Quote:
Originally Posted by joehunt
I'm just curious - is there any other consumer product that has the same price no matter where you purchase because retailers are not allowed to discount?
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Some, even for traditional retailers who buy wholesale and then sell retail. But in this case, Amazon et al. are agents for the publisher, who is the actual seller. In this type of arrangement, amazon etc. simply receive a commission.
This is the same system used by iTunes, eBay, real estate agencies, and any number of consignment type stores. While there do seem to be some real anticompetitive concerns with the "MFN" provisions of the agency agreements, I don't see any basis for a court to require a publisher to use a wholesale/retail model as opposed to a seller/agent model.