Just looking at maybe getting some new forks – been looking at Mattocs, Pikes, Marz 350crs, etc. and there seems to a be a massive variation of RRPs between some sites.

The worst offender seems to be Wiggle – for example they have the 350crs down as an RRP of £569 and CRC have them with an RRP of £429; they have the Mattoc Pros down as £812, whilst CRC have them as £549. Even with the Pikes they have the RRP at £50 more than other places.

Now I know companies do this to make their discounts look bigger, but they have the Marzocchis on sale for more than CRC have the RRP down as!

Bloody weird, and I’m not sure it’s even legal to misrepresent the RRP by so much?

Anyway, UK bike store have the Marzocchi 350crs for £360, so I might buy some of them 😉

There’s a difference between RRP and MRP — Manufacturer’s Recommended Price. The MRP would be the same for each brand and model; the MRP of RS Pikes is a constant. Each site has it’s own RRP.

Well no, they should have a consistent RRP – that being the ‘recommended’ retail price. That should be defined by the distributor/manufacturer. Otherwise you risk false advertising. RRP decided by the shop of £3m, selling price of just £200, 99% discount!

CRC make the RRPs up as far as I can tell. Seen lots of products with the wrong RRPs, I even raised it with them once (they were overpricing and hence showing a discount where there was none), they didn’t seem fussed.

It’s only false advertising if they charge more than they stated price. And anyway, what does it matter? If you’re comparing like-for-like products, then the price you pay is more important than a perceived & discount, surely?

Surely it’s the price your paying thats important not the rrp srp mrp .

Not really – all the usual suspects cynically inflate the RRP to show big headline discounts to get you to buy from them on impulse.

If my business model is to sell goods with a 100% markup then something I can normally source for £100 will have an rrp of £200. If I get a bunch at a special low price or I’m trying to clear them out I might sell them at £150 and advertise 25% off rrp. That’s perfectly legitimate.

Discounting isn’t the issue – it’s manipulating/inventing RRPs that’s iffy.

My understanding is that the store needs to have sold the product at the higher price for at least 28days to be able to claim the new price is discounted.

That rule only holds if price stated in “Was £X.00 – now £Y.00” rather than “RRP £X.00, our price £Y.00”.