How Much Should You Pay For a Pet Gate?
What price should I pay for a pet gate? Am I getting a good deal or am I being ripped off? Anytime we are needing to buy a product that we know very little about, these questions are foremost in our mind.
No one wants to pay more than they need to for anything, and everyone wants to believe that they have found the best deal available.
When purchasing a product on the web, several other factors come into the equation.
Will there be any hidden shipping costs, import fees, insurance costs or extra costs for needed accessories? All of these factors are important especially when you are doing comparison shopping.
You want to make sure that you can compare apples to apples.
Unfortunately there is no standard approach to pricing on the internet, so you need to work your way through the entire purchasing process on most websites before you can find the full price of a listed product.
Now, with the above in mind, lets work through a couple of examples for pet gates.
We'll start by looking at a results page from a search engine using the search term "pet gate".
Before we do that however, lets narrow the search a bit by looking for quality pet gates only.
All gates are not created equal.
Just look on YouTube and you can find videos of dogs that have successfully bypassed a pet gate.
In some cases they simply figured out how to operate the latch.
In other cases they powered their way through flimsy gate bars.
Most quality pet gates will run between $80 and $150, depending on the options included.
If you are spending less, well, just remember the old saying, you get what you pay for.
The first store I looked at from the search results had a quality pressure pet gate for $129.
99 including shipping.
There were no other fees, so this was a good base price to do some comparison shopping.
The next two stores that I looked at had the same gate, also with free shipping.
The price at the first store was $85 and the second store had an $87.
84 price tag.
This suggests that something in the $85 to 90$ range is the right price to pay for this item.
The first store was obviously over priced.
It is important to remember that just because an online store is listed first in a search engine results page, that does not guarantee that the store will have the best value.
Going one step further, we need to understand that these prices were for the base gate only.
If you needed to add an extension in order to get the width to match your requirements, then you would also need to compare prices including the extension.
Using the same example above, of the two lower priced stores, one store sold a 7 inch extension separately for $40, for a total price of $85 + $40 = $125.
The other store included the 7 inch extension in a special package pricing deal for $119.
25.
Generally, if you look at three or four stores selling the exact same pet gate, and the price comparison is all inclusive for getting the gate to your home, then you will most often be able to find the best price range.
Stores that have the lowest price for the base gate will often have higher prices when any accessories are added.
Larger stores will usually have the lowest prices for the base pet gates, but in order to compete, the smaller stores will often do better for special package deals.
Other things to consider which will impact the price:
Then browse the same stores or a few others to compare "all in" prices for the exact same pet gate.
It's really not worth the effort to search through dozens of online stores unless you aren't able to find a gate design suitable for your home.
Internet stores are all highly competitive, so after looking at a few stores, the price ranges will vary very little for any other stores.
Basically, the market will self regulate the prices based on competition.
How do you know that you are getting the best price for a pet gate? Use the tips illustrated above.
Once you have found a few online stores selling the product you want in the same price range, then you have found the true price that the product is worth.
No one wants to pay more than they need to for anything, and everyone wants to believe that they have found the best deal available.
When purchasing a product on the web, several other factors come into the equation.
Will there be any hidden shipping costs, import fees, insurance costs or extra costs for needed accessories? All of these factors are important especially when you are doing comparison shopping.
You want to make sure that you can compare apples to apples.
Unfortunately there is no standard approach to pricing on the internet, so you need to work your way through the entire purchasing process on most websites before you can find the full price of a listed product.
Now, with the above in mind, lets work through a couple of examples for pet gates.
We'll start by looking at a results page from a search engine using the search term "pet gate".
Before we do that however, lets narrow the search a bit by looking for quality pet gates only.
All gates are not created equal.
Just look on YouTube and you can find videos of dogs that have successfully bypassed a pet gate.
In some cases they simply figured out how to operate the latch.
In other cases they powered their way through flimsy gate bars.
Most quality pet gates will run between $80 and $150, depending on the options included.
If you are spending less, well, just remember the old saying, you get what you pay for.
The first store I looked at from the search results had a quality pressure pet gate for $129.
99 including shipping.
There were no other fees, so this was a good base price to do some comparison shopping.
The next two stores that I looked at had the same gate, also with free shipping.
The price at the first store was $85 and the second store had an $87.
84 price tag.
This suggests that something in the $85 to 90$ range is the right price to pay for this item.
The first store was obviously over priced.
It is important to remember that just because an online store is listed first in a search engine results page, that does not guarantee that the store will have the best value.
Going one step further, we need to understand that these prices were for the base gate only.
If you needed to add an extension in order to get the width to match your requirements, then you would also need to compare prices including the extension.
Using the same example above, of the two lower priced stores, one store sold a 7 inch extension separately for $40, for a total price of $85 + $40 = $125.
The other store included the 7 inch extension in a special package pricing deal for $119.
25.
Generally, if you look at three or four stores selling the exact same pet gate, and the price comparison is all inclusive for getting the gate to your home, then you will most often be able to find the best price range.
Stores that have the lowest price for the base gate will often have higher prices when any accessories are added.
Larger stores will usually have the lowest prices for the base pet gates, but in order to compete, the smaller stores will often do better for special package deals.
Other things to consider which will impact the price:
- whether the gate is constructed from wood, steel, aluminum or plastic
- whether the gate bars have been reinforced to improve gate strength
- the sophistication of the gate latch mechanism (increased safety)
- whether the gate swings closed automatically or manually
- whether the gates have any plastic parts (more likely to break with use)
Then browse the same stores or a few others to compare "all in" prices for the exact same pet gate.
It's really not worth the effort to search through dozens of online stores unless you aren't able to find a gate design suitable for your home.
Internet stores are all highly competitive, so after looking at a few stores, the price ranges will vary very little for any other stores.
Basically, the market will self regulate the prices based on competition.
How do you know that you are getting the best price for a pet gate? Use the tips illustrated above.
Once you have found a few online stores selling the product you want in the same price range, then you have found the true price that the product is worth.
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