Freesat price fixing

prowla
prowla Posts: 13,868 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
Is price fixing still a thing?
I've been looking at getting a Freesat box, but the prices are exactly the same from every retailer:
  • Non-recording: £145.00
  • 500 GB: £229.99
  • 1 TB: £259.99
  • 2 TB:£299.99

Price fixing

You must not discuss the prices you’re going to charge your customers with your competitors.

You’ll be breaking the law if you agree with another business:

  • to charge the same prices to your customers
  • to offer discounts or increase your prices at the same time
  • to charge the same fees to intermediaries, for example retailers selling your products


Comments

  • MorningcoffeeIV
    MorningcoffeeIV Posts: 1,945 Forumite
    1,000 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 3 February 2024 at 11:15AM
    Where is your evidence of price fixing?

    It looks like the usual RRP approach that applies to millions of products.

    It's a mature market where I doubt people are fighting for significant sales volume.
  • booneruk
    booneruk Posts: 670 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 3 February 2024 at 11:16AM
    I'm not sure it's price fixing, can it be when there are more expensive boxes? (https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=2TB+Freesat&i=electronics&ref=nb_sb_noss_2). Those all seem to be a different manufacturer & model than the 2TB model I'm repeatedly finding at £299. I'd guess that the £299 box is at its RRP.
  • prowla
    prowla Posts: 13,868 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 3 February 2024 at 1:01PM
    Where is your evidence of price fixing?

    It looks like the usual RRP approach that applies to millions of products.

    It's a mature market where I doubt people are fighting for significant sales volume.

    Maybe my suspicion-o-meter is just twitching because they're all the same price then!
    The Freesat ones are the only recording models which work with the Sky Q LNB.

  • prowla
    prowla Posts: 13,868 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 3 February 2024 at 1:05PM
    booneruk said:
    I'm not sure it's price fixing, can it be when there are more expensive boxes? (https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=2TB+Freesat&i=electronics&ref=nb_sb_noss_2). Those all seem to be a different manufacturer & model than the 2TB model I'm repeatedly finding at £299. I'd guess that the £299 box is at its RRP.

    Hmmm - those Humax and Manhatten ones aren't the same item and they don't have the same functionality, so they're not directly competing products.


  • The_Unready
    The_Unready Posts: 645 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 3 February 2024 at 3:33PM
    The only discount I found when I was looking for a Freesat recordable 2Tb box last month was for a refurbished model, which was £50 cheaper (which I  bought).
  • I thought this recently about a Sony TV I am interested in. Every retailer, about 7, are the exact same price even moving up and down by the same £100/£200.

    One retailer told me that Sony dictate the price.
    Mortgage free
    Vocational freedom has arrived
  • I thought this recently about a Sony TV I am interested in. Every retailer, about 7, are the exact same price even moving up and down by the same £100/£200.

    One retailer told me that Sony dictate the price.
    The manufactures set a RRP generally and will sell to retailers at a certain price per unit under that, if the retailers all sell at that price then that's not price fixing.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 350.2K Banking & Borrowing
  • 252.8K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.2K Spending & Discounts
  • 243.1K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 597.5K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.5K Life & Family
  • 256.1K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.