Gotta call B.S. on that!Avrok wrote: they told me that they are not selling the dragon anymore due to lack of interest from the public.
WarmBeer wrote:Gotta call B.S. on that!Avrok wrote: they told me that they are not selling the dragon anymore due to lack of interest from the public.
You only have to look at the number of new owners on this forum. I know 2 other guys have bought them based purely on my personal recommendation.
More likely they got told by Kamado Joe, which gives them better margins, that if they don't stop selling a competitor, KJ will pull their entire range. Always follow the money trail. Always.
Agreed about the numbers but we would be small potatoes compared to what they'd need to sell to make they worth stocking. And don't forget, most of the buyers in here got them at the cheap rate. I'd love to know what their actual wholesale cost is.WarmBeer wrote:Gotta call B.S. on that!Avrok wrote: they told me that they are not selling the dragon anymore due to lack of interest from the public.
You only have to look at the number of new owners on this forum. I know 2 other guys have bought them based purely on my personal recommendation.
More likely they got told by Kamado Joe, which gives them better margins, that if they don't stop selling a competitor, KJ will pull their entire range. Always follow the money trail. Always.
Fents wrote:
Ive never seen or heard of anyone on here modding a dragon.
Remember Akorns (and pressumably dragon's) have one of the best factory seals in the kamado game. You can not destroy them, no burning as they are not felt. If the gasket gets hard just pinch it softly all the way round with your fingers and it will come back to shape.
Looking at a couple of US sites, they usually pay around USD $250 for an Akorn, sometimes as low as $150 on special.12x7 wrote:Probably what killed the Dragon is the Australian dollar exchange rate plunge. BBQG probably looked at the cost to import the next batch of Dragons and the next price to sell and probably worked out too hard to sell for enough profit. We have to remember they were $499 without a defector or cover vs the Akorn at the same price for $499 with a deflector and cover. As a guess when Bunnings bought the Akorn stock the Aussie dollar was pretty high. I suspect that when Bunnings prices the next batch of Akorns it will look too expensive to stock vs the rest of their BBQ range.
The same issue applies to all their other BBQs though - they all come from the same place!12x7 wrote:Probably what killed the Dragon is the Australian dollar exchange rate plunge. BBQG probably looked at the cost to import the next batch of Dragons and the next price to sell and probably worked out too hard to sell for enough profit. We have to remember they were $499 without a defector or cover vs the Akorn at the same price for $499 with a deflector and cover. As a guess when Bunnings bought the Akorn stock the Aussie dollar was pretty high. I suspect that when Bunnings prices the next batch of Akorns it will look too expensive to stock vs the rest of their BBQ range.
I think you are on to something there WarmBeer. If CharGriller was wholesaling the Akorn to the retailers around USD150 you would guess somebody could import an Akorn OEM from the manufacturer and make a decent profit. I guess the killer might be if the minimum quantity was 2,000 units which would be around AUD200-400K depending what the mark-up was.WarmBeer wrote:
Looking at a couple of US sites, they usually pay around USD $250 for an Akorn, sometimes as low as $150 on special.
Given the similarity of design, I suspect the Dragon is built in the same, if not adjoining, factory as Akorn. Both units would need to be shipped ex-China.
The only thing preventing any retailer making profit on these things is the so called "Australia Tax".
