GRE and price fixing. Another Sony?

[videobruce]

It's painfully obvious price fixing is alive and well with these two radios; 500 & 600. I thought 'Phoney all balony' was bad, but GRE and their dealers are worse.
The best I have found was $10 off list and free shipping.

 

[SquierStrat]

you can get one for $450 with free shipping, and you dont even have to look that hard

your only question can be answered with just a little bit of searching. (not some, not even alot, just a little)

 

[SCPD]

how do you figure they are price fixing??.. they charge what the buyers will shel lout. don't like prices get a RS 197 or 106 when they go sales fpr 399.00

 

[SquierStrat]

oh, i see you deleted the question ya had there.... isnt the search option great?

 

[safetyobc]

All digital scanners are going for close to the same price and have for several years now. Be it Uniden or GRE (Radio Shack). They only time you find them significantly cheaper is as previously mentioned, a Radio Shack sale.

$450 to $550 is the going rate for these digital scanners.

 

[thewenk]

It's painfully obvious price fixing is alive and well with these two radios; 500 & 600. I thought 'Phoney all balony' was bad, but GRE and their dealers are worse.
The best I have found was $10 off list and free shipping.

Like it or not, the Supreme Court in 2007 ruled that agreements on minimum prices are legal if they promote competition. So I think you are complaining to the wrong audience. Maybe you should complain to the politicians who appointed the 5 Justices that voted for this ruling.

Top court abandons ban on price floors - U.S. business- msnbc.com

Dave

 

[n4jri]

Well, maybe GRE is price fixing but more likely these small dealers don't want to abandon what little profit they make. It's hard to imagine anyone other than RS that would purchase in sufficient bulk to be able to knock $100 off of list--and even THEY only do it once in a while.

The going rate has been around $500 for top Uniden & RS scanners for quite some time. Considering that the digital scanners involve payment for the rights to decode certain data, we're probably lucky that it hasn't gone up. GRE is a newer player (on its own) in the field, and I can't see them lowballing a product that they've been continally refining for nearly 2 years.

The GRE you buy today is considerably improved (at least in terms of firmware) over the one you bought when they first hit the market. (Oct. 2007, I think) Didn't I see a post here that yet another update was imminent?

And look at Uniden, they issued new firmware for the 396T just as they were about to release a new model. Ongoing R&D for products you've already sold costs money. I just hope they can hold it where it is...

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[scanbc780]

Alot of companies do what they call, MAP pricing (minimum advertised price). Mac is one of them, they do this with iPods. Its used to prevent Reseller A from competing with Reseller B. But MAP pricing don't prevent them from selling it for less, hence the "add to cart to see price" you see on alot of online retailers.

 

[videobruce]

how do you figure they are price fixing?

90=% of the outlets are selling them for the same price. :roll:

oh, i see you deleted the question ya had there.... isnt the search option great?

No. Typing in "intermod" in the title returned NO results. I put that guestion in another thread.

Maybe you should complain to the politicians who appointed the 5 Justices that voted for this ruling.

28 years of Republican rule (Clinton lied about his affiliation).

Well, maybe GRE is price fixing but more likely these small dealers don't want to abandon what little profit they make.

I understand that. It just pisses me off when I see such a small spread on pricing for any item. I have done enough searches and this isn't the norm. Understand, I don't mean a $100 spread on a $500 item, but a $10 spread for the most part sure looks 'fixed' to me.

 

[SquierStrat]

its not a 10 dollar spread its a 50 dollar spread. is that more to your liking? like i said before, NUMEROUS places are selling those 2 scanners for $450 with free shipping

so dont you think uniden is price fixing too?? most places are selling the bcd396t for the same price. now THAT scanner has a 10 dollar spread. ive never seen one brand new from a store for $450.....

 

[kikito]

You want to talk about price "fixing" and "gouging", check out what Radio Shack is selling the "old" Unidens for:

Scanners - Phones & Radio Communications - RadioShack.com


$600 for a BCD396T.....


