware the recent cuts by the government have put a massive strain on supplies in the UK on panels and inverters, especially SMA inverters !
I have been told by all stockist in the UK that I will have to wait 2 - 3 weeks if I placed my order now for SMA inverters - this is no good to me . SMA themselves will not deal with me , only there distributors !
As this is no good to me at all , I contacted a friend in Germany and he has contacted distributors there and has secured me a container of SMA inverters which he is driving them over to me Wednesday 16th November.
Unfortunately Germany is going through the same cuts which kick in , in January - so everyone there is going mad for inverters too ! no wonder we have to wait so long ! this in tern has hiked the prices of inverters upwards by another 40% - but the big benefit to me is that I am guaranteed to get them. I have passed the extra cost on to the customers with an explanation and they don't mind paying another £700 as long as it is installed before the deadline. so my reason in contacting yourself is that I have more than I require.

please see the list of inverters and prices below, if you wish to buy them from me , please contact me asap as I will sell to first come first served.

INVERTER AMOUNT AVAILABLE PRICE INC VAT

SB 1200 7 £1098.33
SB 1700 4 £1468.67
SB2000 HF 1 £1698.21
SB3000 4 £1785.46
SB3000 TL 56 £1980.50
SB3000 HF 3 £1980.50
SB4000 TL 28 £2248.54


I have some stock in the warehouse today, as he has brought half of the container over today - so if you are desperate for 1 or 2 inverters I may be able to help you.


​

Needless to say I told him where to go. Im sure some poor soul will end up lining his pocket.....

 

[dansk]

jesus wep - do you get 2 x 4000's for that price?

 

[edexlab]

I've met this bloke at Wnd and Sun last year ,he was buying a lot of inverters and they suspected he may have been stockpiling waiting for this to happen ,I did'nt take to him he seemed a bit dodgy ,so I'm not surprised at him doing this, they may be the genuine prices but I'm guessing not as one of our suppliers is upfront about future price rise's/ decreases before they happens so they would be quick at letting us know.

 

[MorganPVI]

Heres another to avoid

We currently have in stock in Italy – for delivery in two weeks:

Mounting bars and fixings

E-mail for details

Panels:

SunTech Panels – STP

STP220-20/WD 639 PCS £1.24Wp
STP225-20/WD 566 PCS £1.24Wp
STP275-24/VD 2000 PCS £1.24Wp

Hyundai - HiS

HIS-M230MG 440PCS £1.27Wp
HIS-M233MG 140 PCS £1.27Wp

Sovello – SV

SV-X-205 AND 210 100 PCS EACH £1.52Wp

Sanyo – HIT

HIT-N240 866 PIECES £2.33Wp


Yingli Solar – YL

YL230 P-29-1 1200 PIECES £1.08Wp


All prices for delivery before December 12[SUP]th[/SUP] are on a payment on order basis.

For further information or to order – please email
[email protected]

 

[SRE]

Just got this through today:

Hi

My name is Giles birch and I am company director of bookmysurvey Ltd, we are a solar pv installer.
As I am sure you are aware the recent cuts by the government have put a massive strain on supplies in the UK on panels and inverters, especially SMA inverters !
I have been told by all stockist in the UK that I will have to wait 2 - 3 weeks if I placed my order now for SMA inverters - this is no good to me . SMA themselves will not deal with me , only there distributors !
As this is no good to me at all , I contacted a friend in Germany and he has contacted distributors there and has secured me a container of SMA inverters which he is driving them over to me Wednesday 16th November.
Unfortunately Germany is going through the same cuts which kick in , in January - so everyone there is going mad for inverters too ! no wonder we have to wait so long ! this in tern has hiked the prices of inverters upwards by another 40% - but the big benefit to me is that I am guaranteed to get them. I have passed the extra cost on to the customers with an explanation and they don't mind paying another £700 as long as it is installed before the deadline. so my reason in contacting yourself is that I have more than I require.

please see the list of inverters and prices below, if you wish to buy them from me , please contact me asap as I will sell to first come first served.

INVERTER AMOUNT AVAILABLE PRICE INC VAT

SB 1200 7 £1098.33
SB 1700 4 £1468.67
SB2000 HF 1 £1698.21
SB3000 4 £1785.46
SB3000 TL 56 £1980.50
SB3000 HF 3 £1980.50
SB4000 TL 28 £2248.54


I have some stock in the warehouse today, as he has brought half of the container over today - so if you are desperate for 1 or 2 inverters I may be able to help you.


​

Needless to say I told him where to go. Im sure some poor soul will end up lining his pocket.....

Ok, at the risk of being shot down in flames .........

I know this guy and know him well. He isn't dodgy, he isn't a maggot, but he is pretty entrepreneurial and does have the knack of seizing an opportunity when it presents itself.

Ask yourself this - if your staff are dependent on a reasonable profit margin to pay their wages and the rug is suddently pulled from under your feet you have 2 options. Roll over and accept it or capitalise on what is left, pack as much in as you can into the remaining weeks to build a cushion to re-develop your business plan to ensure that the staff you employ stay employed and the business you have built maintains some stability.

I received a phone call on Sunday on the way to the Channel Tunnel asking if I wanted anything and to send over a list that he would try to source for me. Giles took a van and a man and toured France, Germany and Belgium in search of kit. He could have sat down, cried into his supper, booked a few more jobs in and closed the doors - but he didn't. He's now done what many others haven't been able to - secured stock to continue up the the eleventh hour and bought some thinking time. We could have doen the same we didn't want to, others could have done the same and for wahtever reason chose not to.

He can't buy in at prices that Segen, Wagner, etc are able to buy in at, yet we see them and many other people increasing their prices as market forces dictate. The weekend before the official announcement Segen were due to reduce the price of Schott panels by 10p/watt - did you see that happen???? Sanyo seems to be up to £1.90/w if you can get them and Schuco rails are being sold at £30/rail all from different distributors.

I had most of my ducks in a row already, stock ordered, cash to pay for it, thats how we work but many others won't have and if you've got a decent mark up on your system then it may be worthwhile paying more for kit to be able to do the job than not to do it all. For those who have undercut everyone in the business their margins won't allow this but for others there is slack in the margin to buy in and still make some money.

How is it different to double the mark up on an inverter to doubling up the profit margin on a solar system? Some installers make 1k, some make 3k.

It's impossible at the minute to get 2 4,000's for that price - that's the point ;-)

I won't be buying, but I understand why it's being offered and why some people will take it up.

 

[Graeme Harrold]

Thankfully I have all of the kit I need lined up and have always hade a healthy profit, but not gone OTT I cant stand companies or individuals who seek to profit out of others misfortune, and to DOUBLE the price of an inverter because "we have them and you dont" is pure greed. I am bombarded by emails daily offering inflated prices on kit, so called guarenteed leads and offers of manpower. So I think Giles's openess came over as quite smug, hence my reaction and now see the work he has done to secure the kit.

Mostly thanks to this Forum I got myself sorted early and secured what I could comfortably install....

 

[SRE]

I understand where you're coming from, we do the same as you. He isn't smug but everyone is so sensitive these days and there's rarely time to send a well thought out letter that it can very easily come accross that way.

I'm bouncing, one of the 3 deliveries of K2 we've ordered has actually arrived - happy days. Now I can't decide whether to keep the other stock if it ever arrives in case there's an extension to the deadline, keep it in stock or cancel the order.

I won't be selling it on at double the price - I haven't got the balls