Parts Markup, was: $450.00 Bass strings

[David Love]

One of the problems with marking up parts is that the price we get them for 
is not truly wholesale.  Fact is, anybody can order those parts and get them 
for the same price we do.  Some vendors claim that the prices they give us 
are wholesale and offer a suggested retail price, others do not.  I have had 
clients order parts from Steinway, Renner, Yamaha, Schaff, and the prices 
they got were no different than the ones I pay.  That puts me in an awkward 
position if, say, I double the price, as Schaff recommends, and the customer 
is privy to the cost.  Consequently, I add a handling charge that is 
appropriate to the part that compensates me for my time.  Some orders are 
very straight forward, others are not.  It doesn't follow any particular 
formula.  Most of what we offer is labor/expertise.  The parts costs in 
doing a complete belly job are relatively small compared to the labor.  Even 
in a total action rebuild where the parts costs are higher as a percentage 
of the job, that percentage probably represents only about 25% max of the 
total cost of the job.

Dale:  I believe the state extortionists only require that you add tax on 
parts, not labor, and if the subcontracting tech pays you the tax, it should 
not be charged again to his customer.  Of course, since you are selling 
pianos, you would need the resale #.

David Love


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