8 X 10 film pricing

[nsurit]

I've been using a bit of 8 X 10 Ilford Delta 100 film and recently ordered a box from a major NYC retailer. I checked the price with three retailers and the difference was $10 more with one and $35 with another. Any ideas about the wide swing in retail price?

[DREW WILEY]

No different than any other retail commodity. Depends what they themselves bought it for, supply and
demand, what kind of profit margin they need (if they are smart enough to understand a sensible
balance between competiveness and acutually staying in business). Not many items have a mfg-dictated fixed price. For a retailer, it can be a bit like playing the stock market - buying when the cost
is favorably low, then selling high. Film in general has been going up, and someone who sells more might actually have a higher price because they sold out sooner than someone who sells little, and
had to rebuy at more recent, higher cost. Bascially, a dance with inflation.

[pgomena]

I recently checked around to a half-dozen large film retailers before buying a 100-sheet box of 4x5 Ilford FP4+. Prices ranged from $128 to $101. I bought low and received film with a 2016 expiration date, so it's good, fresh stock. It certainly pays to shop around.

[mjs]

Since a smart retailer bases their price not on what they paid for the item but on what they'll have to pay to replace it once you buy it, perhaps the cheapest of your sources either doesn't intend to replace it with new film or has so much in stock that they aren't looking at replacement costs yet?

Mike

[pgomena]

Well, one of them was B&H, so I doubt that. The other was Glazer's in Seattle, so I doubt that, too. I buy my 6.5x8.5" Ilford film through Glazer's during the annual special order, so they seem to be in the film game for the foreseeable future. There are a lot of film shooters still around the Pacific Northwest. I like to patronize Glazer's over other retailers because they're relatively local.

[nsurit]

I purchased from Adorama. The other two companies were B&H and Freestyle.

[pgomena]

I have ordered from Freestyle many times in the past. Their prices always were very competitive. This time, their prices were the highest across the board for each of the several films I priced. I'm sure they have good reasons for this, maybe something like refusing to sell at a loss. I don't envy any film retailer these days and will continue to support those I can with my purchases.

[nsurit]

Having been a business owner over 35 years I'm very committed to supporting those businesses that support things in which I have an interest. I also know that the cheapest price is not always the best buy, however a 35-40% difference in price for the same item seems a bit excessive.

[dpurdy]

Freestyle has been more expensive for film than B&H for some time now. Also B&H has better prices on paper.
Freestyle does have the ultra edu which is cheap and seems good enough for me. It has reciprocity failure and pin holes but I can deal with that for the price.
I am needing to buy more soon and I have always used the 100. I am wondering how much grainier and how problematic is the 400.

[Brian C. Miller]

... they seem to be in the film game for the foreseeable future.

The lady who owns Glazers is a die-hard film person. Even though the film section is now small and at the back of their secondary store across the street, they still have very knowledgable staff at the counter. I bought my Ilford Titan pinhole camera from them, and they get nearly all of my film business. Sure, there's some things they don't stock, but nobody covers the whole range.