Tool brands and retailers use various tricks and strategies to influence consumers’ purchasing decisions.
This isn’t good or bad, it’s just the way things are. It’s important to understand some of the ways our judgement and decisions can be swayed, hence this post.
Here, let’s talk about “value if purchased separately” claims.
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Over at Home Depot, they’re advertising this Dewalt 20V Max cordless router and starter kit as having “$448 value if purchased separately.”
The bundle is actually a great price at $199 for the tool, a charger, and 6Ah battery, but are you really saving $249 here?
At this time, the tool-only is $249, and the starter kit is $199. There’s no “buy this, get that for free” bundle that I can see right now.
This looks to be a great example of where the “value if purchased separately” works. It’s also conservative, as the dollar amount would be higher if Dewalt or Home Depot calculated it based on the price of the 6Ah battery and charger if purchased separately.
In my opinion, this is how bundle valuation should work, where it’s based on the next-lowest pricing for what you get. But it seems that’s not how most value claims work.
Then there’s this Dewalt 6-tool cordless combo kit, also at Home Depot, on sale for $499. They say it “was” $899 with savings of $400, and the combo is ascribed a value of “$1400” if purchased separately.
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Nobody should ever be buying a kit like this separately. In my opinion, $499 is a fair promo price for what you get. But this isn’t worth $1400, and I also feel nobody should be spending $900 for it either.
Lowe’s does the same. They’re saying that this Dewalt combo kit, currently priced at $599, has a value of over $1596 if purchased separately.
It’s kind of like looking at a case of soda at the supermarket and saying an $8 12-pack of some beverage has a value of $21 if purchased individually.
Sure, you could buy everything separately, but nobody should be doing that. There are ALWAYS deals and promotions.
There are certain brands that sell tools a la carte, but we’re not talking about them here, we’re talking about popular tool brands at nationwide retailers.
Home Depot says this Milwaukee M18 7-tool cordless power tool combo kit has a value of over $1170 if purchased separately.
They also say that you’re saving $500 off the “was” pricing of $999. While $499 is a good price for what you get, this is not a $1000 tool kit. Or rather, it’d be a huge mistake to spend that much for this kit.
Interestingly Home Depot doesn’t have “value if purchased separately” claims for the Milwaukee M18 FUEL 7-tool combo kit, which is $849 right now.
Lowe’s does similar for Flex, with this kit that they say has a $1100 value.
This Kobalt 2-tool kit is said to have a $337 value if purchased separately.
This is an interesting example that we’ll get back to in a moment.
As for this Ryobi 12-tool combo kit and its over $1330 value if purchased separately, its current price of $799 seems good, but I’ve seen it discounted below $600.
The “$1330+ value” makes it seem like you’re getting a good deal, but I’d say $799 isn’t a great price.
I started buying cordless power tools around 20 years ago, and I distinctively remember trying to make sense of all of the different Dremel rotary tool kit options. Each Dremel kit came bundled with a different number of attachments and different assortment of accessories, making it difficult to price things out.
I could be remembering things wrong, but Dremel at least still ascribes “value” figures to many of their accessory sets.
It’s easy to let “value if purchased separately” claims influence one’s purchasing decisions.
The difficult part is that the relevance or weight of the claims can vary. Brands and retailers aren’t going fabricate values, or a least most don’t and wouldn’t – their legal teams won’t allow it.
Relevance is the issue, not accuracy.
At this time Lowe’s is selling their Kobalt 24V Max cordless drill and impact driver kit for $149. They also have a kit with the same impact driver for $149, and a kit with the same cordless drill for $139. Both of the standalone too kits look to be its regular price.
Combo Kit Promo Price: $149
Combo Kit “Value”: $337+
Impact Driver (Regular?) Price: $149
Impact Driver “Value”: $209+
Drill Kit (Regular?) Price: $139
Drill Kit “Value”: $209+
So what if you buy the drill kit and impact driver kit, both at regular pricing? That would come with both tools, 2 chargers, 2 batteries, and 2 cases, for $288. And yet somehow the same package with just 1 charger, 1 battery, and 1 case has a “value” of over $337? Even if accurate, it’s not relevant, and that’s why I consider such claims to be spurious.
The crossed out price for the combo kit is $199. $149 is the expected promo price for the 2-tool combo kit, and I’d expect to see the standalone combo kits discounted to $99 each during peak holiday seasons.
The “value if purchased separately” figure does not help you, although this isn’t always the case.
When I bought my first wrench set, I was looking for just two sizes. There I was at Sears, looking at the $20 price for the 9pc combination wrench set compared to the price for the two wrenches I was looking to get. If I ever needed to buy just (1) more wrench size, the set pricing would work out to my favor. So, I bought the set.
The set didn’t claim to have $XY value if purchased separately, or if did I don’t remember paying attention to it. I had done the math myself, calculating the value of what I was looking to buy compared to the price of the set.
