Complaint about the PRE-ORDER PRICES

[mistaken_plane]

If you charge £5 " as a service " I dont think I or anyone would complain -  but a £10 charge on a £10 or £15 autograph appears unfair.

 

Just out of intrest, how much mark up do you think shops put on the goods they sell?

For normal non-sale prices, I happen to know the DVD markups of the likes of HMV and Virgin are around 400%. I worked for a short time at a DVD wholesalers and was given this info on the quiet.

 

You may all wish to ponder that 400% next time you buy a movie in one of their outlets.

Bulls*** !!

 

So if a DVD sells at £20, HMV buy it wholesale for £4 ??? Not happening ! I own music shop, and most DVDs that retail at £20 are about £10.50 wholesale. VAT takes them to about £13, so you MIGHT make FOURTY percent. And even if HMV get massive discount for buying in bulk, it won't take you anywhere NEAR 400 %

Doesnt it vary for the bigger outlets, and the bulk prices they pay?

 

Ill bow to your knowledge, but I did think the big stores got them cheaper than anyone else, hence the price competition.

[dufresne]

If you charge £5 " as a service " I dont think I or anyone would complain -  but a £10 charge on a £10 or £15 autograph appears unfair.

 

Just out of intrest, how much mark up do you think shops put on the goods they sell?

For normal non-sale prices, I happen to know the DVD markups of the likes of HMV and Virgin are around 400%. I worked for a short time at a DVD wholesalers and was given this info on the quiet.

 

You may all wish to ponder that 400% next time you buy a movie in one of their outlets.

Bulls*** !!

 

So if a DVD sells at £20, HMV buy it wholesale for £4 ??? Not happening ! I own music shop, and most DVDs that retail at £20 are about £10.50 wholesale. VAT takes them to about £13, so you MIGHT make FOURTY percent. And even if HMV get massive discount for buying in bulk, it won't take you anywhere NEAR 400 %

Doesnt it vary for the bigger outlets, and the bulk prices they pay?

 

Ill bow to your knowledge, but I did think the big stores got them cheaper than anyone else, hence the price competition.

And even if HMV get massive discount for buying in bulk !!

 

Maybe you missed this line above ? There's discount and there's discount !

[Laughing Cavalier]

I stand by what I said as it was what I was told by staff at the wholesalers.

 

I know small independent outlets paid far more per unit, but the likes of HMV were paying approx £4 per disc, sometimes even less. I saw the paperwork.

 

No shop sells anything at a loss. This is how at summer sale time HMV can sell DVD's for £5 - £7 (previously £20) and still make a profit.

 

I know for a fact that boxsets are slightly better value as the markups are far smaller. A 7 disc boxset is typically marked up by around 250% or 300%.

 

How do you think internet retailers can sell large boxsets for £55 and make a profit when HMV charge £85 for the same item?

[chris_mk]

I stand by what I said as it was what I was told by staff at the wholesalers.

 

I know small independent outlets paid far more per unit, but the likes of HMV were paying approx £4 per disc, sometimes even less. I saw the paperwork.

 

No shop sells anything at a loss. This is how at summer sale time HMV can sell DVD's for £5 - £7 (previously £20) and still make a profit.

 

I know for a fact that boxsets are slightly better value as the markups are far smaller. A 7 disc boxset is typically marked up by around 250% or 300%.

 

How do you think internet retailers can sell large boxsets for £55 and make a profit when HMV charge £85 for the same item?

... because the whole-salers discount them after they've been out for a while to clear their stock.

 

If there was THAT much mark up, the box sets would NEVER be that much to beging with, because the likes of Amazon would be happy with say a 'mere' 200% mark up.

[TheManTheMachine]

If you charge £5 " as a service " I dont think I or anyone would complain -  but a £10 charge on a £10 or £15 autograph appears unfair.

 

Just out of intrest, how much mark up do you think shops put on the goods they sell?

For normal non-sale prices, I happen to know the DVD markups of the likes of HMV and Virgin are around 400%. I worked for a short time at a DVD wholesalers and was given this info on the quiet.

 

You may all wish to ponder that 400% next time you buy a movie in one of their outlets.

I agree, its the retailers who take the biggest chunk of selling a DVD/CD etc.

 

I used to work in retail.

