So, I read this in another thread about a seller raising their prices right before their Heartsy deal went live. How often does this happen? I know I've read another post on the main forums about it as well.
Doubling the price is not acceptable but I might be able to see a dollar or so, depending on the original price of the item. Sort of like a supply and demand type thing. The higher the demand on something, the higher the price.
And I know some one in this thread mentioned "Heartsy doesn't get a cut in the deals YET". Well, as I'm going through the negotiating process, yes they do. I'm not exactly *thrilled* about it but I'm trying to think of it as paying for a lot of advertising.
Agreed - raising prices just for Heartsy is awful!!! You should come up with your deal amount according to your current prices, and if Heartsy doesn't work with your current prices then don't do any Heartsy deals until you have PERMANENTLY made some changes to your pricing.
Now, I do have a question, though... I'm getting ready to raise some of my prices. I've needing to for awhile, BUT I just did a Heartsy deal a month ago, and still have about 20 vouchers that haven't been used yet. I don't want to raise the prices and have those 20 people mad about it... but I don't want to have to wait a full three months to change my pricing... Do you think I should wait the three months until vouchers are expired, or do you think that it has been long enough since the deal and it would be okay to make the raises?
I think I would raise my prices now, 202. One month is long enough. Just the cost of supplies could have raised in that same one month time frame because of the sky rocketing fuel prices.
Well I am one of the people who raised their prices before their deal, but it was because after crunching the numbers I realized i had to - but not just for the deal, the changes are permanent in the my shop. And I hadn't raised my prices literally in years. But the prices for my materials have skyrocketed. Coconut oil alone has gone up almost 30% in the last few months and that is an ingredient in almost all of my products. I know part of it is the increased fuel costs lately, but ouch.
I raised my prices before my deal went up though. And it was only by a dollar or so. I also changed my shipping to flat rate, but that was something I'd been planning to do for a long time.
Everyone will need to raise their prices at one time or another. Materials of all kinds seem to be going up as well as shipping! A permanent price increase is one thing, but I think jacking them up because of Heartsy is another...
202, perhaps if you put a disclaimer about your price increase in your shop letting people know it's necessary at this time...I don't think anyone can hold it against you.
UglyTroll - yes, I've thought about that. But, some people have said that putting out a disclaimer about raising prices will only draw attention to it, and make more people upset over it than would have even realized it in the first place...
I wish there was a good way to contact those that still have their vouchers - to just let those people know that in a couple days I am raising prices. But, to my knowledge there is no way to do that until I have their contact info.
Well 202, I would think people would understand, as long as the increase isn't too dramatic. I buy and receive gift cards from stores all the time (because shipping presents to and from Alaska is crazy expensive). But I don't expect brick and mortar stores to honor the prices at which I got/gave their gift cards.
That is true! Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and raise the prices within the next couple days. Just a little bit, nothing too crazy. Shop now if you want them at this price, haha :)
I really think a dollar or two is okay. I'm going to be ending my shipping promotion that I have now for my Heartsy deal. I just can't do both Hearty and my shipping promotion.
I'm just shocked about doubling the prices. IMO, not cool.
I have new items on my site and I've been trying to tweek the price within $5 bucks or so and gauge the amount of favoriting it gets. I hate that I have a deal coming up, but I need to raise the price on this one new item on my site.
I'm in a bad position because my date is in a couple of days. the only other option I have is to sell the 5 items I have listed at the price currently listed and just not renew them until the deal is done for a few days. Not sure what I'm going to do there - I honestly thought testing them before the deal went live would be wise - but someone could easily construe that I was price hiking. Of course, it would only be on this item....
202 - I'm thinking that your buyers won't even notice the price difference. I have a bunch of things in my favorites list, and I'd have no clue if something I looked at a month ago had gone up in price slightly. Doubling the price is a different story - that I notice lol
I agree LoveKnots, espcially if it is only one item. And perhaps if a buyer was REALLY upset, you could explain the increases in your costs and offer to meet them in the middle somewhere.
Yes, I have decided that I regardless of any deal that is on the horizon - I still have to run a business. I can't afford to leave the price so low for 3 months. It's only 1 item line in a series of 7 item lines on my site.
Thanks for the feedback everyone, it really helps to have a place to "bounce ideas around".
I just wanted to chime in here and resurect this thread....
The shop I mentioned that had raised their prices for the Heartsy deal ($1.00 on all items) just lowered the prices by $.50 now which is about 3 weeks from her deal.
I haven't used my voucher yet. I think i was holding out to see if the priced would drop again!
I didn't raise my prices, but I did put my volume listings in edit mode. I can't afford to take another 55% hit when they're already discounted 30%. When all the vouchers are used, I'll put them back.
btw my heartsy deal is still on, if anyone's interested.
Thanks! I have all the candles listed, everything I have in stock ready to go. Take your time, I'll be making some new ones once I get unburied. I think I sold about 100 tins, greatly reducing my inventory, so I need to build it back up since I also have shows coming up.
I think it's probably necessary to take down your quantity discount listings for Heartsy. It's already a huge discount as it is!
I bought a voucher for Concrete Minerals. I've used them before and check their store frequently. I noticed they removed their "eyeshadow of the week" which is usually a shadow discounted by $2. And they also removed their "facebook Friend" promotion where you can get 2 shadows at a discount. The only discounted listings they have is 10 or more.
I think it's not only reasonable but necessary to hide those listings with a Heartsy deal. I would expect every shop probably does it