Anybody know what this is about?

[MpG]

[H]: Nvidia Dictates Advertised Video Card Pricing

It's a little convoluted, but in a nutshell, Nvidia seems to be saying that the regular browsing screens can't display the actual selling prices of their cards, but have to use Nvidia's MSRP, or (something similar) determined by what price category Nvidia intends for the card. Once you add the card to you cart, the price can be shown, but not until then? This will also effectively make shopbot's useless when it comes to shopping for Nvidia cards.

What's the price? It's a secret! Don't go doing anything strange, like adding the rebate amount to the after-rebate price or anything...

Honestly, this just seems plain fweird, and I honestly have no bloody clue what this is intended to accomplish. Certainly not save me any time. Or generate any brownie points with customers.

Don't suppose anyone here has some insights on the matter, possibly from the retailer side of things?

[MacJunky]

Perhaps they think they are trying to make them seem like they are a bit more exclusive or something. I really have no idea, it is baffling. If the price is so low then why would they not want to show it off? Are they just trying to get it into your cart so you will say"oh, that is not all *that* much, I think I will buy it"?

Crazy bastards.

[SKYMTL]

If I said what I really wanted to say I would be SURE to get in trouble with Nvidia and I have been keeping my mouth shut about it for a while now.

Here is the long and the short of it though: I am 99% sure that this is illegal in regards to Canadian consumer protection laws. It is no fault of the stores though since when a company the size of Nvidia plays hardball, they really don't have much of a choice.

[-n7-]

I'll say what i feel about this.

It makes me even more embarrassed to own an nVidia graphics card.

I've detested nVidia's scumtastic marketing practises for a long time now, & now we've got more shit being flung our way.

It's pretty sad to see how low they stoop as a company...but not really surprising.

Sickening stuff.

[MpG]

Yeah the article seems to suggest that it's not allowed in Canada. I'm seeing more than a little speculation going around about this, but most of it just griping and complaining, rather any explanation for the actual reasoning behind it.

It kind of bugging me, honestly. If it was just a dumb PR move, or some shade of general corporate greediness, I'd just roll my eyes and move on. But I'm just not seeing any clear-cut benefit to this, beyond the possibility that they're trying to use a jacked MSRP to imply a given card is better than it really is. There's been rumours of impending price cuts to GTX260 and 280, (even before actual release) on account of stronger than expected competition from ATI, so perhaps this is them trying to gracefully maintain that the cards are worth a lot more money than retailers will wind up selling them for?

Eh, I dunno. Maybe Monday will bring some plausible news on this.

[Spaceman-Spiff]

I notice the same thing also happens in Newegg.com, on nVidia products.

This one for example: PNY VCG96512GXPB GeForce 9600 GT

[Jack Rabbit]

Here is an article that talks a little about the benefits of MSRP and states that this kind of activity is legal (in the US). However, if you Google for "price fix MSRP" and you will find this kind of activity is ramping up and it is before the courts in some areas.

Deceptive marketing goes both ways. How many times have you seen a web based store that has a special sale on an item that is only available via some deep link and the normal price is still listed in the general catalog. Alternately they advertise a discounted product but bundle that with another product that has been marked up.

Preventing customers from having a bad buying experience is part of marketing and important for maintaining brand image and loyalty. This is part of the reason brands like Gucci and Prada go after the knockoff manufacturers. If someone buys a bag they think is genuine but is just a poorly made piece of crap that someone is likely to blame the legit manufacturer. This is mainly because customers are stupid but if you stopped selling to stupid people there would be very few customers left.

I want to find the wallah who originally realised you could put user reviews on the same page you sell a product on. This was a stroke of genius. Now if you search for "product blah review" you get tonnes of false hits to pages that will sell you the product and include a heap of uninformed comments from Joe Public.

[sswilson]

Originally Posted by Jack Rabbit

Here is an article that talks a little about the benefits of MSRP and states that this kind of activity is legal (in the US). However, if you Google for "price fix MSRP" and you will find this kind of activity is ramping up and it is before the courts in some areas.

Deceptive marketing goes both ways. How many times have you seen a web based store that has a special sale on an item that is only available via some deep link and the normal price is still listed in the general catalog. Alternately they advertise a discounted product but bundle that with another product that has been marked up.

Preventing customers from having a bad buying experience is part of marketing and important for maintaining brand image and loyalty. This is part of the reason brands like Gucci and Prada go after the knockoff manufacturers. If someone buys a bag they think is genuine but is just a poorly made piece of crap that someone is likely to blame the legit manufacturer. This is mainly because customers are stupid but if you stopped selling to stupid people there would be very few customers left.

I want to find the wallah who originally realised you could put user reviews on the same page you sell a product on. This was a stroke of genius. Now if you search for "product blah review" you get tonnes of false hits to pages that will sell you the product and include a heap of uninformed comments from Joe Public.

I actually like the "user reviews". They might not be as technically savvy, or in depth as a full fledged review, but they often (through shear #s) point out systemic issues which either aren't commented on in early reviews, or come about due to a design change or new revision.

[Jack Rabbit]

Originally Posted by sswilson

I actually like the "user reviews". They might not be as technically savvy, or in depth as a full fledged review, but they often (through shear #s) point out systemic issues which either aren't commented on in early reviews, or come about due to a design change or new revision.

Yeah, I hear you about those revision problems .

I probably should have posted that in the rant thread and my brush was a little wide. Review sites and forums are great ways to crowdsource. Some of the major sites seem to be very good about this too. I have seen many "omg, do not buy!1!!one" comments on product pages on major retailer sites even though these are not going to help them make any sales.

Legitimate reviews about popular equipment move to the top of the search engine rankings because every blog and forum link to the popular respected sites as soon as they review anything. However, I find it frustrating when I am looking for information about obscure products. Especially when I see the same thing on site after site, "Buy Now! No one has reviewed this product. Click here to review this product!"