Getting rid of older or not so much in demand stock I would guess for official retailers.Getting rid of old stock or scalpers being caught out with the end of chipaggedon?
From the IPO documentation it appears a Pi 5 4GB costs about $42 to manufacture, resellers buy at about $54, are supposed to sell at $60.
Resellers could sell for as little as $55 and still make some profit. Bulk discounting allows them to exchange profit for cash flow and is a standard and legitimate practice. Except when a supply contract is conditional on them not offering bulk or other discounts.
I don't particularly like such contracts as I consider them to be fundamentally anti-competitive, market interference, bad for resellers and consumers. It's often done to stop resellers under-cutting direct sales pricing, reducing manufacturer profit.
For scalpers their best strategy, once supply had improved, was to sell below the RRP. They will make a loss but it's a lot less than the loss if they can't shift them. But, if there was enough profit made whilst scalping, they can sell at any price, practically give stock away, and still increase their profit.
Some amateur scalpers and those who don't understand the game being played may have got caught out, suffered a loss, but most won't have. They will have factored improving supply into their business model. One may imagine and even take delight in thinking scalpers have been shafted, were crying into their cornflakes, but it's wishful thinking more than reality.
I would presume, because we aren't seeing heavily discounted Pi, it means the scalpers have taken their winnings and moved on.
Statistics: Posted by hippy — Fri Jul 26, 2024 1:08 pm