ScubaDuke:Howdy all,
I don't know this for sure but I believe that some manf/brands set a minimum price that an LDS has to charge. If they sell below this thier dealership for that product or brand can be canceled.
My industry has such limits and unless you are willing to buy in massive quanities and not have any support (warranties, parts, etc.) you have to follow thier rules.
Am I wrong? Can anyone verify?
Ok guys... here it is in a nutshell... Different companies have different policies. Let me give you a few terms to start. MSRP, MAP, MARP. MSRP is Manufacturers suggested retail price. Some number they think should be retail.
MAP is Minimum advertised price. If I put it on my website, I can't put it out for less than MAP if that company has a MAP price. Now if someone calls me up, or stops in the shop, I could sell it for a penny... I just am not allowed to advertise it below some set price.
MARP is Minimum advertised and Retail Price - they set the bottom price and you cannot go below that. Great example is ScubaPro - 10% of retail is it... and can't ship it.
Now if someone is getting a package of stuff - it makes life much easier. When we combine this MARP product and this MAP product and a product with no such restrictions and package it together for $600... the manufacturers can't really complain.
So the pain is sometimes I'll have to post an item on our site, like a Poseidon Reg for $725 but if someone calls, we can knock off hundreds...
The people listing below MAP pricing are not authorized dealers - so they are back door acquiring goods and can get away with it until the manufacturer gets some of their product (which they do all the time), track back the serial numbers and cut off the supply of those gray market goods - so then the gray market retailer pays off some other channel to get goods and the cycle starts again.
Make sense?
I've been offered many times to either sell goods to gray market retailers, or to buy from gray market suppliers... but I feel it is a better business model for me to stay legit with the manufacturers and follow the rules, bend when I can, work deals, and keep everyone of our customers with full warranties from the manufacturer on the products.
Each business man just has to decide what business model they want to adopt, and each consumer has to decide which model they want to support... easy as that.
