why do so many, both in games and not, make you contact their sales department? Why don''t they just put the f***ing prices on the web site? I really want to know.

1) Because prices sometimes vary depending on who''s asking.

2) Because the web site might be maintained offsite, by people who can''t/won''t keep the prices up to date in a timely fashion.

Website = international

Prices vary per country/territory due to differences in things like sales tax, shipping charges etc.

Some prices change daily. Some products are used as loss leaders, particularly with things like hardware so the prices fluctuate depending on what''s in stock etc.

Some of its a tradition from print media like magazines where there can be a lead time of up to a month before the ad appears. The price may have changed in that time.

Some companies want to try and sell you other stuff you might not need or have thought of - getting you to contact them is like a cold caller getting a sales lead, except the customer pays the phone bill

Some companies change their prices around regularly to target customers of their competitors i.e. find out what their competitor is selling more of and then put their own price for that down hoping that the loss leader concept will make up the difference again.

Some companies know people will haggle. They''ll start at an artificially high price knowing they''ll be worked down. If they put the artificially high price on their site, nobody would shop with them because the companies that don''t allow haggling will put the normal price.

There are certain changes in tax law in some countries regarding sales tax on goods from websites. Many companies don''t want to get caught out.

etc.

quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
1) Because prices sometimes vary depending on who''s asking.

#1 is what i worry about, and get pissed about.
Actually I''m pissed about the concept as a whole.

The price for a single unit will often be higher that that for multiple sales or a long term account. When I was working at a publisher I negotiated a discount of over 50% on a well known piece of 3D software because we would be buying so many over the next X months.

Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions
Game Development & Design consultant

Called price discrimination!

Charge what the customer is willing and able to pay!

Fundamental micro-economics, it reduces the consumer surplus, and gives it to the producer!

cheers

Matt

> Why don''t they just put the {f-word} prices on the web site?

Prices vary depending on quantity and geography, as stated above. But also of importance is the quality of the buyer and its contact information.

It costs on average 7 times more to acquire a new client than serve an existing one, so keeping a tab on all querying customers as well as buying customers keeps your marketing costs down. Some companies will ask you where the client got the information on the product or the company and other corporate information (call it a welcoming survey); the smart ones will will also survey current and leaving customers as well to keep its marketing data relevant. Most companies these days employ ''permission marketing'' tactics such as requiring you to register to their web sites before getting the freebies, again for the same reasons.

Some companies don''t want to deal with indie or small developpers because those would overwelm the service dept or pull their development team in every direction; leaving the prices out keeps the small fry away. Many other firms opt to have their own developpers be official contact for big accounts and many companies are willing to pay big bucks for this level of service; giving away the prices might be informative enough to reverse-engineer their cost structure to competitors bidding for the same accounts.

-cb