Weber Grills - Price Controled By Weber?

[BBDartCA]

I've heard a couple retailers say that Weber mandates what the retail price is of their products. This means for a given Weber grill, all stores will sell at more or less the same price. Anybody know whats going on here? It does seem that Weber grills never have deep discounts.

Thanks

 

[greenaccord02]

Yes, I'm pretty sure that's the case.

 

[Shannow]

Interesting as their kettles were $200 20 years ago and now down here.

However, if they ARE stipulating retail price, it's illegal down here and someone could go to jail over it.

 

[Gary Allan]

There appears to be a decent amount of price fixing here. I dunno if it's truly illegal as long as it's not among other manufacturers. B.F. Goodrich tires are somewhat fixed in price. A few years ago (this may be up to 15+) they granted dealers the right to offer free mounting and balancing. You could give away a Towncar with a set of 4 ..but that price was going to be about the same everywhere.

Otherwise, it's totally legal to fix the advertised price on any product. It's what makes using your credit card so costly where identical products are sold through many vendors and you don't call for competitive/comparative pricing.

 

[AcuraTech]

Call me a label whore or whatnot, but Weber is the only brand of grill that I will buy. Second to none, IMO.

Growing up as a kid, all we ever had were the Weber charcoal kettle grills, my parents are still using the exact same ones that we cooked on all those years ago. The line of Weber gas grills is also solid. Sure the brand is expensive compared to others, but very much worth it.

To me, summer just isn't summer without some Johnsonville brats cooking on the Weber and a cold brew in hand. I could give a [censored] about price fixing, most Weber grills will last a lifetime if maintained properly.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
There appears to be a decent amount of price fixing here. I dunno if it's truly illegal as long as it's not among other manufacturers.
.
.
.
Otherwise, it's totally legal to fix the advertised price on any product. It's what makes using your credit card so costly where identical products are sold through many vendors and you don't call for competitive/comparative pricing.


The more training I receive in the Oz Trade Practices Act, largely instituted by this bloke ( http://lionelmurphy.anu.edu.au/lionel_murphy.htm ), the more happy I am with it.

Weber can set a RRP, but can't enforce anyone selling at that price (higher or lower).

It's a very competition oriented Act, and restriction of competition is dealt with heavily. Closest thing I've seen to a legal set of morals.

Personally, I am open to prosecution and personal fines under the Trade Practices act (along with OH & S act, and Electricity Market Act), but at least with trade, it's very very easy to steer a clear path.

 

[crinkles]

Love weber grills, will be buying one this year. gas one carked it, and i could never figure out a BBQ on gas... blech... $180 at Big W.

 

[crinkles]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Personally, I am open to prosecution and personal fines under the Trade Practices act (along with OH & S act, and Electricity Market Act), but at least with trade, it's very very easy to steer a clear path.

so it's YOU jacking up those sparky prices...

 

[Shannow]

Nope, not at all...

Electricity in NSW cost 6-7c/KwHr to make back in 1994/95. Currently generators are getting around 4c (not adjusted), so wholesale unadjusted price is down 30 plus percent over 15 years.

 

[Shannow]

BTW, my Brinkman lasted about half as long as my parent's weber, and theirs will last another 20 easily.

 

[greenaccord02]

Originally Posted By: AcuraTech
Call me a label whore or whatnot, but Weber is the only brand of grill that I will buy. Second to none, IMO.

Growing up as a kid, all we ever had were the Weber charcoal kettle grills, my parents are still using the exact same ones that we cooked on all those years ago. The line of Weber gas grills is also solid. Sure the brand is expensive compared to others, but very much worth it.

To me, summer just isn't summer without some Johnsonville brats cooking on the Weber and a cold brew in hand. I could give a [censored] about price fixing, most Weber grills will last a lifetime if maintained properly.


+1 You just can't beat their build quality. I have a Smokey Joe, a 22.5" Kettle (silver), and a Smokey Mountain 22.5" and I love them all.

