You would need to know how they calculate their profit. Back in 1975-80 I
managed a camera store where the method used was as a percentage of the
sales price, not a percentage of dealer cost. When I started in the business
I was told there were two ways for calculating profit but that the
percentage of cost method was not as  popular.  Thus, using percentage of
the sales price, an item  with a one-third profit which sells for $100 would
have a net cost of $66.66. To determine your sales price you multiply your
cost by 1.5, or just use a readily available profit wheel, a plastic device
for quickly calculating various markups (we used 40% for most items).

I admit that most consumers would look at the above example and think that
they were seeing a 50% markup because the profit was one-half of the dealers
cost. I suppose the percent of sales price method was favored because
one-third doesn't sound nearly as high as one-half. Consumerism at work.

Garrett Adams
83.5 Adventurewagen GL
Stockton, California

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of Bill Davidson
Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2000 7:44 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Napa does not make cooling hoses

> One more tidbit.  NAPA will negotiate on prices.  The standard mark-up
> for NAPA is 33%, so by deducting 33%% from your quoted price you can
> figure out what they paid, and haggle.  Most places will!

Matt,
Actually.... a 33% mark UP is equal to a 24.8% mark Down...
Do the math and you will see..
This counter intuitive and common mistake has lost people many fortunes :)
Bill