Publishing "dealer" pricing on a site?

[madcrabber 0]

I'm developing a retail ecommerce site and based on feedback from the board, have decided to avoid OEM and stick with branded equipment. At this point, I'm reading reviews and trying to select the best names to carry. For some reason, the distributor is pushing for mostly what I understand to be lower-end, branded-OEM equipment (i.e., Arm, Dedicated, EverFocus), but I'd like to carry at least one strong name at the high-end as well.

 

However, the distributor told me that manufacturers like Bosch, Panasonic, and Pelco will have fits if you advertise below their published "dealer" prices. Is anyone familiar with how this works? I'm guessing this is why I see the occasional "call for price" listing, but as a purchaser, my experience has been that this is a sales tactic to upsell additional items when I call, so I typically avoid those sites.

 

What if you have to log in to see price - does that achieve the same goal? From a buyer perspective, what do you prefer? Again, this will primarily be a retail site, as I've already recognized there's no way to compete with the large wholesale distributors.

 

Note: I realize this more appropriately belongs in the Dealer Forum, but as a newb, I don't yet have enough posts to access this area. If more appropriate, please PM your responses rather than posting to the forum. Thanks!!

[securitymonster 0]

Alot of manufacturers have whats called MAP pricing (minimum advertised pricing). If you don't obey these rules, even when going thru a distributor, you can get "cut out" of the buying loop.

 

The e-commerce security world is pretty tough these days. If your not wholesale, chances are you won't last too long. Even the retail sites are getting thier prices down way low that makes it tought to compete.

[madcrabber 0]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try to find additional information on the MAP prices, maybe the distributor will have a listing. No idea if having a "login to view pricing" will get me there, eh? Guess I'll do some more legwork.

 

Thanks again SM - not sure if you remember, but your feedback was a significant contribution to why I steered clear of OEM.

[kensplace 0]

Price fixing is illegal in many places http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_fixing

 

If stopping someone from purchasing products if they dont sell at a certain price is not price fixing then I dont know what is.....

[madcrabber 0]

okay, did a bit more legwork. apparently it's not illegal, because you retain the right to sell the product at any price you choose, you just cannot advertise at a price below the MAP.

 

apparently, most e-tailers get around this by making the price unavailable until the product is added to the shopping cart. this should work fine with my shopping cart, i can list the MAP pricing as the MSRP and have the actual price populate in the shopping cart.

 

guess i'll just write a little pop-up explanation to the customer as to why some products don't have price listed. i'm much more comfortable with this than saying "call for pricing."

[securitymonster 0]

yes, a popup with explanation makes more sense. It will also show some trust in you as a business. Alot of internet sites put huge banners at the top stating "guaranteed lowest price" or "call for best price", while this is cheasy, it works quite a bit.

[Thomas 0]

Price fixing is illegal. But at the same time a manufacturer can make it unpleasant for those who bend certain marketing guidelines. And companies don't care if you sell thier cameras at 10% below MSRP or MAP. What they care about is one person not destroying distrubtion channels.

 

Look at Geovision. I talk to dealers that are finding it harder and harder to make money on them because of all of the sites who push thier cards at cutthroat prices. Even if they wanted to, it's really hard to close Pandora's box when it's been opened.

[madcrabber 0]

thanks for the input thomas - out of curiousity, what are your thoughts on having the customer log in to see pricing on product subject to MAP? this way, the sales prices aren't picked up in the search engines. just seems kind of hazy ground as to what's considered "advertised price."

 

well, my choice is that, or the only other module that integrates with my shopping cart system will require the customer select a product and receive an email-type "quote" with pricing. i can see that being a pain if wanting to compare 4-5 items.

[rory 0]

Easiest way to do it is list Manufacturers Suggested List Price .. thats Retail ..

If its OEM then it hardly ever matters as they generally dont have that .. but the brands have them and makes it easier to use their suggestions ..

 

Have Retail Clients sign up to get their discount price ..

And have another one for Dealers if you wanted ...

[Thomas 0]

My general thoughts is that end users seeing anything other then MAP on a site is bad. If they get a lower quote from calling in, that's fine.

[sajaan458 0]

I agree with Tom on this... I wouldn't suggest having prices listed on Web site below MAP price... For dealers you can have login and have lower price and most shopping cards do provide that feature. I don't know about Geo retailers because I here soo many different stories specailly since alot of e-tailer sale duplicate geo cards making it harder for Geo to enforce MAP price which they should have implemented years ago.