Recommended Retail Price - rules/regulations?

I,_Geek

I've just bought some items cheap in a sale. I made a note of their RRPs when I bought them. The sale has now finished so I'm putting them on eBay at below RRP, but enough so I can (hopefully) still make a profit.

I've got two slightly different situations:

1. I'd like to mention the RRP in the listing but I don't have any proof. You could stick anything on at say, £10, and say its RRP is £30 so people will think they're getting a bargain. I know that the RRPs I have are truthful, but it could just come across as trying to pull a fast one.

2. The RRP is still out there on the internet. For example, I had a brand new Clinique cleanser. I put it on for about £10 and Boots were selling it for £14. I didn't mention the Boots price in the listing because I wasn't sure if it was allowed. It would read in the listing as: "Boots currently retails this item for £14." The buyer could then go to Boots' website and confirm that for themselves.

Any guidance on what is/is not allowed would be gratefully received!

And one thing about stock photos:

I saved some pics I found online of the items I wish to sell-on. Ideally, the listing would show the stock photo, plus photos of the item in its packaging and close-ups of details to prove I have the item. Am I allowed to use a stock photo or will someone be tracking it via a watermark?

Thanks.

milliemonster

Well, I don't know what's allowed and what's not allowed but as a buyer I have seen a lot of items on ebay for sale and alongside is the 'supposed' RRP, I say supposed because in some cases I have known categorically that the RRP the seller is saying is complete rubbish and in these cases, the sellers price is sometimes more than the RRP.

TBH, I think the RRP is irrelevant in a lot of cases, it depends what you are selling as quite often if its something you can buy in a shop, and you are selling on ebay at below RRP but by the time you add on P&P it comes out at either more than RRP or a few pence less, I wouldn't buy, I would just go to the shop and get it.

Also, a lot of goods now are sold in the shops at less than RRP so personally I think it is more useful to show the buyer that the product you are selling is competitive compared to where else you can buy, irrespective of the RRP, if that makes sense

Lobell

I rarely put on the RRP because I think it can sometimes inhibit the bidding as people feel that they shouldn't pay more than the RRP even if they really like/want the item.

I sold two items of clothing recently for more than the RRP even though they had been worn (only a couple of times and in mint condition) but I doubt that they would have done so well if I'd published what I'd originally bought them for.

I,_Geek

Thanks for your reply Milliemonster.

As a seller, I'm thinking I should put as many incentives in the listing as possible to promote the item - and the saving off RRP is one of them.

As a buyer, I'm thinking that a reasonable price is the most important thing, regardless of whatever the full price was before. Most big retailers can offer an item cheaper than RRP automatically - even before it's time to put it in the sales.

I understood your last point - I need to make the item as appealing as possible so the buyer comes to the conclusion that the best place to buy it from is off eBay from me.

I,_Geek

Lobell wrote: »

I rarely put on the RRP because I think it can sometimes inhibit the bidding as people feel that they shouldn't pay more than the RRP even if they really like/want the item.

I put items on as Buy It Now so I hadn't considered this. But it's a very good point on the auction front.