I'm in the market for a satnav and have an eye on the Tomtom Go 5200, it has it's own SIM and automatically updates the maps, current the universal lowest price is £239.99, in fact this price is so universal it is evidence of a supplier and seller monopoly. There is not one everyday advertiser who is selling it lower. It's like they have all got in a room and decided the price for this product will be X and in our decision nobody is to undercut any other supplier. There are no special deals, no discount vouchers and there apparently is no scruples. All of this seems somewhat counter to freemarket economics, counter to capitalism, counter to democracy. So the question is why would every seller of this product be so compliant, why would they stick to one price? Now in my internet searches it doesn't seem to matter how many times I put the search on google, it comes up with the same results. This is the cost of a new product. Stupidly even on ebay where there are the odd private seller but also many commercial sellers the price for this Tomtom is even higher. The trail is therefore a purposeful red herring to make the very niave amongst us believe there is price variation. The reality is there isn't.
On one review of the tomtom go 5200 on Amazon, I read this was bought when it first hit the shelves at the knock down price of £185, which is bloody remarkable. A couple of weeks ago when I was checking out the price of this satnav it was uniformly £248, a somewhat odd amount, but I swear it was. It was a surprise then to find it had dropped. So now given time maybe it will reduce in price again. The question is how much time does it need before the sellers and the suplier get in a dank dark room, with cigarette if not cigar smoke suspended mid air like a blanket of thick for and agree the price will drop again. Alternatively given we are in the 21st century it might be an email sent out by Mr Big who dictates the next price fluctuation. Just perhaps the price will increase because of some comment about the valuation of precious metals used in making the product going up. Yes Zenon 321 used in the soldering and adherence of printed Tomtom circuitry has doubled, and although only a small amount is used it will mean the price has hiked by a tenner. I wouldn't put it past Mr Big, who actually might be a woman and of small stature and doesn't smoke but is addicted to the gym. In which case lets say Mrs Small. Unless she's unmarried and then she's Miss Small. She can say for sure although she countrols the price on a whim she has never gotten lost. Great, fine for Miss Small but it doesn't help me out at all.
Therefore this can only mean Tomtom are dictating the price and they have put an embargo on their suppliers to ensure nobody is undercut. Tomtom is just sitting there screwing their potential and actual customers over.Which gives us all good reason not to trust the seller and supplier, yet in doing so does this mean we can't trust the product either? Well there are other satnavs on the market so perhaps Tomtom wont be seeing my money as part of their next profits report.
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