robkrush wrote: »

Divinius wrote: »

First rule of sales and marketing:

You don't charge what an item is worth, you charge what people are willing to pay. Anything less than that, and you are throwing money away.

If enough people are willing to pay 2500 crowns for a re-skinned bear, then ZOS would be stupid to not charge 2500 crowns for it.

That all said...
For something like this (where supply is essentially infinite), there's always a balance between price, and number of people willing to purchase. The more expensive the item, the fewer people willing to buy it. The cheaper it is, the more people will buy it, to a point. The trick is to find the correct equilibrium point where you can make the most money.

I'm willing to bet that ZOS has these mounts priced very close to their equilibrium point, and that's why they aren't going to get any cheaper.

First rule of making money. If you sell 100,000 units for 5 dollars you make more than you do if your sell 1,000 for 20 dollars.

Yes, except you are forgetting the very critical italicized note in my post: "to a point." If lowering the price to 25% of what it was doesn't let you sell at least 4 times as many, then you are NOT going to make more money. Let me illustrate using potentially more accurate numbers:

If 10,000 people are willing to buy something at $20, and dropping the price to $5 would only increase the number of people willing to buy it to 25,000, you just LOST money by dropping the price.

Cosmetic items like this are a funny thing. They people willing to spend money on them are very often the types of people that don't care what it costs (as long as it's not prohibitively expensive), and the people who aren't interested typically wouldn't purchase them at any price. This means that if you price the item too low, you aren't going to get enough additional people buying the item to increase your profit.

Of course, it works the other way too, meaning that you could (hypothetically) charge $100,000 for the item, and only need to sell a handful. But if zero people would pay $100,000, then you make no money.

That's the equilibrium point I was referring to. Charging too little is just as bad as charging too much.

If you like something on the store, buy it there and then or miss out. You could wait to see if the price goes down but it probably won't and who knows when or if you'll see it again

robkrush wrote: »

Im sorry you don't understand basic math. ZOS can price items lower and sell more. Or offer more items that cost less. They have nothing to loose, being as it is digital content. They could switch back to one very expensive "exclusive" item any time.

And I'm sorry you don't understand economics. That bolded section is true, but the part you are missing (and the fault in your logic) is that "selling more" doesn't necessarily equal "making more total money". If current prices are already near the equilibrium point, then (while they may sell "more") they may not sell enough more to offset the price reduction. Without access to their marketing research, there's no way to know if they are priced as best they can be or not. Common opinion might be that they could make more money at a lower price, and that may even prove true, but it is by no means a given fact.

Divinius wrote: »

robkrush wrote: »

Im sorry you don't understand basic math. ZOS can price items lower and sell more. Or offer more items that cost less. They have nothing to loose, being as it is digital content. They could switch back to one very expensive "exclusive" item any time.

And I'm sorry you don't understand economics. That bolded section is true, but the part you are missing (and the fault in your logic) is that "selling more" doesn't necessarily equal "making more total money". If current prices are already near the equilibrium point, then (while they may sell "more") they may not sell enough more to offset the price reduction. Without access to their marketing research, there's no way to know if they are priced as best they can be or not. Common opinion might be that they could make more money at a lower price, and that may even prove true, but it is by no means a given fact.

Unfortunately with things like these we get slowly burned. There is no way... NO WAY we would have accepted paying $20 for an in-game mount 10 years ago. We complained about $2.50 for Horse Armor. The prices have increased incrementally and the companies are just slowing pushing the price of their DLC up and up.

Every now and again a company goes too far, Like the Batman Arkham Knight $40 Season Pass. The gaming community riled up in anger when that was announced. How many people complained about the Star Wars Battlefront $50 Season Pass? Not many. While it's true that there is a "sweet spot" for Digital Content, I'm of the mind that game developers are doing what they can to drive these prices higher and higher each year.

If we don't like it, we shouldn't buy it. Why is the bear so expensive? Because PLENTY of people bought the fire horse, the ice horse, the whatever-senche... They price their items to sell. If we don't buy them, they will lower their prices. You just have to decide which is more important to you: speaking your mind with your wallet or getting the shiny, because it's a good bet that enough people WILL buy the item that your lack of purchase will get lost in the cha-ching of the cash register from all purchases that WILL be made.

I wanted the undead horse... like REALLY wanted it. But I didn't buy it because I disagreed the manner in which it was being added to ESO. Does it matter to ZOS? Nope... my measly sale means nothing to them. There was MORE than enough people buying it to drown out my non-purchase. So what did my lack of purchase accomplish? Well... it made me feel good for standing by my principals. You just need to decide what is more important to you... NOT buying an outrageously priced mount... or having the mount from here on out.

I'm prepared to drop 2500 Each on the new cat mounts. I have the other two (lion and leopard) but am a sucker for the big cats.

