Just recently New York Congressman Anthony Wiener came out with the accusation that conservative talk show host Glenn Beck was working in cooperation with Goldline International (a gold bullion and rare coin dealer) in “using misleading sales techniques to overcharge consumers for gold coins”. As a sponsor of the Glenn Beck radio show, Goldline has annual sales of nearly $500 million annually.
"It is not surprising that Glenn Beck is attempting to deflect from his behavior in promoting Goldline," Weiner told Yahoo! News in a statement. "But the facts are clear. Goldline rips off consumers and Glenn Beck helps."
Now here’s my question … Do the accusations about Goldline have any merit? I understand that part of the issue, according to Wiener, is that Goldline is “charging to much” for the product they sell. Now I am not necessarily a defender of companies such as Goldline, but how does one determine (especially a Congressman) what is a “fair price” for a product?
In addition, Goldline promotes Swiss Gold 20 Francs as one of their mainstays of inventory, highly recommending them to potential and current customers. The accusations the Congressman is making against Goldline concerns such coins, as apparently the difference between the intrinsic value of the 20 Francs is significantly lower than what Goldline charges.
Now I have no problem in what any company wants to charge for their product. But does a company have an obligation to tell the potential buyer what the markup is? Is there a moral or ethical component to this, must the seller always disclose one's profit-margin? Or is this simply a case of “let the buyer beware” ? Thoughts?
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