yellow dog
Beginner
- Sep 17, 2012
- 195
- 0
whats the cheapest place to get vortex optics
vortex
- Thread starter yellow dog
- Start date
G
Guest
Guest
That's a loaded question. Sort of depends on what you're looking for, where you live, and who's having a sale. You should probably check cameralandny.com, eagleoptics.com, SWFA.com, or your favorite online retailers. What are you looking for, specifically?
Oldtrader3
Ammo Smith
- Nov 6, 2009
- 8,406
- 5
Vortex, like most major optic companies, protects their pricing and requires any dealer to sell for precisely what any other major dealer would sell for. That is unless Vortex designates a model for sale and even then the price is controlled.
G
Guest
Guest
That's not entirely true, Charlie. Manufacturers cannot, by law, dictate retail pricing for their dealers or other outlets. They can dictate a "Minimum Advertised Price" (MAP) and frequently do. But many retailers sell items for less than the MAP. Case in point - I just bought a new camera body and a couple of lenses as a Christmas gift for my wife and me. I bought them online, because there are no stores here locally that stock the brand/type of camera I wanted. When I added the items to my cart, I got a nifty little message stating that due to MAP requirements of the manufacturer, the listed price was not correct. I ended up getting this package for several hundred dollars less than the MAP pricing. I've bought scopes this way before, too, though it's never been explicitly stated by the retailer as the reason for the better pricing. You'll frequently see "See price in cart" or some such verbage to indicate the seller is getting around MAP pricing issues. Or, in a couple of instances, I've had web retailers call me and discuss their pricing, and let me know they are passing along a discount to me they were unable to advertise due to MAP policies. In every case, the retailer has indicated they appreciate my business and are doing this to earn my loyalty and my word-of-mouth advertising.
But for a manufacturer to dictate the retail price to a dealer network is outside the bounds of federal anti-trust statutes. Oddly, a wholesaler or manufacturer can give a discount to the retailer and then require the retailer to pass along a discount to the consumer, but the amount of the retail discount is not required to be equal to the wholesale discount nor can the wholesaler/manufacturer dictate even the amount of the discount - only that some sort of discount must be passed along to the consumer.
So it pays to check around, and make a few calls to see if folks will deal on pricing.
But for a manufacturer to dictate the retail price to a dealer network is outside the bounds of federal anti-trust statutes. Oddly, a wholesaler or manufacturer can give a discount to the retailer and then require the retailer to pass along a discount to the consumer, but the amount of the retail discount is not required to be equal to the wholesale discount nor can the wholesaler/manufacturer dictate even the amount of the discount - only that some sort of discount must be passed along to the consumer.
So it pays to check around, and make a few calls to see if folks will deal on pricing.
Oldtrader3
Ammo Smith
- Nov 6, 2009
- 8,406
- 5
There is an entity called Best Price Agency (BPA) and probably others, which is an agency used to enforce dealer's conformance with MAP policies. As a result, most dealers will not sell you as an individual a single optical device for less than MAP because they could lose that franchise as a supplier.
Maybe you are more swave and debonar :mrgreen: or persuasive than I am but I have not had any luck buying any optics which are listed under MAP, for less then Minimum Advertised Price from any dealer that I can find either locally or on line, unless that item is being discontinued and is not longer MAP. I have never had any dealer break ranks for a single purchase, unless it was damaged, certainly not on a name brand.
When I was working, if one of our dealers sold below MAP to a hospital without our permssion, they would have lost the franchise on our products.
Maybe you are more swave and debonar :mrgreen: or persuasive than I am but I have not had any luck buying any optics which are listed under MAP, for less then Minimum Advertised Price from any dealer that I can find either locally or on line, unless that item is being discontinued and is not longer MAP. I have never had any dealer break ranks for a single purchase, unless it was damaged, certainly not on a name brand.
When I was working, if one of our dealers sold below MAP to a hospital without our permssion, they would have lost the franchise on our products.
