So I was scoping out a copy of Brass at bouldergames.com and noticed they had this in their description of the game:
There is a very good reason not to buy this game—the price is fixed. If the fixed-price of $59.99 was a suggested retail and the game was distributed by Rio Grande, Z-man or any other distributor who believes competition and free enterprise are good things instead of something to be stomped-out, we would be competing with other online retailers to sell it for about $34.80.
The American distributor will not sell to us because we don't fix prices, so we have to go through two "middlemen" and pay international shipping to get the game which causes us to have to charge almost as much as the fixed price. Retailers who agree to fix their prices are making $30-$41 profit on this game!
You can stop the spread of price-fixing by boycotting games produced by Mayfair Games and games distributed by FRED distribution. You can do even more to stop the spread of price-fixing by boycotting the online retailers who, out of cowardice and greed, sell at the dictated prices.
If you just have to buy this game and buy it from us, at least you will only be supporting one price-fixer (Warfrog) instead of three (Warfrog, FRED, and a spineless retailer).
While I'm not 100% sure where I stand on the issue, I can see why Mayfair chose this route and I doubt that it's 'cowardice and greed.' (I do believe in free enterprise, but I think other factors can be important as well... take WalMart...) I think he lost a fair bit of his stance by phrasing it that way.