Subject:
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Re: Class Action suit against KB toys
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.theory
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Date:
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Mon, 25 Aug 2003 16:10:40 GMT
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Viewed:
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1981 times
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In lugnet.market.theory, Kevin Salm wrote:
> Honestly, I cannot belive this case went forward and that the guy even won.
> Seems like the court made a pretty incredible ruling.
Did he actually win? Anyways, if he did, I think I know exactly why he
did. I remember hearing how, in the early-mid 1900's, big department stores
would run these scams where they'd advertise some huge percentage discount off
of everything in the store, and then the night before the sale they'd go around
and mark up the prices on everything to compensate. So, the next day some
customer would come in, see an item with a $50 price-tag on it, see the "20% Off
Everything!" sign above it, and think it was a steal at only $40. However, the
day before it probably had a $40 price-tag on it. Basically, the stores were
giving the illusion of offering a great deal when they were still charging the
same prices (or sometimes they'd mark it up so the sale price would be even
higher than normal, just because they figured the customers would be too stupid
to notice). Done in that manner it's a scam, plain and simple. KB doesn't
appear to do things in quite the same manner. They do price-gouge on non-sale
stuff a lot of times, and when they do the markdown price-tags, it's usually an
actual markdown from an legitimate previous regular price. However, the fact
that some of their price-tags are printed with simulated hand-written markdowns
on them does make it appear somewhat suspicious, especially since the "regular"
prices are well over MSRP.
> MSRP is the SUGGESTED retail price. Individual retailers should be
> permitted to sell at whatever price they choose for whatever reason.
They are, but they are not allowed to offer the illusion of a great
discount when they are not, in fact, providing one. How would you feel if you
went into a store and found an item marked down from $100 to $10? Now how would
you feel if you bought it primarily because it was such a great deal, but found
out later that every other store in town sells that exact same item for $11? My
guess is that your outrage at being duped would outweigh any potential happiness
you would experience for having saved a buck.
> Also, it is important to note that the MSRP we are used to for Lego is that
> price usually charged by merchants who buy their stock DIRECTLY from Lego and
> pay no additional wholesaler's fee. Many indenpendent toy retailers buy
> their stock through wholesalers such as Marz Distribution
Some do, some don't. There's a local independant educational toy store
called The Sandcastle that buys directly from LEGO.
> and, thus, have a higher cost.
Maybe, maybe not. Often what can happen in situations like that is that
the wholesaler is big enough and orders enough to qualify for additional
discounts over the standard fee, and survives solely on charging against that
markup. After all, why would you buy from a wholesaler if you can get it
cheaper from the same source that they buy from? And I happen to know that TLC
has recently set up a division to cater specifically to small business clients.
> A look at Marz's MSRP listings used to show higher retail prices for
> resellers because any wholesalers has to charge something for their
> services. (As for Marz Distribution, I am not sure they carry Lego any more
> as none is accessible from their website, despite trying to find it by
> manipulating URLS).
They kinda got griped at for posting about 2/3rds of the 2003 lineup in
November/December, so they pulled all of the 2003 LEGO images. I have no idea
how that might have affected their ongoing relationship with TLC, but the fact
that they weren't allowed to have them up at that time might have hurt their
ability to generate orders. Also, that new TLC division might have eliminated
their LEGO sales altogether.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Class Action suit against KB toys
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| (...) Honestly, I cannot belive this case went forward and that the guy even won. Seems like the court made a pretty incredible ruling. MSRP is the SUGGESTED retail price. Individual retailers should be permitted to sell at whatever price they (...) (21 years ago, 25-Aug-03, to lugnet.market.theory)
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