“More than a month after introducing its latest Thunderbolt MacBook Airs, Apple is still unable to meet broader demand for the 13-inch models, which can be seen listed at prices well above MSRP on at least one of the internet’s largest commerce sites,” Sam Oliver reports for AppleInsider.
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“Since the debut of the Sandy Bridge MacBook Airs over 4 weeks ago, people familiar with the matter say Apple has been unable to equip its indirect reseller channels with any significant stock of the more popular 13-inch models,” Oliver reports. “Instead, the world’s largest online retailer has been promoting (and consumers have been buying) inventory through its affiliate stores, with pricing as much as $200-$300 above MSRP, depending on the day. For example, Amazon currently lists the 128GB 13-inch Air for $1,549, or $250 above retail. The $1,599 256GB model is listed at $1,849.99, up from yesterday’s price of $1799.”
Read more in the full article here.
Why would I buy through Amazon for $300 more than if I had placed the order with Apple’s website if the sales tax is less than that? Is price gouging indicative of paucity of supply or just greed getting the better of retailers? Why don’t you walk into an Apple store and buy one, unless you live in the boonies?
Of course price gouging is based on greed. What else would it be based on? A shortage of inventory in no way compels any retailer to charge more than the retail price.
Why the constant negative comments about greed. Business is based on greed. Jesus is not the CEO of Amazon. Wouldn’t you ask for as much as you can get someone to pay if you were selling your used Mac? Or car? Or would you say to someone, “oh no, I cannot take that much, that would be greedy.? Just sayin’
Expecting to, or even making profits does not constitute greed, gouging ( as in taking advantage of a situation to make unreasonably profits in excess of MSRP does.
Greed is a selfish disease.
What we are seeing today is not merely the kind of ongoing, insidious greed that has always infected the business world to one degree or another, but a hand-over-fist money grab (not to mention a total abandonment of all moral principles) that is threatening to destroy the American way of life for all but the richest people. There is no way that rampant greed is OK. There is no way that runaway greed is not incredibly destructive, and the very fact that you suggest otherwise is a perfect example of how greed spreads like a cancer through the whole society until ordinary people don’t know the difference between right and wrong anymore.
You say, “Wouldn’t you ask for as much as you can get someone to pay if you were selling your used Mac? Or car?” And I say, “Absolutely not!” I see ads on Craigslist almost every day where the asking price for second-hand items is more than new ones cost at Amazon. Not everyone knows about Amazon, or about price-checking on the internet in general. But taking advantage of a buyer’s ignorance to charge more than fair market value is thievery as far as I’m concerned. Only a society that is infected with the most profound moral corruption can simply dismiss such predatory behavior as “business as usual”. When morally reprehensible behavior becomes just another normal part of daily life, that’s when you know that a society is in deep trouble.
your matter-of-fact statement “Business is based on greed” is really twisted from where I stand. Basically, you’re saying
I was waiting with bated breath for you to finish the last sentence as I enjoyed reading the rest of your message.
The last paragraph was not intended to be included in the final post, but the truncated sentence would have said, “Basically, you’re saying that ripping people off is perfectly OK because everyone’s doing it.”
If you don’t like Capitalism, there is always a move to North Korea or Cuba.
“If you don’t like Capitalism…”
Let’s hear it for the most intelligent comment of the day—a brilliant variation on “America, love it or leave it”!
Moron.
Hear Hear.
Time to stop the Tea Party and all it’s cancerous tentacles.
Vote your future away from their tentacles, before you are total a neo feudal slave.
Interesting, this penchant you have for injecting anti-Tea Party invective into totally unrelated conversations. Either you have a phobia or you spend too much time in the binaries.
You may want to invest some time in a relationship, or take up a useful hobby – at least develop some interests apart from MDN. There is a real risk of becoming one dimensional or worse – monomaniacal.
Greed feeds stupidity.
And stupidity feeds greed.
Yep…they’re joined at the hip.
Hmmm… Don’t think this will apply. They are both viewing the same thing at the same time and no interaction was evident…….
Hunh?
probably meant to be posted to previous article
I thought Apple didn’t allow this price variation from its various resellers.
They generally only care if you undercut them, not if you sell for more. Plus, their pricing model is not enforceable in many countries (such as Canada) for legal reasons. Best Buy in Canada has put Macs on sale below Apple’s MSRP ($50-100 discounts) several times recently for back to school. It’s still uncommon, but it happens.
Since when is supply and demand news? We all know the rules. The manufacturer sells at full retail, the resellers sell above or below suggested retail based on demand for available supply. So?
Oviously, supply and demand isn’t news even when it should be. We line up like good little sheep to pay $4.50 a gallon for gas when the price at the pump skyrockets for no discernable reason. Your statement, “We all know the rules” is a great example of sheep-think. Nevermind whether the rules are predatory… Rules are rules, right? Not!
Apple attempts to force all their resellers to sell no lower than they do, though in some countries this is illegal and so they can’t (though since they only give resellers about 7-10 points on their products, the incentive to put them on sale is minimal). Thus, they are “supposed” to be immune to the kind of fluctuations you’re talking about.
Of course, in reality, you will find price variation on Macs. In the US you’ll only find people charging more for the most part, since Apple can revoke your right to sell them if you undercut Apple, but in countries where such practices are (rightly, I think) illegal such as Canada, you’ll see the occasional (but still rare) sale at 3rd party retailers.
@cocoanuck
Apple has two published prices: the MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price), and the MAP (Minimum Advertised Price). The MSRP is strictly a guideline; the reseller can sell for quite literally any price they want (that’s the law in the USA). However, Apple has the right to restrict the use of its name, product name and images, and trademarks, and does so by restricting the ability of anyone to advertise a new Apple product when they are announcing a price less than the MAP. At that point, the reseller may have the option to advertise with no price, or not to advertise at all (I don’t know how the specific agreement is worded in this case).
Third option: get around the MAP restriction by bundling other stuff with it for the same price, like printers or iPods.
Glad I got my i7 MBA 13 the day after it was released! Sweet!
Greed begets shameless copycats. Samsung, I’m talking about you!
Here is another link to Apple price gouging, of iTunes tracks.
http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/aussie-apple-boss-comes-out-of-the-shadows-to-confront-ripoff-claims-20110819-1j17p.html
In Australia a track costs $1.69Au (ooops- I just checked iTunes and the price has gone up even more. It now costs $2.19AU for one track. American iTumes track now costs $1.29US I think it was $0.90US when the Aust price was $1.69AU). I bought some tracks just last week at $1.69AU each.
Considering that the Australian dollar is worth more than the US dollar (not by much though, one Australian dollar is worth $1.02US but it has been as high as $1.10US)
I bought an iTunes $50 card about two weeks when the Australian track price was $1.96. I have not used it yet. The price of tracks now is $2.19 – I WANT MY MONY BACK!!!!!!!
I am getting pissed off with Apple lately and I have been an Apple fan for more than 25 years. Apple is beginning to rip everybody off and there is no need for it. How much profits in trillions dose Apple have in the bank?
Now that Steve has virtually gone there now seems to be a shift in its corporate culture, its skyrocketing popularity seems to have created a culture of GREED.
Tell me, refresh my memory, how big is Apple now compared to Exxon?
By the way, an increase from $1.69Au to 2.09Au is an inflation rate of a fraction under 30%.
How does Apple justify that?
The Australia inflation rate is now 3.6%. Check it out at –
http://www.rba.gov.au/