Joyetech mandatory price increase???

[Rickajho]

I just got a reply from my supplier, and yes - she has heard of this policy but has not received anything official from joyetech yet. To her understanding there is some latitude allowed in the pricing structure, but if you retail below joyetech's minimum suggested retails they will stop doing business with the vendor.

Weird. So much for the free market concept.

 

[PVPuff&Stuff]

joyetech has always had a minimum sale price. If you sell below the suggested minimum price, you can't buy from them anymore. Been that way for years.

 

[Rickajho]

You know, thinking about this some more it may be much to do about nothing. Maybe a couple vendors got a warning for selling below JoyeTech's retail minimum pricing. (Apparently my vendor didn't.) This could just be JoyeTech's policy so consumer's know when they are buying poop or shinola. I've looked at many of the knockoff's and those places have no problem at all slapping a Joye logo on something they are selling. But the construction never looks like genuine Joye stuff. And maybe if you know the price is waayyy below a JoyeTech minimum it can't be the real deal. I know it comes off a little weird, but this may be a method of JoyeTech protecting it's own reputation.

Just thinking out loud. Uh-oh.

 

[Photorise]

Just wanted to mention that Apple resellers can not price Apple product they way they want. For example Costco stopped carrying Apple products because they couldn't come to an agreement with Apple dictating that Costco can't sell their product for less than Apple Store or more likely there wasn't enough profit for Costco after meeting Apples price margins.

I have no reason to think that litecigusa is doing anything fishy and I'm sure that sooner or later all other resellers are going to be contacted by Joyetech. Litecigusa most likely just wanted to be up front with their customers, so they sent that email.

I have never used any knock offs of Joyetech, but imagine that they can easily be as good as we are not talking about rocket science here. You can buy a digital camera for the price of an EgoKit now. I would think there's a bit more that goes into a camera or any other advanced electronic device.

This price increase is not a big deal, but big enough to give a clone or two a try.

BTW, It looks to me as the price increase is more like 25% since the Ego-T kit went from $60 to $75.

Gene

 

[Creniker]

Only when sold in a Apple store. Anyone else selling the product (by law) can place the product "on sale" at their discression.

The end result of that would be Joyetech would be "no more" in the US.
If I was a large supplier, I would file an antitrust suit in a heartbeat.

Dont ask me why, but its more then just apple stores. Target and Walmart have the same prices on them. No way they would unless apple made them lol.

 

[cjb313]

I found this tidbit of information that may be of some help.. Apparently this is another seller's take on these "notices" us retailers are receiving, so it is not just Litecigs..

"Dear Retailer,

We just received notification from Joye tech, they will check-up the retail pricing of joyetech products in the whole market these days. Joye tech are angry that a few big sellers are breaching their price policy, so they will stop or require us to stop supplying Joyetech products to vendors who don't comply with Joye tech's minimum retail pricing, including their largest distributors, even it's as big as TW or Ovale."

JoyeTech States:

"Please DO NOT SELL JOYETECH PRODUCTS LOWER THAN JOYE TECH MINIMUM RETAIL PRICING, we don't want to lose any business partners.

The minimum retail price can't be lower than 70% of the prices showed at joyetech.com. For example, the eGo-T price is US$90 at so you can't sell it for lower then US$63.."

Joyetech eGo-T Starter Kits

- With so many VV and other devices ready to hit the market, I think Joye should be lowering there products.. First of all because the eGo is a fixed 3.3v device and Second it right before Christmas !! What a crummy thing to do for people who are trying to quit for the New Year !!!

 

[barbee865]

i don't see this as a smart move. people are generally looking for a steal. paying $69.99 for something that used to cost $49.99 puts a bad taste in my mouth. Joye's name will go down and people will stop recommending and using their product

 

[pyro13g]

Well a manufacturer can suggest retail price, but they can't demand it from a retailer without getting slapped upside the head by the feds.
That would be "price fixing".

So those e-mails are a bunch of BS.

It usually requires a conspiracy. Price fixing is also allowed in some respects. Pros and cons to allowing it but really just another example of there being no such thing as a "free" market.

My favorite example is penalizing and restricting people from even removing their principal investment in a retirement account. just imagine the prices on the stock market if people could get the money they need out of their accounts.

 

[Wil]

Only when sold in a Apple store. Anyone else selling the product (by law) can place the product "on sale" at their discression.

The end result of that would be Joyetech would be "no more" in the US.
If I was a large supplier, I would file an antitrust suit in a heartbeat.

I'm afraid you're mistaken here. Apple is not a monopoly company. They don't make any product that doesn't have a competitor on the market. You can buy an Android phone, or a Galaxy tablet, or a Windows PC, so they aren't considered a monopoly. This gives Apple certain rights.

Apple makes a product. While unique in many ways, it DOES HAVE COMPETITORS. As such, they are allowed to put constraints on certain retailers. What this means in the US is that they are perfectly within their right to sell to whomever thy like, and they will choose to sell to retailers who will abide by their policies. This does not constitute price-fixing as defined by US law. If Apple got together with Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Amazon, and other major competitors and came to an agreement, this would constitute price fixing, artificially raising the price on products and defying the supply/demand curve. On a product you don't HAVE TO PURCHASE (such as food or gasoline or energy) this is usually a bad idea and usually ends up hurting the manufacturer, if they get away with it.

Because Apple is only attempting to control the price on their products, they do have the right to enforce "minimum advertised prices". If you are an authorized Apple reseller, and you choose to openly sell your product for less than Apple tells you, you will not be thrown in jail, and the ghost of Steve Jobs isn't coming to your house to spank you. You simply will not be sold any more Apple product to resell. You will no longer be an authorized Apple reseller.

There is nothing illegal about this practice, in the case of Apple or Joyetech. It's crappy, and I don't know if Joyetech is big enough (or considered important enough by retailers) to effectively pull it off. However, Crappy != illegal.

Oh, and I'm only picking on Apple because someone else brought it up first. Almost every major label in electronics does this (Alpine, JVC, Sony, Kenwood, Mitsubishi, Yamaha, Onkyo, etc.) as well as the fashion industry (Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger), and, I'm certain, many other industries.

 

[zoiDman]

Well a manufacturer can suggest retail price, but they can't demand it from a retailer without getting slapped upside the head by the feds.
That would be "price fixing".

So those e-mails are a bunch of BS.

Price Fixing is when someone tells you what price you can sell an OEM's item for. No more or No less.

But it is perfectly legal for an OEM to set a "Minimum" price that their itmes can be sold for in a retail market. It is a Very common practice and done actually more often than you would think.