Your opinion on super heavy discounts on MyFonts.

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Comments

  • Stephen Coles
    Stephen Coles Posts: 1,007
    edited March 2013
    Right, the current algorithm is still encouraging heavy discounts.
  • Nick Shinn
    Nick Shinn Posts: 2,210
    But what's the difference if the ranking is based on dollar value?
  • Eris Alar
    Eris Alar Posts: 454
    I agree with lots of points from Stephen and echo Nicks question. If it is pure dollar sales that determine the list how is it unfair to deep discount? Unless of course it is not that simple and the list is not just dollar sales.
  • Ralf
    Ralf Posts: 170
    Since the list is based on both newness and hotness, I think the more a font costs, the more hotness weight its sales should have on the chart …
    It’s a valid idea, but I wonder about what the users would actually want. Are the people who visit the Hot New Font section actually interested such a weighted list or are they maybe actually looking for those deep discounts?
    The established foundries should have their marketing channels themselves and can point potential buyers to their offers on MyFonts. Is that Hot New Font section (let alone the Special Offers section) really that important for us?

    I am happy to see our new fonts in the Hot New Font section, but from my experience, being in there doesn't have a huge influence on sales. It's usually the offer itself and how it spreads on the internet what matters.

    And from what I can remember the offers in the newsletters are leveled out anyway. It's not like they only list deep discounts and leave out great new releases which have no or just a modest discount.
  • Ben Blom
    Ben Blom Posts: 250
    edited March 2013
    I can confirm what Jan Middendorp told you: the stats on MyFonts are based on money revenue, not on units.
    I have no problem with a chart based on sales. I just think the 90% off sales shouldn't "count" as much as they currently do.
    At the moment, the ranking in both MyFonts' "Best Sellers" list and MyFonts' "Hot New Fonts" list, is based on sales volume in dollars. I guess the same algorithm is being used to decide the ranking in both these lists.

    Let's do a thought experiment. What would happen, if this algorithm would be changed in this way: The higher the discount percentage of a typeface, the more this typeface would be "punished" by reducing its originally measured sales volume in dollars. (So, the higher the discount, the more the measured sales volume will be reduced.) Therefore, the higher the discount of a typeface would be, the lower its ranking in the list(s) would be.

    Then there will be a problem, because both lists are advertised now as reflecting the sales volume in dollars, and nothing else. Then you could not trust those lists anymore, because they would give a distorted view of the sales volume — they would not reflect the real sales volume in dollars anymore.

    Well, you could change the way the lists are advertised, by telling that there is a "correction" for discounts. But then, users of the list would still not know what they are looking at: whatever it is, it is not the ranking of the sales volume in dollars anymore. It would be confusing. There are many sales charts now, and users of those charts simply expect that they reflect the real sales volume, and nothing else.

    My conclusion of this thought experiment is, that there is no practical way to change the algorithm to "punish" typefaces with discounts.

    Anyway, I don't believe there is a need to "punish" deep-discounted fonts in the "Hot New Fonts" list. I think those discounts do not result in an unfair ranking in this list, because this list reflects sales volume in dollars, not in units. To repeat, in other words, what I said before: Do not expect a system that emphasizes sales, to emphasize quality. And do not expect a system that emphasizes quality, to emphasize sales.

    ______________________________

    MyFonts definition of "Hot New Fonts": Top selling fonts new to MyFonts in the last 50 days. So "hot" fonts are the best selling fonts that were published at MyFonts no longer than 50 days ago. So it is, indeed, very easy to accurately measure the hotness of a font, because it is easy to measure a sales volume in dollars.

    To follow your example, Ray: Indeed, the $100 font is hotter than the discounted $2 font. Why? Just do the calculations: 5 x 100 = 500, and 20 x 2 = 40. So the sales volume in dollars of the first font is $500, while the sales volume of the second font is $40. So the first font is much hotter than the second font. For the second font to become as hot as the first font, it would have to sell 250 units! Is it really easier to sell 250 $2 "dumb" fonts, than to sell five $100 "classic" fonts?
  • Ray Larabie
    Ray Larabie Posts: 1,432
    I guess you're right. The list does exactly what it says on the label. And most people probably only care about the deep discount fonts. I should probably pay less attention to it.
  • Ale Paul
    Ale Paul Posts: 35
    edited March 2013
    Stewf
    Piel Script is #17 and is still with a 30% off.

    I adopted the 30% introductory discount at MyFonts or Fontshop when i moved the exclusive stuff I used to have at Veer. As the fonts were not exactly new I thought it was a good way to gain different costumers. Piel Script is the latest of the Veer's exclusive.

