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BlackFivesMatter
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Not a model shop but I've seen a place that only had QR codes next to everything, which I was unimpressed by. Less hassle for them (just update the computer if the price changes) but even if I carried something with me capable of reading them I'd still regard it as a royal PITA and be inclined to look elsewhere.

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On 22/11/2021 at 22:06, exet1095 said:

It is quite simple. There is a legal requirement to show prices. See:

https://www.gov.uk/product-labelling-the-law
If not, then it is a matter for Trading Standards.

 

Paul

I wondered when someone would point out the law. I certainly wouldn't bother with a shop that didn't display prices. Why waste time there? If I was physically in the shop, I would walk out, making sure a staff member (the nearest one), knew why.

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On 23/11/2021 at 01:37, Georgeconna said:

 

Well not really, I hated doing it. The issue being if you had 30  kits of a certain model on the shelves priced up at a £10.00 and then the Manufacturing company upped their prices for 20p  then all the  old stock would have to be repriced up. This was a regular thing.  A right pain in the hole, Especially when you are in the shop yourself.

 

Best thing is a cabinet with stuff on show and a price against the item itself, not easy with smaller items though.

 

I don't know about the UK, but in Australia there is no requirement to put a price tag on each individual item - although a seller can, if they wish. However individual price tags, can't be more than it says on the shelf label.

The requirement is for the shelf to display the correct price (including information like price per 100 grams, for items sold by weight) and all identical items are deemed to be available at that price (or less if the seller agrees, to perhaps an offer).

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The law, as linked above does not require a label to be specifically on the item, just the price to be displayed.

Quote

 

If you’re a retailer, you must display:

the price of products - this must be in sterling (pounds and pence) and include VAT where applicable

 

 

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35 minutes ago, Grovenor said:

The law, as linked above does not require a label to be specifically on the item, just the price to be displayed.

 

Slightly OT - at a Toy Fair at Donnington Park a few years back there was a stand selling large scale trucks with prices quoted in euros!

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On 22/11/2021 at 15:53, Grovenor said:

But you labelled them for the markup you wanted so why do you need to relabel?

Only new stock needs the new prices.

 

Well the boss did!!

 

All have to be done as old and new will have the same barcode so everything has to be re priced.

 

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3 hours ago, Bill Radford said:

Slightly OT - at a Toy Fair at Donnington Park a few years back there was a stand selling large scale trucks with prices quoted in euros!

Mark's Models (Dublin) did that at Warley and the current exchange rate to £ Sterling was on show on the stand.

 

IIRC your card was charged it as a foreign currency transaction, complete with currency exchange fee on your credit card statement.

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On 22/11/2021 at 16:08, DK123GWR said:

Think about cashflow - you need to be able to buy the new stock at the new prices, and depending upon the size of the price rise that may not be possible.


sorry I have to disagree, if the price of old stock is also increased because of a price increase then that just pure profiteering. I recently wanted an item, one shop had done this price increase on old stock and another was charging the old price still, I’ll let you work out who got the sale.

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21 minutes ago, Andymsa said:


sorry I have to disagree, if the price of old stock is also increased because of a price increase then that just pure profiteering. I recently wanted an item, one shop had done this price increase on old stock and another was charging the old price still, I’ll let you work out who got the sale.

 

Suppliers set the prices you buy at, if they increase then you have to, Also Exchange rate can have an effect. You cant have a 2 tier pricing system for the same products. Daft. 

 

You can't split prices if you have everything read with bar code. Maybe you would find Mr Smith Model Emporium selling from his shed in Upper Snoring might do it as he is small enough.

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When I was an impoverished schoolboy I saved up to buy a particular item. When I had just enough money I went to my local model shop. The member of staff took the box down off the shelf, looked at the price on the box, scored the price out, and wrote on a new higher price. I didn't have enough money to pay the new higher price. Even as a schoolboy, I could not understand why the price of an item already in stock, and for which the retailer had presumably already paid the wholesale price to his supplier, could suddenly be increased. To my mind it simply meant additional profit for the retailer.  I later became a more affluent professional and have spent thousands of pounds on model railway items - not one penny of which was spent in that particular model shop. It subsequently went out of business. There's a lesson there.

Edited by 26 036
typo
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when a local model shop in wsm was shutting down, (in the 80's) the owner died, his son who was selling the stock said everything was half price.

i bought a lindburg lst, the price label said 15 shillings and a few pence, he looked at me and said, can't work that out, how does .50p sounds, so i bought it. i reckon it was in there since the late 60's at least.

