Calling all NANOG'ers - idea for national hardware price quote registry

Fri Sep 16 22:44:29 UTC 2005

On Sep 16, 2005, at 2:48 PM, Matt Bazan wrote:

> Actually, not the case.  CDW and Dell (and all the others) only  
> publish
> their prices for the low end gear that they sell.  Anything else
> requires a call to a rep and establishing a relationship.

This is not true, particularly with places like CDW or Insight, etc.   
I don't buy enough from Dell but I imagine it's the same.

There are usually three prices:
     1) The price on the website, if listed at all.
     2) The price on the website after logging in and getting your  
"special pricing" based on what company/login/who you know/etc.
     3) The price you get by calling your sales rep and demanding  
better/volume/blackmail pricing.

Anyways, this whole idea strikes me as a bad one for all the reasons  
others have mentioned but particularly because just knowing the price  
someone else has doesn't mean that you will get the price, in fact,  
you might find yourself on the receiving end of "have a nice day  
dealing with vendor Z" -- particularly if they already know you are  
set on using them as your vendor and you'll come back to them  
begging.  It's a game of poker bluff all you want but then be  
comfortable walking away without making a deal.

-david