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Old 23-02-2015, 11:09   #1
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Vendor wanting more money after order placed and paid for

Hi All,

I had a weird experience today. Last night I finally ordered a B&G 4G radar and Zeus2 9 MFD from an online vendor. Paid by PayPal and got a confirmation instantly. Next day, today, I receive and email that they need another $386 to complete the order because they advertised a price below Navico's MAP. The distributor new of the change Feb. 9th but somehow the online vendor missed it.

I canceled the order for now since everyone and their brother sells at the same price so might as well go with a larger vendor or at least someone who offers something for this big (for me) order.

Should I have to pay the extra moneiy or should the Distributor and or Vendor just eat it? Is this fraud? I am interested in everyone's thoughts.
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Old 23-02-2015, 11:19   #2
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Re: Vendor wanting more money after order placed and paid for

I think if they make an error, and let you know about it immediately, it's your choice if you want to continue the transaction or not.

The opportunity cost is minimal, right?

As long as they're not holding your money hostage, I wouldn't get worked up over it.
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Old 23-02-2015, 11:32   #3
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Re: Vendor wanting more money after order placed and paid for

They let me know the next day after I had paid. After I cancelled the order they refunded the money.

I can see them saying, before payment, that the price is wrong but after payment, no.

If you go to buy a car and after you have paid they say that you owe another $500 because they sold it to you too cheaply, how do you respond to it? Cancel the order?

BTW opportunity cost is about 10% more. Not totally insignificant. If someone says they are having a 10% sale I take notice if it something I want.
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Old 23-02-2015, 11:40   #4
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Re: Vendor wanting more money after order placed and paid for

They can do whatever they want up until they ship. Pretty clearly the price was a mistake on their part and not some underhanded attempt to lure you into buying. No online vendor would last long with practices like that.

There are some vendors who will say you have to put an item in the cart to see their store price, which allows them to sell for under MAP, but the difference is rarely that large. Very occasionally it is, but it's intentional. This is not one of those occurrences, evidently.

In general, margins on electronics are pretty low since they are commodity items and the competition is pretty stiff.

As far as opportunity cost, not sure what you mean by that in this case. There is no opportunity cost to you other than what your money could have made overnight sitting in your bank versus in their bank. That's obviously pretty minimal.
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Old 23-02-2015, 11:52   #5
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Re: Vendor wanting more money after order placed and paid for

They made a mistake and then gave you the opportunity to pay the correct price or refund your money so what are you "out" besides the aggrivation of not getting the deal you thought you were getting? Or in legal parlance, what are your damages?
I'm not sure what the real drama is here, Vendors are not people and don't make mistakes?

Why is there MAP pricing anyway and why isn't it looked at as Collusion and Monopoly?
Well that's another dirty topic for another day and another thread....
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Old 23-02-2015, 13:06   #6
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Re: Vendor wanting more money after order placed and paid for

I'd hold them to the deal ... there was an offer, acceptance, consideration, a nexus, and an intention to be bound ... there was a contract. A MAP is not a legal obligation, and it's not your legal obligation. And there certainly was damages (the 386 extra dollars) as a result of the willful breach of contract.

The correct price was the one in the contract, any suggestion otherwise on the basis of a suggestion from the distributor, is grade A ********, and would be categorically illegal under competition law in many 1st world countries (it's called resale price maintenance, and is a hard core breach of EU competition law).
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Old 23-02-2015, 13:19   #7
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Re: Vendor wanting more money after order placed and paid for

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I'd hold them to the deal ... there was an offer, acceptance, consideration, a nexus, and an intention to be bound ... there was a contract. A MAP is not a legal obligation, and it's not your legal obligation. And there certainly was damages (the 386 extra dollars) as a result of the willful breach of contract.

The correct price was the one in the contract, any suggestion otherwise on the basis of a suggestion from the distributor, is grade A ********, and would be categorically illegal under competition law in many 1st world countries (it's called resale price maintenance, and is a hard core breach of EU competition law).
Good Luck with that...just curious, what court jurisdiction would file the lawsuit?
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Old 23-02-2015, 13:19   #8
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Re: Vendor wanting more money after order placed and paid for

Go with someone else. They agreed to a price and accepted. Not someone to do business with. Doesn't it make you wonder if they had it in stock at the old price? Does the maker charge them more for their inventory on hand when the price goes up for new units?
Report them to your state attorney general. It will at least cause them some pain to have to respond while you get your unit elsewhere.
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Old 23-02-2015, 13:29   #9
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Re: Vendor wanting more money after order placed and paid for

Cheechako-highly likely that they do not actually have any "stock." More than a few online sellers are just "order takers" who then have the item drop-shipped from a distributor or the manufacturer. They are not on the hook for payment until they go to the distributor/manufacturer to place their order. Highly likely that they placed their order for the drop shipment and were advised of the price differential then. They then tried to collect from the OP before confirming the item to be shipped.
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Old 23-02-2015, 13:42   #10
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Re: Vendor wanting more money after order placed and paid for

Before you buy something online again and just pass by the "click here for terms and services" give it a read...it will pretty much hold the seller faultless, give them the right to cancel the order, and you agree to part with your first born.

I'm not saying it's right, but when buying online it's often what you are agreeing too, even if you read the terms or not.

