Their contract as an Electrolux distributor probably prohibits selling for less than $____.

Find a different brand.

^ what he said. all companies do this with all or some of their product at times. some will not allow discounts others will not allow the sale price to be shown in print or online untill you are in store or its in your online cart.

Come on???
The price is fixed by Electrolux.
Look at the price of Bose speakers, do you ever seen the price variate from store to store? NO
So being a fixed price no matter where you go it's the same but the key is to get the best warrantee from the best store for the best bang for your buck.

Electrolux is a price protected brand. Meaning that Electrolux tells the retailers the minimum amount they are allowed to charge the customer (called UMRP).

If a dealer sells an electrolux product below UMRP and gets caught, the dealer could potentially lose access to selling electrolux. Any discounts on electrolux products most likely come from Elex themselves...

There are many other UMRP brands as well: Viking, BlueStar, Dacor, Sub/Wolf, Miele, Capital, Liebherr, La Cornue, Kuppersbusch, Marvel, Gaggenau. The list goes on and on.

Here is a link that might be useful: Want to laugh and learn about appliances? Read my blog!

And for some reason, the Supreme Court upheld this anti-competitive practice. Manufacturers should not be able to dictate to retailers the price for which they charge their products, only the price they charge them for their product.

Actually, it does make sense - the manufacturer does have the RIGHT to protect their brand by requiring retail price minimums. Without this ability, such appliances would never be available in places like HD or Lowes. The reason is that such high-end appliances need high-end appliance shops to tout their wares (properly), and if they do not have contracts forbidding places like HD / Lowes to undersell appliance specialists, then HD / Lowes will have "dump sales" (selling below wholesale cost) of such appliances to lure in customers, the customers will not be shown how to properly use / care for said appliance and then the manufacturer's reputation will suffer. This policy does protect small appliance specialists from competition from HD / Lowes, but it also protects the manufacturers because specialty shops know what they are selling (unlike HD / Lowes), so they can be trusted not to give high-end appliances an unwarranted bad reputation.

The only reason Electrolux and some of the others even bother selling through HD / Lowes is on the off chance someone (not a high-end buyer) will fall in love and blow their budget - a customer who would never have stepped into a high-end appliance shop in the first place. The other reason is so people in rural areas without such a shop nearby can order through HD / Lowes.

Why do you think luxury car makers started "Certified Pre-Owned" programs? To protect their reputation from used car dealers!

Sorry, I'm not buying it. Allowing the manufacturers to dictate the price is anti-competitive to the consumer. Fixed price is the same as price fixing in my opinion.

Don't sell through American and Lowes if you don't want your "reputation" tarnished or if your product needs more hand holding than mainstream products. Choosing through whom you distribute/sell is fine. Fixing the price by its very nature is not how companies in the US should do business in a capitalistic society. I still think the Supremes got it wrong.

Car makers started Certified Pre-Owned for profit reasons. Through their dealers, they do an inspection, charge a premium, and gamble that the car won't require warranty repairs based on the inspection. A car dealer will (grudgingly) sell you the same car for less money if you don't want the "Certified Pre-Owned" program. It's just a fancy extended warranty/insurance policy backed by the manufacturer rather than a third party.

I think the Supremes decided that way because they realized that if they didn't that consumers would have less access to such goods because such manufacturers would NOT allow their products in Big Box stores without such price minimums. I'm guessing the lawyers' argument was "This is the price, you must decide how widely available such goods will be made to the public." And the court decided, OK, let the goods be available, but at that price (because pulling the items out of the Big Box stores would not have the effect of lowering the price), and the public benefits by not having to trek out to an appliance specialist. In otherwords, the manufacturers removed "Competition" (at least against lower-end brands) from the equation altogether, and made it an argument about availability or "public access." That's the only way I can see it going their way, anyhow. For example, a country club cannot limit access based on race or religion, but it CAN limit access by charging really high membership fees. So, ANYONE can join, IF you can afford the fee.

There is nothing consumer friendly about any recent Supreme Court decisions. I doubt the consumer played any role in the decision you speak about. In fact, it sounds to me like the decision was biased towards big business. I mean, what's consumer friendly about allowing companies to fix prices? Such a decision would only benefit the business, not the consumer.

Citing "public access" as a reason to justify price fixing by companies is a total fraud.

Agree - price fixing only benefits the manufacturer.

Why do you think "high end" items like Rolex (or even Miele) punish retailers if they find out any discounting is happening. They have an image to maintain and that involves a set price.

Competition is best for consumers.

stljrs... I think you are a little confused with the way anti-competition laws are enforced. What electrolux is doing is not technically anti-competitive since they can't compete against themselves. If they were to say call up Kitchenaid and Meile and fix prices with them then it WOULD be illegal. A dealer signs a contract when they decide to sell a certain vendors product and if they don't like it they do not have to sell that product.

With that being said... you can get discounts on Electrolux products. Some of the smaller local dealers will do it if you push them enough. I have seen it firsthand.