[KG_Jag]

Does anyone know the details on this?

Here is what Pete said in a recent email to his customers:

Due To Hobby Master's Revised M.A.P. Policy, (Minimum Advertised Pricing)
I Will No Longer Be Allowed To Offer You The
Preferred Customer Discounts On The Hobby Master Lines,
However All Earlier Placed Pre-Orders Will Be Honored.

[kabelace]

Got the same E-mail, looks like HM has set a minimum price that a vendor can sell there product at. In other words your going to be paying MORE, all vendors will have set prices that they can not go below. So for it to be on sale it will have to be authorized by HM or the vendors regular list price will be higher than the minimum and he marks down accordingly. I know one vendor who got slap by a manufacture because he was selling below there set price, the manufacture threatened to stop supplying them with there product.

[brunowbe]

Just a thought.....

Key word in "minimum advertised pricing" is advertised. I'm sure that if you spoke to a dealer they may be able to give you a "non-advertised" deal. Maybe I'm wrong.

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by brunowbe

Just a thought.....

Key word in "minimum advertised pricing" is advertised. I'm sure that if you spoke to a dealer they may be able to give you a "non-advertised" deal. Maybe I'm wrong.

Think that even applies to the key codes that some sellers offered to their customers.

[timbo]

Originally Posted by brunowbe

Just a thought.....

Key word in "minimum advertised pricing" is advertised. I'm sure that if you spoke to a dealer they may be able to give you a "non-advertised" deal. Maybe I'm wrong.

This has been going on in the model train and consumer electronics markets for quite some time, and it hasn't stopped them selling below the MAP price - They just can't publish the discout price. To get around it you usually only see the final price when you add it to your shopping cart. Check out the buynscale.com web site and look at the Kato GG1/Broadway limited page and you'll see what I mean.

If there's a will there's a way!!! ie if the dealers really want to then I think they can be a little creative.

[hworth18]

Dealers can sell for whatever price they want, but they just can't publicly advertise that price, and if they get caught they will lose their supplier, but there are ways around that also..

[KG_Jag]

The Franklin Mint, then Corgi and now HM...

The losers are the customers, the vendors who can afford to sell below the sticker price and ultimately the companies mandating the policies.

Artificially maintained higher prices in a recession for goods that are not necessities--pure genius!

My wife (and probably yours) will be the only one happy after all is said and done.

[Spector]

Heres my take on this.

Are the planes worth the retail or within 10% of it, for Hobby Master the answer is yes, for Century Wings and now at $74.98, not sure, thats a little crazy if you ask me.

I understand whats happening here, smaller dealers could not compete on price with volume dealers, Garage based ebay sellers were willing to take a $5.00 profit on a model, while a real dealer with whse , employees and possible store could not, his cost to sell it is close to that.

The distributor was getting complaints all the time that I cant compete with this guy or that guy, also trying to help the mfg protect the name a little.

Overall I dont mind buying HMs at 10% off which I hear is the max discount, and I dont mind buying them at full retail with free shipping, which is what my main dealer does. I just got the new Kate and the New Spitfire, for 92.90 with shipping, and if I had added one more Hobby Master he also throws in a free Corgi Showcase Plane or Tank, Overall just a fine deal :-)

Spector

[Cruver Collecter]

Personally I do not understand prohibiting sellers from offering sale prices. Couple bucks off has a tendency to make me want to buy one more model. What is the difference with this practice and let's say free shipping (None in my book). Hate to think this all came about because of some winy dealers. just takes some folks to ruin the fun for everyone.

[Biggie]

From what my dealer tells me, the HM policy is max discount 10%, so you can still save a few buck, they just dont want them giving them away.

I think, Biggie :-)

Originally Posted by Cruver Collecter

Personally I do not understand prohibiting sellers from offering sale prices. Couple bucks off has a tendency to make me want to buy one more model. What is the difference with this practice and let's say free shipping (None in my book). Hate to think this all came about because of some winy dealers. just takes some folks to ruin the fun for everyone.