Pricing Behaviours seem a little clunky

[Ben]

Ok so I am struggling with Virtuemart 2's pricing behaviour Version 2.0.0
Here is what I have so far.
For any given rule:
It will only apply if either it is a default (no category etc selected) or the specific category is selected. 
For any given product selecting default discounts and taxes apply those assigned default shop wide and those category specific. 
Rules assigned to parent categories DO NOT cascade to child categories.
Price Margin +% rules(MARGE) are NOT configurable on item by item basis.  They are category wide or shop wide
IF you have 2 Margin rules(MARGE) +% it will apply them both....I believe in the order they were created. 
Given this configuration this creates a problem:
   Products present in 2 seperate categories in my shop (an Item that can serve 2 function say) will recieve Margin pricing FROM BOTH categories....intended?
Now I cant use DBTAX rules to apply +% because in my shop that will show the base price higher than the sales price.....and give a discount that costs the shopper money...

I think we need a 3rd price override setting for margin rules. That apply to the base price before tax and discounts.

[Captain Pervert]

This is because VM ismade by programmers, not guys who actually work with a webshop... Or so it seems

[ghardin]

A little "clunky" would be a favor!  They just plain do not work.  If I had more PHP knowledge and the time, the rules would be rewritten.  Having lived in the business world (wholesale AND retail) for 30+ years,  there are only 2 pricing models to work from pretty much anywhere on the planet:
Wholesale:
Base Cost (what we pay for the item)
Gross Margin (generally Base Cost / margin %- i.e.  $10 /.80 = $12.50-- $2.50 profit)
         (to discount in wholesale, generally the profit margin is lowered and the customer pays less, so not a true discount)
Tax per Item (for locale where different products get taxed at different rates)
Tax per Total (for locale where all items taxed at same rate)

Retail:
Base Cost (again what we pay for the item)
Markup (generally a multiplier to reach a Retail Price (Base Cost x 1.xx i.e. $10 x1.25= $12.50)
Discount - Some % of Retail price the customer gets for some reason ($12.50 with 10% discount =$1.25 for a discounted price of $11.25 -- multiply $12.50 x .90 gives the same discount)
Tax per item
Tax on Total

The current rules as of VM2.08e have one for some sort of profit margin calculation that I have yet to get to work AT ALL.  ALL of the rest work on some sort of variation of calculations before or after Tax.  THOSE are the only ones that actually do anything and they do calculate taxes properly, but some seem sees to want to apply as a discount.
For our shop, all we do is buy at wholesale prices and add a profit margin percentage to reach the sale price for the customer.  In some cases tax is applied, generally to the total of the order.  We only need the ability to calculate profit margin based on product categories, vendor and shopper group and add the appropriate tax to the order.
The Virtuemart 2 pricing structure has not been well thought out.  The Base Cost is going to be the starting point for any shop.  From there we need to be able to create a formula to reach a sell price -either Profit Margin or Profit Markup.  The 2 tax methods as described above should be sufficient.

Now if ANYONE has been able to use the default calculations OUT OF THE BOX, with no hacks, to make either the Wholesale or Retail model above work, then PLEASE post your solution!