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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JohnNephew" data-source="post: 170554" data-attributes="member: 2171">Re: Re: Re: You people slay meLOL!  I'm not sure if you're saying I'm one of the far-removed "butt-polishers" trying to kiss up to "gaming gods," or a far-removed "publisher" (mis-spelled) who doesn't understand the plight of underfunded gamers...?Sigh.Look, I empathize if you have a limited gaming budget.  Believe me, I know all about limited budgets.  I'm just saying, if you have little or no money to spend on games -- you're not my market.  I wish you were, and hope your job doubles your paycheck real soon now (and you spend the difference on RPGs!), but trying to lower my prices to meet your budget only means I'm NOT getting the amount of money I need from the people who CAN pay.  E.g., the recent Computer Science graduates who, according to the <a href="http://www.thestreet.com/funds/ericgillin/10018996.html" target="_blank">data I recently read</a>, are even in the recessionary environment looking at $50,000 average starting salaries when hired fresh out of college.What I want to see more of, in a more prosperous market, is a range of pricing.  For example, eBay is a godsend for anyone on a budget.  Look at all the cheap game stuff you can get on eBay!  eBay means that retailers can sell their extra stock on the cheap to price-sensitive gamers (as well as nearly-price-insensitive collectors on the rare items) all over the world.  It also means that gamers can sell the items that didn't meet their needs.I hate having to spend big bucks on toner cartridges.  So I go to eBay, and watch for good prices on the specific cartridges we need (so I always have a full spare or two), and as a result pay 25%-50% of retail.  Some of these are liquidations of overstock, some are people who have extra cartridges after their printer broke down or was sold, some are aggressively priced remanufactured items.  Saving $50+ apiece, it's worth my time!If you want to get games on the cheap, you just have to do more work, whether it's downloading and printing free PDF materials (there's a TON of it! and a lot of it is really GOOD! -- if I were a gamer on a budget, I don't think I'd ever have to spend a dime after I bought the three core books), or watching for the items you really want to come up on eBay or through a used retailer (online, local store, at a convention, etc.).  The savings from looking for deals should easily pay for your time (since they're not taxed like hourly wages!).Let me give you an example.  Our Touched by the Gods book.  Have you bought it yet?  If not, we have damaged copies on our website right now for $12 <a href="http://www.atlas-games.com/" target="_blank">(scroll down to the bottom of the page)</a>.  Still haven't bought it?  Well, my guess is that if we had charged half the price we did, we would not have sold any more copies -- if I'm wrong, then we should be selling a LOT of copies now at the $12 price ($23.95 is SRP); in fact, I think we've sold 2 or 3.  Know what that means?  Lowering the price does not increase sales.  I think we probably would have sold the same number at full price if we weren't offering these dented-and-dinged copies.  Most of the people who didn't buy this product are simply not going to buy it at any price; it's just not of interest to them.  Cutting the price in the hope of reaching them is suicidal -- all it means is that I lose money, and then can't publish anything more.</blockquote>

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