Discussion
Evening all, question for all you wonderful folk.
Price fixing, what is it, how does it work, is it legal, I’ll explain.
I run a little online website, 250-300k a yr turnover, makes me a comfortable profit. I’ll never make a million but I do well for a few hrs a day.
I’m known for being about the cheapest out there for most of my products, I can do this due to low overheads, me doing most jobs, the business shares premises with another company I own, all this helps me keep costs down.
Anyway, one of my suppliers has decided that everybody needs to start selling a couple of their products for the same price.
Example, product A...... Price to us is £80, rrp is £120, I’d have sold at £110-115, they now saying everybody has to sell at £120, end of, no discounts, no special offers, just £120 plus vat, end of.
They have done this for a few products, so my question is, can they do this, is it legal.
I would have though as long as they get their £80 per item then that’s fine.
I know for a fact I’ll not sell as many if I’m the same price as others, end of.
Welcome any views on this.
Price fixing, what is it, how does it work, is it legal, I’ll explain.
I run a little online website, 250-300k a yr turnover, makes me a comfortable profit. I’ll never make a million but I do well for a few hrs a day.
I’m known for being about the cheapest out there for most of my products, I can do this due to low overheads, me doing most jobs, the business shares premises with another company I own, all this helps me keep costs down.
Anyway, one of my suppliers has decided that everybody needs to start selling a couple of their products for the same price.
Example, product A...... Price to us is £80, rrp is £120, I’d have sold at £110-115, they now saying everybody has to sell at £120, end of, no discounts, no special offers, just £120 plus vat, end of.
They have done this for a few products, so my question is, can they do this, is it legal.
I would have though as long as they get their £80 per item then that’s fine.
I know for a fact I’ll not sell as many if I’m the same price as others, end of.
Welcome any views on this.
vaud said:
So would you class this as price fixing, sorry if that’s a stupid question. There is another supplier who sell much the same product, who is desperate for my business as they know how much I sell, but they also state you must sell at a fixed price per item, I refuse to deal with them.
Company in the OP do another product which I sell, which leads to customer having to buy “top ups”, I work on theory of only making £30 a kit on original sale, but then make loads more from the top ups that customer comes back to buy. Sales rep has said I sell 9 of every 10 kits they sell in UK. As yet they have not set a price for this.
lepill said:
This explains it quite well.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/resale-...
U star, thank you. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/resale-...
I fell out with one of my suppliers for this very reason, and no longer stock their products as a result.
There's a very well known spa product called AquaFinesse. The UK distributor dictates the selling price of £89.95 (inc VAT), and that price is fixed. If I dropped the price on my Amazon store or website to even £89 or £89.50 they'd be on the phone telling me to change it.
I used to buy two pallets of their product at a time, paid for in advance... no more.
I tried reporting them to the CMA, but never seemed to get anywhere.
There's a very well known spa product called AquaFinesse. The UK distributor dictates the selling price of £89.95 (inc VAT), and that price is fixed. If I dropped the price on my Amazon store or website to even £89 or £89.50 they'd be on the phone telling me to change it.
I used to buy two pallets of their product at a time, paid for in advance... no more.
I tried reporting them to the CMA, but never seemed to get anywhere.
Quattromaster said:
Evening all, question for all you wonderful folk.
Price fixing, what is it, how does it work, is it legal, I’ll explain.
I run a little online website, 250-300k a yr turnover, makes me a comfortable profit. I’ll never make a million but I do well for a few hrs a day.
I’m known for being about the cheapest out there for most of my products, I can do this due to low overheads, me doing most jobs, the business shares premises with another company I own, all this helps me keep costs down.
Anyway, one of my suppliers has decided that everybody needs to start selling a couple of their products for the same price.
Example, product A...... Price to us is £80, rrp is £120, I’d have sold at £110-115, they now saying everybody has to sell at £120, end of, no discounts, no special offers, just £120 plus vat, end of.
They have done this for a few products, so my question is, can they do this, is it legal.
I would have though as long as they get their £80 per item then that’s fine.
I know for a fact I’ll not sell as many if I’m the same price as others, end of.
Welcome any views on this.
Find another supplier perhaps. Price fixing, what is it, how does it work, is it legal, I’ll explain.
I run a little online website, 250-300k a yr turnover, makes me a comfortable profit. I’ll never make a million but I do well for a few hrs a day.
I’m known for being about the cheapest out there for most of my products, I can do this due to low overheads, me doing most jobs, the business shares premises with another company I own, all this helps me keep costs down.
Anyway, one of my suppliers has decided that everybody needs to start selling a couple of their products for the same price.
Example, product A...... Price to us is £80, rrp is £120, I’d have sold at £110-115, they now saying everybody has to sell at £120, end of, no discounts, no special offers, just £120 plus vat, end of.
They have done this for a few products, so my question is, can they do this, is it legal.
I would have though as long as they get their £80 per item then that’s fine.
I know for a fact I’ll not sell as many if I’m the same price as others, end of.
Welcome any views on this.
I'm a sales manager for a UK & European distributor, we often 'have a polite word' with resellers about their pricing, but never enforce a set price that they must sell at.
One of my biggest customers is well known for being the cheapest in the market, due to having very low overheads, often other resellers with much larger premises and overheads complain about them but it's their decision what price they sell at.
As Geeks says above, alot of resellers will list their product at the RRP/MSRP but offer the customer a gift card or voucher to be used on their website.
