[YLUG] EEEPC 4GB 701 Black For Sale

[Alex Howells]

2008/6/11 Dale Jefferson <dale at efficientpc.co.uk>:
> Looks like the company selling the new ones are making a massive loss on
> the auction ones.

Companies don't exist to make a loss, and if retail is £220 then it'd
be safe to assume they're getting them much cheaper. Typical IT stuff
seems to be acquirable via distributors for 30-35% off MSRP if you're
buying in any kind of bulk :)

It'd be extremely risky to run a loss-leader on the same marketplace
as a profit-making product line.  Consumers aren't all completely
stupid, they will look around, and take your cheaper product; if >25%
of people did that (and they would on eBay) then your business model
just got shafted, forcefully, without consent!

Take a recent product which seems to get hyped a lot... it's an Intel
Atom platform comprising a mainboard with CPU fitted -- retail they're
going for about £50 inc. VAT and distributors will hook you up for
about £37.20 (also inc. VAT) if buying them in bulk which works out to
about a 25% discount... the MSRP for the unit is just over $100 USD if
I recall.

So in short.. either they know something you don't, are doing way more
bulk and get better discounts, or they're daft. ;)