eBay coupons vs Uniden

[EricCottrell]

The coupon did not affect the sellers advertised price. How about if you sign up for PayPal credit and they give $100 off - does the seller have to raise that price too?
Uniden is totally completely off base on this, just plain wrong.
The $100 was from ebay, not the seller.
Uniden has lost me as a customer, I will wait for the Whistler introduction.

Hello,

From my understanding it did affect the seller's advertised price. The coupon was seen as a store-wide discount and I can see why it could be considered as such. It is eBay's store and they are allowing third parties to sell using their platform.

Not allowing store-wide discounts to lower the price below the MAP sounds like a reasonable provision of a vendor's MAP agreement. Otherwise stores could get around it by increasing the price of items they do not want to discount and offering a store-wide discount coupon.

I would not be surprised if Whistler uses a Vendor MAP agreement with similar provisions.

73 Eric

 

[KevinC]

Hello,

From my understanding it did affect the seller's advertised price. The coupon was seen as a store-wide discount and I can see why it could be considered as such. It is eBay's store and they are allowing third parties to sell using their platform.

Not allowing store-wide discounts to lower the price below the MAP sounds like a reasonable provision of a vendor's MAP agreement. Otherwise stores could get around it by increasing the price of items they do not want to discount and offering a store-wide discount coupon.

I would not be surprised if Whistler uses a Vendor MAP agreement with similar provisions.

73 Eric

I would agree, except...his "advertised" price was $649. The coupon is not automatic, if you buy it and don't apply the coupon it still costs $649.

 

[buddrousa]

And it is EBAY THAT CAUSED YOUR PROBLEM

 

[Unforgiven_AF]

I see it like this. The poor dude was doing it legit, selling for the MAP price. Ebay offered the sale, word got out and a bunch of folks ordered and grabbed the discount. The MAP agreement states you can't apply a sitewide discount and the seller didn't know Ebay was going to offer it. Uniden called out the seller. An amicable agreement was reached to allow the folks that got the discount to keep it (thus not hurting the seller) and he raised the prices to comply with the MAP agreement (in spirit by eliminating the site discount he had no control over). He must have been fast tracked as an approved member here as the seller quickly made it through the new user hurdles to post about the issue within hours when it took me days to make it past the spam filters when I joined about a month ago.

That said, I'd like to see this dead horse left to rot and move on to greater conversations. The loophole was discovered, exploited, and closed. Done deal. I want to learn about radios.

 

[WILSON43]

I was just getting ready to order my 2nd SDS100 from you on Ebay until the price changed to $749.... Well that not going to happen now! but good luck with it.

So you'll penalize this poor dealer for something he did not do and pay 649 anyway somewhere else?

Between this debacle and the Amazon nonsense something stinks to high heaven from Uniden. It's a shame that it finally, FINALLY looks like Uniden released a decent scanner, yet is ruining the launch with it's horrid price fixing tactics. Shame.

 

[03msc]

I would agree, except...his "advertised" price was $649. The coupon is not automatic, if you buy it and don't apply the coupon it still costs $649.

EXACTLY. This is exactly why Paul looked like such a big fool with all his posts about MAP and dealer agreements. Complete nonsense.

And it is EBAY THAT CAUSED YOUR PROBLEM

Negative - Uniden did. MAP was set and complied with; Uniden should have stayed out of it.

So you'll penalize this poor dealer for something he did not do and pay 649 anyway somewhere else?

Between this debacle and the Amazon nonsense something stinks to high heaven from Uniden. It's a shame that it finally, FINALLY looks like Uniden released a decent scanner, yet is ruining the launch with it's horrid price fixing tactics. Shame.

Yep - they are doing everything they can to taint their reputation yet again. Comical, in a sense; sad in another. Lots of potential, and a stellar scanner, but they don't comprehend the value of competition. Foolish.

 

[ur20v]

The whole situation is just very disappointing. This authorized retailer scheme is like handing a drowning man a glass of water. You're not going to rescue failing businesses with sales of a single scanner shackled to a set-in-stone price. They may see a spike at first, but that's not going to keep the doors open for long.

 

[WILSON43]

The coupon did not affect the sellers advertised price. How about if you sign up for PayPal credit and they give $100 off - does the seller have to raise that price too?
Uniden is totally completely off base on this, just plain wrong.
The $100 was from ebay, not the seller.
Uniden has lost me as a customer, I will wait for the Whistler introduction.