One of my biggest customers is well known for being the cheapest in the market, due to having very low overheads, often other resellers with much larger premises and overheads complain about them but it's their decision what price they sell at.
As Geeks says above, alot of resellers will list their product at the RRP/MSRP but offer the customer a gift card or voucher to be used on their website.
Despite being an Apple customer, I always wonder how they get away with 'fixing' the price of their products with every retailer. It is only ever Amazon that sometimes offer a few quid off an Apple product now and again, everyone else seems to stick rigidly to the Apple RRP. I imagine it is under threat of having their position as an authorised retailer removed.
Lord Marylebone said:
Despite being an Apple customer, I always wonder how they get away with 'fixing' the price of their products with every retailer. It is only ever Amazon that sometimes offer a few quid off an Apple product now and again, everyone else seems to stick rigidly to the Apple RRP. I imagine it is under threat of having their position as an authorised retailer removed.
I have worked with a number of Authorised Apple Resellers at the higher end, from the ones that I know, they work on the tiniest of margins, 1-3% in most cases. The counter to this is that they shift thousands of MacBook Pro's and iMacs etc per month.
I don’t know your market or product, but it can be a tricky one for other larger retailers and the distributor.
I’m sure said supplier appreciates your business and it’s great that you are able to run your operation well and cost effectively. I also agree that what you are saying sounds like price fixing and cannot be enforced.
But the reality is that there are two sides to it.
It’s entirely possible they have other much larger accounts doing considerably more business and with their additional size offering them more regarding awareness and reach. However, this all often comes at cost.
However I personally think you are asking the wrong question entirely. Whilst I clearly wouldn’t condone price fixing, I’d actually appreciate a supplier looking out for the integrity and price of products I sell - as this gives you the potential to make more money, providing you can win the business at a higher price point.
So, let’s flip the question? How can you sell these products on your website at a higher price point and make more money? Why are you hitting the prices of the products, when others clearly deem it unnecessary? What other value can you offer your customers and the supplier to get them off your back?
From my experience all of the retailers that have popped up in our space and won business purely on price alone have not lasted long. It’s a model that can clearly work, however it requires large growth so that you become so valuable that said suppliers tell the complainers to shut up and submit orders as big as you do.
I’m sure said supplier appreciates your business and it’s great that you are able to run your operation well and cost effectively. I also agree that what you are saying sounds like price fixing and cannot be enforced.
But the reality is that there are two sides to it.
It’s entirely possible they have other much larger accounts doing considerably more business and with their additional size offering them more regarding awareness and reach. However, this all often comes at cost.
However I personally think you are asking the wrong question entirely. Whilst I clearly wouldn’t condone price fixing, I’d actually appreciate a supplier looking out for the integrity and price of products I sell - as this gives you the potential to make more money, providing you can win the business at a higher price point.
So, let’s flip the question? How can you sell these products on your website at a higher price point and make more money? Why are you hitting the prices of the products, when others clearly deem it unnecessary? What other value can you offer your customers and the supplier to get them off your back?
From my experience all of the retailers that have popped up in our space and won business purely on price alone have not lasted long. It’s a model that can clearly work, however it requires large growth so that you become so valuable that said suppliers tell the complainers to shut up and submit orders as big as you do.
Quattromaster said:
Evening all, question for all you wonderful folk.
Price fixing, what is it, how does it work, is it legal, I’ll explain.
I run a little online website, 250-300k a yr turnover, makes me a comfortable profit. I’ll never make a million but I do well for a few hrs a day.
I’m known for being about the cheapest out there for most of my products, I can do this due to low overheads, me doing most jobs, the business shares premises with another company I own, all this helps me keep costs down.
Anyway, one of my suppliers has decided that everybody needs to start selling a couple of their products for the same price.
Example, product A...... Price to us is £80, rrp is £120, I’d have sold at £110-115, they now saying everybody has to sell at £120, end of, no discounts, no special offers, just £120 plus vat, end of.
They have done this for a few products, so my question is, can they do this, is it legal.
I would have though as long as they get their £80 per item then that’s fine.
I know for a fact I’ll not sell as many if I’m the same price as others, end of.
Welcome any views on this.
That’s plain and simple price fixing and it’s illegal. Price fixing, what is it, how does it work, is it legal, I’ll explain.
I run a little online website, 250-300k a yr turnover, makes me a comfortable profit. I’ll never make a million but I do well for a few hrs a day.
I’m known for being about the cheapest out there for most of my products, I can do this due to low overheads, me doing most jobs, the business shares premises with another company I own, all this helps me keep costs down.
Anyway, one of my suppliers has decided that everybody needs to start selling a couple of their products for the same price.
Example, product A...... Price to us is £80, rrp is £120, I’d have sold at £110-115, they now saying everybody has to sell at £120, end of, no discounts, no special offers, just £120 plus vat, end of.
They have done this for a few products, so my question is, can they do this, is it legal.
I would have though as long as they get their £80 per item then that’s fine.
I know for a fact I’ll not sell as many if I’m the same price as others, end of.
Welcome any views on this.
What are they saying… if you sell below their £120 MRRP they’ll refuse to supply you anymore inventory?
Do you have any/all communication in writing (email).
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Friend of mine used to work for Apple, now runs their own independent Apple shop.He said much the same, margins are so small the price can't be discounted, there are rebates & it drives traffic to the vendor sites where people buy other products where they make margin.
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