ZT enforces MAP pricing?

[jtoler_9]

Just spoke with one of my knife vendors who suggested that a recent increase in pricing of ZT blades on their website was a new MAP price enforcement handed down by ZT. Same thing we saw Benchmade do earlier this year. Anyone out there who can confirm this?

The MAP enforcement is interesting. I have to wonder if the big box shops and B&M guys are pushing this to eliminate competition from online vendors. As an example, I have still seen a few B&M stores of larger chains charge whatever they want for Benchmade products even after the mandatory MAP went into effect this year.

But it does seem to create a sterile homogenous online shopping experience. Where's the appeal to become a vendor when there is no way to differentiate from other vendors whatsoever?

 

[Scurvy092]

This has been discussed to death already and always leads to a lock.

There are arguments for and against it but it is not the same as what benchmade did last year.

Benchmade had a long standing history of allowing pricing below map on any product. It went on for several years before they did anything.

ZT knives in the past were always sold at MAP when they were first released and then after a few years on the market the model would go on sale in certain places. What happened was some dealers got desperate (provably because preorders were down on new releases due to their past history of over selling oreorders) and started marking down new models immediately to drive traffic and sales. This started a pricing war that ZT put a stop to before it got totally out of hand.

 

[jtoler_9]

This has been discussed to death already and always leads to a lock.
.

Thanks for the reply. Looks like I was late to the party/discussion last time. I just found out myself. I'll shut this down and read the last thread. Cheers.

 

[RevDevil]

I think every company has the right to set a base price for their product, it's going to ultimately help keep the manufacturer and the vendors afloat. It would be nice if there were coupon codes available, authorized by ZT of course. Might never happen, but it would be nice if it happened at least a couple times a year.