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Some D7000 Price Gouging
- Thread starter herbymel
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- nikon d7000
eddyshoots
Senior Member
I don't consider this price gouging, merely supply and demand. Gouging occurs when a staple (milk, bread, gasoline) is in short supply due to disaster is taken advantage of by retailers.
What Cameta is doing is kind of low life and I would hope the public remembers and punishes them by withholding business. But gouging it is not.
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eddyshoots
Steve_in_FL
Leading Member
I don't know Eddy, that sounds like antics with semantics, to me.
I'm well aware of Cameta and their reputation..but when a company charges at least $160 more than everyone else for something just because they have them in stock I'll leave the definition up to you. It wasn't that long ago the D7000 could be picked up for $1200, and probably won't be that long till it will be again.
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Herby
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Herby
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Patco
Guest
I think of the term "price gouging" as applying to increasing the price of basic, essential necessities during periods of low availability (such as food, water and fuel, following some type of disaster).
For non-essential luxury items, like the D7000, one can simply choose to not buy from dealers who take advantage of unfortunate situations to overprice their goods.
At the time of the earthquake & tsunami in Japan, I noticed places like B&H and Adorama wasted no time at all in jacking up the prices. Since that time, as examples, the D700 remains up to $400 more expensive in the USA than in Canada, and the D3s $500 more:
http://www.photoprice.ca/product/02510/Nikon-D700-price.html
http://www.photoprice.ca/product/02863/Nikon-D3s-price.html
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Patco
A photograph is more than a bunch of pixels
eddyshoots
Senior Member
But you don't have to pick up the D7000 at any price. If there were three of them left in the world you'd be paying a lot more than $1500. Look at anything else that gets scarce....Superbowl tickets, old cars, coach purses (lmao). They can charge what they want and if you/we/us don't like it we buy elsewhere (perhaps forever). Cameta is weighing short term profit against customer loyalty and hoping they come out ahead. Customers might go Canon if it's a continuous problem (might be something Nikon would want to curb).
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eddyshoots
eddyshoots
Senior Member
There are a gazillion things we pay more for...and you won't give us two cheaper without complaining? Harsh.
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eddyshoots
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Patco
Guest
I'm not complaining - I'm a Canuck ;-)
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Patco
A photograph is more than a bunch of pixels
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Bajerunner
Guest
Not roasting, just a correct point he made, that the Canon 7D is available for around 1,300. Faster frame rate, supposedly better sealing, supposedly better autofocus and better casing i.e. ALL metal, not just top and back.
Also, the 7D replacement, the SDII replacement are both out soon, the first probably for just a little more than the 1,500, the second for probably around 700 more, a full frame.
So, I wonder how many will buy the D7000 for that price?
Not to mention that the D300 replacement must be out shortly too. Likely with many improvements, even over the D7000 imaging, two years is a long time in technology.
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.....Just from an amateur......'Sometimes it's to your advantage for people to think you're crazy.”
Also, the 7D replacement, the SDII replacement are both out soon, the first probably for just a little more than the 1,500, the second for probably around 700 more, a full frame.
So, I wonder how many will buy the D7000 for that price?
Not to mention that the D300 replacement must be out shortly too. Likely with many improvements, even over the D7000 imaging, two years is a long time in technology.
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.....Just from an amateur......'Sometimes it's to your advantage for people to think you're crazy.”
digitalman4242
Senior Member
I see where you are coming from. I wouldn't pay a penny over retail for the D7000 either. But dont blame it on Cameta. Blame it on Nikon. I dont know much about the 7D. But the D7000 sensor seems to be far superior over the 7D if you go by DXO mark. Also isn't Nikons CLS / Flash system much better than canons?? I wouldn't buy the 7D. If I couldn't get the D7000 I would probably save for the D700 or the D400 (suppose to be released soon)
eddyshoots
Senior Member
Won't be setting anyone on fire....
