IMHO, MSRP is just MSRP. It doesn't matter as long as the final price sounds reasonable to the person who pays for the item.
From my personal purchase experience, I have to say 50% off MSRP is quite good for new, non-clearance-sale items. We've purchased many many big pieces (Sherrill, H&M, Maitland-Smith, Theodore Alexander, etc) from a local medium- / high-end shop. The discount we get is usually around 35%-40% off MSRP. The Maitland-Smith partners desk we got has a quite high MSRP (around $10k-$12k, if I remember correctly), so I pushed hard and managed to get 55% (or so) off MSRP, but I was able to get that discount only because I had been a very loyal customer who kept purchasing from that store.
The bottom line is, the manufacturers and the retailers have to make money. Otherwise they will go out of business sooner or later. The only question is how much profit they take in from the sales and how much is left once they subtract the operating expenses from the profit.
The $12k dining table set doesn't sound too terrible once you try adding up the price of individual items, say $1200 per chair (x 6) + $4800 for the table = $12k. These prices I used are in line with what the good custom furniture markers would charge for their work. (I know these prices probably sound insane to people who are not accustomed to high-quality custom furniture, my husband included.
![Cool](images/smilies/cool.png)
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Now, the Stickley dining set is not really custom and you could get 50% off. This brings the price down to $600 per chair (x 6) + $2400 for the table. Assuming the chairs and the table are made properly, it's quite a bargain!
Of course, what one thinks reasonable might sound crazy to another person. There's always that sticker shock. But once one gets over that, I think she/he will start collecting true-heirloom quality pieces, myself included.
![Stick Out Tongue](images/smilies/tongue.png)