For the Lowe’s Kobalt cordless 2-tool combo kit, the “$337+ value” is meaningless. However, its $149 price is $0 more than that for the impact driver-only kit, and just $10 more than that for the drill-only kit. This will change if or when the individual kits are discounted to $99 again, but right now the 2pc combo is a better deal than buying either standalone tool kit.
One could figure how much it would cost to buy one tool kit and add the other as a tool-only later. I didn’t see them and haven’t looked too deeply to see if the bare tools are even available, but $149 for an impact kit vs $149 for the same kit plus a cordless drill kit seems like an easy decision. Stepping up from the drill-only kit for $139 to the 2pc tool kit at $149 is also something most people will easily justify.
Still, no one is buying consumer brands of cordless power tools a la carte. Often it makes better sense to buy a kit and replace something you don’t like, such as by getting a more premium or higher capacity battery or faster charger and relegating bundle inclusions to be a spare.
For example, if you wanted the Dewalt cordless router, you save money right now by getting the promo bundle vs the bare tool. The same is often true for other tools from different brands.
“Value” is not a hard metric one can trust, at least for kits, combo kits, and bundles that are often not purchased piecemeal in the exact same way.
It’s like going to a fast food restaurant and buying a sandwich, fries, and drink separately. Nobody does that; if you want all 3, you buy a combo.
Some of you might be saying “I know all this!” but did you always know this? Was there ever a time when you might have taken the “value if purchased separately” claims at face value? I certainly did at one time when I started buying tools.
The difficult part is knowing when it’s relevant and when it’s not. I’ve come to treat “value if purchased separately” as meaningless except in very rare circumstances, as with the Dewalt cordless router bundle discussed above.
Scott K
I don’t think I’ve ever taken those “if bought separately” claims seriously. I have wondered, though, if there’s some ulterior accounting motivation embedded in those claims. Could that difference in stated value vs. sale price be somehow beneficial for tax purposes?
Stuart
It’s a matter of perception.
What’s better, $400 for $1100 in value vs $500 for $1400 in value?
It has taken me a while, but I’ve learned that a lot of people make emotional purchasing decisions.
I do the same, but I find myself less affected by marketing claims and advertising when for whatever reasons I haven’t engaged the emotional side of my decision making process.
Scott K
These claims must have enough of an impact for brands to continue to make them. I’ve certainly spent time thinking about the benefit of various bundles/free tools/deals when buying tools or other products. I just rarely put much validity in the claimed “real value.” Not really relevant here, but I like that tools such as CamelCamelCamel can help bring clarity to deal/sale claims.
Stuart
Even those tools fail. CCC is good for seeing trends over time; they miss a lot of promos. Keep in mind that they get paid by Amazon whether you buy at the lowest price or not.
Scott K
I should have said CCC is helpful in gauging the validity of sale or value prices on Amazon. Yes, they certainly miss quick sales and I don’t believe they are able to catch coupons that need to be clicked.
I like the if I’m browsing in the HD app, I’ll get an email if something I view drops in price, though I’ve received those emails and thought the price was identical to what I recall seeing.
Ron
I agree…
Let’s say you buy a tool kit on sale for $1000 and a week later it drops down to $980. It’s only $20 so I may not even give it a second thought. But let’s say you buy your favorite screwdriver set for $40 and then a week later drops down to $20…… that’s half the price you originally paid….. I would be digging for the receipt to get a price adjustment for the screwdriver set before the $1000 tool kit even it’s the same $20.
Stuart
What does price matching or guarantees have to do with this?
Ron
“It’s a matter of perception”
Stuart
Not quite. “Value if purchased separately” creates the perception of how much you’re getting for the purchase price. If a price drops after you purchase an item, that’s different. If we’re talking about $20 relative to $1000 vs $20 relative to $40, that’s not a matter of perceived value but of relative value. $20 is 2% of $1000 vs 50% of $40.
will
Just looking on amazon they show the true value crossed out and the new price listed. Usually those crossed out prices are outrageous and the item was never ar thst price ,even when brand new. That’s dirty business practices imo and I wish theyd do something about it. I wont fall for that $1500 soundbar at a great new price of $299 lol. Sadly they do this often ,and im sure they’re using the manufacturer suggested price or something like that,which nobody ever uses,other than when they want to claim a markdown of 85% and a record low price. I suppose Amazon became huge because of these dirty practices and seemingly letting 3rd parties list whatever price they want just to fool people into thinking they’re getting a steal ,even though its the same price as anywhere else. Walmart sites even worse,not even sure walmart even sales directly from their own site,just 3rd parties with ridiculous pricing,so they can list the new price as being another fantastic Walmart special sold and shipped from China lol.
Stuart
That’s not the “true value,” and yes it’s completely made-up a lot of the time.
