Price Gouging Mid-Rangers

[christopherharris91]

Shop Samsung App (US Pricing)

This is a joke right? Tell me you're joking. $474.99 for a mid-range A series phone with no telephoto sensor or micro SD card slot? I can get the international version 256 GB storage version for $340 on eBay brand new or get the A56 256 GB/12 GB ram for $413. Not a good look Samsung.

[realaud]

Ok.you realize parts cost more now than rhey did last year. Those prices are not unreasonable. Please feel free to choose another brand that meets your price requirements. SD cards are going the way of the dodo. There is no real need now that one can attach external devices to transfer media and files.

[christopherharris91]

There's always an excuse for nonsense I see and a dismissive response to the madness. It's unreal.

[christopherharris91]

The only thing unrealistic here is that price tag. Let's be real about this. A36 should be $300-$350 no more no less regardless of 128/256 GB of storage. At $474.99 there's nothing here that screams innovation on this phone. 45w, awesome intelligence,6 years of os support/security patches and no 512 GB storage option? This is what I call an update not upgrade from the A35. We gotta stop making excuses for these companies. For most users SD Card Slots are still a thing, having the option still matters.

[realaud]

Well, the good news is no one is forcing you to buy one at that price (or at all).  Go out and buy a phone that meets your requirements, both techwise and pricewise. It's not price gouging to set a market price that people are willing to pay.  The definition of Price gouging is the practice of increasing the prices of  goods, services, or commodities to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair. This commonly applies to price increases of basic necessities after natural disasters.

While some may consider a phone a necessity, it is not.  It is a useful tool, and there are many other brands on the market that have phones that meet your requirements at your price point. If you think Samsung's prices for their mid range phones are too high, let them know by not buying it. Vote with your dollars.

[christopherharris91]

Good news or not that phone is overpriced at $474.99 for 256 GB of storage for the average consumer knowing they can go to eBay/Amazon and pay way less than what shop Samsung is asking for. As far as what is considered a necessity or not is not our place to say, let's leave that up to each individual. My personal price point is irrelevant here, Samsung just priced it wrong. If there was a 512 GB option here I could see potential buyers. Priced in total at $500 for 256 GB storage? No, just no.

[realaud]

Then they will go to eBay/Amazon to purchase it.  If there are other buying options, no one is obligated to purchase from Samsung if they want a particular phone.  Many times people buy directly from Samsung because then they know they are getting the genuine article, not a bootleg and Samsung offers promotions that bring the price way down. Sometimes Samsung direct offers custom colors you can't get elsewhere. Or, they can get carrier deals. So many ways to buy for less.  Your personal price point *is* relevant here, as *you* are the one who came here just to make a post claiming price gouging.

[christopherharris91]

My post is clearly about Samsung's price point and how I believe that's bad deal for consumers,you made it about my personal price point if I recall. Let's not add things that weren't present to begin with. Custom colors of 4 globally but US market only gets 2? Interesting. There's no promotions with this one so that's dead. Subject matter aside I'm not sure what you're going for.

[realaud]

Maybe it's a bad deal for customers.  That's for the individual buyer to decide.  As you say, consumers know they have other buying options.  Any company has the right to set their market price.  It's up to the consumer if they want to buy at that price or go elsewhere. As I said, the price in the Samsung shop is not necessarily the final price after promotions, points, coupons and trade-ins.  If Spacely Sprockets decided to sell their sprockets at $9000.00 per sprocket and customers decided that was not a fair price for the sprockets given the specs of said sprockets, then the consumer would buy elsewhere or buy a different brand of sprockets.  If they needed those sprockets or wanted the quality of Spacely Sprockets, they would pay the price. Especially if there were other advantages to buying directly from Spacely.

[christopherharris91]

It be nice if they had good promotions for A Series phones in shop Samsung but most of what is offered is lackluster and that's something that needs to change. Most galaxy users have an A Series phone which is understandable. Vote with your wallet like you said. Companies can do what they want price wise,others like me will say deal or no deal. I'd like to see Samsung bring better options and higher storage models (512 GB) to shop Samsung App for that type of price in the Awesome lineup and bring all the custom colors for purchase not just 2. 12 GB ram for everyone worldwide,8 GB is played out at this point. It's time for a change in that department.