Why do some retailers insist on lying about suggested/rrp in order to show a good discount on-line? GEAR ZONE IS A GOOD EXAMPLE--just look at their DMM prices! I would buy at theoutdoorshop.com every time!

They don't lie. An RRP is an RRP. In outdoor retail the markup is about 100% at the shop to find the RRP, just because they don't always sell at that price doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

At the end of the day, does it matter that much when a sensible consumer will look around for the best price, not necessarily the best "saving" anyway?

And why did you feel the need to email me personally to reply to this thread?

ben, how do u know the matk up is 100% (out of curiosity)?

I've worked in a shop, I know how much we bought gear for, and I know what we sold it for.

I have seen significant differences in RRP between major name shops - for instance a jacket (same model, size, year etc.) was £169 in one and £189 in another.

So yes - shop around!

Hmmm

No posting history on this forum and first post is to recommend theoutdoorshop.com.

Suspicious? Moi?

mmm, it had previously occured to me that the style of the original poster was a little odd, druidh... Is there a spy in our ranks?

druidh/simon - glad it's not just me that thought that...I wasn't going to mention it but seeing as you have I have to say I agree with you ;-)

Discounting is stupid because everyone does it, then no one makes any money.
This is why you'll never find a good tradesman who is cheap.
We're not daft.

Although you might get prosecuted for running a cartel.

Aye, that's right.

If I wanted more DMM kit, I would buy it from their stand at the Outdoors Show. £30 for a Cirque + leash, for example. :-)

"No posting history on this forum and first post is to recommend theoutdoorshop.com.

Suspicious? Moi"?

ha ha, could have at least had the decency to provide a clickable link!

Something I do find slightly suspicious is if you go in a 'mountain warehouse' shop, they have sprayway original goretex jackets (e.g commanche) marked up as RRP £220 for sale at £99 and such. A quick look at the sprayway site suggests these should actually be RRP £160. Surely this is a bit dodgy?! Maybe its just my local one trying to fool the unsuspecting public into a 'bargain'.

I must admit that I find this sort of thing a bit confusing. If a price is stated as the MRP, then it stands to reason that the retail price has originated from the manufacturer. I'm OK with that bit. But if it's stated as the RRP, does this imply that the price could have been recommended by anybody in the supply-chain?

lievres shop must have been making a killing if it was getting a 100% mark up! no bargains there!!!!
the rrp is only a manfactures guide price, shops can sell at whatever they want although they shouldnt be advertising a higher rrp. You can report them to trading standards.....

Was the £220 maybe the original rrp and sprayway have since lowered it?....

Yes, Im not entirely sure about that either. I know that in the shop I was in, I was told that we couldn't say "RRP", instead we just put "Our Price" and "Our Sale Price". Somebody said it was illegal but I think they were talking rubbish.

Im just sucipicious of places that offer discount of more than 50%. That means that the supplier didn't pay the "full" price from the manufacturer. For example TKMaxx (and any discount/outlet store), they may state a RRP of £xxx, but people forget that TKMaxx hasn't paid the same amount for that product as a decent supplier would have done (maybe a year or two ago anyway). So TKmaxx can offer an "80%" discount, but remember they are paying maybe 1/5 of what other suppliers have paid for the product.

And yes, I was suspicious of the original poster, their email address is "johnandsue4fun"

yaeh thats true but they are selling the product much cheaper so the mark up will be tha same or lower. If it is lower they will then rely on bulk product sell through to keep a healthy margin, it will also make customers come back to them. Personnaly i would rather go to a quality outdoor shop, pay a bit more and get the staff knowledge and also the after sales service.

or go look on the web to look for it cheaper as many would do? no wonder the quality independents have a hard time.