Is there price fixing on Cpap supplies?

[dinycat]

I've been checking prices on supplies online, and find that they're all exactly the same for the item I searched.

Is there no competition in this field? Where do we go to get a good price when we're paying cash?

dinycat

[Redonthehead]

I'm only three months in on this journey, but the online prices all look cheap compared to the prices the DME gets.

[dinycat]

I'm new, too, and read the person's email about Medicare not paying for things we need/like. So I thought I'd take the other guy's advice and buy some of the extra parts. But they're all priced the same, it seems. Bummer.

dinycat

[JDS74]

I've found considerable variation in the price I pay for my masks.
Careful shopping gets me pretty low pricing on filters.

So, keep looking, lower prices are out there.

[Pugsy]

CPAP equipment manufacturers do dictate MSRP price listed at websites for new equipment.
Some won't even allow the online seller to offer a discounted price if you call.

Online sellers have to sign a contract to abide by whatever pricing policy the company might have to be able to buy the products. If they don't abide by the contract then the equipment manufacturers can refuse to sell anymore products to that online seller.

So yes, there is a form of price fixing but it isn't the online retailers all in cahoots with each other....it's dictated from the equipment makers.

Now some manufacturers don't seem to care but I know that ResMed doesn't allow any discounting from their MSRP and if you see a ResMed product on sale..it's on sale because ResMed says it can be on sale.

Not sure what has happened with Respironics as some items you can call and get a discount off of MSRP and some items you can't...and it may be that Respironics has some sort of "sale" discount and sellers can't sell below that amount but it's okay to publish it. I see it sometimes at cpap.com.

I have gone EBay shopping for some equipment parts...filters and mask parts.
Depending on what you want some good deals can often be found there. Not everything is offered but most of the commonly used items and masks are available.
I have even seen some online sellers who are EBay sellers. One in particular that I know of....only they still ask for the using online prices for their products.

What were you looking for?

[Wulfman...]

I've been checking prices on supplies online, and find that they're all exactly the same for the item I searched.

Is there no competition in this field? Where do we go to get a good price when we're paying cash?

dinycat

To answer your question for the Subject of the thread........YES!!! There IS "price fixing". If the sellers don't "tow the line", they'll find themselves without products to sell. And, yes, it's legal......the Supreme Court said so......some years ago. Other manufacturers have done the same thing for years.......like Apple.
It's been discussed at length on the forum if you want to do a forum search on it.

Our forum host "CPAP-dot-COM" has some of the best prices and customer service of all the online sellers. I've purchased most of my supplies and a number of machines from them in the last nine years.


Den

.

[dinycat]

Sorry, as a newbie, I forgot that I could search the issue so that all of you who've been on here longer wouldn't have to revisit the subject.

I thought to get another Res Med Quattro Air for Her mask, so I would have an extra. Then, too, I was looking at Respironic items for my machine.

Anyway, the above mask costs $176.00. PERIOD. EVERYWHERE.

dinycat

[chunkyfrog]

Compare the local prices with the online prices, and you will note a huge disparity.
Some supplies will be available at even lower prices due to the shutdown of some of these local
suppliers following the competitive bidding feeding frenzy.
Look about and grab opportunity where you can find it.
Indulge your stingy bone elsewhere if you must--breathing is too important.

[ubnoxus]

For me it's just the opposite, I get supplies cheaper at my local DME than online even without insurance. I just stopped in today to get a chin strap, which I found online for $10.98 at the cheapest, they had it for $7.99 and my copay was 40 cents.

[dinycat]

Thanks, all!

I've been given lots of ideas, and will look into all of them. It's not that I'm so stingy, exactly, I just don't want to pay a high price for something that may be found cheaper--and me totally unaware!

Nearing Medicare scares me; I've heard such horror stories about how we "old" people are going to be treated.

Geez, how can anyone who's a "child of the 60's" be considered old? And when did it happen?


dinycat

[chunkyfrog]

You found a gem. I'm envious.

[Goofproof]

Keep buying products from suppliers that price fix, that will show them, Resmed is by far the worst offender, but they all do it to some extent.

Even the act of making air a prescription product, makes this all stink. Do the homework, find the best deals in everything you buy, not just xpap, by rewarding competing, for our $$$ we all win.

I don't buy products from manufacturers that rob me, sometimes to get what I want I am forced to Bite the Bullet. You won't find anything in my home with a "I" in the name.... Jim

[HerbM]

The forum host CPAP.com offers excellent prices.

I would not buy anything without at least looking at the CPAP.com price.

These people are great (and the only connection I have to them are this forum and having bought my AirFit P10 from them.)

They advertised it at $99 with FREE return insurance and FREE shipping so I figured what could I lose.

A few days after it arrived, they sent me an email REMINDING ME that I could return it. They all but asked for it back. Who does that?

Then they sent me a note asking for a review which I did online (and mentioned that, "No, they can't have it back" and that the chin strap I bought at the same time had gone unused and even unopened.

Remember, this was IN A REVIEW, not a note to CPAP.com or anything.

So they sent me ANOTHER email, telling me that I could returned the unopened chin strap and even offering an RMA, UNASKED. (To be fair, 15% restocking fee unless I take a credit instead of a refund for a return due to just not wanting or needing it.)