What is List Price and MSRP?
List Price and MSRP (Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price) are terms traditionally used to describe the price a manufacturer estimates an average customer would be willing to pay for the item. This price is based on several factors including cost to manufacture, cost to distribute, other overhead costs and many other factors relating to the use and market perishability of the item. Due to fewer manufacturers actually publishing List Prices and MSRP, the terms have come to be used as the price a retailer can offer the item at to make an acceptable profit margin based on the items overall cost to the retailer.
Why do in store and online List Prices vary widely for some toys and games?
One little known truth about retail is that many, if not the majority, of manufacturers do not offer list prices for their products. Not all toy and game manufacturers publish list prices. Some do, but some offer a suggested range. Some manufacturers actually suggest looking around at other stores to determine list prices. Since it is often up to the store to set their list prices, they can vary over 10% for some items. Customers have to be very careful not to be fooled by some List Prices. Some stores, both B&M and online, are notorious for inflating their list prices to compensate for promotions like free shipping or buy 1 get 1 free sales. Some online stores which offer multiple-merchant marketplace selling allow the third-party sellers to set the List Prices. Since many of these merchants are purchasing their products at the List Price, the stated List Prices can be quite inflated.
How does Toy Country determine list prices?
Toy Country uses several methods to determine a List Price depending on what information is available for the item. We use a combination of 3 sources to determine our published List Price:
- Manufacturer's Published List Price, if available
- Overall Wholesale Cost of the Item
- Survey of large B&M store's List Price
If we purchase the item wholesale directly from the manufacturer and they set a List Price, then we typically use that price as the List Price unless that price is based on a wholesale price which is less than what we pay. When there is no List Price available, but we still purchase the item wholesale, we use a calculation based on an acceptable profit margin for the item. Every item purchased from the same purchasing channel is List Priced using the same calculation. Toy Country never inflates list prices to make our prices appear more attractive to customers. Toy Country does not have a wholesale purchasing channel for many of the items listed in our catalog, but the items are listed so other merchants can sell those items. In these cases, Toy Country still sets the List Price based on a survey of the larger B&M stores. Third party merchants are not allowed to set List Prices on Toy Country, so rest assured the List Price on Toy Country is a reasonable assesment of an acceptable item cost.
Why do some items not have List Prices on Toy Country?
There are 2 reasons an item will not have a list price on Toy Country:
- Our price is very close to the List Price. If our price is within a couple percent of the List Price then the List Price is occasionally not shown.
- The item is out of production. Some items in our catalog were added after the manufacturer stopped manufacturing them. We simply do not have a wholesale or retail baseline to determine the List Price.
Why are some toys and games priced above List Price?
Many of the toys and games listed on Toy Country iMall are collectable and were purchased for more than list price several years after the item was produced. In these cases the sale prices are set according to an accptable profit associated with the costs and risks to offer those items for sale.
Occasionally there is an item which has limited availability and not currently available through wholesale channels. If the demand is high enough, some merchants will purchase the item through channels which offer the item at List Price or sometimes above List Price. In these cases, since the merchant's purchasing price is already at List Price, after adding all the additional costs to list and send the item to market, the item must be priced above List Price for the merchant to make an acceptable profit. Although Toy Country (the online store) only sells items purchased through wholesale channels priced at an acceptable sub-List Price, there are some merchants, like Nice Kid Toys and NOS Toys, selling on Toy Country iMall (the online marketplace) who specialize in the availability of those high demand/short supply toys and games. Toy Country allows this practice in an effort to balance a customer's selection with a merchants ability to make a profit.
Regardless of the selling price, it is the policy of Toy Country to display the List Price for an item at all times, even if the selling price is greater than the List Price. Toy Country iMall discourages all of our third-party merchants from pricing their items at a profit margin that would seem unacceptably high to most consumers. If you notice a seller on Toy Country iMall which seems to be abusing their pricing and asking too much for an item, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please let us know the listing and merchant so we can investigate the pricing. If we determine the pricing is in line with the merchants costs, we will reply with an explanation of the costs. If it turns out the merchant is continuously abusing our pricing policy, the listing will be removed and the merchant may be banned from selling on Toy Country iMall. We do our best to offer, and to have our merchants offer, the best selection of toys and games at the best prices without customers being concerned about paying too much for an item. If a seller wants to "maximize their profits" by selling their items for the most they can possibly get out of them, we suggest they sell on other online marketplaces.
