Price disparity

Imasnorin · Post by **Imasnorin** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 1:07 pm

Ok, I am looking at the site sponsors website for the WISP Hybrid S/M cushion. Price $32. Amazon, same cushion/SKU= $8.00. I'm chatting with a rep and her rationale is that they are an "authorized" seller and that Respironics allows them to sell it at that price and the Amazon Reseller doesnt answer to them so they can sell it at whatever price they want. Respironics is selling it to the seller at a similar price either way I would think and if the Amazon Reseller has a middleman they get it from it should actually be more. I'm all for Capitalism and a company making money but a $20+ swing in price is crazy. The Freemarket at it's finest and guess where my dollars are going?

BTW, since I haven't been here in like forever.... I still snore like a freight train if I fall asleep with out my mask and my wife still wacks me to remind me to put it on(it doesn't happen often anymore). THe good news is that when I check out my charts and graphs and all that great DATA that my machine puts out, I hover between a 2 and a 5 AHI and I feel great and get a awesome nights sleep. The first year has been a great success and that included a 2 week cruise in the middle of it!

Judge Nap · Post by **Judge Nap** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 1:26 pm

Ok, I am looking at the site sponsors website for the WISP Hybrid S/M cushion. Price $32. Amazon, same cushion/SKU= $8.00. I'm chatting with a rep and her rationale is that they are an "authorized" seller and that Respironics allows them to sell it at that price and the Amazon Reseller doesnt answer to them so they can sell it at whatever price they want. Respironics is selling it to the seller at a similar price either way I would think and if the Amazon Reseller has a middleman they get it from it should actually be more. I'm all for Capitalism and a company making money but a $20+ swing in price is crazy. The Freemarket at it's finest and guess where my dollars are going?

Free market? Stupid lib!

This is not the market - it is the government you elected. The DME is subject to extensive licensing and regulatory regulations that cost them a lot of money and keep a lot of competitors out of the business.

The two suppliers on Amazon are operating in a free market not restrained by DME regulations. They are "stores" and do not have expensive DME licenses or follow DME regulations. They are operating outside the law.

You make a very good point, but it is the opposite of what you conclude. The point is that our supplies and equipment would be much cheaper if they were OTC sold in a relatively free market instead of the government-encumbered market we now have.

Use your brain when you vote. SMH

Pugsy · Post by **Pugsy** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 1:35 pm

What model machine are you using? Your profile points to a model that doesn't gather AHI data so I assume you have chosen the wrong machine. Not a big deal but it may confuse some people.

Price differences..don't know what to tell you but it happens.
CPAP.com has to abide by MSRP for most of their supplies from ResMed and Respironics and maybe even other brands.
It's part of the contract they have with some of the cpap equipment manufaturers so they can sell the equipment.
It's part of their contract and not much they can about what someone else might be doing about their contract.

I just checked out those $8 cushions along with some of the other cpap products that particular seller offers. Most of the other items they sell are offered at much closer to online prices and some at exactly what I have see for online prices.
The other items I looked at did not show such a huge price difference though. We don't know how they can sell them so cheap...but they do. It is what it is and if that is a mask part that a person uses and likes...I would be snatching them up real quick if I used it. But I don't...and a quick look at the other mask parts that I might have used...prices were almost identical to cpap.com's prices.

KentuckyHoser · Post by **KentuckyHoser** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 1:49 pm

I hate to say it, but as to the how they can sell them so cheap (not legally, but how they can afford to) is likely someone selling what's not used out of fit kits. Maybe even someone from a smaller DME. Give the patient the one they need, keep the other two and sell them on ebay. Not everyone knows to/is comfortable enough to demand they get all three sizes when given their masks. Which is really sad that people are taken advantage of like that.

chunkyfrog · Post by **chunkyfrog** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 2:48 pm

A licensed seller, like our hosts, is restricted from selling knockoff or counterfeit products.
Buyer beware. I have gotten good cushions/pillows from unlicensed online sellers, but YMMV.
My insurance now covers all supplies in their entirety, I pay enough for it.