Why? Because it works.
fred
This sort of marketing has been going on since Hector was a pup. I remeber looking at ads in magazines like Mechanix Illustrated when I was a teenager and being fleetingly wowed by how many tools you got for your $17.95. My dad would then point out that the set included lots of items of dubious quality and even lesser value to fill out the “tool count.” That might be a box of 100 cheap razor blades for the scraper, 20 hacksaw blades that might not work beyond the first cut, a batch of Allen keys that would bend under torque etc. etc.
Perhaps the only thing that new is that the marketers now have computers and pricing databases so it’s easier to work the numbers into the hype.
will
Hey thats a 150 piece set,only for $99! Then yoy get it and everything is plastic,other than thr cheap blades which like you said would last a few cuts.
MM
Sorting out the real “value” versus street price is just one part of evaluating combo kit pricing. Another important question is is do you actually need the items in the set? It doesn’t matter what the “value” claims to be or how steep the discount is, if you don’t need a particular item then it’s unwise to buy it at any price. And if you do need all the items in a set, are the versions in the set really the ones you want, or would you be better served picking and choosing different models or perhaps even different brands?
For example, I’ve seen a few Flex kits which were tempting, if only they had the Inline circular saw instead of the standard sidewinder model.
Scott K
I totally agree. I think many of the combo kits have improved over the years by adding tools of greater value or more batteries. I feel like many used to offer things that increased the number of items but didn’t add as much value. With that being said, many of these bigger kits only seem to make sense to someone starting fresh, investing in a new platform, or wanting duplicates. Lots of kits come with tools that I see as fundamental: drill, impact, etc.
MKY
Stuart –
“***Too*** brands and retailers…”
“But it seems that’s not how ***must*** value claims work.”
Stuart
Thanks, *fixed*! The first word! Nobody else noticed, right?!
Joel
“Still, no one is buying consumer brands of cordless power tools a la carte.”
I have a lot of tools already (some bought in combo kits). However, I usually wait until I need a tool to buy it. Often the most economical way to purchase the needed tool when I need to buy it is tool-only.
Other tools I want but don’t need. These I’ll wait and watch for the special deal or combo deal.
I spend less money on tools by purchasing a la carte when appropriate.
8)
Stuart
But not all at once, and you probably started with a kit or combo kit, right?
Scott K
My first cordless tools were a Bosch drill and impact with two batteries – ten years later they’re still great. I planned to stay with Bosch but found as I needed other cordless tools they didn’t have many options at various price points like other brands.
I expected my first Ryobi to be a one off purchase, but the included battery wasn’t sufficient so I bought more batteries during a free tool sale and I’ve been adding Ryobi tools and batteries since. I’ve gotten a few batteries because HD priced kits with batteries at or below bare tool prices.
Joel
Yes indeed. True on both counts.
glenn
That sort of advertising has been around here in Australia for decades as well. So much I don’t even take any notice,
However, conversely, it can work in your favour. For insurance purposes I have all my power tools, batteries etc listed individually.
I doubt any thief would be considerate enough to steal a complete kit:)
Oarman
Buying separately happens if its one or two tools at a time over months or years. So the bundles are trying to motivate the buyer to ‘buy once cry once’ if they might end up needing the rest later.
But:
– The sets frequently load up with stinkers. Throwing in random brushed tools or other low end items is common. It can be frustrating figuring out which SKUs the kits comprise. Often, frankly, the brand that is optimal for one tool may not be the one you want for another in the kit.
– The combos often don’t make sense. I think one of the Ryobis has an angle grinder and a brad nailer? What are the odds someone needs both of those in a short time frame? It might have two different impact wrenches? If you’re a Ryobi customer trying to find value in a kit, do you think you could make one impact driver do double duty? Loading up kits with flashlights and fans is also common, and even if you would want a tool battery powered flashlight or fan, what are the odds its the model you want?
– The kits are usually stingy with batteries and chargers. Looking at the ones above, they have one or two batteries and one charger, and the batteries are usually the same size. Odds are if you’re amassing that many cordless tools you end up with more than two batteries and chargers, and small batteries for small, low draw tools and big batteries for the big stuff. The cases/ bags probably aren’t what you want for a big collection of unrelated tools either. So the ‘value’ or ‘money saved’ may not reflect batteries and storage a real customer may end up buying (or getting in smaller combos.)
Generally I see these kits, basically anything beyond two tools or the air tools/compressor combos, and it becomes too complicated to figure out what I’m getting, if I actually want it, and if it’s actually worth the block price. Especially when HD etc put like 20 different combos on sale at once.
Stuart
Whether or not combos are good buys is a completely different topic. Generally, they’re good values if you can use most of what’s included.
The same goes for things like mechanics tool sets, screwdriver sets, pliers sets, and so forth.