[Hasbro] Fined by UK Office of Fair Trading

[CRGreathouse]

give me a break. I make a product I should have 100% control over the price that I sell it at. Especially when the items in question are non-essential items.

The issue at stake isn't what Hasbro sells them for (which can be anything they want), it's what Hasbro forces others to sell them for.

If I want to sell my car for $1, I can do so. I can't force the person who buys the car to sell it for $2 or less, though; he/she's free to sell it for any amount.

 

[Galactic Hobo]

Aint socialism great.

Socialism, shmocialism.

Price-fixing is anti-capitalist: it artificially ignores supply and demand. Hasbro can sell their products at whatever price they like, but they shouldn't be able to force their distributors to sell at some price.

I say, of course, knowing fairly little about the subjects at hand.


EDIT: ACK! Whatever leftist leanings are implied by this post should be attributed to Sir Hawkeye, rather than Galactic Hobo.

 

[Hygric]

DocMoriartty:

Firstly, yes, you should be able to sell your product for whatever amount you want, but as soon as you (in this case the manufacturer) have sold that product to someone else (in this case the retailer) you have absolutely no right whatsoever to try and control what price it is sold at. That is now the right of the owner of said product.

Secondly, please lay off the assinine comments like "Aint socialism great". I happen to think that it is rather good, but it does have it's drawbacks, just like I think capitalism has it's good and bad points. And please, don't mistake socialism for communism... they are different from each other.

 

[Darrin Drader]

Also in EU you can't price items the way you like, you have to price them so that you get money on them. I thought similar laws existed in the USA.

Sadly, no, there aren't any such laws in the U.S. While low prices are good in the short term for the consumer, in the long run, they can end up hurting local economies pretty severely. One of the most notorious marketplace thugs is Wal-Mart (a company I would personally be more than happy to see drop from the face of this planet, though I doubt I'll live to see that happen). They sell many of their items below the price they can buy it from the manufacturer for as an method of drawing people into their store to buy the things they do make money on. And of course, since Wal-Mart does this, many other retailers are forced to adopt the same pricing strategies while small-town mainstreet can't compete and quickly goes out of business.

To make matters worse, once they've dried up a community, many times absorbing the owners of their former competitors as employees, they will close up the store due to diminishing profits. So when the store leaves, the businesses that used to provide goods and services are gone, Wal-Mart is gone, and upwards of 100 (pitifully low paying) jobs are gone (for a small community, that is a pretty large chunk of the population).

Of course I advocate voting with your spending dollar and not giving Wal-Mart your business. I would rather pay 1/3 more for any given product than purchase it through Wal-Mart. Oh, did I mention that I worked for them for about 6 months many years ago while I was in college? I have never seen a company that pays their long term employees less, and treats them so poorly.

 

[Happiest_Sadist]

I don't even see the problem with what you are climing is wrong. I whould be able to sell what I own. I should also be able to attatch whatever conditions I want to it before the sale takes place. If I want to sell my car at $1, and require that whoever buys it sign a contract that they will never sell it at more than $2 or to someone who dosn't sign the same thing, that should be ok. If they don't like the terms, they don't have to but the product. In no way am I infringing on their property rights.


The only argument I can see against price fixing is if they and all the other game companies were setting up a cartel. If they were all refusing to sell books at below $30 for instance.

 

[Darrin Drader]

I don't even see the problem with what you are climing is wrong. I whould be able to sell what I own. I should also be able to attatch whatever conditions I want to it before the sale takes place. If I want to sell my car at $1, and require that whoever buys it sign a contract that they will never sell it at more than $2 or to someone who dosn't sign the same thing, that should be ok.

Why hasn't SONY been fined? They do this stuff all the time.

 

[Psion]

Why hasn't SONY been fined? They do this stuff all the time.

I was about to say. I think I'd have a heart attack if I ever saw a PS2 on sale for less that $199.

 

[bolen]

what impact will this have on wizards?

Also does Wal Mart exist in the UK?

 

[Turjan]

Walmart has been fined for dumping two weeks ago in Germany .

 

[RSKennan]

DocMoriartty:

Firstly, yes, you should be able to sell your product for whatever amount you want, but as soon as you (in this case the manufacturer) have sold that product to someone else (in this case the retailer) you have absolutely no right whatsoever to try and control what price it is sold at. That is now the right of the owner of said product.

Secondly, please lay off the assinine comments like "Aint socialism great". I happen to think that it is rather good, but it does have it's drawbacks, just like I think capitalism has it's good and bad points. And please, don't mistake socialism for communism... they are different from each other.

I agree wholeheartedly with Hygric