Hard-Drive Vendors Get Tough With Distributors

Hard-disk makers Maxtor, Seagate and Western Digital revise policy on price proteciton

Maxtor Corp., Seagate Technology LLC. and Western Digital Corp. are adopting tougher reporting policies for their distributors. The hard-drive vendors said they will require all their distributors to implement EDI within the new few months and will demand daily POS reports. Stephen DiFranco, vice president of corporate marketing and branding at Maxtor, Milpitas, Calif., said the steps should combat the practice by some distributors of reporting drive sales after the vendors have lifted price protection, rather than on the date the sales are made, as required. This practice can result in distributors earning extra margin on sales at the vendors expense, he said.

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