There has been a lot of debate on this topic in the recent past....and many different views were expressed
I guess it's a matter of what you buy and where you buy.

While the reasons behind high prices have been discussed often recently, that does seem excessive. Shop around a few stores and if all else fails, buy it online if you can get it for a decent price and reasonable shipping.

With the internet at our disposal we can now see overseas prices and compare with local...I think that most stores here have to do a bigger mark-up because they don't move the same quantities as overseas where they have a bigger local buying population. Some years back regular buyers here began to expect "studio discount" and I think this also caused stores to increase their mark-up to compensate.
I recently fell in lust with a Squire Classic Vibe 50's strat at a store's birthday bash and paid about R3700 (too much actually). The list retail was R5400. In the UK I could have paid 275 pounds full retail and still got 20% Vat back!
Ah well...I am loving that li'l Chinese Gal... ?

I recently had to import Fender grill cloth (wheat) from abroad. The quickest (2 weeks) I could get it here was from a UK store. Priced at GBP 22.50/sq yard (about 1 sq m) I paid 47.55 GBP after a bit of discound for 2 sq yards (incl shipping cost which was a mere 5 GBP). But then I had to pay VAT here on arrival and I had to go to Epping to collect...so all in all about R607 or R304/sqm. The cheapest I could source it here for was about R700/sqm (for Fender silver/blue cloth which I did not want).

Pierre Cronje wrote: Are the mark ups on musical equipment to high? Are the Music dealers on a "get-rich-quick program?
Here's a small example; I was quoted ZAR 200-00 for a tube of rosin for my upright basses. My daughter bought me the same brand Denmark Str (London) for £4-00. What is the catch?

No catch, £4-00 = R60, add fuel to get it here, taxes, vat for the agent receivng it at Durbs/Cape town harbour. Taxes on that, customs taxes. Vat and taxes, fuel, salries for the courier company getting it to Gauteng or where ever. It adds up, unfortunately.

Vic wrote: The cheapest I could source it here for was about R700/sqm (for Fender silver/blue cloth which I did not want).

Where was that from? The local Fender price list has it at R259 p/m

Alan Ratcliffe wrote:

Vic wrote: The cheapest I could source it here for was about R700/sqm (for Fender silver/blue cloth which I did not want).

Where was that from? The local Fender price list has it at R259 p/m

From (an estimate by) a salesperson at Bothners telephonically.....as it was n't the right colour for me I did not persue the matter further.