But honestly, I'm still not sure why all the fuss and now talk of lawsuits and revolution to bring down the evil man. They canceled, gave you your full money back, that's better than the last Iphone I bought on ebay and had to get into a Paypal cancel fight when it never arrived 35 days later!
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Old 23-02-2015, 13:49   #11
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Re: Vendor wanting more money after order placed and paid for

Legally speaking, it sounds like a breach of contract to me. Unless there are additional clauses in the purchase contract to cover this situation, I'd say the vendor is legally obligated to sell you the product at the agreed price. However, the only way to enforce this contract would be to go to small claims court, and there is no way that would be worth your effort.

Now morally speaking, if it really was a case of an honest mistake, then you should be the bigger person and let them correct it. Everyone makes mistakes. They came back to you with an apology (I assume), and the new price. They weren't trying to hold you captive. They gave you your money back. A truly good vendor should likely have sucked it up and taken the hit in the hopes of creating a loyal and valuable customer (and great PR), but if it is a vendor with thin pockets (a drop-shipper perhaps), this might not be an option.

Sounds like you did the right thing by going to someone else. Lets hope the vendor learns from this mistake, and improves their practices.
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Old 23-02-2015, 14:04   #12
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Re: Vendor wanting more money after order placed and paid for

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Cheechako-highly likely that they do not actually have any "stock." More than a few online sellers are just "order takers" who then have the item drop-shipped from a distributor or the manufacturer. They are not on the hook for payment until they go to the distributor/manufacturer to place their order. Highly likely that they placed their order for the drop shipment and were advised of the price differential then. They then tried to collect from the OP before confirming the item to be shipped.
Yeah... aware of that possibility. Which means they don't really even know if it's available also! :>)


I bought an electronics item on line because the manufacturer had an ad offering a $100 rebate for the item. "Just order from one of our stocking dealers and...."
Got the item, filled out the form, sent the rebate in and maybe 6-8 weeks letter got a notice that the rebate wasn't available if I bought it from that store!
I said "you didn't say that in your ad"... they said "oh... we changed our ad you must have seen the old ad"
WTF? I bought it only because of that rebate. Bottom line is, I'd been using it for 6 weeks, they refused, I turned in to the SAG and BBB. Just to get my "pound of flesh".
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Old 23-02-2015, 15:06   #13
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Re: Vendor wanting more money after order placed and paid for

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More than a few online sellers are just "order takers" who then have the item drop-shipped from a distributor or the manufacturer. .
Actually more than 90% of the online retailers operate this way.
Even when/if they say the item is "In stock", they really mean it is in stock at their Drop Ship Supplier, not with them. I call that a lie...they call it sales marketing I guess.

Anyone with a website and web connection can be an "online store" these days and the manufacturers actually want and support this business model because the more places they can have their products listed online, then the higher up the Google rankings their products can be in an internet search. It's just a game of market saturation. If you have your product in 50 online stores and your competitor only has 35...well you will pop up higher in the Google rankings as being more "relevant" and make more sales.

There is a company that shall remain nameless out of Ontario Canada that has a "Where to Buy" button on their website. You follow the link and Sha-Zam...you see they have dealers all around the world and a manufacturing facility in Buffalo, NY....well maybe. They set up what's known as "ghost dealers" all around the Country and world but the phone numbers and email contact addresses go back to the main company. They don't have offices in all the places they show on their "Dealer Map", but it looks good to have sales offices around the Country and world right? But this tricks people in those areas into thinking: "hey, these guys are local and they say it's in stock". What they list as "dealers" are actually just clients, and friends, (or even made up addresses) that they promised a % of the sale if they would let them use their local contact information and address. It's the big scam going on right now in online retail to improve you online image.

Folks...I get calls and emails literally 3-4 times a week from SEO (Search Engine Optimization) companies that for the low low price of $500/mo will set me up with a Ghost Dealer Network in all 50 States! They promise increased sales, better Google search rankings and they will manage it all for me. Depending on how busy I am at the moment....I usually string them along just enough to see what they are up to...and it's damn near criminal some of the sleezy **** these folks are doing these days. They wil write fake Blogs, fake customer reviews, and post under fake accounts on chat rooms and blog comments about your products with links back to your site. It's out of Control in many ways.

When you search Google, you assume the reason the companies pop up is because...well they just naturally do. Ha ha .... ********. They pop up because they are playing the system and paying a Google affiliate money to make them pop up!

It's really still is a bit of the Wild West when it comes to buying from online vendors you have never heard of online, so be VARY careful when just buying from the cheapest price that pops up online. Do a Google search for the company name and review...this can save you lots of headaches down the road!

Ok...rant over...but seeing this sleazzy world from the inside makes me want to puke at times...so I needed to vent!
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Old 23-02-2015, 16:13   #14
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Re: Vendor wanting more money after order placed and paid for

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Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3 View Post
I think if they make an error, and let you know about it immediately, it's your choice if you want to continue the transaction or not.

The opportunity cost is minimal, right?

As long as they're not holding your money hostage, I wouldn't get worked up over it.
Good advice.

Legally, you have the right to hold them to the deal -- offer, acceptance, payment.

But life is too short to make a relatively small purchase into a legal issue. Forget about it and take your business elsewhere.
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Old 23-02-2015, 17:16   #15
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Re: Vendor wanting more money after order placed and paid for

I agree that you were wronged. But I'll bet in the fine print they had an "out". A good long tern dealer will stand by a deal. I think you did the right thing. Take your business elsewhere.

I had a deal on a new car. When doing the paperwork the price had changed and not in my favor. When confronted they said that they had made a mistake and couldn't sell it for the agreed to amount. I was dealing with the sales manager and the owner of the dealership. I said that the new amount was not acceptable. The owner said he couldn't honor the hand shake. I took my check back and I've bought two cars and a pickup in that town since and would not consider giving them my business.
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