On calculator sales, and praise for The Calculator Store

[Idnarn]

I am in Singapore and I wanted to purchase the HP 15C collector's edition calculator some days ago. The official shop https://shop.moravia.education/ auto-redirected me to the website of a company called Fiamo here in Singapore, which appeared to be a distributor. I wanted to know where I could purchase the calculator from and get fair pricing for it. I called up Fiamo and the person who answered the call said he had his own store (another website) and I could purchase it from there. That store listed it at SGD 204. I asked him if this was a fair retail price (I didn't know, as it was a classic reissue and probably limited in production) and if I could purchase it in Singapore at a better price somewhere - they were the linked distributor after all. At this point, he ridiculed me saying it was not a vegetable shop that I was speaking to. He said his prices would be higher than retail shops as he sold these calculators to them in quantities of 500 and could not hurt them. I was looking for a referral to some retailer where I could purchase it at a fair price. I told him that I didn't like the blunt way of his conversation and said thank you and bye.

Car analogy: When a person wants to purchase a car, would they not ask the car salesperson "Is this a reasonable price for this car?" If a person wants to purchase a house, would they not ask the agent "Is this a reasonable valuation for this location?" And is there anything derogatory about being a vegetable vendor?

Moravia redirected me to Fiamo, I didn't choose it.

I came across this wonderful HP calculator forum, learned of the hidden 16C in the 15C collector's edition, the DEC mode bug affecting it, and of The Calculator Store. I emailed The Calculator Store, and a person Joao Divasson politely replied to my questions about their bundle offering. Their calculator bundle cost EUR 93.42 (~SGD 134.29) + shipping and I ordered 10 pieces from them. This was a bundle where they took care of flashing the latest firmware with the DEC mode bug fixed, and included a USB cable, and a HP 16C keyboard overlay. Upon reading the articles there and user "Divasson"'s forum posts here, Joao doesn't appear to be into calculators just for sales.. he appears to be too much of a calculator enthusiast and considerate of the calculator community.

The moral of this post is that if a person is in sales---whether they are a mighty vegetable vendor or just a petty calculator distributor---a big part of the job is hearing customer questions about product information, price, ordering, and answering customers kindly. The type of customers who want to purchase a classic RPN calculator probably aren't going to ask a lot of product information questions; they may have pricing and ordering related questions mainly. Customers want to be treated kindly, not ridiculed. The Calculator Store got my order. Thank you Joao for assisting me gently!