Headsets: "Minimum Advertised Price"

On Fri, 09 Apr 2004 11:40:01 GMT, "Aloft" wrote:

Now, what this suggests to me is that it IS legal to coerce a dealer into
compliance under threat of being dropped as a dealer. HOW this isn't
anti-competitive, God only knows.

I am as amazed as you, especially since it would only work in cases
where the manufacturer has a real advantage over his competitors, as
in name recognition or share of the market.

The difference between this and the Minimum Retail Price of the 1950s
appears to be merely that in the former case, the dealer who cut
prices had actually broken the law, and there could be penalties
assessed against him.

Happily the New Price Fixing doesn't usually work, because
manufacturers generally needs Wal Mart more than WM needs them.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! blog www.vivabush.org

Most sites abide by the mfgers MAP but there a few who don't. Take a
look at bizrate.com and you can see who does and who doesn't abide.
Garmin seems to do a better job at policing it's resellers but you can
find lightspeed headsets for cheaper...

-lance smith



Will Thompson wrote in message ...
Just about all of the major (USA) pilot shops on the web use a "minimum
advertised price" for headsets. The actual price for a popular headset,
such as Lightspeed or David Clark are not readily available on the
website. Instead you only find out the real price after actually
ordering or requesting and waiting for an email. The shops claim the
manufacturers require this, and they can't advertise a price below the
"minimum adv. price" which is usually somewhat lower than the MSRP or
list price.

So why is this? Manufacturers *cannot* set actual selling prices, per
federal law (Sherman Act and related) so it is strange that they try to
impose this barrier. .

At any rate it is just a hassle for the consumer becaues it
intentionally makes it difficult to find the best price. You would think
the manufacturer wouldn't mind the end seller selling for the best
possible price to get more sales. UNLESS of course the manufacturer
secretly sells to different dealers at different prices.....

I've done a lot of business on the web, and it is both weird and
annoying that aviation .headsets operate differently than everything
else.