    Today I published Heráldica Script http://bit.ly/11klc6W and I am going with a 30% off for a Lted. Time. This happened because this trend (free and deep discounts) but I am unable to go with a 90%, this typeface took too many hours to be done and its too much complex to draw than a 200 weights similar to Dax/Helvetica/Frutiger/whatever interpolated sans where you can offer 2 for free or 90% off.

    Anyway I think Heráldica has a not massive market so I can not expect to be on the hot top lists but I could dream with see a nice book cover from this.

    So my advice is build your brand doing good and solid stuff.

    Ale.

    PS. MyFonts usually shows some Text fonts of the months that I do not think are based on sales. The "decorative" publishes as me do not have this option. Maybe this heavy deep large families with 90% could be selected and show there?
  • Ben Blom
    Ben Blom Posts: 250
    edited March 2013
    the current algorithm is still encouraging heavy discounts
    "When they first added Hot New Fonts (maybe a decade ago?), I did some of those heavy discounts to see if it would make a difference. It really worked." Ray said that he did some heavy discounting a long time ago. I would guess that the algorithm of that time, has been basically the same as it is today.

    Now I am supposed to believe, that for many, many years, the algorithm has been encouraging heavy discounts. Others might remember this better, but I do not remember a lot a heavy introductory discounting during the last ten years, that is, before the introduction of Pluto. I just do not believe that the algorithm in itself, encourages heavy discounting.

    What, then, is encouraging heavy introductory discounts? Successful heavy introductory discounts by others. The example of the extremely successful introduction of Pluto is well known. And there have been other successful deep introductory discounts since the introduction of Pluto. I think that the successful heavy discounted introduction of Pluto, has been a game changer.
    A comparison. Imagine that you are running a coffeehouse for some years. Then, suddenly, another coffeehouse opens its doors next to yours. To attract customers, this new coffeehouse sets its prices significantly lower than your prices. The prices during the first three months after its opening, might be even lower. What to do? You could do many things to attract and keep customers, like organizing a gig of a popular folk band, or like doing some extra advertising, or like introducing some very exclusive coffee blends. You might also feel encouraged to lower your prices. (You might not actually be forced to lower your prices, but if you wouldn't do that, you might be out of business a year later — or not.)
  • Alex Kaczun
    Alex Kaczun Posts: 163
    I've been monitoring my latest submission to MyFonts, and in all honesty, I just cannot figure out how exactly this "Hot New Fonts" thing is working anymore.

    I seem to remember, a while back, that every new font, in some sort of order appeared after a few days, to advertise the new font submission.

    Well, not anymore. I've had my font on for 10+ days, and not once has it appeared under "Hot New Fonts" front page showcase. And I have 4 sales to date, full price with no discounting?

    Does anyone understand how this works anymore?

    Clueless :-(
  • Alex Kaczun
    Alex Kaczun Posts: 163
    Correction... I meant "Recent Fonts" (Not "Hot New Fonts") sorry.
  • Laurence Penney
    Laurence Penney Posts: 50
    The formula MyFonts uses in Hot New Fonts is currently not very complicated and is heavily based on the USD a font family generates. It is justifiable sending email to 1,000,000+ potential customers about previously unknown fonts only if they have proved they can generate significant sales. Our view is that a list hand-picked by experts would not do nearly as well.

    The arguments for biasing the HNF formula go both ways. Just as one might argue for a formula favouring more expensive fonts (say, on the basis of less support or not wanting to “devalue” fonts), equally one can argue that the broader reach of inexpensive fonts turns window-shoppers who have never bought a font before into customers, so should be highlighted. MyFonts’ success at finding new people to pay money for fonts is something we have always been proud of, and we think it is excellent news for all in the business.

    We do not intend to give an exact public specification of the HNF formula. For one thing, that would in itself encourage gaming the system. For another, every change we make would be prone to suspicion and unproductive debate.

    That said, we acknowledge we can improve how we give space and encouragement to fonts whose charms are subtle. Things of lasting value in the world are not necessarily ever “hot”! Potential customers of fonts in this category would probably not respond well to a short 90%-off promo anyway. This might mean a new HNF formula, but might not – how important in fact is newness for this kind of font? There are other ways to increase their visibility.

