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Except they're not. 1) If your costs are legitimately less than the competition then charging less is not illegal. If you're taking a loss to gain market share

Except they're not. 1) If your costs are legitimately less than the competition then charging less is not illegal. If you're taking a loss to gain market share and then upping the price once the competitors go out of business that's a problem. 2) Have you seen gas stations? If setting your price to be the same was illegal there'd be so many convicted people. 3) I don't remember profiteering being illegal. Literally a ton of companies have been recording record profit and certainly people have been complaining but who was fined/imprisoned? Martin Shkreli wasn't convicted of profiteering cause it's not a crime.

WalterBright 4y ago
> are legitimately less Cost accounting is not a rigorous discipline. It involves a lot of assumptions, guesswork, and handwaving. > taking a loss to gain market share and then upping the price once the competitors go out of business that's a problem. Present a case history of this. > If setting your price to be the same They rarely seem to be at the same price > I don't remember profiteering being illegal Remember all those anti-gouging laws? Warren wants to extend them. https://fee.org/articles/why-elizabeth-warrens-proposed-anti-price-gouging-law-would-be-a-national-disaster/ https://fee.org/articles/why-elizabeth-warrens-proposed-anti...
- enragedcacti 4y ago
  > Present a case history of this. Amazon versus Diapers.com https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/amazon-book-how-jeff-bezos-went-thermonuclear-on-diapers-com.html https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/amazon-book-how-jeff-be...
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    Not really, diapers.com sold their business to Amazon, and nobody demonstrated that Amazon sold diapers below cost.
    - enragedcacti 4y ago
      Sold after they were practically run out of business by Amazon's pricing. > Quidsi could now taste its own blood. At one point, Quidsi executives took what they knew about shipping rates, factored in Procter & Gamble’s (PG) wholesale prices, and calculated that Amazon was on track to lose $100 million over three months in the diaper category alone. You're right it has not been demonstrated. Maybe some governing body should investigate and come to a conclusion about whether Amazon engages in unfair methods of competition such as what is purported by Quidsi.
      - danielmarkbruce 4y ago
        Is a retailer now obliged to run every single product they sell at a profit? So Costco can't do their chicken deal (which costs them millions and customers love), nobody is allowed loss leaders?
        enragedcacti 4y ago
        Generally speaking, no. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing
        danielmarkbruce 4y ago
        It was tongue in cheek. I'm saying: Amazon's diaper thing was the same as Costco's chicken thing. Retailers shouldn't be obliged to run every single product at a profit just in case there is a single product retailer.
        enragedcacti 4y ago
        I'm saying that no one ever said you shouldn't be allowed to do loss leaders. Predatory pricing is a specific set of actions in a specific context that happen to do with selling products at a loss for a period of time. e.g. Driving a car is legal, driving the getaway car for a bank robbery is not.
- bombcar 4y ago
  https://www.readmargins.com/p/doordash-and-pizza-arbitrage https://www.readmargins.com/p/doordash-and-pizza-arbitrage Smells like it could have become a case of it.

WalterBright 4y ago

> are legitimately less Cost accounting is not a rigorous discipline. It involves a lot of assumptions, guesswork, and handwaving. > taking a loss to gain market share and then upping the price once the competitors go out of business that's a problem. Present a case history of this. > If setting your price to be the same They rarely seem to be at the same price > I don't remember profiteering being illegal Remember all those anti-gouging laws? Warren wants to extend them. https://fee.org/articles/why-elizabeth-warrens-proposed-anti-price-gouging-law-would-be-a-national-disaster/ https://fee.org/articles/why-elizabeth-warrens-proposed-anti...

enragedcacti 4y ago
> Present a case history of this. Amazon versus Diapers.com https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/amazon-book-how-jeff-bezos-went-thermonuclear-on-diapers-com.html https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/amazon-book-how-jeff-be...
- WalterBright 4y ago
  Not really, diapers.com sold their business to Amazon, and nobody demonstrated that Amazon sold diapers below cost.
  - enragedcacti 4y ago
    Sold after they were practically run out of business by Amazon's pricing. > Quidsi could now taste its own blood. At one point, Quidsi executives took what they knew about shipping rates, factored in Procter & Gamble’s (PG) wholesale prices, and calculated that Amazon was on track to lose $100 million over three months in the diaper category alone. You're right it has not been demonstrated. Maybe some governing body should investigate and come to a conclusion about whether Amazon engages in unfair methods of competition such as what is purported by Quidsi.
    - danielmarkbruce 4y ago
      Is a retailer now obliged to run every single product they sell at a profit? So Costco can't do their chicken deal (which costs them millions and customers love), nobody is allowed loss leaders?
      - enragedcacti 4y ago
        Generally speaking, no. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing
        danielmarkbruce 4y ago
        It was tongue in cheek. I'm saying: Amazon's diaper thing was the same as Costco's chicken thing. Retailers shouldn't be obliged to run every single product at a profit just in case there is a single product retailer.
        enragedcacti 4y ago
        I'm saying that no one ever said you shouldn't be allowed to do loss leaders. Predatory pricing is a specific set of actions in a specific context that happen to do with selling products at a loss for a period of time. e.g. Driving a car is legal, driving the getaway car for a bank robbery is not.
bombcar 4y ago
https://www.readmargins.com/p/doordash-and-pizza-arbitrage https://www.readmargins.com/p/doordash-and-pizza-arbitrage Smells like it could have become a case of it.