Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Publishing Business & Licensing
Roll for Combat reveals the terms of the "sweetheart deal" offered to 3pp
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Ashtagon" data-source="post: 8912328" data-attributes="member: 72335"><p>Story time.</p><p></p><p>I used to run a small hotel before covid did a number on the tourism industry. I set my own prices, and largely controlled my own profits. My single biggest expense was commission to certain online travel agents (known as OTAs in the trade); this was typically 15-20% of the sale price for bookings made through those OTAs. A large corporation approached me with an offer. They would handle all my booking data, and advertise, and control my prices. In exchange, they wanted 25% of the sales over a certain amount (that certain amount was slightly below my expected sales). Yes, this was on top of the 15-20% charged by the OTAs for any bookings made through those.</p><p></p><p>One of the things they said they would do to promote my property and increase sales was lower the basic room price. Now, after running costs, typically 40% of the sale price was nominal profit (that 40% was what paid for mortgage and my living expenses). Take away 25% of that for this big company's fee, and you'd be left unable to cover the mortgage.</p><p></p><p>Imagine if I'd let them do this. They'd also be knocking down the prices too. I'd have been in a situation where I would be paying for the privilege of hosting holiday-makers. Unsurprisingly, I laughed in their face. They offered to reduce their take to 15%. I still laughed.</p><p></p><p>----</p><p></p><p>WotC's 25% cut on sales above a certain amount is like this. It turns what for many companies is a tight but functional profit into a "paying for the privilege of being in the industry". As much as anyone might love their job and their industry, you can be quite sure that if they weren't being paid for it, they'd seek something else. And when they can continue getting paid for the job by simply not accepting a bad deal, why wouldn't they?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ashtagon, post: 8912328, member: 72335"] Story time. I used to run a small hotel before covid did a number on the tourism industry. I set my own prices, and largely controlled my own profits. My single biggest expense was commission to certain online travel agents (known as OTAs in the trade); this was typically 15-20% of the sale price for bookings made through those OTAs. A large corporation approached me with an offer. They would handle all my booking data, and advertise, and control my prices. In exchange, they wanted 25% of the sales over a certain amount (that certain amount was slightly below my expected sales). Yes, this was on top of the 15-20% charged by the OTAs for any bookings made through those. One of the things they said they would do to promote my property and increase sales was lower the basic room price. Now, after running costs, typically 40% of the sale price was nominal profit (that 40% was what paid for mortgage and my living expenses). Take away 25% of that for this big company's fee, and you'd be left unable to cover the mortgage. Imagine if I'd let them do this. They'd also be knocking down the prices too. I'd have been in a situation where I would be paying for the privilege of hosting holiday-makers. Unsurprisingly, I laughed in their face. They offered to reduce their take to 15%. I still laughed. ---- WotC's 25% cut on sales above a certain amount is like this. It turns what for many companies is a tight but functional profit into a "paying for the privilege of being in the industry". As much as anyone might love their job and their industry, you can be quite sure that if they weren't being paid for it, they'd seek something else. And when they can continue getting paid for the job by simply not accepting a bad deal, why wouldn't they? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Publishing Business & Licensing
Roll for Combat reveals the terms of the "sweetheart deal" offered to 3pp
Top