Reasonable amount to pay for a Mitel 5330e handset in the UK?

[mattybrownuk]

We recently needed to add a couple of new Mitel 5330e handsets to our MiVoice Office 250 system.  We were quoted £237.32 by one supplier and £242 by another - both of which are suppliers we've bought many handsets from in the past.  The third quote I got was off a website (am I allowed to post a link on this forum?).  Anyway, they're flogging them for £165+VAT - 47% cheaper than one of the aforementioned suppliers.

It seems somewhat unfair that some suppliers are charging so much.  I was warned by one of them that the handsets are probably "grey market stock", but as the end user who buys a box containing identical kit from one supplier or another, why would I want to pay 47% more for the same product??

Any experiences or opinions? 

[acejavelin]

For a new device from an authorized vendor? Sounds totally reasonable...

I have seen Mitel 5330e sets go anywhere from $300-$450 USD from a regular vendor here in the states, I believe MSRP is about $400 USD. 

Honestly, if your looking to save a few bucks, go refurbished or used "Grade A" stock, those are starting to clog up the used market as many larger Mitel 3300 users are moving to the 6900 series phones. I see PC Liquidators in the US has 5330e "Grade A" used stock for about $100 USD.

[Magpye]

If it's the website I think you are talking about we have had customers purchase large numbers of handsets from them, only to find out out the majority were faulty or wouldn't connect/download firmware.

I even asked their tech support chat if they could confirm that their stock was not grey-list, to which they wouldn't confirm.

That seems a perfectly reasonable cost for a 5330e handset.

[Tech Electronics]

mattybrownuk,

What you may not be thinking about is their overhead costs, the cost of a license bundled with the phone, as well as the ability to replace the phone with refurbished stock when it goes bad. All of these things will require a vendor to have a higher price than some random company that sells them for pure profit since they don't have to support them or stock them for any length of time; space is money too.

Thanks,

TE