Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/1998/12/22/apple_kills_best_buy_cutprice/

Apple kills Best Buy cut-price iMac policy

Don't price below cost -- or else, the Mac maker apparently warned the US retail giant

By Tony Smith

Posted in On-Prem, 22nd December 1998 13:45 GMT

US retailer Best Buy's attempts to bring iMac prices down to between $1099 and $999 (see today's story iMac top-selling PC in US) appear to have incurred the wrath of Apple. According to "retailer sources" cited by Mac Web site MacOS Rumors, all Best Buy stores should have re-priced their iMacs back up to $1279, though they will now come with a bundled scanner by tomorrow. The move was made following aggressive negotiations over the weekend between Cupertino and Best Buy. The same sources also claim Best Buy was losing "hundreds" of dollars on every machine sold, even those offered at $1099, just $200 below the recommended price. Given it has long been Apple policy to recommend a price but allow resellers the right to specify their own pricing, it's hard to see what Apple could really do about Best Buy's moves, but it's not hard to imagine Apple receiving hundreds of calls from pissed-off resellers and deciding enough is enough. Especially if, as appears to be the case, Best Buy was selling machines at below cost price. ®