    Regarding the “bargain basement” comments, if more type designers than ever are making good money from their work, which I believe is the case (and, I might add, is quite wonderful in a world with 100,000+ fonts and high quality system fonts), then I would like to know why the absolute price level is a problem. In any case the low prices are largely temporary: the 90% promos preserve the high prices for customers who need the font “now”. You could complain about “bargain basement” prices for books (before Penguin), or for smartphone apps (compared with desktop apps), or for music (compared with the 1990s). Only in music has revenue gone down, but that’s because of CD ripping and sharing, not pricing (which has gone down only modestly). Personally I suspect there’ll soon be a new musical sweet spot for price (low) and convenience (high) regarding music-buying at live events or from the radio.

    Finally I would like to stress that type designers are making serious money at MyFonts ($20k+ of sales per month is not unusual for a family in the bestsellers) with every approach to promotions: zero, moderate and intensive.
  • Nick Shinn
    Nick Shinn Posts: 2,210
    I agree, I don’t think deep discounting is an issue per se.
    However, I do think that getting featured in a MyFonts newsletter gives a huge boost to a typeface, which is a little unfair.
    But that’s the way things are in retail: sales beget sales, because distributors know that a product that is selling now has more chance of selling later than one that isn’t

    How about some more charts Laurence?
    I’m thinking along music lines, with genre breakdowns.
    You could have Serif, Sans, Script, Revival and Distress charts, as well as the Top Fifty.
    That expansion and diversification of promotion would remove some of the sting for foundries whose new releases don’t make the big first cut.

    I would also like to see Greek and Cyrillic charts, and Greek and Cyrillic listings with sample text strings in the appropriate script — and of course the entire site with Greek/Cyrillic/etc. text!
  • Alex Kaczun
    Alex Kaczun Posts: 163
    I also don't feel that deep discounting is an issue per se.

    But, coming out with a new font at $40 and discounting it heavily -90%, right off the start—is a gimmick! Plain and simple.

    If you want to really be fair. No new font submission should be allowed to be heavily discounted until it has run it's initial course. After 3 months or so.

    That way everyone starts out on the same footing.

    MyFonts doesn't allow you to run a "Fire Sale" indefinitely in order to promote fairness, why not put a stop to this ridiculous initial "heavy discounting" practice as well?
  • Stephen Coles
    Stephen Coles Posts: 1,007
    edited March 2013
    Hey Lorp. Algorithms aside, what matters most is what MyFonts chooses to promote. The placement and location of bestseller lists and featured fonts on the homepage, the selections for newsletters, and the policies for descriptions and tagging, all have a huge influence on sales. Those are conscious choices made by MyFonts management which have an effect on the MyFonts brand and reputation.

    Don’t get me wrong. The site has done great things for researchers and recommenders like me, and it has been especially invigorating for the independent font maker. It’s only because I value the good that you guys do that I am concerned about your image.
  • Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh
    Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh Posts: 539
    Finally had a chance to read through some of the longer posts on the previous page and had to comment on this from Adam:
    Without MyFonts, you'd only need to rely on your marketing. With MyFonts, you can do your own marketing and get 65% or do no marketing and get 50%.

    Again, I think it's actually very interesting. MyFonts is a distributor, and it tries to do its job in this role as well as only possible. It carries out sales and does some marketing. As a foundry, you're free to join MyFonts and not do anything else, or be on MyFonts and do your own sales and marketing at the same time, or you can just run your own solution. I think it's a pretty good situation for everyone! :)
    Just over three years ago, MyFonts increased their take from new foundries from 35% to 50%. Increased marketing efforts were cited a core reason for the change (see Adam's posts on http://typophile.com/node/55966). Instead, at least from my point of view, MyFonts marketing efforts appear to have been scaled back. There are sales-algorithm emails for new releases and monthly designer interviews. Editorial content, which was interesting in 2009, has disappeared, replaced by bland and trivial Facebook/Twitter posts (the MyFonts blog appears to have been completely scrubbed from the internet).

  • Jan Middendorp
    Jan Middendorp Posts: 11
    The reason why MyFonts has promoted heavily discounted fonts in the Rising Stars newsletter (most of which I edit) doesn’t have anything to do with a shrewd plot to encourage huge discounts, as has been suggested. It is because, when those extreme discounts started coming in, we continued to do what we’d always been doing: choose a varied bunch of fonts from the first, say, five to eight best-selling font families of the past month. We opted for the relative objectivity of dollar sales because that was, to some extent, the democratic thing to do. In Ben Blom’s words, the people vote with their wallets. Changing the current straightforward algorithm into something more convoluted, hoping to punish huge discounts and avoid the clutter of cheap sanserifs, as has been proposed, seems arbitrary. Change it how, and why exactly so? And what will foundries think of next to work the system?

