Re: Fender Eliminates MSRP
Ok, so now invoice is 20% off of retail.
The math doesn't work like that! With no list price, there is no 100%, therefore there is no more 70% and no more 50%. You can't have percentages
of something when that something doesn't exist. 20% of list can't just be slid around as if it means the same thing it did before.
Assume for a minute that invoice prices and standard retail prices stay the same (though they won't; if they would, the change would not be being made). The 70% becomes the new 100%. Therefore the 50%, when multiplied by the same factor that takes 70% to 100% (1-3/7x), becomes about 71%. So, assuming that there are no price changes of any kind, we can roughly estimate that invoice is 30% under retail.
However, in practice, without list price to which to compare retail price – the only solid, inflexible number in the equation, the reference number – is removed. The standardization of price throughout the industry is chucked out the window. One can no longer estimate invoice price as accurately. And being able to estimate what a dealer paid for something can often be very important when haggling.
Anyhow, it isn't gonna be a huge issue, but it will not end up benefiting the buyer any.