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3 hours ago, Georgeconna said:

 

Suppliers set the prices you buy at, if they increase then you have to, Also Exchange rate can have an effect. You cant have a 2 tier pricing system for the same products. Daft. 

 

 

Simple. The new stuff doesn't go into stock at the new price, until the old has sold out. Used to be common practice at one time and is normal at places like Amazon etc.

 

Slightly off topic, but some time ago I bought some building items where the seller had increased the price on old stock to match the manufacturer's new RRP.

However the new item's were now metric in 2M lengths and the old stock were imperial in 6ft lengths.

It didn't help because the seller had the manfacturers latest information displayed which was for the metric ones, which meant that they were misdescribed.

The seller was forced to give me an extra one to make up the shortfall in length!

 

 

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46 minutes ago, sandsmodels said:

when a local model shop in wsm was shutting down, (in the 80's) the owner died, his son who was selling the stock said everything was half price.

i bought a lindburg lst, the price label said 15 shillings and a few pence, he looked at me and said, can't work that out, how does .50p sounds, so i bought it. i reckon it was in there since the late 60's at least.

Makes sense to offer it for sale at 50p. Even though more than 1/2 price!

 

The guy had no idea, what it was, what the price sticker meant, what it was worth.

All he knew was that he wanted the shop cleared (probably because the rent was worth more than the monthly sales) and that if he didn't sell it to you for 50p then it would probably go in the skip, which might cost him money to get rid of.

 

It was to late for a crash course in working out what the price on it meant.

 

ps I have no idea what a 'lindburg lst' is either! Some sort of WW2 Landing Ship?

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20 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Simple. The new stuff doesn't go into stock at the new price, until the old has sold out. Used to be common practice at one time and is normal at places like Amazon etc.

 

Doesn't work for some shops in shopping centres and the like. There is only enough room in the place to put all stock on display. Plenty of modern shops have bare minimum space out the back, high rents make sure of that! Only enough space for toilet, mini kitchen and boxes just delivered.

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1 hour ago, kevinlms said:

Makes sense to offer it for sale at 50p. Even though more than 1/2 price!

 

The guy had no idea, what it was, what the price sticker meant, what it was worth.

All he knew was that he wanted the shop cleared (probably because the rent was worth more than the monthly sales) and that if he didn't sell it to you for 50p then it would probably go in the skip, which might cost him money to get rid of.

 

It was to late for a crash course in working out what the price on it meant.

 

ps I have no idea what a 'lindburg lst' is either! Some sort of WW2 Landing Ship?

Landing Ship Tank; designed to cross the Atlantic, then run itself aground  on a European beach and unload. Also known as 'Large Slow Target'

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5 hours ago, sandsmodels said:

when a local model shop in wsm was shutting down, (in the 80's) the owner died, his son who was selling the stock said everything was half price.

i bought a lindburg lst, the price label said 15 shillings and a few pence, he looked at me and said, can't work that out, how does .50p sounds, so i bought it. i reckon it was in there since the late 60's at least.

 

 

Half of 15/-  would be 37.5p

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6 hours ago, Andymsa said:


sorry I have to disagree, if the price of old stock is also increased because of a price increase then that just pure profiteering. I recently wanted an item, one shop had done this price increase on old stock and another was charging the old price still, I’ll let you work out who got the sale.

But don't come back in a year or two and expect to find them still in business.

You might well disagree, but basic economics supports the policy.

Prudent business rather than profiteering. You have to make enough profit to be able to buy more stock.

Bernard

 

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3 hours ago, melmerby said:

Simple. The new stuff doesn't go into stock at the new price, until the old has sold out. Used to be common practice at one time and is normal at places like Amazon etc.

 

 

 

It does not always work in the simplified way that you state. If you have a fast moving line you are constantly topping up there would always be a few items left at the old price so they would be repriced as a matter of course. As has been said sound business sense .

 

Edited by 40F
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On 22/11/2021 at 16:08, DK123GWR said:

Think about cashflow - you need to be able to buy the new stock at the new prices, and depending upon the size of the price rise that may not be possible.

If you consider VAT, if you raise the price then you will pay more VAT.  Far easier to keep the retail price as at the time of purchase. The margin will be set on the original Trade and Retail figures. Obviously with any VAT Rate change prices will have to be adjusted from the time of any such change.