    The path of subjectivity also has its pitfalls. MyFonts never had a curated list because bringing in personal favorites can be a very tricky thing, and will almost certainly lead to accusations of favoritism from other foundries. Also, replacing the time-tested (cfr. books, records) sales charts by a list put together by jurors would simply replace a somewhat democratic Top 50 by a system in which an elite, supposed to be endowed with obvious good taste, tells the people what to think. Hmm. Where have we heard that before? But let’s not throw away the child with the bathwater. Perhaps various systems could exist alongside each other, correcting each other? It's an ongoing discussion within the team, I can tell you.
  • Jan Middendorp
    Jan Middendorp Posts: 11
    ...at least from my point of view, MyFonts marketing efforts appear to have been scaled back. Editorial content, which was interesting in 2009, has disappeared, replaced by bland and trivial Facebook/Twitter posts (the MyFonts blog appears to have been completely scrubbed from the internet).
    OK, I’ll try not to take this too personally. But let’s get things straight. When I joined MyFonts about 6 years ago, there was the much-derided old website; one monthly novelties newsletter that contained a built-in short interview with mostly standard questions; and a quarterly newsletter called InYourFace with background info. Over about two years a new website designed by the recently hired Nick Sherman was developed . I helped set up the monthly interview newsletter Creative Characters (a number of which were also published in book form), and improve the quality of words and images of Rising Stars. These were some of the improvements that were mentioned to justify the percentage change. The numbers played a role too: by then, the newsletter run had gone up from a few thousand to around 700.000; it is now c. 1M 300K — a pretty unique kind of exposure.

    Since then, we added a Text Fonts section, in order to be able to promote a few quality families each month regardless of whether they made the top 10. We also introduced a news section, which features additional content on events, services, fonts, and foundries.

    Meanwhile, the quarterly InYourFace newsletter had become the blog, but after some years we realized the blog wasn't very useful, attracting only hundreds of viewers per day. Twitter and Facebook, while somewhat more superficial, seemed to be a more direct and popular way to communicate with users and foundries alike.

    We also created a new subsite, webfonts.info, a growing resource of articles on the technicalities and esthetics of web typography.

    Besides the increasing editorial content, MyFonts established a Review Board last fall to assess and improve the quality of new foundries. Several recent releases by new foundries were the result of weeks and months of work on improvements following feedback from our team of internal and external type specialists.

    So, has MyFonts become indulgent or lazy? I think we’re all working pretty hard to improve the site and its contents. The small team sometimes groans under the pressure of the huge numbers of foundries, new fonts, promotions, and customer queries. Nevertheless, I have good hopes that we’ll find time to put in place new features that will hopefully please even the grumpiest of typographic gourmets.
  • Stephen Coles
    Stephen Coles Posts: 1,007
    edited March 2013
    Glad you are still talking about this internally. I’ve also had interesting chats with various MF staffers about other ways to promote good fonts and I know this was an evolving discussion. Just making sure it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle of upper management.
    And what will foundries think of next to work the system?
    There will be attempts to work any system. My hope is that the system foundries are working is one that rewards values like quality, originality, and – yes – current trends, over quantity, frequency, and price.

    Jan, your own myfonts.de is an example of the lasting values and editorial context I’m talking about. Why not bring that goodness to the site itself?
  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,995
    Several recent releases by new foundries were the result of weeks and months of work on improvements following feedback from our team of internal and external type specialists.
    Does MyFonts charge extra and/or require exclusivity for that? Or are you providing free advice?
  • Jan Middendorp
    Jan Middendorp Posts: 11
    Does MyFonts charge extra and/or require exclusivity for that? Or are you providing free advice?
    Hi James. All of the feedback from the Foundry Review Board is part of the (new) admittance process. We never ask anyone for exclusivity; nor have we charged foundries or customers for any advice we’ve given. If we think a designer or font has potential, we try to provide detailed feedback on what should or could be improved, perhaps citing a few resources. We try not to get into detail about how to make or improve fonts; that’s not our job. But we’re working on some online publications outlining various aspects of type production and promotion — free for everyone, but they probably won’t be ready before the summer.
  • Jan Middendorp
    Jan Middendorp Posts: 11
    Jan, your own myfonts.de is an example of the lasting values and editorial context I’m talking about. Why not bring that goodness to the site itself?
    Thanks, Stephen. True, this is an option which we have discussed. Content-wise, myfonts.de is an independent resource. The objections against transferring its concept to the main site relate to what I hinted at above: MyFonts has always described itself as a level playing field, where no foundry is favored for subjective or personal reasons. But, one may ask, isn’t quality an objective thing? A few pages back, Adam argued that quality can or must be defined in subjective terms – one person’s “bad” font is another person’s “right” font. It’s one of the reasons MyFonts has always tended not to let the staff’s personal tastes influence promotional decisions.

    Nevertheless, it could be interesting to see if there’s room for bringing together a diverse group of specialists to create an editorial section of the site that allows for a more substantive discourse. It’s certainly something we’ve considered.
  • Ray Larabie
    Ray Larabie Posts: 1,432
    edited March 2013
    I think some people aren't really getting the mechanics of how the Hot New Fonts chart can be gamed. It's not just a matter of offering cheap fonts. Nothing wrong with that. It's using the deep discounts as leverage to put more expensive fonts higher in the charts. Don't be fooled by all the full priced fonts on the charts. Many of these are fonts that got there by running deep discounts and then ending the promotion. If you watch what happens to the more expensive fonts after their promotion are over, you'll see the pattern.

    The trick becomes more effective if the difference between the original price and the discounted prices is increased. For example: take a $50 font and mark it down 90%. Leave it on sale for a few days until it climbs partway up the charts. End the promotion. Now you've got a $50 font up in the middle on the chart. The visibility on the chart and it's perceived value is good for sales. "Wow, this must be a great font if it's $50 compared to all these cheap discount fonts." That encourages as more full price sales and the font skyrockets to the top of the chart. Many of the full priced fonts at the top of the chart got there using that technique. To win at this game, it helps to inflate the price of your font. If you start with a $10 font and discount it, you can ride the charts part-way but the post-sale momentum may not hold position or send it further up the charts quickly enough. I know because I used to do it with $10 fonts and they just don't "coast" as well.

    I think this vulnerability encourages higher font prices. If you think deep discounts are nothing but good news for customers, think about that a bit more.

    Limit the percentage of introductory offers to 40% and require the promotion to run the length of the Hot New Fonts run. That would solve some of the problem. It would discourage customers from getting gouged by inflated font prices and would prevent the problem of deep discounting being to required to appear on the chart. Maybe it's not required now but it's getting that way.

    Otherwise, what happens next year or the year after? Maybe $30 fonts at 70% off won't even graze the bottom of the charts anymore. You'll need a minimum $100/90% off to even show up on the chart.

    I'm willing to entertain the possibility that this system is all for good. Maybe it encourages more font sales, is good for the customers and the font creators. I've read people's claims that this system is a good one but I still don't get how this could be good in any way.
  • Matthew Butterick
    Matthew Butterick Posts: 143
    edited March 2013
    Massachusetts has a law against deceptive pricing that covers discounting. I'm not offering legal advice about whether the discounting practices being discussed here are legit. But the general idea that “whee, everyone can do whatever they want” is not true. The law sets a limit. And the law sets a limit because discounting has often been abused. (BTW I am not a lawyer in Massachusetts. However, as a type designer with fonts on MyFonts, I have a stake in this issue.)
    940 CMR 3.04:
    No claim or representation shall be made by any means which has the capacity or tendency or effect of deceiving buyers or prospective buyers as to the value or the past, present, common or usual price of a product, or as to any reduction in price of a product, or any saving relating to a product. Savings or value claims utilized in connection with terms such as "originally," "formerly," "regularly," "usually," "comparable value," "list price" or other like terms, expressions or representations must be based on facts provable by the claimant or advertiser.

