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GC and Mesa

#3
More than likely no. GC's contract, as well as everybody elses with Mesa basically prohibits this. Every once in awhile GC will receive permission to lower the price on a piece that has been there for a long time, but that doesn't happen often.
 
#6
chiplexic said:
It is useless at GC or any other Mesa dealer. Mesa has a strict rule that forbids a Mesa dealer to sell their products at anything less than list price unless it is an item that has gone out of production or is damaged.
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Which unfortunately clearly violates federal law. IE, GC can sell for whatever they want, and Mesa CANNOT legally complain. They don't, but don't let them bulls**t you into thinking they can't . . . .

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Read the part about "resale price management" . . . .

- Tim
 
#10
tadawson said:
Read the link - the contract constitutes the violation! This law is to protect the consumer - how price management happens is irrelevant . . . .

- Tim
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ok, so if what they are doing is "illegal" then how are they still in business? how are they and many other companies still doing it? Ahh, simple! There is a loophole (which is obviously not going to be on the FTC page from which you are referencing) that me and you dont know about, but these companies and their very expensive lawyers do.
 
#11
tadawson said:
Which unfortunately clearly violates federal law. IE, GC can sell for whatever they want, and Mesa CANNOT legally complain. They don't, but don't let them bulls**t you into thinking they can't . . . .

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Read the part about "resale price management" . . . .

- Tim
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Yea but they sure can pull or restrict mesa dealers at anytime anywhere.
 
#12
Sadowsky and Bergantino and Rob Allen have the same deal with retailers. Not sure about if it's legal or not... but since this has been the case for many years, I have a feeling the way they are doing it is just fine.

If you look at the 'discounted' price of other products vs. the 'straight pricing' on these products, they are well in line IMO... I actually prefer to not play the discount game... you know what you are getting and what you will pay for it with this 'fixed pricing', and it keeps large retailers that have a lot of pricing leverage due to economies of scale to not totally undercut the little guy on these products.
 
#14
and it keeps large retailers that have a lot of pricing leverage due to economies of scale to not totally undercut the little guy on these products. - KJung
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I think this is Mesa's intent. No matter where you go to buy their gear, your price is the same. So, you are just as likely to buy from the local music shop, as you are to travel to a Guitar Centers to buy. A good policy, from that standpoint. I also agree, that if this practice was illegal, it would have been stopped long ago.
 
#17
BillisCool said:
Whomever thinks that Mesa's policy is illegal is smoking the good stuff.

If GC sells something for a price other than they want them too... then they can just not sell it to GC. Simple.

You don't HAVE to buy Mesa gear. I don't see the problem.
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Well, then, I guess the Federal Government (FTC) have a good crack source then . . . I suggest that you read up on trade laws - the ONLY thing that a mfg. can dictate to a reseller is the price they buy for - period! The fact that it is still done does not make it legal - it just means that nobody had complained, and the FTC does not consider the "small fry" like Mesa worth the time to pursue . . . .

- Tim
 
#18
tadawson said:
Well, then, I guess the Federal Government (FTC) have a good crack source then . . . I suggest that you read up on trade laws - the ONLY thing that a mfg. can dictate to a reseller is the price they buy for - period! The fact that it is still done does not make it legal - it just means that nobody had complained, and the FTC does not consider the "small fry" like Mesa worth the time to pursue . . . .

- Tim
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You may be right- but assuming Guitar Center wants Mesa Boogie to continue doing business with them, I imagine they will do what Mesa asks! There is no law to stop Mesa from never selling their products to Guitar Center in the future, is there?

As for the original post- there was a "brand new" Mesa 400+ in my local GC for over a year that would blow the fuse whenever you turned it on (pretty well abused floor model). I asked if they would give me a deal on it, and they wouldn't even sell it lower than list (despite it being a floor model that obviously had some problems- probably just bad tubes, but still...).

Karl
 
#19
sunbeast said:
You may be right- but assuming Guitar Center wants Mesa Boogie to continue doing business with them, I imagine they will do what Mesa asks! There is no law to stop Mesa from never selling their products to Guitar Center in the future, is there?

As for the original post- there was a "brand new" Mesa 400+ in my local GC for over a year that would blow the fuse whenever you turned it on (pretty well abused floor model). I asked if they would give me a deal on it, and they wouldn't even sell it lower than list (despite it being a floor model that obviously had some problems- probably just bad tubes, but still...).

Karl
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Basically, pulling a dealership due to a dealer refusing to be illegally price managed WOULD be illegal - since that would be the tactic by which price management was being forced. I suspect that GC is just playing nice with Mesa, and Mesa is not necessarily forcing this down GC's throat, so it slides by the law. Bottom line is that if GC told Mesa to bugger off and sold for whatever they wanted to sell for, Mesa could do very little about it, and if they dropped GC over it, GC could clean their clock in the courts . . . . if they could prove that that is the reason that they were dropped . . . .

- Tim
 
#20
tadawson said:
Basically, pulling a dealership due to a dealer refusing to be illegally price managed WOULD be illegal - since that would be the tactic by which price management was being forced. I suspect that GC is just playing nice with Mesa, and Mesa is not necessarily forcing this down GC's throat, so it slides by the law. Bottom line is that if GC told Mesa to bugger off and sold for whatever they wanted to sell for, Mesa could do very little about it, and if they dropped GC over it, GC could clean their clock in the courts . . . . if they could prove that that is the reason that they were dropped . . . .

- Tim
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My guess is that profit margin for the retailer is about the same for the 'fixed price' Sadowsky/Bergantino/Allen/Mesa products as it is for the 'discounted' products. In other words, I would assume that the wholesale 'direct' cost to the retailer for the Mesa is much higher due to these companies setting a 'reasonable' customer price versus the highly inflated 'suggested retail' price of other products that then are discounted down to 'reasonable' customer price.

I'd much rather more companies go to this fixed pricing.... there would be no pricing confusion, and it would allow smaller 'mom and pop' type retailers to carry a broader array of products.

Don't assume that fixed pricing means that you are necesarily paying more as a consumer.
 

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