I agree with you that what they are doing sucks. I do hope they are punished by the camera buying public. But I also like to reserve the more inflammatory accusation of "price gouging" for more important products like gas, milk or baby food.
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eddyshoots
Is it better to not have any gas, milk, bread or baby food immediately following a disaster? Prices adjustments have two results. First bringing less efficient supply to the market, and second moving some buyers to a different market. Two guys and a pick up truck are many times less efficient than McLean and Wal-Mart, and probably enjoy their sleep, but may be willing to sleep at an odd time to earn a week's paycheck hauling goods from relative plentiful supply to less well stocked areas.
Some buyers likely rather appreciate that if one really needed a D7000, Cameta would have one in stock, even if the price is higher, far more than a constant out of stock from retailers who will take an order for future delivery on a camera at MSRP.
Some buyers likely rather appreciate that if one really needed a D7000, Cameta would have one in stock, even if the price is higher, far more than a constant out of stock from retailers who will take an order for future delivery on a camera at MSRP.
Someone here posted about Nowinstock.net and I've been getting alerts for the US and UK at retail. Yes, that is exactly what it is, by definition:
Definition for price gouging:
Pricing above the market price when no alternative retailer is available.
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
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"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! The Great Oz has spoken!"
- Jon
Logical fallacy. If there is no one else who has the camera, then the "market price" is set by the one person who has it. MSRP does not equal "market price"--it's a "suggested" price, by defintion. Leave it to an Ivy League school to come up with a definition that sounds good at first blush, but on closer examination makes no sense at all.
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RadarK
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RadarK
eddyshoots
Senior Member
I see the D7000 available at Amazon for $1199, B&H for $1299, Vistek for $1179, Henry's for $1179, Ritz for $1189 and Adorama for $1299. That doesn't meet the "no alternative retailer" criteria of the definition above.
But it's a horrible definition that doesn't take into account many things that are accepted in our society. What about the last cottage on a lakeside development? The last 1950 Corvette for sale in town? Babe Ruth's rookie card? Is the comic book store gouging because they refuse to charge 10¢ for the card?
I think any definition of gouging is flawed without containing the words; scarcity or staple.
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eddyshoots
eddyshoots
Senior Member
Interesting. I like your take on this. However, I think history would prove the pickup truck analogy to very minor when compared to regular local retailers who jack prices up on staples merely to line their own pockets at the expense of their neighbors doing nothing to improve supply. This act has proven itself to be unacceptable to society, hence the anti-gouging laws that have been enacted by most developed countries.
I understand that this is offensive to some who hold dear the power of the market...that feel the market can solve all problems if left to it's own devices. Additionally, there are those that feel any consumer protection reeks of communism, especially in the United States where the Communist were the defacto enemy for so many decades.
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eddyshoots
Scarce goods will be allocated via some method, none perfectly fair, but some feeling much better to people involved (most of the fun work in behavioral finance and economics has been to look at how and why people feel slighted and why istitutions develop to mask those feelings, frequently at fairly great cost).
Many retailers run on very lean inventories (they're resupplied nightly and stock only what they expect to sell in a day or a little longer).
Thus when supply is inturrupted, the day's supply that must now last longer will be allocated. The default allocation will be first come first serve, which favors those physically near the store, or who have lower search costs (ie a large group vs a small group or someone who has a working motor vehicle post disaster).
Frequently, though store owners or employees might pull product off the shelves hide it for friends, favored customers etc, rewarding the loyal, charismatic, or attractive.
These first two are highly likely to lead to hoarding, since the person who finds the water first (or is allocated it by the staff) is going to buy all available supply at the old price.
Finally prices could rise if $1/bottle sold 100/day $20 bottle might be enough to cause the sales to drop to 100 in 3 or 5 days and result in the store always having water available (which is a good in itself). The reason a market system works so well (and while they aren't perfect they're very good) is that by raising prices both the supplier is signaled move product here!!! and buyers are told, this is very scarce make sure you only buy what you need. However, the last scenario really bothers most people.
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