Keeping in mind GRE and Radio Shack are not one and the same either....

 

[n5ims]

Just remember that although dealers must agree to not advertise the scanners below a certain price, many will sell for below that price. This is done using special "coupon" codes or other discounts that are applied after the "advertised" price. That way they're able to keep their legal obligations with the manufacturer intact while still giving price breaks.

This one comes to mind as one of these retailers --> http://www.radioreference.com/forum...-scanner-prices-discount-code-rr-members.html

 

[SquierStrat]

even with their coupon codes and discounts for RR members, you can STILL get one cheaper at hamradio.com
so that must mean hamradio.com, along with several other places selling the scanners for $449.99 shipped, are not keeping their "legal obligations"???

i dont think so......

 

[videobruce]

You want to talk about price "fixing" and "gouging", check out what Radio Shack is selling the "old" Unidens for:

What, no Pro-2004??

Ok, 'nuff siad.

 

[hoser147]

You want to talk about price "fixing" and "gouging", check out what Radio Shack is selling the "old" Unidens for:

Scanners - Phones & Radio Communications - RadioShack.com


$600 for a BCD396T.....


Keeping in mind GRE and Radio Shack are not one and the same either....

Makes you wonder how many units they've sold??

 

[n5ims]

even with their coupon codes and discounts for RR members, you can STILL get one cheaper at hamradio.com
so that must mean hamradio.com, along with several other places selling the scanners for $449.99 shipped, are not keeping their "legal obligations"???

i dont think so......

Perchance they're not "advertising" the lower price, but instead just selling it for a lower price (as allowed). That's why they don't tell you the price until you add the item to your "shopping cart", keeping with their "legal obligations".

9) Manufacturer: GRE
Item : PSR-600
Description : BASE STATION DIG TRUNKING SCANNER CELL BLKD
YOUR HRO PRICE: Click 'Add to My HRO Cart' below for pricing

 

[torontokris]

I agree with others I dont see any price fixing, there is quite a variety of prices around at different times.

Yes they have the MAP pricing but its not like all the outlets are exactly $499, there is a lot of variety, and in the case of theradiocompany, they are very low sometimes and sometimes higher then others. So its not fixed by any means

And again if the user can wait get a Pro106/197 when they go on sale for $399

 

[rvictor]

Even if all of the prices were the same (which they aren't), that wouldn't necessarily mean that the prices were illegally fixed. There are various other ways that prices remain the same such as price leadership, etc. Perhaps the little guys look at what the big guy is charging and set their prices at that. Perhaps one company raises its price and waits to see if others follow. If not, the company goes back to its old price. Think airline industry. Happened last week regarding extra charges for an extra bag on international flights.

Fixing implies that everyone got together and agreed. Absent proof of that, you are drawing a conclusion that isn't supported by any facts and possibly committing defamation as well.

Dick

 

[Zaratsu]

Even if all of the prices were the same (which they aren't), that wouldn't necessarily mean that the prices were illegally fixed. There are various other ways that prices remain the same such as price leadership, etc. Perhaps the little guys look at what the big guy is charging and set their prices at that. Perhaps one company raises its price and waits to see if others follow. If not, the company goes back to its old price. Think airline industry. Happened last week regarding extra charges for an extra bag on international flights.

Fixing implies that everyone got together and agreed. Absent proof of that, you are drawing a conclusion that isn't supported by any facts and possibly committing defamation as well.

Dick

Well, if you want to get technical, there is implicit collusion. But that is not the case here.

Small market with a fairly limited distribution/dealer network. There is an agreed min price, that is in place to keep small, regional dealers competative. Otherwise, a large outfit could sell the digitals at a loss and force out all competition. Guess what happens next??? They get to set the price wherever they want, and you end up paying more in that scenario!:twisted:


The standard rules of supply and demand still apply despite the market structure. And the scanners must be selling just fine to maintain their prices.

 

[W7RA]

Look at Apple Computer. Everything sells for the same price.