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12 minutes ago, Deltic said:

If you consider VAT, if you raise the price then you will pay more VAT.  Far easier to keep the retail price as at the time of purchase. The margin will be set on the original Trade and Retail figures. Obviously with any VAT Rate change prices will have to be adjusted from the time of any such change.

 

You would pay the new rate of VAT on ANY sales made from day one of the new rate, regardless of how old the stock is.

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On 26/11/2021 at 14:53, melmerby said:

Simple. The new stuff doesn't go into stock at the new price, until the old has sold out. Used to be common practice at one time and is normal at places like Amazon etc.

 

Actually, Amazon changes prices minute by minute. Who knows what factors they use to decide what they change, but it's very well known and well documented. 

 

Bearing in mind that the price you're paying covers not only the sellers cost of obtaining the item, but things like rent and wages - I don't think it's unfair for prices to change even for items that are in stock. (If something has been sitting around for a particularly long time then it's especially appropriate to increase the price - it's just accumulating rent after all.) I wouldn't condone an Amazon style dynamic pricing, but from time to time it's not unreasonable.

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On 26/11/2021 at 16:27, 40F said:

 

It does not always work in the simplified way that you state. If you have a fast moving line you are constantly topping up there would always be a few items left at the old price so they would be repriced as a matter of course. As has been said sound business sense .

 

 

2 minutes ago, icn said:

 

Actually, Amazon changes prices minute by minute. Who knows what factors they use to decide what they change, but it's very well known and well documented. 

 

 

Item =£40, 5 in stock, 4 in stock, 3 in stock, 2 in stock, 1 in stock, when that sells out, instantly 5 in stock again but now £45 (or £38 or whatever)

 

I've watched that happen on Amazon several times.

Yes there is an algorithm which changes prices on items that fluctuate in sale numbers but steady sellers tend to follow the pattern above.

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9 hours ago, icn said:

Bearing in mind that the price you're paying covers not only the sellers cost of obtaining the item, but things like rent and wages - I don't think it's unfair for prices to change even for items that are in stock. (If something has been sitting around for a particularly long time then it's especially appropriate to increase the price - it's just accumulating rent after all.) 

Quite.  There is an awful lot of nonsense about repricing stock on this thread.

 

Stock is part of a company's working capital.  It costs them money to buy the goods in the first place, and that's often done using borrowed money - on which interest must be paid.  If the goods are slow to sell, that interest has to be paid for a longer period than if it sells quickly.   The trader has to recover the cost of that additional interest somewhere.  If he can sell it at a higher price, it is sound business practice to raise the price..  If the price is raised too much, customers will balk and take their business elsewhere.  But if the mark-up is insufficient to cover overheads, the firm' will not survive in the long-term.  A competent retailer knows both what his competitors are charging and what the market will bear.  This is why things tend to cost much the same everywhere.  The reason that the discounters can get away with lower prices is that their stock turns over much faster than the rest, so although they have lower gross profit margins, they spread their overheads over a higher volume of sales.

 

On the other hand stock that is not selling is still taking up floor space, which is an opportunity cost.  That is, if it can be cleared from the shelf, there will be room for some other more saleable product.  So clearance sales make sense, even at a loss, especially where products are obsolete or unpopular.  In essence products in this category can be seen as buying errors by the company - poor choice of product, over-ordering the quantity or misjudging the interests of your particular customer base.  But these mistakes are part of the cost of running the business and must come out of profits made on more successful products.

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17 hours ago, melmerby said:

 

Item =£40, 5 in stock, 4 in stock, 3 in stock, 2 in stock, 1 in stock, when that sells out, instantly 5 in stock again but now £45 (or £38 or whatever)

 

I've watched that happen on Amazon several times.

Yes there is an algorithm which changes prices on items that fluctuate in sale numbers but steady sellers tend to follow the pattern above.

 

 

Model shops are not as big as Amazon. I still stand by what I said

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On 22/11/2021 at 15:53, Grovenor said:

But you labelled them for the markup you wanted so why do you need to relabel?

Only new stock needs the new prices.

 

 

No as you cannot operate a two tier pricing rule. It is far easier to reprice the residual stock as it balances out the cost of the new items ordered at the new cost price. Anyway if you had 10 of the same kit in stock why would you order more?  

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