I’ve seen this happen before.
On the internet, this is the story:
I wonder if I’m one of those two persons? Oh my, that would really hurt to know I’m on your blacklist, Steve.
We’ve seen this all before I am not going over the whole shouting match again. This issue would NOT have come up if Steve hadn’t called me unfair [again].
Let’s just be clear I did NOT misrepresent any facts. I went to Steve’s own website while writing my previous post and looked up the O Briain whistle.
The price is clear and shipping is quoted as 6 euro. This is information supplied by Steve, if quoting that is a misrepresentation of the facts, that’s hardly my fault.
By the way the whistle salesman whom we fought about last time was still selling the O Briain’s for 20 euro last time I saw him, apparently he, like Ossian, manages to get a good price from Cillian.
Good Luck Steve.
I won’t get in the pricing discussion, as I didn’t compare prices lately. But one thing is certain: whenever I made an order at Shannaquay, I got great service: good quality, fast replies to eventual questions, fast service. My experience is that Shannaquay is very reliable. This is very important for me, and I would even accept to pay a few Euros more, if necessary. I prefer to order my stuff from Steve, as I know he will send me good quality and very fast at a fixed price - rather than ordering from other shops who will make me wait longer and/or will have me paying extra for shipping, or make me wait several days before sending an e-mail to say that the item is out of stock …
As for the free gifts and prize draws - they are not useful in my opinion. A free whistle pouch is great however.
Besides, I think that Steve’s website is very well made. The online-shop is very clearly arranged. It’s very easy to see what you will get and how much you will have to pay for it. And if you have any questions, Steve is usually very eager to help you as good as he can.
P.S.: I’m not related to Steve, we never had breakfast together, we never even met, and I’m not getting free whistles for this statement. But after all the previous negative statements, I think I have a right to make my own positive statement too.
It’s also said by Jonathan Winters in “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming.”
Of course you have a right to make such a positive statement. And if Steve Power had any sense instead of a degree in psychology, he would skip the pouty, ranting self-defenses and leave other board members like Claudine to defend his prices for him.
You know, it’s really tempting to go back with the original issue that started it all. I obviously don’t like Steve, but the point I made so long ago was that some of his items were really, really overpriced. Now, if good service makes up for it, that’s great and I’m actually glad for him that he can balance the fact that some of his items are overpriced.
This morning I checked the main item that made me think "of my, much more expensive than other shops. It’s the generation set, you know, the set of 6 whistles. Shannaquay will set a nickel set for 50EURO (US57?) and whistleshop will sell the same for US31.25.
Now, they tell me shipping is included. I never got an answer to that, but I don’t understand this shipping “philosophy”. If you want to order other whistles or items from Shannaquay, will all the shipping prices add up? Because at whistleshop, for example, if you buy many items, shipping will end up being very cheap (per whistle) and in that case, shipping included wouldnt be much of a factor.
But if you buy ONLY the whistle set, for example, I guess you could add what, US15$ (at most!) at whistleshop, and then the price difference isnt THAT obvious.
I would have reacted the same if I would have seen whistleshop sell some of it’s whistles at a 50% increased price compared to most competitors, but because it’s a known fact that I don’t like Steve, people think that I just want to pick on his buisness, and instead of having a normal discussion about the FACTS i’m presenting, I’m was being accused of being unfair to him and having a problem with Steve amd blablabla… As I said, it’s mostly about the sets, I’m sure you could make an extensive research and show that 90% of shannaquay’s items are not that overpriced. But still, this “shipping included” is an enigma for me when it comes to shipping many items.
It’s funny 'cause in the original thread that started it all, like what, a year ago? (I’m not going to dig it up!) I never got an actual straight answer from Steve, instead I got threats of being sued and all the rest. I wonder if things have changed? Can I get an answer to my questions? Maybe threats and insults and blame are still easier to provide? I would also welcome input from our national fife player, who was my biggest critic at the time.
Just a quick edit here, I usually believe that a company and it’s owner are two different entities. It’s the same with a product and it’s maker. If I don’t like the product, or the owner, doesnt mean I have to dislike the maker, or the company. I would have left that thread alone, since it’s started with personnal comments from Steve, but then he was the first to talk about his shop, and prices, that’s why I think it’s totally fair to jump on this thread. I’m also ready for those of you who think that because you are a shop or a maker you shouldnt be criticized in public. “Those of you” are the ones to blame when it comes to people who bought whistles from a maker which we found were crap after a few months, and so on. Also, when someone has a commercial website as his post signature/location/any constant displayed profile variable, I consider that person in constant commercial posting, even though he is not posting something commercial. All of this person’s posts are commercial, with such a signature.
Az, I don’t like it how Steve makes these things personal and tries to defuse any criticism by accusing those who put it forward of being unfair, dishonest or generally out to get him. He’s a great one for the conspiracy theory.
Anyone here can make his own mind up about prices, loads of people don’t mind. Which is fine. I wouldn’t have posted these links if he hadn’t started accusing me of unfairly suggesting his prices were higher than those of other shops. Well. QED. No need to stir, let’s just put the matter to rest.
The Jims stand together on this one.
Rehashing this accomplishes only one thing: it makes the whole whistle board look like an unfriendly place to be to any newcomers.
–James
Thanks for the consumer feedback, everyone. Especially Peter.
Shanna Quay has now reduced the unit price of O’Briain High D to more than 2 Euro LESS than anyone we know of in Ireland and 5 Euro Less than Cillian himself (15 Euro). Our total price (28 Euro) does though, reflect the pouch and the shipping, which we can’t change. If anyone e-mails and tells us they don’t want the pouch, the price will be 22 Euro.
As for the Generation sets, our postage on this item is 14 Euro (plus packaging) to the USA. This reflects the current price (which incidentally, was savagely reduced after we changed supplier, following previous comments (see above). We are not in a position to reduce it further as yet, but will seriously look at this in the future.
If you’d like to point out other obvious examples of us being more expensive than others - we WILL (and do) listen. Especially when the suggestions are put in a postibve and freindly manner. just e-mail me (privately, preferably).
Take care
Steve
Hi Mom.
Steve, thanks for your answer. It pleases me to be able to ask questions without being uncensored and getting straight answer, the rest seems so unimportant at this point. Cheers.
Good show, Steve. I might order one myself, for the holidays.
Fair playto you Steve, though thanking me was maybe a bit over the top.
The 'price Cillian sells them himself for [15 Euro]'in your last post is still a bit at odds with your initial defence that you couldn’t buy them at the price Ossian was selling them at but we’ll put that down to the heat of the moment and all that. You saved the day 
Ah! The board is back to normal!
Actually, lately, “normal” has been pretty scary. :roll:
Let’s hope the board is better than normal!
–James
Oh dear 
You got me again, Peter! But to be serious, I have bowed to consumer pressure and my current price leaves a much less than normal profit mark-up (honest). I’m now selling them for a unit price of 15 Euro (5 Euro less than Cillian sells them for himself and 2 and bit less than Ossian).
But, (and here’s the catch) I’m not putting stamps on the mail order envelopes, thus making a profit on the postage!
I’d e-mail you my accounts books, but we don’t have any. Perhaps that’s another thing I should look into? What’s a ’ Tax Return’ anyway? 
The price of the O’Briain’s may go up a tad in the new year, if I decide to eat again!
Take care
Steve
Meanwhile, I think 5-6 of my students, plus other people I know, have bought a O’Briain’s D (and some Eb) from whistleanddrum.com, for canadians it’s a good time to profit from the low US$.