Bill44133 · Post by **Bill44133** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 4:09 pm

Judge Nap wrote:
Ok, I am looking at the site sponsors website for the WISP Hybrid S/M cushion. Price $32. Amazon, same cushion/SKU= $8.00. I'm chatting with a rep and her rationale is that they are an "authorized" seller and that Respironics allows them to sell it at that price and the Amazon Reseller doesnt answer to them so they can sell it at whatever price they want. Respironics is selling it to the seller at a similar price either way I would think and if the Amazon Reseller has a middleman they get it from it should actually be more. I'm all for Capitalism and a company making money but a $20+ swing in price is crazy. The Freemarket at it's finest and guess where my dollars are going?
Free market? Stupid lib!

This is not the market - it is the government you elected. The DME is subject to extensive licensing and regulatory regulations that cost them a lot of money and keep a lot of competitors out of the business.

The two suppliers on Amazon are operating in a free market not restrained by DME regulations. They are "stores" and do not have expensive DME licenses or follow DME regulations. They are operating outside the law.

You make a very good point, but it is the opposite of what you conclude. The point is that our supplies and equipment would be much cheaper if they were OTC sold in a relatively free market instead of the government-encumbered market we now have.

Use your brain when you vote. SMH

You are the one who is stupid and add may I add rude.

The OP was commenting about the price disparity, and found something on amazon for a cheap price. Nothing he said indicated he was a lib.

Maybe you need to go take a nap or something. I could NOT believe what was reading.

Judge Nap · Post by **Judge Nap** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 4:48 pm

Bill44133, Can you even read? The OP was taking a swipe at our host and capitalism and markets. He is badly informed. Worse yet, I suspect he votes.

prion · Post by **prion** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 4:59 pm

Well Judge, I agree with your analysis, but your delivery was unkind. Calling someone stupid isn't
the spirit we have around here. It's the first time I've seen it. Btw I'm a lib....ertarian ;>)

LSAT · Post by **LSAT** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:03 pm

prion wrote:Well Judge, I agree with your analysis, but your delivery was unkind. Calling someone stupid isn't
the spirit we have around here. It's the first time I've seen it. Btw I'm a lib....ertarian ;>)

You haven't been here long.....just wait.

CowFish · Post by **CowFish** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 6:09 pm

You haven't been here long.....just wait.

I have found the forum quite snarky, but it never distracted me from getting great help here.

Isn't the entire internet snarky?

hobbs · Post by **hobbs** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 6:38 pm

"They are operating outside the law."

Really? Proof? Individual mask parts do not need a Rx. And remember it is illegal to change your own pressure also!

chunkyfrog · Post by **chunkyfrog** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 6:50 pm

---and that's what makes it so much fun!

Janknitz · Post by **Janknitz** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 7:00 pm

KentuckyHoser wrote:I hate to say it, but as to the how they can sell them so cheap (not legally, but how they can afford to) is likely someone selling what's not used out of fit kits. Maybe even someone from a smaller DME. Give the patient the one they need, keep the other two and sell them on ebay. Not everyone knows to/is comfortable enough to demand they get all three sizes when given their masks. Which is really sad that people are taken advantage of like that.

I agree. I've long suspected that DME's sell their FREE samples from the manufacturers out the back door, rather than use them as intended to let patients try out masks before committing to one. That was one of the problems with the CPAP auction site--I'm sure that's where most of the sellers got their supplies. It hurts us all as many DME's refuse to let people try on masks or take masks home to try for a few nights to see how they do. I think that is a contributor to the huge failure rate for CPAP users--if they can't get a comfortable mask, then how can they be expected to use the machine?

nanwilson · Post by **nanwilson** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 7:09 pm

hobbs wrote:"They are operating outside the law."

Really? Proof? Individual mask parts do not need a Rx. And remember it is illegal to change your own pressure also!

Kindly point me in the right direction to see where it is written that it is illegal to change your own pressure...... You can't find it can you... because it is NOT ILLEGAL to change your own pressure.

hobbs · Post by **hobbs** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 7:35 pm

nanwilson wrote:
hobbs wrote:"They are operating outside the law."

Really? Proof? Individual mask parts do not need a Rx. And remember it is illegal to change your own pressure also!
Kindly point me in the right direction to see where it is written that it is illegal to change your own pressure...... You can't find it can you... because it is NOT ILLEGAL to change your own pressure.

You missed the sarcasm; written the same place it says mask parts need an Rx.

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