Huh...
I feel like I'm just missing or misunderstanding something totally obvious, but I'm not sure... Have had similar occasions when it later turned out to be poor wording (in native or tl'd text), scan issues, a missing page/frame or some other such thing. Or maybe I'm just needlessly overthinking random bs.
What exactly was the plan he used here to help ensure profit? Seemed like just kinda inviting them with little to no prep time, to try and prevent them from agreeing on prices prior or otherwise colluding...
Having said that, from some of the statements and reactions, it seems way too simple imo...