3 ms·

Manufacturers typically dictate reseller pricing and marketing to serve the needs of their brand ("you can't sell below x as that makes our product seem cheap")

Manufacturers typically dictate reseller pricing and marketing to serve the needs of their brand ("you can't sell below x as that makes our product seem cheap") so dictating a sales tactic isn't unimaginable. Especially if the tactic is designed to sell services and what not the manufacturer offers via the resellers. My other guess is that the resellers have figured out that while they cannot fleece you on the price of the device - they all sell the same, identical hardware after all - they can charge you extra for services, support insurance and extra options as long as those prices aren't readily available for comparison.

gesman 7y ago
To me the clear winner of business would be the site that has available pricing for base + options. Literally they can make an easy $2-$4k sale just by adding [Buy now] button, considering that the rest of the pack are playing tough sh.. to get with the prospects. I also found one site that has "add to card to reveal pricing" - which is perfectly fine with me. The problem with that specific site is that they only carrying outdated models. PS: this is hardware device, not SaaS or service.
- arkitaip 7y ago
  That makes 100% sense from a customer POV but this anti pattern exists because it serves (bad) businesses very well. Say a reseller does exactly what you suggest: initially they might make more money that the competition simply because their sales approach is favored by customers but pretty soon the competition would catch on and embrace the same sales approach. Now everyone have a smaller profit margin on the product or, even worse, might get dragged in a price war.
- solarkraft 7y ago
  "add to card to reveal pricing" is just bad UX, without any gain (assuming there is one from the sales dance) to anyone.
  - fphhotchips 7y ago
    It's an end run around contract clauses that tell them they can't advertise pricing until there's a qualified lead (or similar).

gesman 7y ago

To me the clear winner of business would be the site that has available pricing for base + options. Literally they can make an easy $2-$4k sale just by adding [Buy now] button, considering that the rest of the pack are playing tough sh.. to get with the prospects. I also found one site that has "add to card to reveal pricing" - which is perfectly fine with me. The problem with that specific site is that they only carrying outdated models. PS: this is hardware device, not SaaS or service.

arkitaip 7y ago
That makes 100% sense from a customer POV but this anti pattern exists because it serves (bad) businesses very well. Say a reseller does exactly what you suggest: initially they might make more money that the competition simply because their sales approach is favored by customers but pretty soon the competition would catch on and embrace the same sales approach. Now everyone have a smaller profit margin on the product or, even worse, might get dragged in a price war.
solarkraft 7y ago
"add to card to reveal pricing" is just bad UX, without any gain (assuming there is one from the sales dance) to anyone.
- fphhotchips 7y ago
  It's an end run around contract clauses that tell them they can't advertise pricing until there's a qualified lead (or similar).