This is the first time I’ve ever bought anything from a salon directly in Japan — L’Oreal Serioxyl — and my usual hairdresser charged me 7150 yen for it (税込). And then I went home to good ol’ Amazon and found the same product for 4700 yen (also 税込).
Is that the norm? I don’t think I can go back to dispute this and I have enough of a relationship with the hairdresser (now I don’t need to explain what I want done any more) that I don’t want to start going to another place for my hair if she *did* overcharge me on purpose for whatever reason.
Thanks so much.
ETA: I probably would’ve let it go, but this is also the same hairdresser who told me my hair thinning and loss (I’m 26F) is probably due to a past Covid infection (I’ve never had Covid), when I went to talk to her about how my hair quality’s just degraded like crazy since I went to her for a cut in January. So I don’t know if I should really trust her now.
13 comments
Yeah, they are selling them for your convenience and mark stuff up. Why else do you think the its on display at the shop? They’re not going to give it to you at cost. Probably buy from amazon, add 3000 yen, then hope you or someone else buys it. Pretty standard practice everywhere, not just hair salons.
edit to your edit: I don’t think the overcharge was malicious (as in, let’s overcharge THIS particular foreigner), it’s just common practice. There’s probably a marketing term for such pricing for add-on products sold for convenience.
Where are you from? In the U.S., this is the same as well. You’re paying an upcharge.
I only ever buy products in the salon when I want to support my stylist tbh. I know they’re marked up, I just kind of think of it as a tip.
Almost everything at a brick and mortar store is going to be more expensive than Amazon.
It isn’t like the salon is gouging you; 7150 yen is the list price, while Amazon is selling it at a discount.
[https://www.loreal-professionnel.jp/03_product/03_haircare/serioxyl/](https://www.loreal-professionnel.jp/03_product/03_haircare/serioxyl/)
It’s more likely that Amazon is undercutting the MSRP. They do this everywhere, in every market, and it’s a major part of why they’re so big now.
The guy at my salon even told me they had a certain product for less at Donki so I got it there.
I mean… this is normal in the states as well. Low volume of sales products tend to need a bit of a markup to make it worth the stylist keeping it on the shelves, and then it’s a convenience thing to sell them. Not many independent stylists make much money off products, unless they’re aggressively pushing them.
It’s for this reason many shops exclusively sell products you can’t openly or easily buy. My wife is constantly buying products for the family through the store she works at for this reason.
Also, a stylist, like any doctor, can only prescribe something to you to see if it helps or sooth your concerns. IMO, you should be suspicious of stylist if they suddenly start suggesting products for problems that we never there.
> I don’t think I can go back to dispute this
You know what? I think you should. Maybe your hair dresser is nice enough to give you a free basic economics lesson…
According to the official site, it’s the “manufacturer’s suggested retail price”–and so, not upcharged at all. Amazon is cheaper because… well, several reasons, but things like volume discounts, third party sellers, etc. So, you paid the “real” price, while Amazon would be a discounted price. But, nothing to dispute, really…
7k vs 4k? pffff.
Go to a camping store, they sell camping gear for 40-50k when the SAME fffing gear (yes, same company and model) costs like 3-4k on Amazon.
Bottom line, most of the time expensive products are going to be cheaper online. While cheap and consumable stuff (e.g. food) is usually going to be cheaper in the store.
I’m pretty sure that’s the norm in a lot of countries, at least it is in the UK and Australia
whoa, what did you buy? I bought serioxyl series like shampoos, conditioner, and the hair serum/tonic in my country (SEA) and total cost never gets more than 5000yen and this even includes the hand carry service I paid to the person who bought them and bring them directly to Japan..
but to answer your Qs, its all about business everywhere, I will always assume that nobody really care about giving solution to my problem, they just want to sell and get profit as much as they can. My dermatologist also charged me a Nov Shampoo 1.5x higher than drug store price for my seborrhoic dermatitis, and I’m glad I said no at first because then I had the time to search online firsthand on the price AND I got to know it doesnt work for medical trouble.
As long as they give the service and result you wanted (styling, haircut etc) I dont think you should change hairdresser tho. Just think of it as lesson learned.