The _Don
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Mercedes guilty of price-fixing, say Chinese authorities
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Palfrem
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Maybe they should investigate copyright infringement too.
Yep. A customer of mine makes certain items. He is quite a well respected designer, but not daft with his prices. His items are well made by his own factory and sell well and he has now built up quite a nice reputation. About 3 years ago his items started appearing on Ebay listed as the genuine item, but not by him.... all from China.
He tried contacting the sellers which unsurprisingly brought no response, but then to make matters worse he had a customer contact him saying they had bought one of his items on Ebay and how could he make such tat. After calming them down and explaining they sent him the item and it was the most shoddily made piece of rubbish you could imagine.
He then went to see a lawyer who specialises in copyright infringement. Three years on he still hasn't got to the people copying the items as every time they make some headway the Chinese legal system seems to move the goalposts and he has basically been accused of everything from being anti The Peoples Republic of China to being guilty of trying to restrict their right to trade.
He will openly admit now that he wants nothing to do with China and has become very wary of the Chinese in general, as he says he has almost become racist towards them, but not without extreme provocation!
His is one of many similar cases and until they sort this sort of thing out and the fact that much of what they make be it genuine or not is shoddy second rate garbage then I won't lose too much sleep over Mercedes fixing a few prices.
nick mercedes
MB Enthusiast
""OE Parts (from Mercedes) Situation end 2010 start 2011
WE CAN NOT SUPPLY OE PARTS AT THE MOMENT
In the last months of 2010 Mercedes started spreading out change of attitude towards their distribution system of spare parts.
We call it "Berufsverbot" (Occupational ban in English)
Mercedes puts great pressure on the authorised dealers in all layers to make sure that spare parts are only sold to workshops or end users and NOT to resellers.
Mercedes is using a grey zone in EU “Block Exemption Regulation”
Commission Regulation (EU) No 461/2010 of 27 May 2010
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1400/2002 of 31 July 2002
Mercedes is using a “Selective distribution” system, and are therefore free to set rules for the authorized dealers according to the “Block Exemption” they are free of normal competition rules both nationally and EU wise.
But the “Block Exemption” on the other hand says that workshops must not be blocked, and therefore Mercedes is still supplying them
All possible action are being taken in many countries trying to stop this type of what everybody knows is competition limitation, but in EU National laws are overruled by EU laws, and starting up a case in EU is a big job, and will take years!
The actual action from Mercedes is handing out a simple piece of paper to the authorized dealers to give to their customers, where the customers must sign that he is using the spare parts for fitting on cars and not for reselling.
This new attitude has in my knowledge started out in Europe, Germany first in October, but it looks that it is going to be world wide. It have caused great panic amongst Mercedes specialists like us and big or small wholesaler companies having a big part of their business cut away overnight. Everybody is trying to find new sources, sending requests to everybody.
The declared goals of Mercedes is as follows:
* To gain control over the players on the market that sells original Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, smart Unimog and spare parts.
* To ensure that the original Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, smart and Unimog parts is only sold by authorized retailers.
* To prevent authorized dealers or large customers to resell the original Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, smart and Unimog spare parts to third parties
Short version: To stop "unauthorized resale" and have a monopoly on sales of OE parts, and thereby be free to manage pricing, etc.
This is why we at the moment are forced to say no to selling OE parts, but off course we are trying more than ever to find alternatives to OE, in OSP or MQSP quality"
WE CAN NOT SUPPLY OE PARTS AT THE MOMENT
In the last months of 2010 Mercedes started spreading out change of attitude towards their distribution system of spare parts.
We call it "Berufsverbot" (Occupational ban in English)
Mercedes puts great pressure on the authorised dealers in all layers to make sure that spare parts are only sold to workshops or end users and NOT to resellers.
Mercedes is using a grey zone in EU “Block Exemption Regulation”
Commission Regulation (EU) No 461/2010 of 27 May 2010
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1400/2002 of 31 July 2002
Mercedes is using a “Selective distribution” system, and are therefore free to set rules for the authorized dealers according to the “Block Exemption” they are free of normal competition rules both nationally and EU wise.
But the “Block Exemption” on the other hand says that workshops must not be blocked, and therefore Mercedes is still supplying them
All possible action are being taken in many countries trying to stop this type of what everybody knows is competition limitation, but in EU National laws are overruled by EU laws, and starting up a case in EU is a big job, and will take years!
The actual action from Mercedes is handing out a simple piece of paper to the authorized dealers to give to their customers, where the customers must sign that he is using the spare parts for fitting on cars and not for reselling.
This new attitude has in my knowledge started out in Europe, Germany first in October, but it looks that it is going to be world wide. It have caused great panic amongst Mercedes specialists like us and big or small wholesaler companies having a big part of their business cut away overnight. Everybody is trying to find new sources, sending requests to everybody.
The declared goals of Mercedes is as follows:
* To gain control over the players on the market that sells original Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, smart Unimog and spare parts.
* To ensure that the original Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, smart and Unimog parts is only sold by authorized retailers.
* To prevent authorized dealers or large customers to resell the original Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, smart and Unimog spare parts to third parties
Short version: To stop "unauthorized resale" and have a monopoly on sales of OE parts, and thereby be free to manage pricing, etc.
This is why we at the moment are forced to say no to selling OE parts, but off course we are trying more than ever to find alternatives to OE, in OSP or MQSP quality"
grober
MB Master
Well they were obviously remiss in not making high enough donations to the personal political campaign funds of selected members of anti-monopoly bureau of the eastern province of Jiangsu. But what might be expected from " sei gweilo"
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This is in no way unique to Mercedes-Benz. Pretty much all the motor manufacturers / importers misuse the EU's Block Exemption regulations to control the market in some way or another.
This is exactly what consumer protection groups throughout the EU said would happen, but the EU Commission swallowed the manufacturer's line about "needing to prevent counterfeit goods being sold to the consumer". It's also why it's possible to buy genuine Mercedes-Benz parts at a substantial discount if you live in the USA, yet if you live in the EU you get shafted. It's also the reason that USA-based retailers won't permit an EU resident to purchase the goods and have them shipped to their EU address.
Giantvanman
MB Enthusiast
Are we saying that the 'we'll do as we please to suit ourselves' counterfeiting communists are actually the good guys in this instance? And the capitalist free market are the bad guys?
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No.Giantvanman said:Are we saying that the 'we'll do as we please to suit ourselves' counterfeiting communists are actually the good guys in this instance? And the capitalist free market are the bad guys?
The issue with Chinese knock-off products is that they are generally of shoddy manufacture, and use dubious materials.
The issue with the car manufacturers / importers is that they use a mechanism that was intended to allow them to get a reasonable return on their IP and to keep the counterfeiters out of the market to stifle genuine, legitimate, competition.
nick mercedes
MB Enthusiast
That's all over, US MB dealers often sell parts on a retail plus system, so you get to pay retail plus 20%, and if you drive a Mercedes that was not sold officially in the US then you can't get any parts.
HotJambalaya
Active Member
Mercedes 'guilty of price fixing' in China - Business News - Business - The Independent
found this line quite interesting
ouch!
found this line quite interesting
ouch!
E270 Owner
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