Multichoice - Price Fixing?

Quantum Theory said:
Well, then we need to investigate the magazine publishing companies. My Popular Mechanics cost the same at CNA, PnP or my local Friendly Grocer... This is recommending a price openly. The bad kind of price fixing, that needs to be investigated, is where different companies are colluding to keep prices unnaturally high. Like the bread companies. That is price fixing.
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you might as well ad cadburys, coke, nestle etc, the all use RRP :)
 
Quantum Theory said:
Well, then we need to investigate the magazine publishing companies. My Popular Mechanics cost the same at CNA, PnP or my local Friendly Grocer... This is recommending a price openly. The bad kind of price fixing, that needs to be investigated, is where different companies are colluding to keep prices unnaturally high. Like the bread companies. That is price fixing.
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Recommended retail is not the same as regulating the retail price,dude.
 
If the company turns up on the doorstep of a shop and tells them they selling THEIR product too cheap, and there will be consequences and possibly no more deliveries - now that is also price fixing.
 
isie said:
umm thats what quntaum said :)
the bread companis were price fixing, MC doesnt have any competition so realy how can that be price fixing, Monoploy on the other hand is the game they play :)
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NOT.

He said "they have a recommended retail price".The he goes on say "they distribute the decoders and regulate the price"

It's not the same and that is what i said...nothing more.

You should direct the bread company analogy to those that commented on price fixing.
 
JustAsk said:
NOT.

He said "they have a recommended retail price".The he goes on say "they distribute the decoders and regulate the price"

It's not the same and that is what i said...nothing more.

You should direct the bread company analogy to those that commented on price fixing.
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You can have those two things in the same paragraph without them having to mean the same thing. So, they have a recommended price to the public and they regulate the price of their product.

By the way... the bread company statement was not an analogy. They were actually fixing prices and I did not compare anything to that.

EDIT: Example would be the right word.
 
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This thread is a whole bunch of fail. Multichoice do not regulate the retail price. They publish a "recommended retail price" but do not stop anyone from selling it at less than that. The unit itself probably sells for less than it's true cost in any case, because it is in Multichoice's interests to sell as many as possible in order to secure their real income from as many sources as possible: i.e. the annuity income of a monthly subscription.

Time for the forum to go do Economics 101.

Sackboy: It is legal to recommended a maximum price. How is that price fixing?
 
arf9999 said:
This thread is a whole bunch of fail. Multichoice do not regulate the retail price. They publish a "recommended retail price" but do not stop anyone from selling it at less than that. The unit itself probably sells for less than it's true cost in any case, because it is in Multichoice's interests to sell as many as possible in order to secure their real income from as many sources as possible: i.e. the annuity income of a monthly subscription.

Time for the forum to go do Economics 101.

Sackboy: It is legal to recommended a maximum price. How is that price fixing?
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When MC upped the price on the decoders, no-one kept selling them at the old price, even if they had old stock at the lesser price. When they brought the price down again, those who still had stock at the higher price was not able to move it at that price. They had to sell at a lower price, making a loss. So they do regulate the price in some ways.

I agree with you though, that this thread is a bunch of fail.
 
acidb said:
Doubt you'll find anything locally and/or internationally, multichoice have ensured that by having their own software developers write the code.
Definitely isn't cross platform compatible
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Which would still be OK if their software developers were any good.

But MonoChoice seem to have successfully gathered a select group of complete incompetents ! Or is it just really poor management ? Or both ?
 
Jola said:
Which would still be OK if their software developers were any good.

But MonoChoice seem to have successfully gathered a select group of complete incompetents ! Or is it just really poor management ? Or both ?
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All true, but OT.
 
Yep, they are probably not paying their software engineers a lot. This will cause top talent to not want to join. I always wondered where all the drop outs work - now I know :D
 
What a bunch of plebs, you okes don't think further than the tips of your noses. The reason there is no competition is because no one else can provide a service. Everyone bleats and moans but still have the subscription, hippocrites every one of you....
 
arf9999 said:
This thread is a whole bunch of fail. Multichoice do not regulate the retail price. They publish a "recommended retail price" but do not stop anyone from selling it at less than that. The unit itself probably sells for less than it's true cost in any case, because it is in Multichoice's interests to sell as many as possible in order to secure their real income from as many sources as possible: i.e. the annuity income of a monthly subscription.

Time for the forum to go do Economics 101.

Sackboy: It is legal to recommended a maximum price. How is that price fixing?
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Of course you can recommend a price. You didn't read my post.
If you try and force a retailer to stick to it, it becomes illegal.
 
Maybe some clarification...or some motivation to research teh subject...

Multichoice/DStv is not in the decoder selling business...DStv basically finds content appropriate for the market and broadcasts it, Multichoice manages all the aspects with regards to the subscriber (billing, customer service, etc). The decoder is unfortunately necessary for the model, and the development is outsourced to various vendors to provide either generic or specified components. These decoders are then subsidised by Multichoice and distributed via the existing retail chains/stores with a RRP...but with no other 'criteria' for the retail store (other than having a 7 day instore return policy).

If the above is to be true, Multichoice loses $$$ with every decoder sold, hopefully reclaim through subscriptions (but not necessarily, a person could be upgrading from an old model for example).

Nips asked a question and my personal answer is "no"...they are not price fixing...no need to and doesn't make sense...
 
Sackboy said:
Of course you can recommend a price. You didn't read my post.
If you try and force a retailer to stick to it, it becomes illegal.
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again i ask where has MC forced any retailer to sell the decoder at a set price?
they do however try to keep the price down if the RRP is set ar R3000 and i want sell at R5000 no one stops me from doing it exept it being higher then the RRP no one would buy.
if i decide to sell for R1500 i would sell a **** load and MC wont have a problem as they will have more subscriber
 
isie said:
again i ask where has MC forced any retailer to sell the decoder at a set price?
they do however try to keep the price down if the RRP is set ar R3000 and i want sell at R5000 no one stops me from doing it exept it being higher then the RRP no one would buy.
if i decide to sell for R1500 i would sell a **** load and MC wont have a problem as they will have more subscriber
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I don't think MC would see it that way. Neither would they deliver more to your business.
 
Sackboy said:
I don't think MC would see it that way. Neither would they deliver more to your business.
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You never worked in retail? the more you buy the cheaper you pay, so larger chain stores can actualy sell at a lower price without making a loss (thats why they have sales now and again where they sell stuff for next to nothing) while the rest of the time their profit margin is very high. as for MC they make there money from us the rest of the year R560(xtraview) a month that R6720 a year per subscriber so realisticly speaking they dont care what price you pay for the decoder they making money.
it in there best interst to keep the price of hardware down to entice new subscribers.
if you bought a singel view decoder 10 years ago you would pay almost R2000 for a decoder today its R500,why to entice more subscriber.
price fixing is between competitors working together to keep prices high and profits max (see bread price fixin scandal or MTN and vodacom) MC has no competior to price fix with :)
 
Nips said:
Why is it that wherever you look, an HD PVR costs R2999 - whether that's from Multichoice or anywhere else. I had one outlet offer me it for R2899, but that was only 'cos I am also thinking about getting a new TV from them.

When something is available from multiple outlets for the same price I get suspicious - didn't Toyota get fined for something like that a couple of years back?
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Not an indicator of price fixing. But if there is *NO* competition then price fixing isn't really relevant. i.e. A monopoly does, by definition, set the price. They don't even have to manipulate it.
 
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