2 cents...
Cergorach said:
Erm... They still can. It just takes a little bit more effort on the part of the customer. Most RPGers i know are of above average intelligence (important because the think before they buy), they often want to know more about a product before they buy it (not taking the sales pitch for granted) and typing in the companies name in a search engine is a simple task. It's simple but extremely annoying for the customer. Since when do RPG related companies depend on 'crushing' the competition instead of letting it's great service speak of itself, what do you think your customers want?[/i]
Let me see if I understand your chain of reasoning correctly... this is what you want and you want RPGNow.com to accept this?
1.) You see a product that interests thanks to RPGNow.com - be it in print, advertising, banner ad, or simply because you check their front page regularly for new items.
In other words, you learn about the product thanks to the dollars/resources of RPGNow.com, and NOT the dollars/resources of the publisher.
2.) They provide a link to the publisher.
3.) You go to the company's website to find out more about it.
4.) You decide you want to buy it.
5.) There is a link to the publisher's shopping cart.
Now, if there is a link to buy the product right there on the site (and not from RPGNow.com), are you honestly going to tell me that you're going to take the time to go BACK to RPGNow.com and buy it from them? Of course not. Why not?
"Because it's simple but extremely annoying for the customer." (Does that phrase sound a little familiar? It should.)
In other words, you have just denied RPGNow.com their share of the sale... they DID contribute to the sale back in step 1, remember? That's how you found the product in the first place! How does RPGNow attempt to avoid being so denied? By removing Step 2 from the process - of course the customer can find the site using his own devices, but as you mention, it *is* annoying.
But you've put RPGNow in a catch-22... for it to get its cut of the sales (based on its work promoting the products), you the customer, have to be annoyed...
(A) It either has to trust that you, good and loyal customer that you are, will be willing to voluntarily undergo annoyance by ignoring the "quick and easy" buy on the publisher's site and instead return to RPGNow.com to make the buy (let's face it, the majority of customers are NOT going to do this) - in other words, you have to put forth extra effort in order to buy from RPGNow.com.
or (B), it cuts the link to the publisher, which annoys you when you can't find an easy way to get more info on the product. On the other hand, you have to put forth extra effort NOT to buy from RPGNow.com.
By your own argument, it seems that you and RPGNow.com came to the same conclusion... most often, the customer is going to choose the path of least effort, meaning that option B is the best option for them... the path of least effort leads to a sale for them with option B and doesn't lead to a sale for them in option A. Either way, though, you the customer are upset... and there's really nothing RPGNow.com can do about that if they want to stay in business... in order to advertise, they MUST generate revenue and that means they need you to buy products from them rather than cutting them out of the equation.
I have no problem with Darrin's decision to leave, and respect him a great deal - I've complimented him on that in this an other forums. However, I believe he may be incorrect in stating the policy had changed over time. I inquired into using RPGNow.com in early February 2002. The Terms of Service document I was provided at that time DID mention that if my site linked to other methods of buying the product, RPGNow would not link to my site.
It was a little ways down in the legalese, IIRC, and perhaps not stated quite as strongly as in the statement quoted here by Darrin, but it WAS there. If Darrin was on RPGnow prior to February (I strongly suspect he was), the policy may have been different at the time he began a relationship with them; however, I will vouch for RPGNow that the letter Darrin received was not a change in policy as of late April/early May... that policy had been in effect (at least to my understanding) since at least February and possibly earlier (I can't speak to earlier since I wasn't around then).
Btw why does it take 'creative' wording to get a response from your company? A publisher is yelling bloody murder, a couple of others are shaken, and a couple of customers aren't to positive either.
OTOH, might this be a bit of an overreaction? The biggest publishers that use RPGNow.com - Malhavoc Press, Ambient, Inc., Natural 20 Press, and Thunder Head Games - have expressed not only no opposition to RPGNow.com, but in fact have stated support for them. Yes, a publisher is yelling bloody murder... but four or five other publishers - including both big and small players - are saying, "this is blown a bit out of proportion." And if a couple of customers aren't too positive either... well, you can't please everyone all the time.
As far as "creative wording" goes, I think the proper words would be "inflammatory wording" - if you flame someone and then try to claim that the silence is the opposite side's admission of defeat, don't be surprised when you get a response. It's a simple baiting tactic on your part, nothing more. It speaks nothing of RPGNow and everything of the tactics used.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents. I can see RPGNow.com's argument and to be honest, at this point, I agree with them (even if I *am* just a small publisher and "don't understand all the issues" - I understand that my sales are immensely better because of them and I believe their service is reasonably priced and offered with reasonable terms).
And as far as "learn to run your own e-commerce site," well, it's not always that easy... "all it takes is time." Yes, and a little money to support the ability to take credit cards. And a little more time if there's a technical SNAFU. And a little more time to keep the site up-to-date. And a little more time to monitor for problems. I consider myself reasonably web-savvy, but let me tell you... for the small amount of business I do, the work/time involved administering a shopping cart literally isn't worth it! I don't make enough money on my product to justify that kind of time expenditure. Few do... why do you think most of us have day jobs (in my case, I guess I am fortunate to have one that gives me enough free time to type these kinds of posts).
In other words, before you complain, put yourself in the shoes of RPGNow.com and draft me a policy that (A) allows RPGNow.com to draw revenue in order to maintain operations and (B) doesn't annoy the customer. You will find that based on the premises you started with, the two goals are mutually exclusive.
Instead of complaining and moaning about how evil RPGNow.com is, why don't you instead provide them with a viable alternate solution. I'm pretty sure that if you did so, they would give it a long, hard look. It's easy to say, "this sucks" - it's harder to say, "here's how to improve it."
--The Sigil