I took the same position after they dumped Amazon. This just re-affirms my decision.
Piss poor practices here, Uniden.

 

[WILSON43]

The whole situation is just very disappointing. This authorized retailer scheme is like handing a drowning man a glass of water. You're not going to rescue failing businesses with sales of a single scanner shackled to a set-in-stone price. They may see a spike at first, but that's not going to keep the doors open for long.

Yep, in the words of a successful retailer I respect..."I'd rather sell 300 units at ten dollars, than 1 unit at 100...."

An important point missing from all of this is the dealer cost and margins. If Uniden's dealer cost is the same across the board per dealer, per unit, (which I doubt), then what do they care what the dealer is selling them for, or what sales platform incentives are being offered. They are getting their price. It's the seller that has to worry about margins and whether selling the darn thing is profitable. Thus, the quote above.

 

[woodpecker]

I guess Webtron-X is laughing all the way to the bank, the coupon was meant to give consumers a discount but instead they lined their own pockets with the extra $100 instead, maybe they split it 50/50 with Uniden?

 

[iMONITOR]

Uniden is not happy about the coupon and made me raise price to $749.99, so you will still get it at $649.99 with the coupon. They are very strict on the price on this and it is outlined in the legal agreement authorized dealers have signed with Uniden. Sorry for the inconvenience guys.

Isn't that illegal price fixing and falls under the Sherman Antitrust Act?

Sherman Antitrust Act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust_Act

 

[03msc]

I guess Webtron-X is laughing all the way to the bank, the coupon was meant to give consumers a discount but instead they lined their own pockets with the extra $100 instead, maybe they split it 50/50 with Uniden?

I wondered what eBay would think about it - circumventing their coupon, which was meant to drive sells...which I would suspect they also have seller agreements for.

Isn't that illegal price fixing and fall under the Sherman Antitrust Act?

Sherman Antitrust Act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust_Act

I also wondered about this but got tired of thinking about it yesterday and quit since the coupon was expiring anywway...but the evidence is here in black and white, some posted by Paul himself. Brilliant.

 

[AtlasFBG2]

I wondered what eBay would think about it - circumventing their coupon, which was meant to drive sells...which I would suspect they also have seller agreements for.

I took a couple screen shots of it and sent ebay a message about the seller raising the price during the coupon. Have not heard back from them yet.

The right thing to do would have been to take the listing down instead of profiting a extra hundred bucks.

Know I wont be buying anything from webtron-x

 

[ur20v]

That's assuming anyone was dumb enough to buy it at the higher price and use the coupon... Why bother?

 

[03msc]

That's assuming anyone was dumb enough to buy it at the higher price and use the coupon... Why bother?

There were a couple - because it went from saying 21 sold to 23 sold during the period of the price hike.

 

[radio3353]

I took a couple screen shots of it and sent ebay a message about the seller raising the price during the coupon. Have not heard back from them yet.

The right thing to do would have been to take the listing down instead of profiting a extra hundred bucks.

Know I wont be buying anything from webtron-x

I just looked. His price is $649.99 now that the coupon is down. Where is the extra profit you speak of coming from?

 

[petrol88]

EBay sellers are notified in advance of promotions like this so that they can take the proper steps to keep from violating MAP practices. That Webtron-x did not do so is purely shame on him. Not shame on EBay (who warned him in advance) or shame on Uniden (who is trying to protect the value of their brand). And shame on all of you for making bogus claims of their practice being illegal. UPMan pretty clearly said that Uniden did not "force" them to change their price (despite the seller's characterization) but reminded them of the MAP policy and gave them the opportunity to decide how to handle their business in light of that policy.

 

[ur20v]

I just looked. His price is $649.99 now that the coupon is down. Where is the extra profit you speak of coming from?

Math. Price raised to $749.99, minus $100 coupon, buyer pays $649.99. Seller receives $649.99 from buyer plus $100 from eBay. Original profit + $100.

 

[iMONITOR]

I'm not fully understanding where webtron-x is making an excess profit.

 

[ur20v]

I'm not fully understanding where webtron-x is making an excess profit.

From the $100 eBay coupon apparently used by two buyers while the scanner was listed at $749.99. It's $100 of pure profit per coupon.