Well if its okay to charge whatever "mark up" you like, then would working Plumbers agree that it is fair to flood the market with Plumbers all competing for a little bit of work and bidding against each other to bring them down again?
Lets be honest if we go to a supplies and find they are charging more than they others for the same goods, are you not tempted to think them "rip off" merchants, why do the same?
If a union wants more money for its members they are sometimes accused of holding the country to ransom, but high mark uppers are perhaps thought of as good business people? They are both doing the same thing.
Even BA boss is said to be getting over a million bonus and a rise while trying to reduce the cabin staffs wages to as low as possible. Okay its to try and make the airline more profitable, but ain't the values wrong somewhere. Incidentally BA made twice as much profit than they thought this half year without reducing the wages.
We can't blame bankers for making Billions either, they are doing just the same as the high mark uppers.
Business can't have everything in its own favour all the time.
I don't think its fair to buy an article costing £1 and sell it on for £800, the customer thinks they are buying quality but its probably a very cheap product and the high price is just guys and gals making money for nothing.
The idea that over pricing and high mark ups can be put down to "That is business" is completely wrong. Business is a contract for goods and services provided which should be a fair contract between customer and supplier. But if one side acts like a shark in a feeding frenzy and the customer has little choice but to hire them as they do with Gas Safe jobs then the balance is unfair.
If we carry on like that and everybody puts their prices up, inflation will just take off for everybody and as your prices rise so the insurance costs go higher to pay for their Plumbing work.
Its a circle, lets keep things reasonable and decide what is a reasonable "mark up" or how much you have added value to the goods before selling them on. And yes virtually everybody can quote how much they have to pay for things, but it still doesn't justify high "mark ups"
I have sympathy for the position the self employed are in today but "business" is a long game and you need to be competitive by keeping your prices low.
Okay it may take a while to get your investment back but all the big companies work that way. The best companies probably sell by bulk with the idea that making a pound on one article helps you sell a hundred, but trying to make a hundred pound on one article probably does not sell many.
It also helps make jobs and keeps prices low for the customer, yet booming sales makes the companies very rich.
