HP raises cartridge prices; resellers fume

While the reseller community is yet to breath a sigh of relief from the

counterfeit cartridge menace, HP has gone ahead and increased prices of its

inkjet and laserjet cartridges with effect from 1st of May, 2002.

In a letter sent to all its registered supplies resellers (RSRs), HP has

informed about a price increase of 4.4 percent on all but two models of inkjet

and laserjet cartridges. On the other two models, the price hike is to the tune

of 9.4 percent. However with the introduction of resale tax and taking into

consideration the wholesale tax, overall changes in the cartridge prices turn

out to be around six percent.

Resellers obviously are not very happy with this development. "When

counterfeit and refilled cartridges are still widely in use, this increase in

price is badly-timed," says Rajkumar Sheth of New Era Equipments. According

to him, this price hike may in fact provoke end-users to go for cheaper

alternatives.

Voicing a stronger opinion, Saifee Merchant of Best International says,

"This is surely not a customer-friendly approach that HP has adopted and it

may well lose out on its marketshare in the next six month’s time."

The price hike has also created problems for those resellers who have annual

consumable supply contracts with corporates.

Highlighting this, Devang Shah of Crystal Impex says, "RSRs or even

lower-tier resellers who have an annual contract for supplying cartridges to

clients would suffer as the latter won’t revise their rates." He feels

that in an absence of any kind of price-based support from HP, these resellers

would be forced to pay from their own pockets.

Resellers have also expressed their dissatisfaction over the reason offered

by HP for the price hike. HP attributes this hike to the devaluation of Indian

rupee against the US dollar. Resellers, however, do not buy this because other

brands have hardly increased their prices.

GOLDIE