On Monday, September 16, 2002, at 07:09 AM, Paul Weaver wrote:
When a list member recently asked if there were any discounts for WAMUG
members he raised an interesting subject. For as long as there have
been
Macs on sale in this country, those who have dealt in them seem to have
adhered rigidly to a fixed price scheme, with no apparent
competitiveness
between dealers. I have often wondered if some sort of retail price
agreement operates. Is it a breach of the trade practices act?
Should
some offended consumer send a query to Allan Felds and the ACCC? The
argument that "there is hardly any margin on macs" has long been used
as an
excuse for non-discounting. Yet just about every other consumer
device in
the electronics arena can have its price negotiated between buyer and
seller.
Members of the working class might not know that there is a second
cheaper
price list for people having an association with a university. This
saves
quite a bit on the price in the street. Even former attendees of a
university can get this discounted price by being a member of their
alumni
association. WA universities recognise each others members too.
While I
have purchased computers this way in the past I have always felt it
unfair
that the working taxpayers who largely pay for these institutions to
exist
are not permitted to access the discounted prices.
My feeling is that it could be timely for some consumer to ask the
ACCC for
their opinion on Mac pricing. All it takes is a phone call and a
follow-up
letter. The number is in the phone book.
Consumers should rule - OK.
Regards, Paul.
While I don't want to offer any particular comment on a fixed price
scheme or the equity of education pricing and eligibility, I would say
that after many years of Mac purchasing, I've found that the cannier
(sp?) buyer will consider total purchase needs before entering a price
bargaining situation. In my experience, while there seems to be little
room to move on the price of the computer itself, that there often is
room on other items such as printers, scanners, external drives, memory
etc etc. In other words, on other items where the dealer may have a
quite different margin to play with.
So if a buyer knows he/she will require a printer, scanner etc as well,
it seems better to negotiate this at the same time as buying the
computer itself. There may be some pleasant surprises.
My $0.02 (inc GST) worth. I am not not a dealer blah blah, just a
consumer.
Larry
