Who Needs TAS When We Have Samson Cables?

[Les Wright]

My 15C LE finally arrived and so far I am so impressed I want another to squirrel away as a collectible.

So I go back to the trusty Samson site, and not only is item back-ordered, BUT the seller has the cheekiness to pump the price up 20% over MSRP!

Ain't capitalism grand?

Maybe this demand will keep the unit in production as an HP standard?

Les

[Michael de Estrada]

The reason they are OOS at their home website is that they are selling all their existing stock on TAS for 50% over MSRP.

[Bruce Bergman]

Yeah, I have to say, I've lost a LOT of my respect for them. They used to be pretty much the last best calculator sales place (dedicated calculator sales), but lately they've taken to reaming the community for as much as they can get. Their prices vary day to day on the 15cLE, based on stock and demand. And over even the HP SMB price. Then, they resell for Buy.com (who is OOS also) at an even higher price.

Not cool, Samson. I doubt I will buy from you ever again.

:-(

[Cristian Arezzini]

Hmmm... I agree that it's frustrating (I wish I could buy them before the price increased), but isn't this just the essence of capitalism? As in, if people are willing to pay an higher price, why should they sell for less? :(

[Michael de Estrada]

No, this isn't capitalism, which requires competition to set prices. SC has cornered the international market as the only "dealer" that can/will ship outside the USA. They are the only dealer that has charged over MSRP. Even Buy.com sold all their initial stock below MSRP, both through their website and on TAS. HP SMB initially charged above current MSRP, but agreed to credit customers who overpaid. IOW, everyone except SC has shown good business ethics. But, there's and old expression, "what goes around comes around," so short term profits may be offset by long term ill will.

[Eric Rechlin]

Quote:

---

SC has cornered the international market as the only "dealer" that can/will ship outside the USA

---

But that's not even true. I've been shipping calculators outside the US since 2003.

Eric

[Raymond Del Tondo]

Mmmmm, how could I forget?

Just ordered some from you:-)

Regards

Raymond

[Brian Walsh]

Quote:

---

But, there's and old expression, "what goes around comes around," so short term profits may be offset by long term ill will.

---

You are absolutely correct. Being a retailer myself (high end home audio) I am very sensitive to this. The HP handheld enthusiast community is small, so it doesn't take much to fall out of favor. The Golden Rule is a good guideline to follow.

[Steve Fennell]

Samson Cables took preorders for the 15C LE and charged $95 which is below MSRP. I do not know their reasons for charging higher prices except that is what the market would bear, or they assumed there were no additional shipments of the calculator.

buy.com also raised their prices from $79 to $85 shortly after it became available. Not a big increase, but still taking advantage of higher demand for a product in short supply.

[Michael de Estrada]

Buy.com never went above $90 and shipped for free. They sold out their entire stock on both their website and on TAS at that price. I also bought from CostCentral in a pre-order for $80.52, back when the projected MSRP was $129. Meanwhile, SC has been as high as $200 + shipping. Frankly, if SC wants to price gouge, then so be it, but it seems like a very short-sighted business model. The 15C LE is already starting to flood TAS and prices are coming down significantly, so people now have other choices. It looks like so far only a small number of these have actually reached the market (highest LE# is less than 3000), and once HP gets them in stock with more consistency all this nonsense will be over.

[Steve Fennell]

Is this confirmed that HP is shipping more? I thought I read an earlier post that the question was posed at the HHC meeting and HP marketing would not confirm how many they planned to produce.

[Michael de Estrada]

I'm just saying that it appears that so far no more than 3000 have shipped to distribution centers in the USA, and one can infer that at least 10000 units were planned based on past informal statements. The ones here now probably arrived in small shipments by air freight, and there may some yet to arrive by sea. I'm just doing some reasoning here, because I'm certainly on the outside. Anyway, I think it will clearer over the next couple of months.

[Lincoln R.]

HP said that some were destined for Europe. I imagine they may have put a hold on manufacturing while they're trying to deal with the keyboard/firmware issues.

[Roger Blake]

They have been selling at $199.99 for the last few days ! so you've actually got a big discount :-)