Synthesiser manufacturers Roland and Korg have been fined a total of £5.5million for breaking competition law.Keyboard-maker Casio and guitar firm Fender were also recently fined £3.7million and £4.5million respectively.
It seems the UK gov has cracked down on musical instruments price fixing.
Much though Brompton's aggressive price maintenance annoys me, it's all legal and above board, isn't it? Price fixing would be if they got together with Tern and Dahon to ensure nobody sold folders below a certain price.
Quote from: hubner on 01 July, 2020, 12:12:40 pmIt seems the UK gov has cracked down on musical instruments price fixing.Sounds like a racket to me!
Quote from: Jakob W on 01 July, 2020, 11:49:29 pmMuch though Brompton's aggressive price maintenance annoys me, it's all legal and above board, isn't it? Price fixing would be if they got together with Tern and Dahon to ensure nobody sold folders below a certain price.Not necessarily. "Resale price maintenance" can be illegal and anti-competitive. ie if they supplier tells the shop they can't sell below a certain price. It is reducing competition between retailers. Doesn't have to be any other suppliers involved. That is what Fender were fined for.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/resale-price-maintenance-advice-for-retailers/resale-price-maintenance-advice-for-retailers
The fear of sanctions from Casio was a clear deterrent for resellers not to drop their prices. In one exchange, a reseller specifically referred to this and asked for Casio’s blessing to set their own prices, saying: can you please urgently give us your assurance that we can now compete in the market place, particularly at this time of the year, without: a. The threat of having our trading terms being changed for the marketing support column price to the standard trade column price and b. Casio conveniently running out of stock in response to any orders we place.
I believe that Brompton do not stop retailers selling Bromptons at below recommended retail price but reserve the right to decline orders from bike shops if their production is fully committed. Since all Bromptons are built to order and their backlog varies from several weeks to a few months, they are always justifiably able to decline orders that they do not want to fulfil.
Quote from: Pedal Castro on 02 July, 2020, 07:10:47 amQuote from: hubner on 01 July, 2020, 12:12:40 pmIt seems the UK gov has cracked down on musical instruments price fixing.Sounds like a racket to me! A fiddle, shirley?
Quote from: LittleWheelsandBig on 02 July, 2020, 04:48:01 pmI believe that Brompton do not stop retailers selling Bromptons at below recommended retail price but reserve the right to decline orders from bike shops if their production is fully committed. Since all Bromptons are built to order and their backlog varies from several weeks to a few months, they are always justifiably able to decline orders that they do not want to fulfil.They're increasingly ignoring bike shops and deliberately making their existing dealers wait at least 8 weeks for delivery, as they can make more money selling direct and send them out to the consumer within a week.