[tajen]

Vendors (from Samsung to even clothing companies) make agreements with retail stores to have the same price in shops and online. Otherwise online would be cheaper and retail would refuse to list more expensive SKUs. The only ways to bypass the markup of the distribution network are:

- Go "Tesla" mode: Sell directly online or manage your own distribution – Only works if you pull off a unique product, makes the pricesheet much cleaner (examples: Apple and most hardware startups).

- Use Amazon for distribution to bypass retailers and their markup: That would have worked until 2015, but on one hand it seems no seller would rely solely on Amazon for distribution (lack of foothold of Amazon?); on the other hand Amazon decided to massively dispatch counterfeited products together with merchant-originated ones, casting a doubt on the brand and tainting all their providers together.

To date, it seems like retail remains the safest way to order an item...

[newjersey]

Can anyone comment on how Apple works with retailers? Do retailers "buy" from Apple (and pay within thirty days of delivery)? Can retailers return iPhones they can't sell without paying a premium?

Sorry I don't know anything about the market. I don't even know if best buy's margin would be public information or if we'd need to make an educated guess.

[dmritard96]

I don't know the mechanics of how apple works with retailers but honestly all rules are off for them. With respect to Best Buy's margin - its not a flat rate for anyone, its typically negotiated for each vendor based on a great number of things. In general, Apple's ability to bring customers into the store provides massive leverage to them so they can push back on Best Buy pretty hard to get a better deal.

[ValentineC]

> on the other hand Amazon decided to massively dispatch counterfeited products together with merchant-originated ones, casting a doubt on the brand and tainting all their providers together.

Does this happen even with products "shipped from and sold by Amazon"?

[tajen]

As far as I understand, whether it is "sold by Amazon" or by a third party, they put the same products with the same ID in the same bins. Traceability is thus broken, and whichever origin you've selected, they take it from the same bin.

Now I take the question the other way: Amazon's UI confuses the user about the third party products, which is the opposite of giving clear information about genuineness and traceability. The day it matters to them, they'll proudly say "Not a Third Party".