Before I closed my online store, I once ran into being told what to charge. I got a letter from a manufacturer telling me I had to be a distributor for the company before I could sell the products. OK, says me. How do I do that? I filled out the paperwork they sent and then read what I was signing. I found that I had to charge what they told me to charge or more if I chose, or I could not sell their products. They explained that they were protecting their Sticks and Bricks stores who had to sell at higher prices because they had so much overhead. I did not sign the agreement and removed all of that company’s merchandise from my sales site. We who sell online, participate in drop shipping programs. If you, the customer, orders something, we tell our drop shipper and he sends you the product. If a return is needed, they

handle it. This worked well for all the years I did drop shipping. I stopped, not because of the price fixing, but because I wanted to concentrate on writing rather than selling.
As I do research for my writing, I see more and more companies are participating in the same ’support of their customers who have a physical store.’ I am sure you know that stores have to double a product price in order to make any money on a product. And I have no problem with that. They are paying staff, the light bill, inventory costs, storage and so much more, and they certainly earn every last dime they get. But it really bothers me that, in order for online businesses who have no overhead except site costs, have to charge the same thing.

This is my rant for the day! And no matter what it is called, it sure sounds like price-fixing to me.

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Jan Goldfield)