Price to content ratio for PDFs

[Krug]

I was all hyped to purchase both the Thievery 101 modules after reading the review on d20reviews. It states the prices of these modules as being $2.95.

I hop over to RPGnow.com and lo and behold it's $5. A markup of $2.05. Now I know that publishers need to make a buck, but it's a 15 page book, which I only find out from doing a search on google. (I certainly hope the OGL doesn't take up 2-3 pages of that as well)

Yes $2.05 isn't much, but it adds up. The City Guide 1 is $5 but it's 64 pages, Wild Spellcraft is $5 as well and it's 60 pages.

So publishers... keep in mind the price.

Hmm.. Interludes:Bluffisde for $5... looks like I'm going to spend some $ after all...

 

[trancejeremy]

The thing is, I think RPG Now has a minimum price of $5. That's probably why the markup. I think they originally sold it themselves, then moved to RPG Now.

 

[JohnNephew]

The thing is, I think RPG Now has a minimum price of $5. That's probably why the markup. I think they originally sold it themselves, then moved to RPG Now.

We've just started using RPGNow, so I recently was reading the paperwork. Unless I'm confused, you can charge any price you like -- it's just that a CUSTOMER has to order at least $5 worth of stuff to check out. I imagine a lot of publishers figures that means you may as well charge at least that much -- if you don't, you may lose sales to people who only want your book and will then put it off until they can meet the minimum order (or lose dollars to people who add something they don't really need just to make the minimum).

I haven't seen any under-$5 items yet (except the free ones, of course), but I'd be curious to know if there are any, and how the low price affects their sales...

 

[Morrus]

I can tell you that increasing the price of Wild Spellcraft from $5 to $6.95 had exactly zero apparent effect on sales. Week by week sales still formed a nice straight (obviously declining) line graph as time passed.

If I had to guess - and this is only from my own personal preconceptions - a product at $2.95 will be viewed as less desirable than one at $5, even with the same content.

 

[MEG Hal]

We've just started using RPGNow, so I recently was reading the paperwork. Unless I'm confused, you can charge any price you like -- it's just that a CUSTOMER has to order at least $5 worth of stuff to check out. I imagine a lot of publishers figures that means you may as well charge at least that much -- if you don't, you may lose sales to people who only want your book and will then put it off until they can meet the minimum order (or lose dollars to people who add something they don't really need just to make the minimum).

I haven't seen any under-$5 items yet (except the free ones, of course), but I'd be curious to know if there are any, and how the low price affects their sales...

John is right on here....you can charge any price but it is a $5 min purchase SO....most charge at least $5 so you do not force a customer to buy something else just to hit the minumum.

And thanks for the sale Krug

 

[Krug]

I can tell you that increasing the price of Wild Spellcraft from $5 to $6.95 had exactly zero apparent effect on sales. Week by week sales still formed a nice straight (obviously declining) line graph as time passed.

If I had to guess - and this is only from my own personal preconceptions - a product at $2.95 will be viewed as less desirable than one at $5, even with the same content.

For 15 pages I thought twice about it, and said NAH.

They should just combine the first two Thievery modules and charge $5 then...

Is the $5 minimum a credit card issue? It certainly can't be shipping...

 

[MEG Hal]

Is the $5 minimum a credit card issue? It certainly can't be shipping...

You got it, for the chunk the companies take out you may lose money before $5-from RPGNow's standpoint because they only get a portion of the sale.

 

[PPP ENS]

You got it, for the chuck the companies take out you may lose money before $5-from RPGNow's standpoint because they only get a portion of the sale.

To be specific:

RPGNOW uses Pay Pal for credit card transactions, which means they pay 2.9% + 30 cents for each sale. Out of 5 dollars, that comes to 44.5 cents. So, if they are getting 20% of the sale, which is 1.00, then they make 55.5 cents per transaction. If the price were 2.95, then the cost would be 38.5 cents, and their 20% minus that would be 59-38.5=20 cents.

Can you imagine trying to remain profitable on 20 cents profit per sale? I bet it costs them 20 cents per product in web site and peronnel expenses just to display a work up on their site.

After looknig at it this way, I'd say they're doing a really fine job of keeping the minimum sale reasonable, yet providing a really fine service to the gaming community!

 

[MEG Hal]

To be specific:

RPGNOW uses Pay Pal for credit card transactions, which means they pay 2.9% + 30 cents for each sale. Out of 5 dollars, that comes to 44.5 cents. So, if they are getting 20% of the sale, which is 1.00, then they make 55.5 cents per transaction. If the price were 2.95, then the cost would be 38.5 cents, and their 20% minus that would be 59-38.5=20 cents.

Can you imagine trying to remain profitable on 20 cents profit per sale? I bet it costs them 20 cents per product in web site and peronnel expenses just to display a work up on their site.

After looknig at it this way, I'd say they're doing a really fine job of keeping the minimum sale reasonable, yet providing a really fine service to the gaming community!

Yeah what he said.

 

[Krug]

Consider it a STRONG HINT then to publishers to give value. Just because the minimum IS $5 doesn't mean you should jack up the price of your pdf module by more than 60% as has happened with Thievery 101. Package the product or combine your smaller items to justify your buyers paying that kind of price. I'd be pretty pissed if I didn't do the research, paid $5 for 15 pages and would probably avoid buying any more pdfs in future.