They know this, which is why there is currently 5 different cat mounts in the game

I know I am a sucker. There's a difference between being ripped off, and knowing you're being ripped off and not caring. At least I am aware of it.

I have 4800 crowns, plus Xmas, so I know I'll be able to afford it. But it truly is bs, they know they can do it because people will panic and buy before it's gone.

Gidorick wrote: »

Divinius wrote: »

robkrush wrote: »

Im sorry you don't understand basic math. ZOS can price items lower and sell more. Or offer more items that cost less. They have nothing to loose, being as it is digital content. They could switch back to one very expensive "exclusive" item any time.

And I'm sorry you don't understand economics. That bolded section is true, but the part you are missing (and the fault in your logic) is that "selling more" doesn't necessarily equal "making more total money". If current prices are already near the equilibrium point, then (while they may sell "more") they may not sell enough more to offset the price reduction. Without access to their marketing research, there's no way to know if they are priced as best they can be or not. Common opinion might be that they could make more money at a lower price, and that may even prove true, but it is by no means a given fact.

Unfortunately with things like these we get slowly burned. There is no way... NO WAY we would have accepted paying $20 for an in-game mount 10 years ago. We complained about $2.50 for Horse Armor. The prices have increased incrementally and the companies are just slowing pushing the price of their DLC up and up.

Every now and again a company goes too far, Like the Batman Arkham Knight $40 Season Pass. The gaming community riled up in anger when that was announced. How many people complained about the Star Wars Battlefront $50 Season Pass? Not many. While it's true that there is a "sweet spot" for Digital Content, I'm of the mind that game developers are doing what they can to drive these prices higher and higher each year.

If we don't like it, we shouldn't buy it. Why is the bear so expensive? Because PLENTY of people bought the fire horse, the ice horse, the whatever-senche... They price their items to sell. If we don't buy them, they will lower their prices. You just have to decide which is more important to you: speaking your mind with your wallet or getting the shiny, because it's a good bet that enough people WILL buy the item that your lack of purchase will get lost in the cha-ching of the cash register from all purchases that WILL be made.

I wanted the undead horse... like REALLY wanted it. But I didn't buy it because I disagreed the manner in which it was being added to ESO. Does it matter to ZOS? Nope... my measly sale means nothing to them. There was MORE than enough people buying it to drown out my non-purchase. So what did my lack of purchase accomplish? Well... it made me feel good for standing by my principals. You just need to decide what is more important to you... NOT buying an outrageously priced mount... or having the mount from here on out.

Horse armor was 100% cosmetic. It wasn't the actual horse. Less would have been mad if it were.

And it was $5

ZOS_Insert any staff name

.....ppl disagree from time to time....
blah blah blah
....lets get back on topic....

I just bought the white polar bear on xbox one....cause its less than $15 in crowns which is what the other black panther mount cost me

1,800 x 1.33 = 2,394

This is how much the normal bear would cost with a 33% raise on its price.
Which is the opposite of what we have right now: a 33% reduction on the 3,000 crowns pack.

Considering this and the fact that the mount is going for limited time, it is (during this specific time frame of the sale) actually just 106 crowns more expensive than the brown bear regular price.

DaniAngione wrote: »

1,800 x 1.33 = 2,394

This is how much the normal bear would cost with a 33% raise on its price.
Which is the opposite of what we have right now: a 33% reduction on the 3,000 crowns pack.

Considering this and the fact that the mount is going for limited time, it is (during this specific time frame of the sale) actually just 106 crowns more expensive than the brown bear regular price.

exactly...

About average, I am still waiting for them to put something In the store that interests me enough to buy something, my luck when they do it will be the most expensive item ever offered in the store that's my luck..LOL

robkrush wrote: »

I just think that if we got guys riding around on frickin bears and lizards then clearly realty is not a concern and ZOS can nurf the pebbles that my horse trips over every 5 ft and gets us pulled outta sprint.

It's a fantasy sword-and-sorcery game. 'Reality' doesn't come into it. Anywhere.

I've been subbed since game release, and have accumulated A LOT of crowns. I've never spent any until recently, when I purchased two mounts. I got the Black Friday special with the Guar mount, and today I got the Polar Bear. Sure, it would be nice if it cost less. Is it worth more than the Brown Bear? It is to me, since I knew the Polar Bear was coming and held off on bear mounts even though I thought they were as cool as my Tiger mount. The Polar Bear cost no more than the Nightmare Horse, which costs the same today as when it was first released. I'd be willing to bet the Polar Bear is MUCH more popular than the Brown Bear, or any other color bear. I got mine within a few minutes of release, and in no time, there were three of us on our Polar Bears outside the Orsinium bank. Besides, I look awesome in my White Bear costume atop my Polar Bear. And I still have a huge pile of crowns from my sub.