I'm always amused when I hear non-retailers discussing markups. People who aren't in business have no idea of what a fair markup is. If you buy for $400 and sell for $450, that's a 12.5% markup, or about 11% gross profit. "Regular" retailers, like Sears, Penneys, etc., need to make 50% gross profit, so if they buy it for a dollar, they sell it for two dollars. "Discount" retailers, like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc., work on about 33% gross profit, so if they buy it for a dollar, they sell it for $1.50. Mail order retailers have a bit lower overhead, so they can operate with a bit lower gross profit, but not a lot lower, or they won't be around long. An auto repair shop is both a retailer and a service facility, and they have just as much need to mark their parts up as any other retailer. If you buy a water heater from Sears, you can have them install it, but you don't expect them to sell you the water heater for at or near cost just because they're making a few bucks putting it in. If you are really so concerned, buy the part from the cheapest place and put it in yourself. At 11:03 AM 9/21/99 -0500, Alan Bosch wrote: >pointed out to the shop that heads could be bought for $400 from Bus Depot, >a flat "We don't buy from them" was issued. Well, why not? "Because we >mark our parts up". No problem. Buy from BusDepot and charge me $450 a >head. It's worth it to me, and I understand you need to make a living too. Bill (SE Arizona) (Bill@freeholder.com) HTTP://www.freeholder.com ---------------------------------------------------------- It ain't what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong. |
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