[Davey]

Just to add to this convo of mark ups, I used to work for Universal and Businesses such as HMV and Virgin buy in DVD's (new releases) at around £8 (Cheaper for older DVD's). Because we were able to buy at HMV and Virgin prices and also it was what was always on the invoices dispatched.

 

Davey

[Mastersoftheshow]

I own music shop, and most DVDs that retail at £20 are about £10.50 wholesale. VAT takes them to about £13, so you MIGHT make FOURTY percent. And even if HMV get massive discount for buying in bulk, it won't take you anywhere NEAR 400 %

Dufresne, you own a music shop ?!

Just recently - bought my boss out, but have been working there for 8 or 9 years.

Congrats mate !!!

 

* now has even more reason to check his mailbox every morning to see when that bunch of free CD's will arrive ! *

[TommyT]

For normal non-sale prices, I happen to know the DVD markups of the likes of HMV and Virgin are around 400%. I worked for a short time at a DVD wholesalers and was given this info on the quiet.

Bulls*** !!

 

So if a DVD sells at £20, HMV buy it wholesale for £4 ??? Not happening ! I own music shop, and most DVDs that retail at £20 are about £10.50 wholesale. VAT takes them to about £13, so you MIGHT make FOURTY percent.

Although of course the VAT you pay to the wholesaler you reclaim by using it as a credit against the VAT you owe from selling it. If you buy it for £10.50 ex VAT, you also pay £1.84 VAT on it. When you sell it at £20, £2.98 of that is VAt, but you don't pay the VATman the whole £2.98, you pay him £1.14, claiming a credit for the £1.84 already paid.

 

Anyway, the whole emotive 400% figure comes from (the incorrect, or at least non-standard practice of) measuring the gross profit as a percentage of the cost and not the sales price. An item bought at £10.50 ex VAT and sold at £20 inc VAT will basically mean the retailer makes £6.52 gross profit, after taking £10.50 cost and £2.98 VAT from the £20. That gross profit represents 62.1% of the purchase (buy-in) price, but only 32.6% of the sales price.

To get 400% profit from an item bought in at £4 ex-VAT, it would need to be sold at £23.50 inc VAT (and that 400% of cost is more normally viewed as 68.1% of sale price.

 

The reason profit is normally viewed as percentage of sale price is not because it sounds more reasonable but because sale price is what drives your income. You quote gross profit as a percentage of sales rather than purchases, as sales is your actual income - purchases do not always become income - sure most are sold, but there are also losses, breakages, thefts, markdowns, and stock that is still in stock and hasn't been sold. If you've bought 500 items at £4 and they have a 400% (of cost) gross profit on them, your profit is only 500 x £4 x 400% if you've sold each and every one of them. Whereas if you've sold 200 at 68% (of sales price) profit and 10 at 30% (of sales price) profit and you've lost or given away 20 for free, you can calculate the profit easily.

[nightprowler]

No complaints from me with Mick's service. I have used it twice and spent well over £150 on my first order. I am glad he offers it as i am in the middle of moving and would not have been able to get all the personalised autos i wanted at LFCC recently and Mick got them for me and with 5 dedications on each Celebs photo i wanted.

 

Keep up the good work Mick.................

[DarkElfUK]

Well in the end, it comes down to the fact that you agreed and were happy to pay that amount to Mick...no questions, no quarrels...done.

 

If you are unhappy with his service...contact him directly, as he has suggested.

 

I can understand your frustration, but that's the way things go sometimes...next time, if you do want to take the risk, you can buy later from him or someone else.

[mightymax]

I can't be arsed reading through all the messages cause most of them are name calling etc......

 

I can understand the situation as I would be pissed off if I was in the same shoes, but end of the day that's the way the cookie crumbles!!!

 

It's like buying a new tv from dixons for a fixed price two weeks later they have a sale and you see yout brand spanking new tv at a cheaper price! You can't do anything about it just take it as a lesson learnt and if you can't attend the shows in the future you can either take the risk and await for them to appear on Ebay (although they may not) or pay MSPG the additional money and Get the autograph you want and even have it personalised!!

 

I for one can not say a bad thing about MSPG at the moment (and that's not kissing ass) as they helped me get a difficult autograph and because of them I got a discount on it as well!!!