 

[eljefino]

Gary is right, ADVERTISED price. Same thing happens with camera ads in the backs of magazines. The manufacturer/importer does a co-op with the vendor where they pay part of the ad price. Everybody wins.

I suspected some sort of never-proven collusion when I was a paperboy and everyone sold nintendo game-boys for $89.99. Even stores that ended in 95 or 98 cents sold game boys for a penny under ninety.

Does walmart sell weber? I somehow doubt it.

 

[CivicFan]

The manufacturer can control its price and ask the retailers to not reduce it. There is nothing illegal about it in the US - in such a case, the market will decide whether this is a good decision or not.

Collusion, and thus the violation of anti-trust laws and FTC issues, are present when two or more manufacturers (or any other entities in the market) collude to fix prices and inhibit competition. If Weber and some other grill maker/marketer decided on prices then it would violate anti-trust laws and be illegal.

 

[DKT]

Originally Posted By: eljefino

Does walmart sell weber? I somehow doubt it.


The WalMart in my neighborhood does. I think it was 2 of the smaller models. They were $.03 less than Lowes or Home Depot.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: eljefino

Does walmart sell weber? I somehow doubt it.


I've bought one of the really small Webers there before...it was about $20.

 

[ccs v2.0]

Funny this topic would come up. As my friends and I say, we hate paying full retail for anything. Everything is negotiable; you just need to find the guy who is hungry to make the sale.

Three of my neighbors and I just ordered four Genesis EP-320 with cover for $110 below list. It lists at $749 and the cover $50; $735 OTD each and they STILL made money. The four of us went in and negotiated the cash deal and my buddies even got their LP tanks, six of them, filled free of charge, so technically they each saved $35-$40 on top of the $110 (I am getting rid of my quick release tanks, so it didn't make sense for me to do it). We even got the guy to knock down the price further if we picked them up and put them together ourselves. We're having a big "put the grills together" party this weekend. Fire cooked meat and beer (about $110 in meat and beer), what else do us cave men want?

Originally Posted By: AcuraTech
Call me a label whore or whatnot, but Weber is the only brand of grill that I will buy. Second to none, IMO.

Same here. This grill is replacing a 1994 Weber w/ side burner.

 

[Warstud]

Totally legal: A few other that come to mind are Bose and Apple.

 

[GeaugaFletcher]

At least Apple and Weber are worth it, BOSE not so much...not at all, in fact.

I just bought a small Weber 2-burner and even though it's made in China, I'm impressed with the build quality. Much better than the CharBroil 3-burner I had previously.

 

[Malo83]

Originally Posted By: AcuraTech
Call me a label whore or whatnot, but Weber is the only brand of grill that I will buy. Second to none, IMO.

Growing up as a kid, all we ever had were the Weber charcoal kettle grills, my parents are still using the exact same ones that we cooked on all those years ago. The line of Weber gas grills is also solid. Sure the brand is expensive compared to others, but very much worth it.

To me, summer just isn't summer without some Johnsonville brats cooking on the Weber and a cold brew in hand. I could give a [censored] about price fixing, most Weber grills will last a lifetime if maintained properly.



Amen to that, I have 3 weber charcoal grills, 2 22" grills and the Grand daddy of charcoal grills the Big 26" WEBER.

 

[zulu]

Weber has set retail prices for their grills. In order to carry Weber products, you cannot sell them for less than the set price. I have seen some smaller dealers sell for MORE than Weber lists, but no retailer is supposed to advertise lower than the set price. I used to work at a hardware store years ago and we had to inventory all Weber sales/prices and report them in order to keep our dealer status.

I won't use any other charcoal grill... ever. I have a Smokey Joe, a 22.5 One-Touch Gold, an old school 22.5 Kettle, and my big daddy 22.5 WSM smoker. They have survived Kansas summers, winters, hail, winds, and 2 year old children for going on 4 years and still look/perform like the day I got them.