Sticky price labels on packaging

I'm not sure how the law applies to people doing business 'on the side', but it is generally illegal for bona fide retailers not to clearly mark the price of their goods. HOW they do that is a greyer area. There are many ways of doing it, but it would seem that all of them have snags - for some pernickety person or other.

I would suggest that if a speculator values the condition of the packaging so dearly, it would pay him to personally make the effort of removing offending labels without damage. Ironically, this introduces yet another eccentricity into the weird and wonderful world of speculator/collectors. It occurs to me that the presence of certain original price tags/labels could actually enhance the value of the item in some people's eyes. There's nowt so queer as folk!

I am extremely reluctant to do business with an organisation that doesn't make its prices clear and up front. But I've enjoyed many a happy hour of free entertainment hauling super market managers over the coals for their failure to do so.

Picking up on comments by both dbc50 and Rail-Rider.

I agree with Brian, if an item is priced it saves both the customer and the retailer wasting time with the "how much is this" conversation. He is also quite correct about the problem of label swapping.

R-R's comment about labels is also very pertinent, as in my opinion a printed label adds provenance and evidence of the original purchase cost.

I well remember as a child my local toy shop used to use pencil to mark the prices on the boxes of Corgi toys.

Therefore I don't have a problem with labels.

Regards

John

The provenance argument is fair and acceptable if there is a mint original label in place correctly and neatly positioned or a hand written price in a specific price area on the packaging.

It should be remembered though that 40% of model railway gear is sold as a Xmas gift or Birthday gift item (according to the boys in the know) and price labels are normally removed in these circumstances leaving a mess. Think of why so many old boxes have patches where there used to be a price label and even boxes a year old suffer the same affliction. Or have messy labels that folk have only partly removed in the struggle to hide the price damaging the packaging in the process. Its not nice to receive a gift in this condition.

Dealers at toy fairs try and hide this by putting their own price label over the damage in an attempt to deceive.

And there are even dealers who put price labels over price labels every time they adjust the price and how many times have you encountered a package with virtually half the end obliterated by price labels.

And then you get those mammoth dayglow things that look cheap, nasty and tacky.

Basically there is no place at all for price labels on original packaging these days especially when it is quality packaging that in itself is desirable and helps to sell the product.

If dealers insist on using price labels then they should apply this to some outer packaging of their own that is see through such as a seal security wrap.

Happy modelling
Gary

Whilst I can sympathise with people who loath the stickers, they're there to stop price swapping and putting them on extra outer packaging (e.g. cellophane) is just wasteful of finite global resources. Also it depends if the stickers are hard to remove and this depends mainly on whether you get cardboard boxes or plastic - as a European N modeller then fortunately everything from Minitrix, Fleischmann, Roco, Arnold etc. comes in a plastic box - if I wanted to remove the labels then you can get safe label removers (can't remember the name of the stuff I use but it smells of oranges) but I think they're quite fun - like stickers on suitcases or stamps in your passport from non-EU countries etc.

As long as they don't put the stickers on the models themselves...

Also, there's nothing more fun that buying an item second-hand off eBay in mint condition and thinking 'what a bargain' when it arrives with a big fat expensive first-hand price sticker (of course it could arrive and you think ' ', but that's fun too in a sadomasochistic way!) 'Win win' so to speak!

Goedel

Yes, almost without exception, Euro N-Gauge manufacturers have eliminated several problems with their neatly stackable, almost standardised plastic cases. I would only ask that the plastic were a little less brittle - some of them crack too easily.

The more I re-read this topic, the more hilarious I find it, really

On one hand . . .
I have some empathy with the view that a flimsy cardboard box should not be so clumsily labelled as to obscures the contents, illustrations or descriptions etc. Also, that horribly incompetent label removal by intermediate dealers could damage flimsy packaging to an unacceptable degree. Such carelessness is unprofessional and downright stupid because it could be counter-productive to his business.

But on the other hand . . .
I find it quite incredible that someone who seeks to exploit the rarity value of an item should have the *chutzpah to castigate mass-market toy manufacturers for failing to anticipate his exploitation of their product in the future!
Rolls on floor laughing!

If someone wishes to exploit rarity for profit, then the idle ******* should not expect others to facilitate his acquisitiveness, but put in at least the minimal necessary work himself!

* chutzpah: depends where you look it up, but I favour "unmitigated gall"!

All this talk of what retailers & used stock dealers should/should not do regards pricing makes me wonder how the seller can possibly win.

Maybe those that don't want any labeling/pricing on the box can tell me how to price individual items then ?

We try to place labels where they do not leave marks when removed, but even the "peel off" ones can sometimes leave some signs when they have been on the box for a while.

Regarding the "N" gauge clear plastic boxes, I have bought used stock & found some of the labels just will not come off, even using a variety of things (including specialised label removing products).

Of course, we could have a complete printed price list of the stock, computerised till (EPoS) use the bar codes for sales - at a hectic show ! That would work 100% - would'nt sell a lot at all though, due to the time it would take.

Maybe just a little more though is required by the placing of & type of labels.

Sorry collectors, I think you will have to stick to the specialised sales & the likes of Vectris to source your box bound purchases.