4 ms·

I'd like to buy their v2.0 model but I was turned away by their up sell tactics. You want a pen that can also erase? - Of course you do and it doesn't cost them

I'd like to buy their v2.0 model but I was turned away by their up sell tactics. You want a pen that can also erase? - Of course you do and it doesn't cost them anything extra. Another 50 bucks please (marked down from 100 so you think its a deal). The default cover it comes with is comically inadequate because a quarter of the device sticks out. Want a cover that covers the entire screen? 80 bucks please.

mlthoughts2018 6y ago
I personally felt pretty happy to pay them more for more functionality. It didn’t feel like upselling to me at all, it felt more like they are a “little guy” doing limited manufacturing of a tablet in a crowded market, and they have to be really careful about not missing monetization opportunities that a lot of their target customers (people for whom the overall price of the device and all the add ons is pretty trivial) would be fine with. It’s not like they are generating some insane profit margin on these things.
- mosselman 6y ago
  You can get a normal stylus for $0.36 on aliexpress. I know these ReMarkable are probably not the same, but they aren't $99.64 or $49.64 more complex than a stylus from aliexpress. So the margin is probably pretty big. Which is OK, you don' t have the right to use a cheap ReMarkable product or something, but lets not pretend they are doing people any favours by 'letting' them buy their things. They are a company that wants to make a profit, good for them.
  - kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
    It's a Wacom stylus with nib detection on both ends. Not $0.36.
    - mosselman 6y ago
      I never said that it is. Did you only read the first line of what I wrote?
  - mlthoughts2018 6y ago
    $49 seems like a perfectly low price for a well designed stylus for a limited manufactured tablet. I don’t see any sense in which it’s useful or fair to compare that with $0.36 commodity stylus mass manufactured for commodity tablets.
    - tedunangst 6y ago
      It's $49 until you lose it, then it transforms into a $99 stylus.
    - mosselman 6y ago
      I was just highlighting that ReMarkable isn’t a charity and they don’t need to be.
  - ascar 6y ago
    The regular stylus comes for free in the current presale. The eraser stylus is additional 40€, requires additional sensors and required additional R&D. Cost of a product is in the end a function of manufacturing, distribution, expected number of sales and R&D cost with some profit at the end. Considering an Apple stylus retails for 90€, Samsung S Pen for 40€ and Wacom Bamboo stylus for 50€ the current 40€ extra seem absolutely fair for me in a premium niche market.
    - JustFinishedBSG 6y ago
      > required additional R&D Only because Remarkable retardly decided to not go with side buttons in order to preserve the "feel". If I wanted paper I'd use paper, the side button on the Lamy on my remarkable 1 is vastly superior to RM2 back eraser
      - samatman 6y ago
        There are places on the internet where that particular slur is commonplace. HN is not among them. Please don't.
  - tonyhb 6y ago
    Maybe you can go with the iPad Pro and pay $129 for the "Apple Pencil": https://www.apple.com/apple-pencil/ https://www.apple.com/apple-pencil/. You don't have to buy the $49 Remarkable eraser stylus. You could also get the free one that comes with it.
    - mosselman 6y ago
      Did I offend you when I noted that they make a profit on the stylus? Your comment looks very defensive.
      - tonyhb 6y ago
        No, you didn't, apologies if it came off that way :) I do find it uh... "remarkable" that people are offended at a $49 upsell from a small company, given $2 trillion + companies do this all of the time at a higher price. That's all I was getting at.

mlthoughts2018 6y ago

I personally felt pretty happy to pay them more for more functionality. It didn’t feel like upselling to me at all, it felt more like they are a “little guy” doing limited manufacturing of a tablet in a crowded market, and they have to be really careful about not missing monetization opportunities that a lot of their target customers (people for whom the overall price of the device and all the add ons is pretty trivial) would be fine with. It’s not like they are generating some insane profit margin on these things.

mosselman 6y ago
You can get a normal stylus for $0.36 on aliexpress. I know these ReMarkable are probably not the same, but they aren't $99.64 or $49.64 more complex than a stylus from aliexpress. So the margin is probably pretty big. Which is OK, you don' t have the right to use a cheap ReMarkable product or something, but lets not pretend they are doing people any favours by 'letting' them buy their things. They are a company that wants to make a profit, good for them.
- kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
  It's a Wacom stylus with nib detection on both ends. Not $0.36.
  - mosselman 6y ago
    I never said that it is. Did you only read the first line of what I wrote?
- mlthoughts2018 6y ago
  $49 seems like a perfectly low price for a well designed stylus for a limited manufactured tablet. I don’t see any sense in which it’s useful or fair to compare that with $0.36 commodity stylus mass manufactured for commodity tablets.
  - tedunangst 6y ago
    It's $49 until you lose it, then it transforms into a $99 stylus.
  - mosselman 6y ago
    I was just highlighting that ReMarkable isn’t a charity and they don’t need to be.
- ascar 6y ago
  The regular stylus comes for free in the current presale. The eraser stylus is additional 40€, requires additional sensors and required additional R&D. Cost of a product is in the end a function of manufacturing, distribution, expected number of sales and R&D cost with some profit at the end. Considering an Apple stylus retails for 90€, Samsung S Pen for 40€ and Wacom Bamboo stylus for 50€ the current 40€ extra seem absolutely fair for me in a premium niche market.
  - JustFinishedBSG 6y ago
    > required additional R&D Only because Remarkable retardly decided to not go with side buttons in order to preserve the "feel". If I wanted paper I'd use paper, the side button on the Lamy on my remarkable 1 is vastly superior to RM2 back eraser
    - samatman 6y ago
      There are places on the internet where that particular slur is commonplace. HN is not among them. Please don't.
- tonyhb 6y ago
  Maybe you can go with the iPad Pro and pay $129 for the "Apple Pencil": https://www.apple.com/apple-pencil/ https://www.apple.com/apple-pencil/. You don't have to buy the $49 Remarkable eraser stylus. You could also get the free one that comes with it.
  - mosselman 6y ago
    Did I offend you when I noted that they make a profit on the stylus? Your comment looks very defensive.
    - tonyhb 6y ago
      No, you didn't, apologies if it came off that way :) I do find it uh... "remarkable" that people are offended at a $49 upsell from a small company, given $2 trillion + companies do this all of the time at a higher price. That's all I was getting at.