Harley Davidson sued over sales restrictions
#41
11-13-2011, 07:33 PM
Road Captain
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Be careful what you wish for...MOCo has a brand to protect. If MOCO allows their dealers to sell new products anywhere, it cheapens the brand. It also cheapens the investment that ALL dealers made to buy the franchise. It also cheapens your sled. HD still holds value better than the competition...and this is why. if they start selling new bikes for 30 percent off, like the metrics, you now have a personal problem called....My bike is worth nothing!!!
It's called free market. Products should be priced by value, not unfair trade practices.
#42
11-13-2011, 07:51 PM
Seasoned HDF Member
you must have read a different article than i did. the one i read dealt with selling to non-us customers and on ebay or amazon....
#44
11-13-2011, 09:33 PM
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Yup and I was shocked, didn't know they did that with other parts too, thought they were just trying to gouge me, I really don't understand the whole concept of restricting who dealer's can sell to based on area, seems like in some cases it will just drive customers to the competition
#45
11-13-2011, 11:16 PM
Join Date: Nov 2010
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Be careful what you wish for...MOCo has a brand to protect. If MOCO allows their dealers to sell new products anywhere, it cheapens the brand. It also cheapens the investment that ALL dealers made to buy the franchise. It also cheapens your sled. HD still holds value better than the competition...and this is why. if they start selling new bikes for 30 percent off, like the metrics, you now have a personal problem called....My bike is worth nothing!!!
I don't honestly understand this thing 100%, and this is my take on it - I can't see kicking H-D in the nuts so I can turn around later and watch them say 'seeya azzhole! We're now broke and quitting the biz', leaving me with a collectors item I won't see anything on until I'm 30 years dead and gone.
#46
11-14-2011, 12:10 AM
It's not just about ebay and amazon. They are also responding to issues from dealers outside the US. I used to be able to buy genuine HD parts from US authorised HD dealers and ship to Japan. Shipping costs and import taxes added around 20% to the cost of the part. Buy the same part from HD Japan and you are looking at a 200% mark up on the US price. HD Japan wants to protect it's revenue stream. I know the US$ is very weak vs the Yen but the price levels of parts here is really taking the ****.
#49
11-14-2011, 01:01 PM
Elite HDF Member
It'll be interesting to see who will tell H-D that the "S" in MSRP means "suggested" and not "imposed". A Federal judge maybe?
#50
11-14-2011, 01:06 PM
I guess the part that's not clear to me is that customer's don't order directly from the MOCO. So if a dealer wants to sell for less than MSRP, what's the difference? The MOCO got their share already. Discounted parts come out of the dealers' pockets, not the MOCO. Sell enough at volume, and you still make money. And then the MOCO still makes money.