Every manufacturer tries to protect his turf and dealers are playing along. Dealers have to sign dealer-agreements if they want to sell scuba diving equipment from almost any manufacturer. These agreements usually contain clauses that explicitly prohibit Internet sales, or a dealer may face litigation. Furthermore, dealer agreements set MAP-pricing, which means manufacturers give dealers the minimum price they can sell the equipment for. If somebody tries to sell equipment cheaper (i.e. trough a package deal), they face the risk of losing the brand and being cut-off from the supply chain.
Online only dealers buy their equipment from chapter 11 stores, or directly from the OEM manufactures (some “manufacturers” are not really manufacturers, they have the gear manufactured by somebody else and simply put their label on). If “manufacturer” A moves to OEM manufacturer B, which happens quite often because they may get a better price or a product which is perceived of better quality, the first OEM manufacturer is often left with a product with Label A on it. This “leftover” is sometimes sold off to online-dealers.
“Manufacturers” don’t like this and sue for “gray market products”. Training organizations and lobbying groups like the “Manufacturers Retail Associations” often side with manufacturers (not OEM manufacturers) to keep the market “clean”. Sometimes, “Manufacturing Associations” go broke in the process due to legal expenses involved in the suite.
However, if large training organizations are backing the suite (they make most of their money trough dealers, which pay “membership fees, resort fees”, etc. to be associated with the training organization, and hand over a portion of the certification fee you pay for any c-card, usually even the OEM manufacturer is giving up
It’s all a question of deep pockets and who is feeding them!!!
shakehead:
