Raising prices?

Anyone else raise prices of their items in the last 3 months due to the fall of the Linden? I haven't and wonder if its time I should before it gets even worse.

I haven't seen any prices raise where I've shopped.

hey. no, i havent, but the thought has crossed my mind.

Yes, 100 -> 105 and 125 -> 130. I'll drop them if the exchangerate will ever reach 280 again lol.

Maybe I should... maybe not... I am very unsecure about AL this.. Linden Dolars back and forth..

/Tina

Hehe--I question this also.... Almost twice a day. *shakes head*
I could be wrong for doing this, but my prices have more to do with the effort I put into the product and the percieved value to the buyer when set against the backdrop of stipend amounts. L$ may rise & fall but these stipend amounts (for the moment at least) are constant and I feel very present in the minds of the consumer--more so perhaps than other factors. "How much money do I get?" and "What will that get me today?" are the questions I'm wagering will positively impact my sales longterm when I place my prices along this value line.
So far, it looks like I've made the right bet--but to be honest, I don't have that many products yet. Sales are stable & growing.
I look at the worse case, in my situation this way--

Loss of about US$8.00/mo due to this approach: Marginal Pity.
My off-line pride in making good stuff & my in-world reputation for giving value for the L$: Priceless.

And no--I don't want to hijack your very valid question with yet another stipend debate. lol Not at all, man.

Just my 2L$...

Sure.

Mel

Ive had to raise mine

Ah ... btw ... which prices are we all talking about?

Mel

Ever since we started our business two+ years ago, I've regularly checked the prices of between 20-30 content creators who I consider to be benchmarks. In the last three months I've seen 75% of these creators raise their prices ranging from $L 10-30 on average in response to the dropping $L value.

Yes. I adjust prices daily.

Too much work for, what, maybe 100 linden more each day? I keep my prices the same, usually stuck to the 100s or 10s. What I make each day varies in the thousands, anyway, and I give away a lot. I don't need those extra cents. I make enough as it is and I try to keep my prices friendly. I could easily sell my waves for double what I do, but I've made plenty of money off of them already, much more than I expected, and I'm not greedy.

I haven't raised prices on old stock... but suspect I'm pricing new releases less generously than I would if the L$ was lower.

Time to adjust them again 303L$ for 1usd....

This is an interesting discussion that highlights the differences between SL and the real world, which I think are differences that make SL better. In the real-world, currency exchange rate fluctuations can have a big impact, for several reasons that are absent or less relevant in SL:

Big retailers (imagine WalMart, etc) can be impacted by inflation that occurs rapidly enough to impact their margins based on unsold inventory they are holding. This can be a very big deal for companies that hold large inventories and operate at small profit margins. But in SL, there isn't very much 'inventory': stores often operate on consignment, and of course objects can make unlimited copies of themselves.

Repricing can be very expensive in the real-world, but isn't very expensive in SL. There are stickers on merchandise, printed marketing materials that have to be changed, etc. This means that even in cases where the cost of materials doesn't impact the pricing, the prices of things will not be efficient due to the fixed costs of making these changes. The cost of repricing is lower in SL, so the prices of things can be closer to correct.

So we should expect the economy of SL to be less sensitive to fluctuations in the exchange rate.

I love your waves!

They have been an incredible value-added item for my sims, and you deserve every $L you get.


I do adjust tier rates on land parcels to 'match' a USD rate, when the $L moves by ten points or so.

As for products: I have adjusted prices, but not lately.

No, I haven't changed my prices. Nor will I change them if the Linden suddenly becomes worth a lot more. (Unlikely.)

Part of my rationale: I don't notice prices in WalMart and Kroger and Macy's going up and down on a weekly basis depending on what happens on Wall Street. I think I would become too irked to shop there if they did.

CC

I would expect Walmart's prices to be noticably impacted by the exchange rate between the US and the Yuan which in the past has been a pegged rate. I'm certain if the rate changed as radically as the US/L rate has Walmart's prices would change also. I don't know the extent to which Kroger or Macy's are affected by foreign exchange rates. However I would suspect in the case of Krogers a significant change in the rate between us and a 3rd world producer would show up on their shelves. But unlike SL in the case of all your examples the return on every single product on their shelves does not depend on a single exchange rate.

A Sure Sign of Inflation.... Or should I say, Mudflation.

So you intend to exploit this at the benefit of LL and to the detriment of everyone who sells content and services in your world?

Honestly, this feels like a stealth way to tax transactions. Instead of taking money from us directly, take money indirectly by redirecting money that would have gone from one resident to another and send it to LL instead.

This is too funny... King Philip believes that fluctations in the Linden Dollar
have little to no impact in SL. I guess for the person who bought L$100,000
at L$250 (US$400) to purchase a piece of land, only to have Linden Dollar
fall to L$305 and their land now worth (US$327), a 20% decline, means nothing
to the King.

Believe it or not King Philip, "Virtual Land" is "Inventory". It is an asset that is
sensitive to fluctuations in the exchange rate. Widgets may not apply, but Land
and Cold-Cash in people's accounts are effected by the exchange rate.
Thus making the arguement that Linden Labs has a fiduciary obligation to
manage the economy and prevent Inflation or Deflation.

The current scheme to sell L$ directly will only encourage Inflation..
Sending the Linden Dollar into the toilet...

No change in prices that I've seen. And I'm working on a few projects in my spare time to undercut the major retailers. Lower sales price = more L$ profit if the competition choose to raise their prices. I don't cash out so I can actually LOWER my prices if I want and still make a profit.

Thanks for stopping by to chat with us Philip. This is indeed a very interesting topic.



I can agree with this in part.



LAND! Specifically, MAINLAND LAND! It is effected by exactly this. In an ideal world, land would be repriced to compensate for L$ appreciation or (more often) depreciation, consumers would pay the same USD value, and everyone would be happy. Sometimes I've gotten away with this, other times not.

Unfortunately, matters are complicated by more land than people want sitting for sale on the market. This tends to cause prices to stay pinned or even decline, in spite of currency depreciation, depending on how rampant land oversupply is at the moment.



I agree that repricing is quick and easy if you're set up right for it. This is a saving grace, when it works. Some sectors can't be set up correctly for a 1 click reprice though, resulting in a cost of hours worth of time to reprice goods and services.

Let's say, on average, it takes four hours, and has to be done weekly. How much is four hours of your time worth? I won't even talk about more tangable expenses, but just compare what sixteen hours worth of your time (4 monthly pricing adjustments) is worth to the average SL residen's monthly earnings (excluding subsidies). I think you'll see that it isn't always so cut and dry, even in SL.



Like everything else in the virtual economy, I think that it just depends.

xOMG ANTE FLAN WAVES = RIPPLESHOCK

WalMart would pay less to the manufacturer before raising prices, however if the fluctuation was to large, then of course they would raise prices.