I just got this e-mail from Swisher Pens. I'm not a Cross fan, but I know that there are some folks here that are.



Beginning January the 1st we will no longer carry any Cross products. Effective immediately, we have reduced all Cross products 45% of the suggested retail price (including ink cartridges and refills). We have tried for over a year to get Cross to stop selling their products direct to consumers on their web site. It is now apparent that this isn't going to happen and they will continue to compete against retailers stocking their products. When we complained about them offering free shipping on their web site, they said this wasn't the same as discounting their products, it was just an incentive to sell more products at full retail. When we tried to compete by offering our customers a small discount on some of their products they retaliated by closing our account. So, for some really great prices on our remaining inventory of Cross products please visit the "Clearance" department in our online store. To find out immediately if we still have an item in stock please give us a call toll free at 1-888-340-7367 (from overseas, (757) 425-2162).

Thank you, we sincerely appreciate your business and look forward to serving you in 2008.

Sincerely,

Chuck Swisher - info@swisherpens.com

I'm sorry to hear that. I always wondered about their website versus all the retailers (online and brick) that sell their pens.

I can't say as a consumer I undertand it...if I go to my local Staples store they have a whole wall of Cross (in sealed blister packs)
but they are ALWAYS below the Cross website price; except maybe when the Cross website has a clearance. I assumed Staples was a
large retailer and as such could sell them at whatever price they wanted. I am more apt to pay full retail at any local store if the
pens are loose and I could handle/try them. In a blister/sealed pack (like at Staples) they become more of a comodity with the prices
being important...but I may as well buy the pen online if it's sealed. If online, I may as well buy on price. If the their website is the
only place/price to buy the product online they better have an exceptional product to survive with the limited retail chain. I wish them luck.

Cross has a policy, similar to Montblanc, that does not allow dealers to display discounted pricing of their top lines (Townsend, Apogee, Verve, etc) below retail on websites. Unlike Montblanc, Cross sells direct to consumers on their own website. In spite of the fact that there are still dealers and eBay merchants who do this and it would be hard to police, Cross does pay attention to their larger dealers. I can't comment on Swisher's decision, but the policy is the policy.

The moderators have discussed this and a similar post elsewhere and we are moving them to the Marketplace.

Cheers,

Jim Mamoulides
www.PenHero.com

I got this e-mail, too. Although I do not own a lot of Cross products, I have found a couple of items at Swisher that I think I will buy at these discounted prices.

As for dropping Cross from their inventory, I think Swisher is justified. I also appreciate that they state publically why they are doing so. My focus is Cross and why they feel the need to undercut their retailers. Cross has some very good products, but I wonder if corporate decisions like this will affect the health of the company?

I do not own any Cross products but I have always been happy with Swisher Pens. It is to Swisher's credit that they have explained why they are taking this action.

I phoned them to give them my order and was told that they had had about 100 orders and I notice that all of the Cross items have now been removed from their web site.

If anyone is still looking for a Cross item , I would suggest that you phone Swisher to see what is left.

In my book, it's no great loss.

I'm not disagreeing with you on the fountain pen front but I bought a pencil and ballpoint

Oh drat. I suspect that what I ordered was already gone by the time I'd ordered it. Once again the deals elude me!

I think Swisher Pens was well within their rights as a retailer to take the course of action they took. I never understood why Cross would want to compete with their retail accounts, that is a strategy they have to come to terms with. I have purchased from Swisher in the past and will do so in the future.

I think Cross makes fine refill holders.

Resale price maintenance agreements. Vertical price-fixing -- an agreement between a supplier and a dealer that fixes the minimum resale price of a product -- is a clear-cut antitrust violation. It also is illegal for a manufacturer and retailer to agree on a minimum resale price.

The antitrust laws, however, give a manufacturer latitude to adopt a policy regarding a desired level of resale prices and to deal only with retailers who independently agree to that policy. A manufacturer also is permitted to stop dealing with a retailer who breaches the manufacturer’s resale price maintenance policy. That is, the manufacturer can adopt the policy on a "take it or leave it" basis.

Agreements on maximum resale prices are evaluated under the "rule of reason" standard because in some situations these agreements can benefit consumers by preventing dealers from charging a non-competitive price.

In this case however, the manufacturer is selling the merchandise at a lower price than it will allow its retailers to sell. They have essentially set up an unfair trade situation and I believe that such practice is subject to assault as a violation of the anti-trust laws. (It fails the rule of reason.)

Class action law suit anyone?

They appear to be back up! Apogee, Townsend and a few others.