When Will MSRPs Stop Being Ridiculous?

Image from here

Why are MSRP’s so far off of the real price of an item?  Even non-internet shoppers are quite aware that you almost never pay the MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) for anything.   It’s not even their fault 99% of everything in life is priced below MSRP.   Let’s look at the big things first, with the exception of the buy one get one free deals that seem to be in vogue with Kia there is almost no one on the planet that expects to pay the sticker price on a new car.  There are times that in retail companies have been caught trying to control the price of their wares, but in normal scenarios it doesn’t work out.

My problem however is when they say for example a 2 GB flash memory card has an MSRP of $20.00.   Now almost everywhere in the planet you can get this same card for $9.99.    Most stores will advertise that the price is fifty percent off the MSRP and it’s a huge discount off.   Unfortunately they are merely price matching.   In some scenarios the vendors themselves  try this tactic.  Now if a vendor is selling something (full time mind you not a once in awhile sale) for $9.99, how can they say their MSRP is $20.00.   Sorry just another advertisement about MSRP and comparing the “low price” you can get it for (standard price) bragging about the sale set me off.

Sorry for the rant.

February 2, 2009 – 7:22 am | By Creeva | Posted in Personal Writing | Tagged , , | Comments (4)
  • Groovymarlin

    Have you ever shopped at Kohl's? I have a theory about that store: every item in there has an artificially inflated base ticket price, and nobody ever pays the full ticket price for any item they sell. That's because just about everything in the store is always on sale for some percentage off. It's intriguing to me that their suppliers are in on this deal and print their price tags with these agreed-upon inflated prices that Kohl's can then “mark down” and give shoppers a great “bargain.” I know it sounds a tiny bit paranoid but if you actually look at some of the merchandise you'll be easily convinced. Example, I bought I sweater that had a ticket price of $49.99. The sweater was advertised 60% off, which made it like $19.99. There's no way I ever would have paid 50 bucks for this crappy cotton sweater, but I'd definitely pay 20 (and I did).

  • creeva

    I think that logic is why they keep going with the MSRP myth all around. It gives you the illusion that you are saving money and getting a higher more valuable item cheaper – even though it is worth and just as valuable as what you paid.

    I'm in the belief it goes with the psychology of prices ending in .99 since that is soooo mcuh cheaper………

  • http://www.groovymarlin.com/blog Groovymarlin

    Have you ever shopped at Kohl's? I have a theory about that store: every item in there has an artificially inflated base ticket price, and nobody ever pays the full ticket price for any item they sell. That's because just about everything in the store is always on sale for some percentage off. It's intriguing to me that their suppliers are in on this deal and print their price tags with these agreed-upon inflated prices that Kohl's can then “mark down” and give shoppers a great “bargain.” I know it sounds a tiny bit paranoid but if you actually look at some of the merchandise you'll be easily convinced. Example, I bought I sweater that had a ticket price of $49.99. The sweater was advertised 60% off, which made it like $19.99. There's no way I ever would have paid 50 bucks for this crappy cotton sweater, but I'd definitely pay 20 (and I did).

  • http://creeva.com creeva

    I think that logic is why they keep going with the MSRP myth all around. It gives you the illusion that you are saving money and getting a higher more valuable item cheaper – even though it is worth and just as valuable as what you paid.

    I'm in the belief it goes with the psychology of prices ending in .99 since that is soooo mcuh cheaper………