Scott,
After having spent the bulk of my life in retail business with only a few minor diversions....her's what I would say to your Q' ....is that fair for them to make $1400. profit.

Of course the first premise of all sales is to buy low sell high.....that is the capitalist way and is one of the reasons that we are still so strong even though the economy has not been great in the last few years.

Second I'm not so sure one should look or know the cost of any item, because all of us will feel like we are getting ripped off. There would be no fair way to judge what a fair profit is for someone else. Any time I have learned the cost on an item I was buying, I couldn't help but feel screwed. So my point here is as a consumer, one should look at an item and say, this is what I think it is worth and what I am willing to pay for it...."your cost" so to speak. Of course we are always irritated if it drops in price after we buy it and think....well if they can sell it for that now why couldn't they then? That's just the reality of the market place. If you want when it's hot you pay more, when it's not you pay less.

The last thing to consider is this (and I am not saying the 1400. is fair or not, just pointing out other things to consider) the average retailer believe it or not is very luck overall after deducting all thes costs of doing business is lucky to be making between 1.5 - 3% profit across the board. So while you think they are making a 1400.00 off you reality is they are making between $225.00 - $450.00....if they are lucky and running their biz efficiently, Really .... I had about 35 years of retail and know it pretty well, was born into retail family business.

Just some things to consider.
Terry

[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 11-02-2002).]

[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 11-02-2002).]