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Original poster

Do TK Maxx exaggerate the RRP'S on price tags?

24 replies

lighthousekeeping · 08/09/2012 18:37

I really want a £70 Paul Costelloe bag which is ideal for the plane. They say it's rrp is £250 do you think that's true or have the goods already been reduced in the shops before they get to TK Maxx as I don't ever go in there. Thanks!

OP posts:

RightUpMyRue · 08/09/2012 18:40

It's generally second season stuff in TK Maxx so it will probably have been in the sale at wherever it was being sold originally.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if they exaggerated the price tags.

Muststudy · 08/09/2012 18:41

I think so yes!!!

But if you like the bag wgaf

Original poster

lighthousekeeping · 08/09/2012 18:46

I do like it and it's a perfect size it's just when I looked at his bags online none of them where coming up at anywhere near that original price. That's when I wondered.

OP posts:

Pochemuchka · 08/09/2012 18:52

I think they do!
Have just googled Paul Costelloe and JL have his bags ranging from £79-£240 so it's possible but it's probably last season's (not that this matters if you like it!)

LackingNameChangeInspiration · 08/09/2012 18:53

the green people stuff in TKmaxx at the mo was in the sale section of the green people website recently, so it the RRP was and wasn't exaggerated, the RRPs were the website's original prices but the TKmaxx price was the same as the current website prices because they were all last season sale items

I don't mind, I ignore the rrp and decide if the tkmaxx price is what I want to pay or not, its still good value and there's no postage fees

DameEnidsOrange · 08/09/2012 18:58

I thought that there was some law that stops them from inflating the prices but I can't be certain.

TheGashlycrumbTinies · 08/09/2012 19:04

Bought a ClementsRibeiro top there this week, tag £135, down to £19.99, it really was the top price originally. :)

Original poster

lighthousekeeping · 08/09/2012 19:06

Nice!! I did pick up a couple of pairs of sunglasses which were a bargain. Shame you dont get the cases though

OP posts:

TheGashlycrumbTinies · 08/09/2012 19:17

If you get them earlier in the season they do have them, I got some oversized Iceberg ones, with the case for £15.

TheGashlycrumbTinies · 08/09/2012 19:19

Can you tell I love TkMaxx?

SecretNutellaMedallist · 08/09/2012 19:23

You aren't allowed to exaggerate the RRP. However the brand owner can set it to whatever they like. Nowhere has actually had to have sold it at that price. It is only a Recommended Retail Price, not a compulsory one.

Original poster

lighthousekeeping · 08/09/2012 19:25

I've noticed that the Osprey bags I was admiring are all on eBay.

OP posts:

FrancesFarmer · 09/09/2012 00:56

RRP is meaningless in this context.

What difference does it make whether an item was priced once at £20 or at £200?

Look at the present price and decide whether the item is worth your money.

But yes, I believe that the rrps are exaggerrated.

EdMcDunnough · 09/09/2012 07:43

I don't believe that they exaggerate them, no. However I do think that sometimes their prices are really random, and that's especially when they don't know the RRP so they just take a wild guess I think.

I've seen a few things in there that were almost the same as, or more than, the item would have been originally - but there is no RRP printed on the ticket so I think they are making it up.

I also know that they make prices up out of nowhere because once I lost my sun hat in there, and the following week went in again, saw it for sale with a tag saying 7.99 and actually bought it as a spare, before I realised that it was actually my own hat which I hadn't seen since a week ago . (they don't do ex-Gap stuff afaik, it was a one off when I originally bought it as well)

They did give me the money back.

Tempernillo · 09/09/2012 07:48

They do make up the prices. I found an item once that had no tags on, and when I took it to the till there was no way for them to look it up, so we just haggled over a price. It was probably an item of list property!

EdMcDunnough · 09/09/2012 07:53

Yes I've had that too. I quite enjoy the haggling thing But at least they are honest when they haven't got a clue what it should be!

I have shopped there a lot, and I often look up the proper prices online to compare, and they are always about right. Not sure if they'd get away with it otherwise - though of course, you can still get stuff cheaper on ebay. That is not the RRP though needless to say.

CaseyShraeger · 09/09/2012 08:37

They don't exaggerate the RRP, but there's no guarantee that anyone anywhere has ever charged the RRP - in fact, quite likely that they haven't. It's not like sale goods where the "previousky" price has to have been actually charged.

Original poster

lighthousekeeping · 09/09/2012 09:44

Thanks. This is interesting. it dies matter to me even if it's psychological!! I've never paid £70 for a handbag in my life.

OP posts:

DilysPrice · 09/09/2012 09:57

Brand names that you recognise will probably have been on sale at that price (though maybe not this year). Names you don't may well have made up the RRPs specifically to sell onto TK Maxx

Original poster

lighthousekeeping · 09/09/2012 10:36

What about the eBay shops that have the same stock as TK Maxx like the Osprey bags? Do they get their stock from TK Maxx and sell it on or, is there a big warehouse somewhere that we need to know about?

OP posts:

EdMcDunnough · 09/09/2012 12:39

Nobody knows

I'd rather buy something I can see first though iyswim.

Don't ever be tempted to buy something just because it's expensive to start with and muchly reduced - I got excited about this when I first found out about TKM, and bought a v expensive bag just on the premise that it was a 'bargain' and super quality - I've never actually used it

I think I found it just all so thrilling. Now I make sure I will definitely use something, like, I could put it on right now and walk out of the shop in it and not feel uncomfortable - if not, it stays in the shop!

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 09/09/2012 16:31

I don't know if RRP is the same idea as Sale Price but AFAIK-
an item on sale has to be on offer at the higher price for 14 days (or some specific time) in a period of 6 weeks prior to the sale.
Not neccessarily at that store , just one of their stores.(like the Outer Hebrides.)

LIZS · 09/09/2012 18:00

RRP has no legal status. In fact iirc tickets don't actually show a discount as such just the rrp and current price. Most will be overruns and end of ranges., some of which may not have made into the stores as arrived too late for the season or trend, which are bought wholesale (so ebay sellers might have same source). If you like the item at the price offered fair enough but don't buy just because you think it is a bargain.

LIZS · 09/09/2012 18:21

It isn't a sale though so I don't think RRP has to be established in the same way as a full or previously discounted price from which a price is lowered. Many retailers moved away from offers based on RRP some years ago because it was too vague and confusing. In practice legal prosecutions for advertised discounts which have failed ot establish previosu selling price are relatively few anyway.

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