>From HWG List Rules (/lists/rules.html#5):

Discussing Prices
Pricing discussions are not allowed on the HTML Writers Guild's mailing
lists. In this context, "pricing" refers to any mention of monetary
figures related to what companies or individuals charge, or may charge,
for their services, products, time, or expertise. The reasons for this
ban are listed at /resources/faqs/priceFAQ.html, and
are based on the Guild's desire to avoid even the appearance of "price
fixing." 

This ban covers the following types of pricing discussion:

Products or services you are selling or are considering selling 
Web design services 
Graphic design services 
Web hosting services 
Programming of web-based applications (java, cgi, browsers, etc.) 
Internet access, mail list hosting, and other ISP services 
Website advertising rates ("banner ads", etc.) 
Internet consulting and training 
Salaries of webmasters and other web professionals 

* Quoting of pricing information is equivalent to posting it yourself
and will be treated as such. *

The pricing guidelines above apply whether or not you specifically
provide that service. For example, posting to the list that your ISP
charges some amount for some service is considered a violation of these
rules.
-----------------------

>From HWG FAQ (/resources/faqs/priceFAQ.html):

#4 Isn't the Guild being overly cautious? 
The short answer: NO.

Guild representatives have discussed the issue at length with Barry
Grossman of the Department of Justice, an experienced anti-trust lawyer.
Mr. Grossman stated that the line between legal and illegal activity can
be hard to discern, and it is more than prudent to stay clear from that
line. Each corporation needs to decide how close they wish to come to
that line -- and what the benefits of doing so would be. This is
primarily a business decision, and the Board of Directors of the Guild
has decided to minimize the Guilds's legal risk. 

The Guild's current policy is broad enough to steer far from appearance
of impropriety, as well as simple enough to be understood by the
membership and the List Guides, few whom have the legal training that
would be necessary to make more complicated decisions involving
anti-trust laws.
-----------------------

This is what we all agreed to when we signed up for this list and any
other HWG lists. I agree Diane, it should not be considered price-fixing
to comparison shop, but the problem comes in where there are several of
us on the list who do offer these services, and mentioning what we
charge or what someone else charges can lead to discussion of "pricing"
our services, which is what the HWG wants to avoid, as mentioned above
and in their FAQ. Basically, if you want to comparison shop on price,
you need to hit the search engines and do the research.


Jami Moore
LightSpark Digital Designs
contact(at)lightsparkdigital.com
http://www.lightsparkdigital.com/


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hwg-business(at)hwg.org [mailto:owner-hwg-business(at)hwg.org] On
Behalf Of D.M.Aull


Around about Tuesday, September 16, 2003, Jami Moore took keyboard in 
hand and wrote:  

> The reason pricing is not discussed is because in the US it is illegal
> and the HWG could be sued on the grounds of "price fixing". 

... talking about what prices other people charge for their services or 
products for the purpose of evaluating whether you want to *purchase* 
those services or products isn't "price fixing". It's only price 
fixing if you're discussing amongst yourselves the prices *you* are 
going to charge for your services or products, with an eye towards 
setting a "going rate" independent of market forces. In other words, 
if can't be price fixing if you're a *buyer*, only if you're a 
*seller*.

HTML: hwg-business mailing list archives, maintained by Webmasters @ IWA