pokoko on 01 May 2014
What I suspect is that Microsoft was running a promotion where retailers could buy into a discount split. I used to see that offered a lot when I worked with distributors. Basically, the manufacturer and the retailer would split the loss in order to mark the product down for a limited amount of time. The offer would be something like, "you order X amount of units and we'll give you a substantial discount but you have to agree to lower your list price by at least X percentage until the promotion is over."
