Can anyone translate this gobbledegook? .....

tko said:

(3) I don't know of any other major on-line companies who force you to add it to you cart to show you the price.

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Try to buy the Pentax DA 21 or 35 macro at B&H and report back, please.

At least from Europe, they only show the price for these when they are in the cart. They even have a rather similar disclaimer as Amazon.
Probably there are other items, too.

tko said:

My conclusion is that it's Amazon, and Amazon alone, that makes you do this.

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This is almost certainly wrong.

--

'Well, 'Zooming with your feet' is usually a stupid thing as zoom rings are designed for hands.' (Me, 2006)
'I don't own lenses. I pwn lenses.' (2009)
My Homepage: http://www.JensRoesner.de

An economist now huh? Or is it socio-political commentator today? Maybe you can play Dr. tomorrow?!?! By the way - never heard from your attorney after I called you and your toilet whitepaper a fraud. PS - loved those Photokina predictions ... ROFL. Keep entertaining us, please.

falconeyes said:

The first time I visited the US, I was shocked by this waste of human resource. So, whatever makes prices less transparent is infair. Unfair to the majority of the US population who are wasting their lifes in sort of a huge bargain hunting game...

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--
My Website
http://www.andrewallenphoto.com

My Pentax Street Gallery - Arranged By Lens Used
http://photobucket.com/andy_allen

rofl

I tried your advice and googled the Pentax DA 21." Google products" gave me the price of every site right up front. Hmm. I went to Amazon. Price was displayed up front. Went to B&H. Had to add it to the cart. Went the Buy.com. Had to click on a link, price showed up, but didn't have to add it to the cart.

So, in this case Amazon was the good guy, B&H was the bad guy, and Buy.com was in the middle. Very mysterious, not much reason or rhythm to it. Bet if I check back in a week it will come back differently.

I still it it's the stores that are doing this, because there is no consistency and it changes every week.

emem said:

janneman02 said:

emem said:

Does it mean what I think it does? That companies (in this case Pentax) can interfere with free trade in the USA and do so legally? And is this also why B&H make you add a Pentax item to your cart before letting you see the price? They have got to be joking don't they? And all of you good people don't have a problem with this? Sheesh.

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As Kevin pointed out, it's not just Pentax...

And yes, companies can set minimum prices but I would not call it "legally interfering"as this cannot stop the loophole created by having to add in basket first.

Low price is low price and who cares really if you have to add to basket first, you do not even have to push the "buy"button in order to see the price...

just one extra step to see a good price is not too much to pay in terms of effort....

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I see it as a principle thing. And I'm not silly (no matter what some on this forum think), if Pentax are doing it, I'm sure others will too. But that still doesn't excuse the bahaviour. I'm also genuinely surprised that the USA allows this sort of restriction. I always got the impression that it was the bastion of freedom and particularly free trade.

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It's probably done to protect smaller retailers that can't afford to offer steep discounts, and to thwart Web crawlers that scrape retail Web sites for prices.

There's nothing wrong with the practice at all, so why should the U.S. government step in? It's part of the contract the manufacturers have with retailers.

By the way, Pentax is singular, not plural. It's one company.

emem said:

math guy said:

emem said:

That companies (in this case Pentax) can interfere with free trade in the USA and do so legally? And is this also why B&H make you add a Pentax item to your cart before letting you see the price? They have got to be joking don't they? And all of you good people don't have a problem with this? Sheesh.

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This is not a government intervention. Thus, it has nothing to do with legal interference with free trade. In fact, it's quite the opposite -- it is free trade at work.

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Now let me get this straight - Pentax are allowed to excercise their rights to free trade, but Amazon aren't? Sounds like Doublespeak to me. George Orwell would be interested, I'm sure.

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Amazon agreed to abide by Pentax's wishes, probably in exchange for getting a good deal on how much it had to pay for the merchandise. If Amazon didn't like the conditions of the contract, it was free not to agree.

emem said:

emem said:

Pentax has a right to allow its products to be sold by whomever it sees fit and in any way in which it sees fit.

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Why??

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Because Pentax is under no obligation to sell to every merchant that wants to buy. If a publication wants to buy one of my photos, I am free to say "no" or to impose conditions.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?ci=6222&N=4288586280+4291284238

Some prices displayed but most not - and it's been like that for as long as I can remember - well, seems a couple of years anyway. I just hadn't realised before that it was Pentax imposing its will on B&H AND me too. A lot of you think I'm making a mountain out of a molehill and maybe I am, but I just think the rest of you are too complacent to get out of your own way (to paraphrase an old Irish saying).
--
Mike M. (emem)
http://www.veritasmea.com