DMs Guild DMs Guild: do you think it is okay to charge some people more than others?

[seebs]

That is the problem though - I'm not entirely sure I am convinced that my change of mind has been done in good faith.
In hindsight, I think I was merely using these people for the sake of market research. The product that I left as PWYW seems to be doing better than those that I am selling for cheap and that is why I want to shift those back to the PWYW format.
I don't think any of that really constitutes good faith.

Sure it does. That's market research and being curious about how pricing works. That's not unethical.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

If this was your sole source of income, and cheaper products A and B were selling, but product C with a higher price wasn't, you would need to adjust product C's price to encourage sales. Otherwise, realistically you'd have to cease selling C.

Your future income would then, you predict, increase across the board, allowing you to invest in new product, and so grow the business.

You may experience some unhappy customers (you don't note how many in your post so I'm assuming only a few) but these will be easily dealt with if they complain (free A or B as recompense/partial rebate if need be). Your future customers however will be quite happy.

If it is really causing you sleepless nights (for which I applaud your moral sense), by all means proactively approach these customers and pre-emptively offer them some love.

But I don't see it being an issue.

 

[Devilbass]

I mostly agree with seebs. The DMsGuild is great because it allows homebrewers to share their work. Even better, it allows content creators to make a little cash while doing so. Most people sharing content are not professionals, and have limited experience selling their own content. If you have limited experience I'm such a venue, the is nothing unethical about learning how to profit from the system while still trying to provide quality and value to your customers.

 

[ccs]

Welcome to retail. We change pricing schemes all the time in the quest to make as much $ as possible.

 

[TwoSix]

Welcome to retail. We change pricing schemes all the time in the quest to make as much $ as possible.

I was going to say. In the real world, don't we simply call it a sale?

 

[Giant2005]

I was going to say. In the real world, don't we simply call it a sale?

Don't get me started on DMG's sales! I often see things on there that are apparently on sale (the original price is stricken through with a new, cheaper price written in red). I have no idea how people manage to do that. I have tried simply changing the price but that just changes the price, it doesn't do all of the fancy strike-throughs and such.


Anyway, thanks everyone - you have sufficiently convinced me to just go ahead and lower the prices.

 

[leonardoraele]

I have been in the same dillema, but I decided to not reduce the price. First of all, it really feels bad to pay something that then becomes free, and I don't want my customers to be like this. Second, I think it kinds of discourages people to actually spend money on the shop. If it happened to me, I would think three more times before spending money on a product in future purchases, fearing the product can suddenly become free at any time. Maybe its just paranoia of mine, but it doesn't change the fact.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

Not unethical. Figuring out what to charge different groups of people is a very important part of any business strategy and practiced in virtually every industry. Frex, if you're in the group of people that wants to see a movie on release, you pay a lot of money in a theater. If you're in a group that can wait til a a bit later you can get it for less in a dollar theater. And so on and so on for rental, redbox, netflix, and broadcast.

The only real risk is that if you make a common practice of it, people will expect it and some customers will stop paying full price and wait til you've dropped it at least once before buying.

 

[Storyteller Hero]

If it was a super cheap thing to begin with (and most products on DMG are), there probably will not be any hard feelings at all, but Mishihari Lord is right about being careful not to make a habit of it.

I recommend stating reasons for the change at least somewhere on the product page as a courtesy for the people who bought the product.

 

[Henry]

I was going to say. In the real world, don't we simply call it a sale?

We're different - we're gamers. We're a whiny bunch of jerks who want things as cheaply as possible and bitterly complain if we don't get exactly what we want, because if we don't it invalidates us as human beings.

So to that I say, Giant2005, if you feel you need to change prices, screw 'em and change them, because you WILL get complainers, but most of us understand the realities of the market, and that being a nice guy doesn't mean taking a loss.