    (1) By his own records; or

    (2) By reasonably substantial competitive sales in the trading area where such claims or representations are made, under circumstances and conditions as represented or implied by the claims or representations.
  • Ben Blom
    Ben Blom Posts: 250
    The trick becomes more effective if the difference between the original price and the discounted prices is increased. For example: take a $50 font and mark it down 90%. Leave it on sale for a few days until it climbs partway up the charts. End the promotion. Now you've got a $50 font up in the middle on the chart. The visibility on the chart and it's perceived value is good for sales. "Wow, this must be a great font if it's $50 compared to all these cheap discount fonts."
    I agree that introductory discounts become more effective, if the difference between the list price and the discounted price is increased. However, there are two caveats.
    • The higher the list price after the end of the promotion, the more this higher list price will discourage potential customers to buy the font involved. A potential customer might instead buy another font that is still discounted. This discourages foundries to set the list price too high.
    • A foundry cannot end the promotion, when it feels that a font they offer has climbed to the part of the chart where the foundry wants the font to be at the end of the promotion. The end date of a promotion at MyFonts, is always set before the start of the promotion, and this end date cannot be changed once the promotion has started. (Of course, a foundry can guess before the start of the promotion, how many days it will take for a font to arrive at a specific area of the chart, and then this foundry can, before the start of the promotion, set the length of the promotion accordingly. However, it might be hard to predict how many days it will take for a new font to arrive at a specific area of the chart. And if the discount period would prove to be too short, the font might be too low in the chart to "impress" people with its high list price, in comparison to the discounted fonts in the list. The font might even not enter the chart, if the discount period would be short.)
    The real trick is, of course, to first set the list price very high, then offer a very deep discount on this inflated list price, and then, a few days after the end of the promotion, reduce the list price to a lower, more realistic level. This is outright misleading behavior, and this might even be punishable under the Massachusetts law. However, this misleading behavior has been blocked by MyFonts, by the rule, that the list price should stay the same for 45 days after the end of the promotion.

    Let's consider the following behavior of a foundry who sells through MyFonts. The foundry offers a deep introductory discount. After the end of the discount period, the foundry waits for 45 days, and then offers a deep discount again. After the end of this second discount period, the foundry waits again for 45 days, and then offers a deep discount again. Etc. This behavior is possible now, and it seems to happen to some extent. Do we consider this as "gaming the system"? If so, and if we would want to prevent this behavior, two things could be done. Increase the 45 days "waiting period", or introduce a new rule which, in some way, forbids "too many discounts in a row" (or which forbids more than a specific number of promotions per year).

    To be continued...
  • Ben Blom
    Ben Blom Posts: 250
    Now you've got a $50 font up in the middle on the chart. The visibility on the chart and it's perceived value is good for sales. "Wow, this must be a great font if it's $50 compared to all these cheap discount fonts."
    require the promotion to run the length of the Hot New Fonts run
    Although I am not sure how big the impact of this is, I do agree with the point about visibility on the chart and its perceived value. I also agree with this: when the promotion would have to continue during the complete Hot New Fonts run, the perceived higher value of a full priced font by comparing it to discounted fonts in the list, would not be possible.
    I think this vulnerability encourages higher font prices.
    As said before, if a foundry increases its font's list price to a level which is higher than what "the market" perceives as a realistic price, then this foundry won't sell much of this font. This limits the leeway a foundry has to increase its list price. Moreover, the deeper the introductory discounts are, and/or the more there are, the lower the average font price will be. I am sure many customers are happy with low introductory prices.
    Only in music has revenue gone down
    If, because of the discounts, or, in spite of the discounts, at MyFonts, more fonts are being sold than before, and, more importantly, the total cumulative value in dollars of all the fonts sold, increases — then this is good news for both MyFonts and for the foundries who sell fonts through MyFonts. That is to say, it is, on average, good news for those foundries. For foundries whose market share increases or stays the same, it is good news. For foundries whose market share significantly decreases, it is not. But anyway, even when there would be no discounts at all — with the passing of time, there will always be foundries who win market share, and there will always be foundries who loose market share.

    _____________________________

    Don't expect a duck to behave like a chicken. Don't expect a chicken to behave like a duck.
    If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's a duck.
  • Deleted Account
    Deleted Account Posts: 739
    This ranges so effortlessly from idle speculation through the obvious and on to water fowl, why don't you write a book about retail font pricing?
  • Ben Blom
    Ben Blom Posts: 250
    David, your remark looks like an ad hominem personal attack. Whatever it exactly is, it doesn't seem to be "thoughtful discourse at an adult level".
  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 1,995
    I think David was just point out that you’re starting to ramble, Ben. And your rambling posts repeated some of what’s already been said by others. Sometimes it’s better to just go write a long blog post.
  • Ray Larabie
    Ray Larabie Posts: 1,432
    This discourages foundries to set the list price too high.

    The caveat is just don't go over-the-top crazy with the price. You need to set a price that's not completely out of this world. It still encourages foundries to set the price high. Calling it a caveat doesn't change that. Obviously a $200 font might not generate more sales. How about if I put it this way: it discourages foundries from setting lower base prices.

    A foundry cannot end the promotion, when it feels that a font they offer has climbed to the part of the chart where the foundry wants the font to be at the end of the promotion.

    I thought that went without saying. Of course, you want to set it for about a week or two for best chart climbing effect.

    Is anyone else going to admit to having done this?

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